Design by: Derek Mounce

Desert Treasures is an annual literary journal of student writings published by Mohave Community College.  In addition to all of the graphics and illustration, I served as the associate editor, and also had several of my own pieces in the journal.

The printing package allowed for a full-color cover and single-color --black on white- pages. So, to maintain the contrast and impact of the cover with the limited palette, I had to rework the ink drop a bit.

To make each page of the journal more than solid blocks of text, I drew out several stylized ink drops and placed them around the edges.  Each drop has a specific design, intended to represent the different forms of literature throughout the journal.  The drop for poetry, for example, is a fuild and arced streak, while the essay drop is significantly more structured --multiple drops connected.

The drop seen here, in the introduction to the journal, is a combination of the three drops.

This illustration is based on a short comming-of-age story in the journal written by Lon Weatherson. It started off as two photographs of hands --one young, and on older- pointed against a wall. I then brought them into Illustrator, traced over them, added the ink, then tossed on the final touches in Photoshop.

Hand-drawn in Illustrator then manipulated in Photoshop, this illustration is also based off a poem from the publication, "travelling."