a very productive weekend.

i had such a good weekend. very productive, but in a leisurely/stress free way. at night, i drank and drew, with no intention of where each drawing would end up. and that was a very liberating feeling. during the day, i made a lot of progress and found a lot of solutions to some of the things that have been bothering me lately. and then i got to spend some time with good people printing, and that's always a plus. if i were to rate this weekend, i'd give it an A+.

so now it's time to laugh at the things i drew.

i think this is supposed to be a chicken sitting on the back end of the mammoth in the previous picture.

...i have no idea. i think i started drawing an iguana, but couldn't remember what they looked like exactly. so i gave it some t-rex arms, and chicken legs..and bushy eyebrows, and a set of antenna

i was listening to modest mouse when drawing this one. specifically, "fly trapped in a jar." one of the lyrics says, "one wing isn't even enough to leave." ...so this one makes more sense than the rest.

i don't what it is about that wolf, but i love it.

the caption on this one says: PS the lightening bolts were originally for the jellyfish. but i drew a squid instead. PPS i will not apologize for this.

i was watching "an idiot abroad" while drawing this one. i think i was drawing karl pilkington at first. then it turned into bigfoot, then a bald bigfoot...and then somehow it turned into a self-portrait...

and now for the prints.

this picture doesn't really do this one justice. 

there's something obsessive about these black/white prints, especially with the "number x" and crop marks. like there's an attempt to stay organized and make sense of the chaos, but something is throwing that effort off.

the thing about this series of prints is that...i'm not trying to make some grand statement about the relationship between order and chaos. or networks or anything like that. these are the answers to my word search book. and now seeing these, i am imagining this character that was convinced there's a conspiracy with the word search answers. and this is their attempt to crack it. and that gives me a chuckle.

i think this is my favorite of the bunch. at least it's the one i find myself looking at the most. i think the white gives a space for a visual/mental break. there's a predictability you can assume that the lines will/would connect, but it's nice that your brain has to do that work. the best part is, this one was not intentional. we were just using it print on something smaller.

and here are some of the embroideries i've been working on. the pictures are kind of not that great.

it says: can we collectively decide that if we have nothing to do we can just go home? pretty please.

this one says: but at least i remembered to brush my teeth today.

this is probably one of my favorites, although this is just a detail shot of it. it's an embroidery of one of the pages from my calendar book, including the doodles.

i like taking arbitrary things (word search answers, my calendar notes, etc) and elevating them to some level of importance. because that makes me laugh.

...that's what she said

this weekend i am experimenting with different print techniques to try to get that word search print (see below) to work out.

i think discharge paste may work. (if the name wasn't enough, the stuff is white and goopy).

but i'm running into a couple of problems already. firstly, i can't find monagum, alginate, or some other solution anyway. you need one of these thing because they act as a thickener. printing with straight bleach is like printing with water. i'm not sure if mixing the bleach with ink extender will work. and i wonder if alginate you put in food could work....but that's what experimenting is for!

so i've been googlin' and this is what i've found:

this is a great site, very inexpensive. they have everything i ever need, but not local...
http://www.prochemicalanddye.com/home.php

this is local, but after calling them...they don't have what i need
http://www.multicraftink.com/

anyway, i've been finding a few sites like that. but then realized: i think can you only discharge on fabric? (...again: horrible wording)

so, that's another thing to experiment with. i have a feeling none of these will really work and i will end up printing on transparencies....but! i want to try.

i'm pretty excited about this. i don't really know what the result will be. i know what i want it to look like, but i have no idea how to get there. should be a fun process!

i know you know there's nowhere to go.

brochures pt 2

so, here's the result:

brochures

it's time to start designing a brochure for this educational toy company (Monster Island's Potential Energy, islandofmonsters.etsy.com) my brother and i are starting. we've had a fair amount of success with our business cards, which are packs of homemade play dough with the label being our contact info. the reason this works well is because it fits our business themes of, interactive creative free play, and the unique possibilities each opportunity presents. also, play dough is fun. but the downfall to the business card is that, well...there's just not a ton of info on it. and we are now getting to the point, thankfully, where we have a lot of people offering to help spread the word for us. therefore...we need a brochure.

so i did some google searches for design ideas. and this is what i've found:

(also, fyi...most of these images have come from this site: http://psdcollector.blogspot.com/2010/04/127-beautiful-brochure-design-examples.html there are hundreds of examples....please check the rest out!)

i knew going in, i didn't just want a book. so, i started looking at accordion folds:

this one is cool because the back has a quote you can read when it's all stretched out.

i love the idea of this one. it looks like a road map, but instead has other info...

this one reminded me of moving billboards. if you look at the accordion folds on one side it will make an image, and another image will appear if you look at it from another angle.

another take on the same kind of fold.

this is genius, and inspiring.

i liked the idea of this one...how the hinged corner creates an unusual movement...

and then obviously pop-up books would be great, and fit in perfectly with our company's theme...but they are expensive, and not exactly practical at this point.

this isn't the best example, but i do really like the idea of windows. there's an interesting play on positive/negative space.

but again, it's just not financially practical right now.

this one i appreciate for the use of color and simplicity. 

i am a nerd for typography...

nick cave is awesome, and you should check him out. he makes sound-suits. i love his work, but this is not the time to discuss that. http://www.behance.net/Gallery/Nick-Cave--HEAVYWEIGHT-ALTERSKINS/193657

and after getting all hot and bothered by the beautiful design of these...practicality set back in. and i was trying to figure out how expensive color prints would be. so here are some examples of well-designed grey scale brochures. 

so now, the assessment.

i want something you can interact with..more than just flipping through pages. i really enjoy the unusual shapes and folds of the triangular examples, and obviously, grey scale would be great if i could accomplish that. i've noticed that some sort of toy, or something that requires the person to put together or play with can be successful because the person looks at the information longer...and plus, that's fun.

i've made some of these papertoys before...

and i think i will explore this further. not only can i make the shapes into monsters, these papertoys are educational because it requires and understanding of geometry...it's a toy, so you don't realize you're learning...also, i can print the pattern out on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper to avoid expensive dye-cut costs...and! i can print them in black and white and have the person color them in. perfect. 

you've just experienced my thought process.
now i will design.
...and then post the results later.

up and atom

i can't help but appreciate the character design and personification in these animations, despite the...apparent naivete.

a slightly updated version of death of a salesman

-no idea what to expect
-color
-contrary public opinion
-ABC: always be closing
-AIDA: attention, interest, decision, action
-what the hell are they selling?
-"it takes brass balls to sell real-estate"
-phone with shoulder handle
-rain
-train
-the guy from apollo 13
-the guy from seven
-the guy from 30 rock and beetlejuice
-the guy from little miss sunshine
-the guy from scarface
-the guy from grumpy old men
-chalkboard
-bulletin board
-this reminds me of a slightly more updated version of death of a salesman
-"all train compartments smell vaguely of shit."
-every one of pacino's lines: gold
-"fhuck you! you owe me a car!"
-interesting power plays...whose got the biggest cock/who can yell fhuck you the loudest, and then back peddle the best.

i enjoyed the use of color in this movie, and how the majority of it took place in an office. and i appreciated the dialogue, which can be a painfully important detail. the exchanges/relationships between the different salesmen make it an interesting movie to examine character personalities.

i approve, and i'd watch it again: A

4. classified

-"and remember, we care"

-fake phone # 1-800-555-4444

-frosted glass windows

-foggy atmosphere

-ceiling fan

-oscillating fan

-lockers

-cecil

-chalkboard

-bubblegum.

-what's with all the tv screens?

-a cop who doesn't need to eat or sleep

-a cop with superior fire power

-and the reflexes to use it: ED-209

-stopmotion! -major points, no cgi

-"please put down your weapon, you have 20 seconds to comply"

-amazing. ED-209

-"you call this a glitch?!"

-"can you fly, bobby?"

-"dead or alive, you're coming with me."

-the laugh on the peeing guy...

-geez, bad 1st day on the job

-....he's still alive?

-prime directives:

1. serve the public trust

2. protect the innocent

3. uphold the law

4. classified

-"i'd buy that for a dollar!"

-"your move creep" he shot the dude in the nuts.

-nuk'em game

-"think you can outsmart a bullet?!"

-the sideburns on that guy. absurd

-robocop is a story about a man turned robot trying to remember who he was

-futuristic 80's 

Ed-209 is afraid of stairs, design flaw?

-why don't they just remove his processor instead of attempting to shoot through his impenetrable armor?  

i love it. a movie that gave us so many one-liners, and can still be so good from childhood to now. they don't make movies like this anymore. robocop knows what it is, and can make fun of itself. it's a movie with a sense of humor, and i say bravo! A+

i got somethin' to say!

actasap

repeat pattern of a defective valve resulting in a blood-clot and embolus

this was another thing i made

that was never used,

so i made some repeat patterns out of it.