another year over

There's a little over and hour left of 2009 and I use this moment to express some of my thoughts about the year and what's to come. 2009 was a an interesting year with many experiences. Through the good and the bad, I did learn a lot about myself this year.

Design is a very big part of my life now. This year I graduated from NYIT with a BFA in Fine Arts/Computer Graphics. I've taken some time to really analyze what I want to do with the skills I have acquired the past couple of years. I have witnessed that it has been difficult for many people to find a career in design. As difficult as it is, many people expect a job to land on their lap. Some go in different directions after they see the struggles. They finish school thinking design is going to give them the "big bucks".

I am proud of myself because I have surrounded myself with a team positive people that have helped me see many things I didn't before. Design isn't just a job for me anymore. Design is a lifestyle. It's crazy how people pass school with very little effort, and expect to get a job with just a portfolio. We need to have passion for what we do. When you take what you do and turn it into a lifestyle, it only gets easier. Everything runs much smoother. I only hope some take this advice and follow it because I know what it was like.

Now it's time to start of fresh. Many goals are set for the new year. Lets make 2010 great! Hope everyone has a great new years eve. Best of wishes for this year!

john-velez.com

Hey guys, you can check out my work at: john-velez.com

Droid Apps

After some looking around in the android market, I've found some very neat applications to add to my Droid. I've come up with a list of my personal favorite applications that I find essential and fun. I hope these are helpful. If you want to add some of your own feel free to comment.

FREE Applications found on Android Market

-Advanced Task Killer Free (kill your running applications to save battery life)
-Android Agenda Widget (Shows your calendar events on your home screen, very clean and nice looking)
-Backgrounds (hundreds of backgrounds to use as wallpapers, ability to save image or set as wallpaper)
-Pandora (Your personal radio)
-Twidroid (great twitter client for droid)
-Twidgit Lite (very nice and simple twitter widget to update your status)
-Weather Widgets (great looking temperature widget)
-Dolphin Browser (if you want multi-touch browser, "pinch and zoom")

PAID Applications on Android Market
-Beautiful Widgets (Best Temperature and Clock, inspired by HTC Sense UI)
-Beautiful Widgets 2 (Some Clock Widgets and SMS widget inspired by HTC Sense UI)
-Pure Calendar (great looking, add, remove, edit events on your homescreen)
-Pure Grid (calendar inspired by HTC Sense)
-Pure Messenger (great looking widget, shows gmail, sms, facebook, twitter, email messages on a homescreen widget)

Here are image examples of the listed android applications & widgets:

I worked on a very interesting project for a client who is starting up a very unique business. This is a mobile barber shop. He wanted to see how the work space could work inside of an RV bus. This is where I come in and show how this space would look like visually using 3D modeling. This is a very unique idea and I wish him the best of luck.

The project was created in AutoDesk Maya and rendered using mental ray. Here are 3 render examples.

Pocono Home

so my girlfriend and her brother have been spending some time trying to decorate their Pocono home for their family. I've been helping them and I decided to create some low poly 3d modeling of the room with different arrangements. This way they can get an idea of what it would look like visually and they don't have to waste time buying furniture that might not work. Here are some renders of the space.

UPDATE

website update:
www.john-velez.com

DROID

so i ordered the new Motorola Droid from Verizon. I'm super excited and it should be here by Wednesday the latest. I'm so excited about the Droid, that I decided to create a wallpaper for it. Here it is...

Lets do this!

Ok so i'm pretty new to this blog stuff, but here i go...

Ill be posting my work on here for everyone to enjoy. Graphic Design, 3D, photography.