Jena Grover
Illustrations
A lot of what I do falls under the category of illustrations. I further divided my work into print, interface, and animations so that it’s easier for those of you with a specific job in mind can find reference to similar work I’ve done in the past. Those that remain are either commissions, personal projects, or art studies (typically digital or traditional works).
Feel free to scroll through the gallery on the right and click on any image to learn more about the pieces. More in depth projects with multiple visuals have their own dedicated slideshow below.
Daughters of the Elements
These series was prompted by a Water-based Media assignment where were to make 5-6 surreal style works. Given the number I choose to create an image for each element of the pentacle; Air, Fire, Water, Earth, and Spirit. For each I decided that the piece would be black and white and the only hue would be the representative color of that element and each would have a shadow that expands towards the corresponding cardinal direction. For inspiration I drew upon several songs that I thought spoke to each element, along with Lisa Thiel's "Daughter of the Elements" and Kellianna's "Elemental" as inspiration for the series as a whole.
Fairytale Stereotypes
As an assignment having to explore gender stereotypes in media, I chose to examine how stereotypes are useful if used the proper way; as a baseline and gateway to understanding, not a one-size-fits-all-box. To explain this and stereotypes role in storytelling, I examined protagonist and antagonists representations of each gender in fairytales. I rendered character designs for a Hero, Damsel, Evil Ruler, & Witch based solely on stereotypes and additional information provided by Galavant: Animated Theme Lyrics. So my illustrations wouldn't be influenced by Galavant, I forbid myself from using any reference images from the show; instead using Once Upon A Time as my core reference. The final comparison with my illustrations and the shows cast, blew the minds of the gathered class.
Visionary Village
This project involved the development of two concept pieces, as well as logo designs, for multiple public art shows; all under the Visionary Village banner. The first image was of a public art display which paired with an interactive event. These images were used in proposal documents and presentation boards, which I also designed, in order to get grant funding.
These public art shows/events were:
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Boulder Than Ever
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Wheels of Wonders
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These Shoes Are Made For Walking
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Building Blocks
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Fabric of Community
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River-Garden Gallery of Stores
Print Design
In this category, I focused on projects primarily works that were meant to be taken from digital format to a printed one. This includes logos, postcards, CD/Book covers, booklets, fliers, posters, calendars, and even T-shirt designs. A great many of these projects that were also meant web-ready. The determining factor for projects being placed here rather than the “interactive” section was if the project way primarily meant to be displayed.
Just like above, here is a collection of stand alone projects. If you would like to know more about a piece, click on any image. More in depth projects with multiple visuals have their own dedicated slideshow below.
Naturetech Catalog
“Smooth sailing does not make an experienced sailor.” However, under my lead, the team worked tirelessly together to meld our specific talents. We transcended from "bottom of the barrel scum" to "top dogs champions" that systematically blew everyone away at the weekly meetings. This project was also featured piece in the following years Visions competition.
Here I coordinated skills of my team and assigned them tasks suitable to their skill set and experience. Other responsibilities included: Organizing and leading team meetings, compiled the master document, importing the final text, creating additional assets, and handling technical side of presentation as well as final deliverables.
t-shirt Designs
This is a collection of T-shirt designs I have made over the years. Some were cheeky homages for art competitions, collaborations within various communities, and commission work.
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Creatives Concur
A riff off Julius Caesar's famous "Veni, vidi, vici." -
Perfectionist V Accidents
A perfectionists spin on Bob Ross's iconic quote -
Witch Descendants
A tribute to those lost in the Salem witch trials -
Team Lily: March for Cure
A team shirt for a gastroparesis march. -
Poetry-Wear
A collection of poems a client wanted me to convert for screen-printing.
Visionary School
This project was a two part marketing system for The Revolving Museum's art outreach program. The first step was a four page brochure to market the program, reminding schools and youth groups the importance of the the arts in education. The next were stand alone fliers with more details so smaller organizations could learn more about the activities they were most interested in. Now both facets of this marketing system needed to follow a singular visual vocabulary so that those interested in all proposed activities would walk away with a full leaflet to peruse. This finalized booklet was also used in grant proposal presentations to encourage funding for the program as a whole.
Many of the individual projects were also ones I designed concept images for.
In Water e-vite
This exhibition invitation pulled double duty as a fully interactive PDF, linking users with the featured artist's online portfolios, and a postcard. Of course the printed version was made of fully recycled materials to honor the exhibit and client's message. Patrons to the exhibit loved taking these mementos home. Some even took multiple copies. One to keep for themselves as of their time exploring the gallery, and others to sending off to friends or family with a personalized message.
The Oni Zetsumei
For my Motion Graphics final, the project was to create a credit sequence for a show based off a story. I decide to base the project on my own graphic novel; a mature, dark fantasy tale inspired by L. Frank Baum’s Chronicles of Oz.
A significant challenge was balancing the juxtaposition of the twisted nature of my retelling while still honoring the light fairytale characteristic of the original inspiration. To accommodate this I animated the walk cycle purposefully choppy, reminiscent of pop-up books, kept the enlightened aspects of the story in vivid color, and shrouded the plot mysteries in black and white line-art.
My proudest moment with this piece was when the instructor gave the sequence a standing ovation and proclaiming that THIS was what he had hoped and expected from his students.
DSOC: Logo & Intro
The work I’ve done for the Dissociated Society of Canada were separated in multiple installments. They first became a client of mine to design their main logo. Years later when the organization expanded, they wished to make a second logo for their American branch.
In addition to this work, they also enlisted my skills to animate the original logo to be used as an intro for their YouTube channel.
The Grover Twins
Combining my passion for comics and my cousin’s passion of music, we started “The Grover Twins.” Together we join forces to create ludicrous animated skits, jamming speed-paints, and other wacky hi-jinks on a platform that could showcase both audio and visual focuses equally.
Though this project has been on hiatus for a time, I still work hard on comics, scripts, speed-paints, and other projects that I hope to post in the future.
