Ryan Beaston

Objects In The Void

Converted piece into a vector art illustration as I thought the three-dimensional objects would translate nicely to a digital art piece.

I could have chosen to make this into some sort of product but I thought for starters when making this portfolio that showing my vector pen tool skills was sufficient. Additionally, if I added text or other elements that it would ruin the surrealist theme I had.

14.39 x 11.52 inches, Created with Adobe Illustrator

Patriot Lee Oscar

The goal of this project was to create an ancestral portrait using one of the color schemes discussed in class. Other objectives include investigating how colors interact to evoke emotions and guide the viewer’s eye, and have balance and visual impact.

This piece was of my paternal grandfather who had passed away in the 80s long before I was born. He was a veteran so I drew an American flag behind him while still acknowledging the complementary color theme I set in stone.

15 x 20 inches, Created with acrylic paint and colored pencil on Bristol Paper

Obituary

Converted into an obituary due to him passing, and I believe the painting still fits in this format.

I placed the painting in the center in a oval frame, and used a script and serif font together to create he text. I put his name in script and the rest of the text in serif, including important information of the Mass Christian Burial. Finally, I surrounded the entire design in a rectangular frame with circular indents.

5.86 x 9.79 inches, Created with Adobe Illustrator

Me.

The goal of this piece was simple and to just draw a self-portrait. It was required to look in a mirror and not use a photo taken of ourselves. The professor wanted to train us to draw from real-life instead of a photographic reference.

I don’t have a whole lot to say about this piece, but this is a self-expression as this is how I looked on an average day back when I drew this, I was a bit expressionless and I had short hair and wore hoodies to class.

18 x 20 inches, Created with pencil on drawing paper

Album Cover

Converted to an album cover as a lot of artists have their own face or full body on a cover.

I edited the background out of the drawing, and made it plain black and white. Next, I used the image trace tool to convert to vector outlines. I then added the album name over a black box in front of my eyes. Finally, I added a bit of color on the piece and then I added the explicit content warning in the corner.

13.89 x 13.89 inches, Created with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator

Art Exhibition Flyer

Converted into an art exhibition flyer for the local Susquehanna Art Museum, due to being traditional art with charcoal and I thought it was suitable.

I took inspiration from web searches and Pinterest. I mostly utilized Poppins in various weights depending on the hierarchy of the information. I also created a marker stroke since it was art-themed and put it behind part of the text to separate it.

6.67 x 10.26 inches, Created with Adobe Illustrator

Jigsaw Puzzle

Converted to a Jigsaw puzzle as I thought a puzzle concept would work well because the finished product was a clear, crisp picture with lots of colors but not an overstimulating amount.

I surrounded the photo in a golden frame, with the background of the box purple as seen in the pepper that catches your attention most in the image. I made a vector shape of a puzzle piece and then placed it bottom left. I then chose a serif and a sans serif font and put in the title and other information about the puzzle. Using my wordmark, I also made a logo for this fictional jigsaw puzzle brand. I then took aspects from the front of the box and put them on the side of the box, and got my final result.

10.29 x 10 inches, Created with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop

Pennsylvania Fishing Magazine

Converted photo into a fishing magazine cover themed with Pennsylvanian habitats due to this being taken at the Yellow Breeches Creek.

I searched online for some inspiration from pre-existing
fishing magazines. For the logo I was inspired by the Texas
Saltwater Fishing Magazine. I made the shape of Pennsylvania in vector art and made a hook and used minus front in pathfinders. I then used Copperplate, Merriweather, and Franklin Gothic for the fonts. I thought of four key fishing spots in the state and then made articles out of them. I then added a bonus title at the footer to grab readers’ attention.

8.5 x 11 inches, Created with Adobe InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop

Bloodshot Tour Poster

Converted to a band world tour poster as suggested by my classmate, due to the abstract imagery and consistent red color theme. For simple shapes such as the hexagon and the houses I used the pen tool manually, but more complex shapes I used the image trace tool as it was more efficient. I then added the tour dates on the right with the country’s flags. For some little details I added social media icons to let the reader know they’re on those platforms, and then I added the website at the bottom to let people know where to buy the tickets. Finally, I crafted the fictional band’s logo myself and put it at the top of the poster as it’s most important.

8.5 x 11 inches, Created with Adobe Illustrator

Sports Graphic

Converted to a ESPN-style sports graphic for the 2025 Thunder/Grizzlies playoff series in Round 1.

Come time to make the conversion for my portfolio it worked out perfectly as the Grizzlies were swept in round 1. Before I added text and vector art, however, I digitally illustrated this with a drawing tablet. I also fixed some errors in the original drawing such as SGA’s left leg. I then chose to turn this into a basketball graphic for the end of the series by adding a headline and subheading. Additionally, I put in the ESPN logo and some lines with the pen tool to replicate an ESPN graphic.

8 x 10 inches, Created with CLIP Studio Paint, Adobe Illustrator and InDesign

Plan Z Ad

The goal of this project was to use Adobe Photoshop to create a full-page magazine advertisement for a product, real or fictional. Use layer masks, adjustment layers, and other Photoshop tools to create a convincing composite.

I had this idea from my girlfriend to make a fictional product called “Plan Z”, which was like Plan B but it lasted for life and was an alternative to tubal ligation. The pill’s name is made up and the project was just for fun. I went to CVS and took a photo of a random box, made the logo in illustrator, and used Photoshop to place the branding onto the box.

8.75 x 11.25 inches, Created with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator

T-Shirt Website

The goal of this project was to use Figma to design and prototype a one-page scrolling website. Focus on creating a seamless user experience (UX) by utilizing Figma’s advanced prototyping tools, specifically Variants and Interactive Components. Website should include navigation bar, hero section, two content sections, and footer.

I have a passion for rock and metal music so I decided to make a band t-shirt website. I included 21 shirts with 15 in the popular/featured section and the other 6 in new arrivals. I implemented anchor links at the top of the page with an animation when clicked. When the shirts are hovered over they play an animation of growing and slightly rotating. Even though it was a one-page website I still set up buttons that went to other pages to change the mouse cursor to the pointer when hovered over.

1280 x 1080 pixels, Created with Figma

Type Classifications

This project was based on the Greek or Roman letter we chose for the previous project. For this one, however, we had to make the letter we picked in 7 different fonts plus a custom one we would make ourselves.

I was familiar with the letter Sigma from the Greek alphabet so that’s what I chose. To visualize what this letter would look like in the different fonts, I looked at the letters E and M and took aspects from each to form my letters.

10.16 x 19.66 inches, Created with Adobe Illustrator

Type Specimen Book

The goal of this project was to make a type specimen book/pamphlet, a book designers use when choosing typefaces for a specific job. A good book shows a variety of styles in a variety of sizes. Specifications, font display—differing point sizes, paragraph settings, leading and tracking, and upper/lowercase—using examples of the font family.

Before this project we did a typographer paper and we had to make this book based off of who we chose, and I wrote mine on Stanley Morison. First I made parent pages for different kinds of spreads, such as body text, type specimen pages, and the cover. I set up a layout for the type specimen pages in various sizes and styles. Then, I imported my research and images and cited my sources at the end of the book. I made final modifications with the professor’s review and then I printed out and saddle stitched my book.

7 x 9 inches, Created with Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop

ArtMuse Magazine

The goal for this project was to design a magazine layout for an art magazine. This included a magazine cover, contents and editorial letter spread, and feature artist spread. We used InDesign to produce a layout based on our specs for page size, margins, gutters, column widths and alleys, and text.

For the cover I used a piece for a project based on the artist Chris Rubino’s work. I chose to pick the blue from the artwork I made and use it as a theme for the whole magazine. For the next spread I made a table of contents featuring my other artwork and the article titles, and alongside that an editor’s letter. Finally, I made an article with featured artwork and filled it in with placeholder text.

8.5 x 11 inches, Created with Adobe InDesign and Illustrator

Exhibition Guide

The goal of this project was to design a full colored folded guide for an exhibition on an exhibition of your choosing from The Met, MoMa, or the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Create a hierarchy of information, choose an appropriate grid structure, select and scale images, examine folding techniques, develop a color scheme for the guide, choose typefaces, and use balance, rhythm and unity.

I chose the Jefferson R. Burdick exhibition because I was interested in sports. For the layout I set up columns of baseball cards. I captioned all of the cards, putting the title and the year and set they were from. On the inside, I typed up more information on the cards and the story behind his collection. In the center, I put a photo of Burdick and a small biography on himself. Finally, on the back I put The Met logo, a link to the exhibition and its title, and credited myself as the designer.

16 x 8 inches, Created with Adobe InDesign and Photoshop

South Korea Infographic

I got inspiration for this design from the classroom, there were infographic posters about different countries and I wanted to do my own. I chose to do mine on South Korea. First, I researched South Korea mostly on Britannica’s website and then credited my sources in the footer. I used both the pen tool, gradient tool, and image trace to make the background based on a photograph, which I also credited at the bottom. Then, I added basic information in the top right such as the capital and population. I also added a flag map of the country, and its name in English and Korean. After that, I placed my information in the layout, then adjusted it so it read easily. Finally, I added the logo at the bottom and adjusted the colors of the text in the design and I was done.

17.5 x 36.5 inches, Created with Adobe Illustrator