About

Hey, I'm Riz. I'm a professional graphic designer and digital artist, wannabe comic artist, cat lover, and aquarium aficionado.I've never been one to back down from a challenge, so I have my fingers in a lot of categories of design. Digital design, print, video, and audio are all categories I find myself dabbling in and experienced with. I also perform editing both for copy and video.I have a technical degree in Digital Media and Multimedia Design and I am Adobe Certified in Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere Pro. I'm open to freelance work until I can find a permanent team to settle down and work with. Feel free to drop me a line if you'd like to collaborate on something!

Contact

If you feel I'd be a good fit for your project and would like to collaborate together, feel free to drop me a line here. I'd be happy to see how we can work together. Give me one or two days to respond and then we can get started. I'd be happy to discuss over a Zoom call, or if you're local we can work things out over a coffee!Direct Email: [email protected]

Broward Youth Reentry Program

Broward Youth Reentry Program is implemented by the Broward Behavioral Health Coalition. Tasked with guiding the rehabilitation of youth who'd entered the criminal system through mental health difficulties, behavioral issues, or substance abuse they needed a logo to be the face of their program.Their original logo had featured chains and hands breaking them, although, they had wanted to stray away from that intense imagery. Alongside providing their original logo, they passed me art created by a youth with a sibling involved in their services. While I can't supply that here for privacy's sake, think a crayon child's drawing with a little smiling stick figure standing before a radioactive, yellow sun.Naturally, for a program centered in sunny ol' Florida, I followed through with that. Alongside that, I wanted to elicit the hope of a rising sun. There's a star glowing on the horizon for these youth in need.

Alongside the logo design, I got to teach a design workshop for the youth participating in the associated programs! I got to design that flyer for it and getting to teach these kids was a real treat!

Casino Events

The Big Easy Casino was my second graphic design job and while maybe it's a bit cliche, working for a casino was a great deal of fun! I really love bright palettes and neons, so it worked well. Really a 'if you love the work you do, you don't work a day' sort of situation. Befitting for something as glitzy and colorful as a casino.We had different events on a weekly basis. While I don't have each one pictured here, it's a great taste of it! Each event needed a different assigned color, providing a contrast against each one.Pot of Gold is probably one of my favorite ones, being straightforwards in theme and oh so shimmery- during Saint Patty's Day, it got a green, clover-themed rehash.The little advertisements up top were for posting on social media weekly, whereas the poster on the right was setup within the hallways and entryways of the casino. The working files for these events were templates with tons of smart objects so we could alter the size, shape, and alignment for whatever could be needed.

Actually, I take back Pot of Gold being my favorite. I love the Club 55+ one, because people really are compelled by the promise of cookies and coffee. I know I am.

WRITE BRIGHT

Write Bright is an exceptional project. I was approached by a client who works as an occupational therapist, with a focus in teaching children the precision and motor skills necessary for handwriting. Write Bright was a concept for a set of journals and flashcards.They came in a few different sizes, the scale shifting dependent upon how far the students' motor skills had come along. The flashcard were the largest, allowing them a single space to mimic the letter present on the card. Then came the one with 1 inch lines, this one was implemented spaciously so that students would be able to copy the shapes of the letter along the colored line. The smallest and most advanced one was 3/8ths of an inch, allowing a much tighter, rigid space to practice the motions of writing. You might be familiar with this size as it's what's commonly used for teaching handwriting in early education!Another important concept was the line colors. My client had the idea to differentiate the space a letter could occupy in a themed way. All letters started from the dark green line- the ground. While a capital 'A' may be huge and tower into the sunny sky, the lowercase 'a' humbly sat on the horizon. Meanwhile, the tail of the lowercase 'y' would slip past sea level into the ocean below.


Did you know? Comic Sans is helpful for people with dyslexia or reading difficulties. The fonts' default spacing is wide and has few repeated shapes for ease of access.

Frilled Shark

Behold! The Frilled Shark. Known for their spindly bodies and wide smiles, these sharks spend the majority of their time in deep, open oceans.This piece was created for Swim On: 10 - Blue Planet, a charity zine which focuses its funding to FinFree. FinFree focuses on ending the hunt and de-finning of sharks world wide. I was so thrilled to be able to apply and join in on this zine! Check it out here.While working on this piece, I juggled concepts for an open ocean scene, which proved difficult. Certainly I could do something more colorful, even in the deep ocean! While doing some digging I found out about the Blake Plateau, which is the world's largest deep-water coral reef. I discovered this short documentary on Youtube and was immediately inspired by the deep blue trenches with their colorful anemones. I'd found my inspiration!On the right here, is a progress gif, going over the steps I took to make the illustration what it was. The lineart was simple and straightforwards, but the final frame shows all the effects I masked, layered, and slapped on which really brought the piece together.

Did you know? Frilled Sharks gained their name from the shape of their gills? Their gills flare out and give them a frilly, defined shape not seen in other sharks.