GRAND TERRACE: Artist living her dream job
10:00 PM PST on Tuesday, January 18, 2011
A graphic artist combines the talents of being an illustrator with the magic of an imagination that steps out of the ordinary each day.
For Grand Terrace artist Laci Morgan of Laci Morgan Creations, living in that world of character design and 2-D animation is her dream job.
Growing up in Coarsegold, a little California town about an hour and an half south of Yosemite National Forest, Morgan watched her father apply his profession at home with his application of music and sounds to online video games.
Both of her parents noticed that instead of playing the video games, Laci would stop the game at a certain point and spend time sketching out the scene at hand. "That convinced them early on that I was going to be an artist when I grew up," said Morgan.
Prior to her career as a freelance artist, Morgan held a job with Disney's California Adventure Animation Studio, where she helped show park-goers how to draw animated two-dimensional characters.
"I began picking up side jobs from people who were interested in obtaining graphic art pieces from a Disney-trained artist," said Morgan, "and I picked up a few freelancing jobs off of the Internet."A lot of her jobs involve providing a company with a new logo or a mascot. "Studies show that when a business has a mascot type character, it generates more interest in their service or product because the character generates familiarity to the consumer."
Recently, Morgan was asked to come up with a character and logo for a dog waste removal company in Texas. The company requested a "tasteful but humorous representation of their services."
With the motto "We Scoop Where Others Fear to Tread," Morgan created a spotted hound wearing a look that says "I'm busted" while a kitty points out clearly that she had nothing to do with that mess.
With one look at The Doggy Dropped It company's logo designed by Morgan, it's clear that creating whimsical and visually captivating characters is a talent she refined over the years.
Morgan also specializes in wedding invitations, fliers, logos, character design and featured animations. Because she keeps busy with this type of graphic artistry, she doesn't do any website design work. She also offers advice and answers questions for other artists at her illustration blog, http://lacimorgan.blogspot.com/.
"My goal is to make things that families can enjoy together," said Morgan. "Keeping family friendly entertainment is first and forefront in my creational processes."
