Logo Design Work

Design work updates:

Here are some of the logo designs I have been working on lately. They were all sketched by hand and later developed in Adobe Illustrator. This program is the best for logo designs since you can re-size the images without them getting blurry.

*All logos are copyrighted to the clients who commissioned them from me, do NOT use them with out permission*

This is a design for Queen City Sports and Social Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. Here I was representing both the city and the activities of the club. This club meets to play team sports like kickball and football, as well as meeting socially to have a drink or two. The logo has a few versions for different sports and uses. The ball that the mascot holds is different for each sport. Fun and challenging logo to work on.

Full Logo in Black and White

Mascot for Queen City Sports and Social Club in Color

 

 

Mascot for Queen City Sports and Social Club- Kicking Version

This next one is a logo design for the company RDM: Preservation and Revitalization. This design is for a local business in Richmond, Virginia that buys and restores various buildings. I really wanted to incorporate negative space into the design and I used it to create the white building in the center of the logo. Notice how the white building is created only with the edges of the other shapes around it. The colors of the logo are a reference to the positive energy of the company bringing buildings back to life and their push to 'go green' in their operations.

RDM logo design

The next logo was made for a local company called Karnes Heating and Air Conditioning which is based out of the Richmond, Virginia area. The concept was to incorporate/combine the client's love of river sunsets, relaxation, and the heating and air theme. This was done with a stylized sunset and water line to illustrate a sunset. The warm and cool colors and wavy breaks in the sun are a nod to heating and air. 

Visit this company on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/KarnesHeatingAndAirConditioning

Karnes Heating and Air Conditioning Logo

Here is a logo design for ABNIX: Delivery and Moving. This logo was designed for a local moving company in Richmond, Virginia before its start-up. The 'A' letter behind the business name was designed to look like an angel, to reference the loved one the company was named after.

ABNIX: Delivery and Moving Logo Design

*All logos are copyrighted to the clients who commissioned them from me, do NOT use them with out permission*

That is all for now more updates to come soon. Happy holidays and Happy New Year to everyone!

Halloween Pumkin Carvings

Here are my pumpkin carvings for this year. The patterns were found in Pumpkin Masters pumpkin carving books and on various websites like zombiepumpkins.com. I just wanted to challenge myself a little and have some fun. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Totem Pole - Lit

Pumpkin Totem Pole - Unlit

If you are looking for a different way to display your carvings, the pumpkin totem pole is a fun way. These are artificial pumpkins stacked with a dowel rod attached to a base in the center for support. I use leaf garland to cover the spaces between pumpkins and to add some more decoration. The nice part about the artificial pumpkins is that I can reuse them again next year!

Cheshire Cat - with color changing light

I found these great color changing LED lights for pumpkins at the craft store. They add a lot of fun to the carvings!

Cheshire Cat - with color changing light

Scooby-Doo - with color changing light

Scooby probably turned out as one of the best. He was my favorite cartoon character when I was a kid, this is a little nod to him.

Scooby-Doo - with color changing light

Lion - with color changing light

This was originally a tattoo design that I found online at tattooique.com under tribal tattoos. I altered a little to make it suitable for pumpkin carving. Very intricate and challenging!

Lion - with color changing light

Hope you enjoyed them! Happy Halloween!

Art Facebook Site Live and New Art Updates!

 I have new Art Facebook Page live now, visit and Like!  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelly-Nixon-Art/284621634972724

Time for another art update! Here are some of my ceramics and jewelry work.

Cylinder Containers

This is a set of nesting cylinder containers. I used hammering techniques to make a bubble-like design on the sides.

Shell Ring

Copper and brass ring with silver band. The top of the ring is made with two seashells that are striped with brass and copper. The shells encase a copper pearl. The inner band is made with silver.

This ring is so big it could probably be used like brass knuckles!

Silent Sentinel

 Copper silhouette of a cheetah with liver of sulfur for color variation. This piece is made with two sheets of copper that were hammered to get different textures and later space-riveted together to create depth. The original piece is 1in x 2in.

Flaming Leap

 Copper broach with Liver of Sulfer and Blue Patina used for color variations. This piece was space riveted, so there is a little bit of space between each layer, which creates a more 3D effect.

Wary Perch

Hand-built ceramic vessel. The shape and colors were inspired by Greek urns and vessels. Decorated with an animal narrative: Two wolves are tracking a snow leopard through a rocky-mountain area. The leopard watches their approach from higher ground.

This piece is about 15in. tall and 28in. around at its widest point.
Now the only question is what to put in this beast?!

Worn Soul

 Hand-built ceramic cowboy boot. Stained for color variation. This piece was modeled from direct observation of a real boot down to the seam and rip details.

This piece is the actual size of an average cowboy boot, but much heaver!

Blue Tide

 Wheel-thrown ceramic bowl.

Fun glaze fact: A little white and black glaze + kiln firing = speckled blue. Go figure.

Red Tide

Wheel-thrown ceramic bowl. The coloring is the effect of white glaze mixing with the red during firing. It reminds me of waves washing in on the beach. I really love the surprise blends different glazes can give you from firing!

Rippling Mug

 Wheel-thrown ceramic mug with a hand-built handle. Decorated with a wavy design and nice mixing of white and black glazes to create blue.

Red Rimmed Onyx

 Wheel-thrown bowl. Black glaze with a red rim.

Burgundy Mug

 Wheel-thrown mug with hand-built handle. Colors are a great blend of red and white glazes.

Red Speckled Bowl

  Wavy-sided bowl made using wheel-throwing. Great speckling colors made using red and white glazes.

Twin Spouted Bowl

Double spouted bowl. Blue made with the blending of white and black glazes during firing. This bowl could easily be a sugar or spice dish. The spouts double for pouring contents or resting spoons.


That is all for now! More to follow soon. I will be adding some pumpkin carvings before Halloween, be looking for them!

Art Updates

Finally its time for some art updates!!!

Discovery of a Werewolf

This is a small comic piece done in pencil. A man walks in on a werewolf attack in progress. The question is what will he do next?

Futuristic House Design

 This is a small gouache painting. For those of you unfamiliar with it, gouache is like a thick opaque watercolor and it is great for giving vivid colors. This house was designed to fit in the void between two canyons and has a greenhouse area on the top for growing food, vents on the front of the base to capture wind energy for power and heat/cool the home, piping to gather ground water, and entrances on both canyon sides. Its kind of like a live in bridge.

Future Robot Design: Litter Collector

 This is another gouache painting. I was experimenting to get a few painterly effects, mainly in the background and on the animals. The story here was how robots might be used in the future. Here I interpreted them as caretakers of nature. They keep the forests clean and protect them. This robot is collecting trash.

The Fox Painter

 This was an illustration spread for a little comic I made. In the story, a boy gains the power to make his paintings come to life, after helping a magical fox get free of some rubble in a cavern.

Fox Painter Spot Illustration

 Here is a spot illustration for my Fox Painter comic. After spending the night cowering in a closet to get away from bad creatures, the boy emerges to find one of his paintings has changed positions and has marks of fighting on it. The painting had come to life and protected him from the creatures.

Bear/Frog Hybrid

 Here is a little Photoshop exercise I did during student teaching to demonstrate how to combine different animal photographs digitally. The real focus was to match colors and blend the images seamlessly. In this piece, I combined a bear, frog, turtle and some moss and rock textures to create this twisted little animal. I'm trying to think of what sound this guy would make.

Dream of Falling

 My interpretation of falling in a dream. Made in Photoshop by using blurred Christmas lights for the background and merging it with the photo of the figure.

Flashlight Blur

 Flashlight fun! Made by attaching colored gels to flashlights and moving them around. The camera has to be set to take a long exposure. The longer it takes the more trails you can make.

Flashlight Blur 2

That is all I have for now. I will be adding more art from jewelry, ceramics, and some logo designs I have been doing over the next few days. Check back for more updates soon!

New Update and Portfolio Website Live!

Finally a new update!

I have been busy with student teaching and building up what I need to do some freelance work over the last year, so please excuse the lack of posting. I will be adding in some new material that I have been working on in the next few days, so expect some regular updating.

For now, I will leave you with my brand new art portfolio site. kellynixonart.com just went live a few days ago! Go check it out! If you or anyone you know would like to have some illustration, design, or other type of artwork done, please get in touch with me at kellynixonart@gmail.com.

Enjoy for now, more to come soon!