REGINAROFF design | illustration

Listen to me talk about the role of a designer

2011-12-07T11:07:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's dusty here on the blog. I wanted to share a very belated shout out to the folks over at Publishing Trendsetter, who kindly asked to interview me about what a designer does in the "lifecyle of a book". You can watch me answer their questions here.

Hope you enjoy it!

New Covers

2011-09-14T06:33:00.000-07:00

Here's a selection of some of the books I've worked on recently that are available for sale or preorder now. Check them out!

Straw House Group Show Update

2011-09-09T08:53:00.001-07:00

So I'm very excited to be involved in the group show promoting Daniel Nayeri's Straw House Wood House Brick House Blow.

Check out the AWESOME book trailers!

Show will be opening in October, more information as I get it.

Gettin' Hitched

2011-09-03T18:29:00.000-07:00

It's true, I'm engaged to be married. And what's happily ever after without a solid logo?

Dungeons and Dragons

2011-09-01T11:18:00.000-07:00

Every week, a group of us get together to kill imaginary orcs. I thought we needed a logo.

Group Show WIP: Our Lady of Villains

2011-08-06T13:05:00.000-07:00

The amazing Daniel Nayeri approached me a few months back to participate in a group show promoting his new book, "Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, Blow" (preorder here!). Of course I said yes and was eager to get my hands on the manuscript.

It did NOT disappoint. I was taken in by all the stories, told in different genres, but especially the story I refer to as "the nano machines one". While reading I was struck by a passage describing "Our Lady of Villains". She was described as having a blonde bob, crinkly eyes, holding her arms out in benediction with one hand grasping a glue gun and the other hand holding garden gloves. I spent a good 10 minutes writing myself notes on her appearance when finally it struck me who he was making a parody of.

Take a look at my work in progress and see if you can guess who OLOV is. I'll give you a hint. She was imprisoned once and according to the story, 'every saint must suffer'.

Keep checking back for more photos.

NFusion Interactive Promo book

2011-07-08T12:25:00.000-07:00

Right now I'm working on a promotional booklet for NFusion Interactive, a pretty awesome game company you should check out. Here's my favorite spread:

Mer-Santa

2010-12-11T13:28:00.001-08:00

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the sea
Mer-Santa was swimming as quick as could be

Mer-girls and Mer-boys slept in their sea-beds
While visions of snow-crabs swam through their heads

From chimney to coral five fathoms below
Merry Christmas to all, wherever you go.

Temporary Hiatus

2010-12-08T13:16:00.001-08:00

Be back soon!

Website, Version 3.0

2010-06-11T13:41:00.000-07:00

That's right, out with the old, in with the new. Check out a brand spankin' new reginaroff.com!

Portfolio Update and Logo V1.2

2010-06-10T17:31:00.000-07:00

So things are coming along. My idea is slowly morphing, as I collect input from my various design-y type friends and colleagues. I think I've got something a little more polished together and I'm excited to implement the changes throughout. Logo design got a little happier (raised wings!) and is officially V1.2. In addition to my design portfolio update, I'm working on a not-so-secret project of turning a little known Grimm's fairy tale into a picture book. I have no intention on shopping it around, but I do hope that it will help me get the gears into motion for my not yet started illustration career. A lot of work I'm doing, you might say. You would be right!

Which is why Dennis and I have started the official "No Work or Talk of Work after 8pm" rule. Both of us work art-y day jobs and art-y night jobs and that's just too many art-y jobs to be doing, let alone telling each other about. Frankly, we're tired. So, if you're tired, I suggest a No-Something-After-8 rule. (I don't know if blogging after 8 counts, as this is the first day and we're still feeling out the boundaries :D )

More to come. Or TK as we design-y types like to write. TK. (come is spelled with a C... anyone know why 'to come' is abbreviated TK??)

New Logo idea, version 1.1

2010-06-08T09:29:00.001-07:00

Tell me what you think!

New Portfolio Cover

2010-06-06T18:21:00.001-07:00

Tell me what you think!

Everything's Scarier in the Dark

2009-08-20T09:26:00.000-07:00

This doodle kind of appeared and evolved like it had a life of its own... Did a little color study during my lunch break at work today. Hopefully I'll get to work on it this weekend, it's been a good while since my last painting.

Illustration Friday: Drifting

2009-06-20T17:44:00.000-07:00

Sir Raccoon is drifting with his plastic parachute through the night sky.

Illustration Friday: Unfold

2009-06-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

This week's Illustration Friday theme is "unfold". Makes me think of unfolding my work clothes and stepping into the pants of my new life, one leg at a time.

Illustration Friday: Adapt

2009-06-01T19:25:00.000-07:00

This is my first "Illustration Friday" piece. Theme for this week is "adapt". Nice change of pace from the more design-y stuff to do some more children's book illustration. All in all, lots of fun and a great way to motivate myself into making more work.

Ground Control to Major Tom

2009-05-31T08:36:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to say that I'm all settled into my new place in North/Central Jersey (Old Bridge to be exact). I wanted to share with you some photos of my "mission control" corner that I set up, as well as Dennis "mission control" corner, in action! It's not quite studio space for either of us, but it will do. Hopefully things will work out in my favor and we'll be able to move even closer to NYC and into a bigger place. That way mission control corner will become mission control room (which is infinitely more fun to say). But for now this suits us and I'm also happy to report that there should be more updates from mission control by next Sunday with a new painting (hopefully) and what happened during my interview. What out!

"New Kids on the Block" Show

2009-05-31T08:23:00.000-07:00

Portfolio Day

2009-05-20T16:19:00.001-07:00

Portfolio Day was a HUGE success. I got some great feedback from the art directors who took the time to check out my work and will hopefully have a job coming to me because of the event.

It was not without its hitches though...

The evening before my roommate had brought a "friend" back from the bar and they were pretty noisy at 2:30 in the AM... Normally I can brush that off but I had to get up at 4:30 to get my self up and onto my trusty bicycle to get to the train to NYC. Needless to say I was irritated and started the day off as a huge grump. I met up with the gals I had intended to take the latter half of the trip with and directed them as a huge caravan to where the event was held. By that time not only was I still upset because of my EXTRA early wake up, but I was hot, sweaty, and tired from schlepping my portfolio and accoutrement through TWO cities. I was pretty hungry by the time all the set up was complete and just as I was finishing half a sandwich, the art directors started coming in, so I quick sat down.

I sat for a good six hours that day, talking to this art director and that who chose to sit with me. That was the fun part! I really enjoyed showing off all my hard work and talking to the AD's about the business of illustration and my aspiration to work in-house. Hopefully I made an impression on one of them and some in-house position will come my way. In the mean time, I've sent out PDFs and thank you emails to everyone who stopped by. I also managed to do a huge website revamping. Check it out.

So if a great response from AD's yesterday was not enough, I found out today that I'm graduating with honors! I'm proud of myself for sticking tough and accomplishing all that. Now I'm off to check out my roommate's Senior Thesis Exhibit (can't stay mad forever!). :)

The future of the world is uncertain...

2009-04-21T14:13:00.001-07:00

Warp Speed Ahead!

2009-04-18T11:42:00.000-07:00

It seems like school is going faster and slower at the same time. I know there's only a few weeks left, yet it seems like every day, every week is dragging its feet. In a way that's good because I've been able to use the time I have left really well; I've finished 3 pieces in 3 days this week which is a new record for me. They're up on my website and posted above.

The UArts Portfolio Day is coming up soon too. It's been quite a wild ride trying to get everything together for the event but the hope is that a few of us will leave the event with a job or the promise of one in the future. I know for me it's been exciting getting the whole package of my portfolio and my promotional materials together... It's starting to feel a little more real than it has before, seeing my portofolio book coming together, my business cards, my website, my postcards all materializing. I didn't realize I had so much work that I'm actually proud of; it feels good that I feel I can accurately represent myself through my work.

The only thing that brings me down lately is the thought that I won't have my studio space and studio mates in a few weeks. We've been through a lot of long days and nights in that space together and I feel like we've come to know each other pretty well. It's been a great support system and motivator to have other people in the same predicament as myself, working through the night trying to make something worthwhile. I don't know how I'll ever remember to quit whining and just work when Dan Smith isn't around. Who will I ask for an honest opinion when I can't swivel in my chair to Adrienne Langer behind me? And when I go to take a break or waste some time, Steve Streisguth won't be there with cartoons and a pot of coffee.

I hope we can all keep in touch and help each other out as we venture out into the "real world". I feel like we've become a sort of family in this past year. Thanks everybody, for your support, your enthusiasm, your honest critiques, your coffee breaks, your munch and crunch, your reminders to keep working, and your inspiration.

Nora
Jess
Chris Gauvain
Nick
Nicole
Dan Hughes
Steve
Dan Smith
Adrienne

Fun with Websites

2009-04-10T08:42:00.001-07:00

Molly says that it's a rite of passage to crash a couple of sites once you start working on web design. I guess that makes me feel a little better about crashing my website this morning. Turns out all I needed to do was change the permissions on my files because my server was protecting them. Websites are fun like that; it's always a simple solution, it's just a matter of knowing that simple solution is an option at all.

The reason I was mucking about with my website is because I have a ton of new pieces to add to the mix. Check it out.

Perfect Timing

2009-03-28T12:28:00.000-07:00

Of course I'd get sick right before my senior thesis exhibit opening. Of course. But that hasn't stopped me from getting work done; I ended up being pretty happy with this latest project, the Open House poster. Cross your fingers that I'll get better.

In 24 hours I'm due to be in the reception with a smile on my face (preferably a smile that isn't underneath a very runny nose).

Super Update!

2009-03-27T12:18:00.001-07:00

It's been a little while since my last update and with good reason; the thesis show has been hung, many projects, promotion mailers, and website redesigns have been completed, and new jobs are on the horizon.

Hanging the show was quite the event. We had about 5 hours to get it done because the judges (the thesis show is a juried competition) would be in that evening to do what they do. I ended up with a great spot on the wall and was in very good company; Caytlin and Yuko were fun and great help with all the l=hooks, plexi-glass, and levels. I managed to get everything up pretty quickly, so I took the extra time to snap some pictures of the event.

The opening is this Sunday at Dorrance Hamilton Hall on the corner of Broad and Pine in Philadelphia, 3-5pm. If you're around, you should definitely check it out. Good art, good food, good times.

I was also in the midst of completing projects for my other classes besides the thesis class, so that kept me pretty busy as well.

The most exciting thing I've been working on right now is my website. I'm fortunate to have a good friend who is a web designer and now my boss. We're working together to meet her deadlines and I'm having a great time learning about web design as well as the details of XHTML, CSS, and the like. I was able to completely redesign and rewrite my own website here. Check it out.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

2009-02-05T19:32:00.001-08:00

The Fab Four: Ely!

2009-01-28T08:20:00.000-08:00

...two weeks ahead of schedule! Just how I like it.

New Ely 2 Revisions

2009-01-13T11:42:00.001-08:00

After our meeting on the 9th, I had a number of things to fix on my 2nd Ely. I think I've got a handle on it now. Happily, the other 2 Ely's seem to be in good shape and don't have too much to be corrected. Now that I've got this under control, I have just enough time for a few more side projects. Updates soon to follow.

New year, new Ely

2009-01-05T14:35:00.000-08:00

Finished (or at the very least, finished for now) my 3rd Ely. I'm ready to go for the review on the 9th of our progress so far. I'm pretty pleased with how it looks so far and at least one of my teachers is in agreement with me. So I'm going to try not to give myself a stress-related disorder over the matter and just wait and see what happens at the end of the week. Here it is, for your viewing pleasure.

Something just for Fun

2008-12-19T20:13:00.000-08:00

"You've got the wrong damsel."

Red

2008-12-19T20:11:00.000-08:00

Here's a piece just finished for the end of semester. I give you, urban red riding hood.

Ely Poster and more

2008-12-09T16:46:00.000-08:00

So I am pretty fortunate to be again, ahead of schedule. My Ely Poster is as finished as it's going to get until the jury and it's printed and ready to be submitted. I got such a great print in our 6th floor lab. I feel like that professional lab doesn't get nearly the traffic it should. But in a way, that's good, I never have to wait more than an hour for my prints.

In other news, school is closing in on winter break. We'll have close to a month off, so to speak, to work on the 3rd Ely and try to recuperate from so many all night marathon drawing sessions. I'm really looking forward to it because I feel like I'm in a pretty good spot when it comes to my work, so I'm not stressed. At least, for now.

Dennis is moving into a new apartment this coming weekend so I'm going to be helping him schlep his stuff from south Jersey to north Jersey which I'm sure is going to be much fun... It's good for him though, to get out of his parents' house and into the world.

I'm going to satisfy my need for MMORPG now, like the geeky little girl I am. And the best part: I'm done all the work I need to so I don't have to feel guilty about it!

Ely's 1 and 2, as of right now

2008-12-04T17:41:00.000-08:00

It's been quite an endeavor to complete these book covers for the Ely (senior thesis project). I'm fortunate to be a very quick, very diligent little student and am a bit ahead of where I need to be at the moment. That's a really good feeling, especially when some of my close friends are having such trouble.

My first Ely, the cover for "The Virgin Suicides", has been a pretty smooth project. Little hiccups have happened along the way, but the process has made it a very easy project to complete. It's presumptuous of me to say it's 'finished' but I'm pretty positive that I'm well on my way.

Second, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower", had a whole different set of hiccups and missteps but was relatively painless as well. I'm not as far along on this as I am on the first, as to be expected, but I'm in a good place for right now. The finished piece is due on Tuesday and I think I won't have too much trouble getting to where I need to be.

This past week, after being sick, the Thanksgiving holiday, my best friend moving to Africa indefinitely, my boyfriend moving to north Jersey for a new job, and the bomb of the Ely poster assignment close to a month before we thought we'd get it, I've been a bit... stretched thin. I've had my share of moments that are uglier than I would have liked them to be, the stress becoming more than I can bear. I think today, after an all-nighter for that Ely poster, I'm getting back into the swing of things. I hope. Working from home tonight because I have spent more time in the studio than I have at home and two beautiful kittens are starved for attention. Right now they're helping me write this post, watching very carefully for misspellings and keeping my lap warm.

Sanity, I hope, is returning to me slowly so I can get myself back into the fray.

I am the Winner!

2008-11-29T06:34:00.001-08:00

My design was chosen for the University of the Arts 2008 Holiday Card. I'm very excited to have been picked. I am to receive 100 copies of the card for personal use, with my bio on the back, and a nice little check. The card will get sent out to university staff and alumni which is a nice bit of promo for me.

The notification was given to me right on turkey day which was a great way to start my holiday. Now that holiday is over, it's back to the grindstone. I have a long weekend ahead of me.

Buy in Bulk

2008-11-23T09:12:00.000-08:00

I have caught a nasty cold that has been going around at school so this is going to make up for so many days of neglect that this blog has had. First, an oldie but a goodie, my book cover project for Neil Gaiman's Coraline.
Next, Matt Curtius and Gina Triplett were just blessed with a new baby girl this past week, so I made them a congratulations card. I had so much fun putting those final touches of pink to the cheeks.

Now I'm headed back to the studio to bang out some ely work. I'll update soon with progress, that is if I don't get sicker.

Holiday Card Competition

2008-11-14T08:06:00.000-08:00

The University is having a call for entries for a Holiday Card. I thought I'd give it a go. This is my submission. There were no real parameters, just that it had to be 300 dpi at 4x6. I had fun painting the snow Venus and I think she looks great next to my little "future UArts kids".

Watercolor Demo

2008-11-12T19:33:00.000-08:00

Megan Berkheiser had me come in to her sophomore class today to give a demo and lecture on watercolor. I pulled a sketch from my group of sketches for class and brought it to finish for them. I had a lot of fun talking to them about the process and bringing the painting to finish. I think it turned out nice too. I plan on adding some background texture to the piece, but that's for later. Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin of "A Wrinkle in Time."

Sketch Book

2008-11-11T20:26:00.000-08:00

A Dangerous Place Indeed

2008-11-10T20:55:00.000-08:00

Part of me really wants Dateline to continue churning out those television shows where a decoy thirteen year old girl lures a potential perpetrator (alliteration!) of statutory into a house full of cameras. Interesting how some of the guys even wrote in their chat logs with the girls about how they don't want to get caught by one of those shows. Yet still, they end up there, sweating and crying and swearing up and down that they weren't REALLY going to do anything and that they were just JOKING, haha. But Dateline isn't as smart as it should be and sexual offenders have rights too and damn those release forms. Oh well.

The internet can be a dangerous place for girls, especially at that age when it is so normal to be half nude in two thirds of your myspace photos. I work at a company doing PR that is mostly myspace meandering and I see it all the time. Their client base is made mostly of young girls. I want that show to air again for those girls.

but instead,

here's a picture.