Artist

My name is Margot Trudell, pronounced Mar-goh with a silent t, hence my portfolio's name. I was always the artsy kid at school, and finally I'm one of many artsy kids at a big school, the Ontario College of Art and Design University in Toronto, Canada, where I study graphic design. I have no doubt that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

Graphic Designer & Illustrator
I like to work with both digital and traditional media, primarily ink and watercolour paint and/or Photoshop, and I use these for my illustration and graphic design work. Design is absolutely my passion and I'd like nothing more than to do it all day, every day for the rest of my life, which is my aim. I'm constantly working and practicing and learning from others and my own mistakes, and I couldn't be happier. I enjoy the process of creating a concept and working out all the kinks, figuring out if something does or doesn't work, and then creating the final piece. I like communicating things visually and working with typography, and I lose track of time when I work because I get so involved in what I'm doing. I get excited thinking about my current and future projects - I just love doing it.

Web Designer
I use Dreamweaver for my web design work, but type out all my code by hand. I am a self-taught web designer (since 2001) and learned using Microsoft Notepad which provided no tools whatsoever, so I had to code by hand. Now, years later, it's the method I prefer as I find it gives me more control and I am more familiar with the workings of my own website which allows me to more easily make changes and updates in the future. I switched over to Dreamweaver when I changed to the Mac platform, as it was given to me by my school and it's the only program I have that lets me save with the right extensions on a Mac. I very much enjoy the problem solving that comes with web design as well as the creative and visual element. It was through this that I discovered graphic design, which lead me to where I am today. I can also use Flash to create movies and animations and use some ActionScript to create things for the internet, but I prefer to keep Flash components to a minimum when it comes to web design for various reasons, mostly to do with compatability and search engine optimization.

Photographer
As for my photography I'm also self-taught in this area. I used my parents' high-end point & shoot and taught myself how to use it, and quickly found that I have an eye for photos. I enjoy going out for walks wherever I am with my camera in hand and shooting what catches my eye, and also planning shoots and capturing particular images for either aesthetic purposes or to communicate something. I shoot with both digital and film (35mm and medium format), and I like how creative I can get with my analog cameras. Photography gives me great satisfaction even when I look through the 200-odd images I've shot in an afternoon and find that there's only five I'm satisfied with. Basically, it's a lot of fun.

This website is a collection of the work that I've done in the past few years, some for myself and some for clients. As I learn more I hope to attract more freelance work and keep growing as a person and a designer so I can be one of the best; not for the sake of fame or money but for the satisfaction of knowing that I am good at what I do, but I would love it nevertheless.