Impossible Hair and Dos Manos

Of late I have been spending too much time in my design programs that I am starting to go a bit crazy. I am now having dreams in which I create the world with Photoshop. While amazing and a bit god like I believe it to be a warning sign that I should devote some of my art time in another medium.

I didn't know at first what I wanted to do but on Wednesday after a particularly stressful day I sought refuge in a very unhealthy place for my wallet...T-Square. I don't go in there too much or many art stores as they're always extremely overpriced but much cheaper then therapy. I'm sure most artists will agree with me that the moment you step into an art store any horrible issues you are going through just melt away. You walk around touching different papers and running your fingers over brushes. It might sound odd and possibly something you would be asked to cease and desist doing in any other store but an art store has it's own quirky rules.

While in there I ambled down the isle with pastels which I adore the smell of. I realize how strange this must be but someone once told me that certain smells associate themselves with moments in your life. Such as anytime it's winter and I smell cigarettes I think it's Christmas because my Grandmother smoked and I used to see her most around Christmas. It's the same for pastels especially oil pastels. When I smell them I remember the first major project I did with in high school trying to recreate some of Botticelli's angels. Or the time in college when my hands were covered in pastels and I wiped my face not realizing it till someone in another class asked me if it was a new fashion statement. Sufice to say pastels always put a smile on my face and that is why I chose to do something with them.

It's been about 4-5 years since I have done anything in this medium let alone actually drawn. I sketch a lot but they are mostly scribbles of ideas nothing fine and fluid like a drawing. So it took me a few frustrating hours getting back into the swing of it with varied results. I do believe that I have the drawing done, of course this might change as I stare at it more. Usually though after I put it up here I stop obsessing over it too much.

It's based off a photograph I found on devitART of a girl with just impossible hair. My take on it seems to draw from The Day of the Dead because I have been listening to The Stevedores and 100 Monkeys too much lately and I associate their music with that type of art. Especially the song "The Day the Stranger Came to Dos Manos" which is why I'm fairly sure I want to title it "Rosa" Any nice critiques are welcome, which I'm sure just means Jess as I don't know if anyone else reads this.

Dreaming of cardboard & Frustration

I finished the second poster in the Orange Sheep poster series. I haven't slept too much because of this project. I keep having very odd dreams about cardboard sheep playing musical instruments. Either I have been spending too much time on this or I need to spend more time on it just to get it out of my head. At this point I'm a bit too sleep deprived to know which is the better idea. Plus I know I need to work more devoutly on the JAFAX program. I have all the sketches and all the elements to make it but when I start hashing it out in Illustrator and Photoshop I get very frustrated for some reason. Possibly because it's just not coming together like my sketches or because my heart just isn't in it for some reason.

I believe I'm having that artistic dilemma where part of you wants to make art to get paid and the other part of you just wants to make art because it makes you happy. With the Orange Sheep project I sit down put on some music and loose all track of time completely. Till it's around 3am and I freak out because I have to go to work in 5 hours. Thankfully there is plentiful amounts of coffee or I would probably crash and burn very fast. But in that time I spend working like mad it is the only time in my waking life that I feel the most sane. The rest of the time isn't bad by any means but I spend so much time second guessing myself and feeling frustrated over things that will probably never change. When I work on my art I relax and let go and every stressful thing in my life seems to not matter so much. Then there is that sad realization that you have to go back to it all and deal with life. I really wish I knew the answer to make this feel better in any way.

Wow that was kind of a depressing blog entry. Any hoo here is the second poster. I'm not sure I like it as much as the first but I am still fond of it.

Orange Sheep & no bail money

And here is the second installment of Orange Sheep. I attempted to make one, in hopefully a series, of posters for my wonderful little made up band. I have been staring at it for the past two days and figured I better put it up here before I critic it to death which I tend to do on pretty much every occasion. As for the fun idea I had for the little orange sheep I was informed that it might be considered illegal. My response was of course "is it really illegal or is it art there is just such a thin line there." This was of course met with a horrible stare and the promise of no bail money.

Willy Nilly Orange Sheep

When I was 12 I remember having a conversations as to if I had a band what would I name it. Now this has always been hypothetical as when I sing cats die and I only know how to play the flute very badly so the chances of me being in a band are slim to none but that never stopped me from coming up with names. Even though I am older now I still remember the name I chose and that was Orange Sheep. I don't believe there was a reason for this except that I thought orange sheep would be really awesome if they existed because orange makes everything cooler. I was 12 at the time and lets face it that reasoning still stands up today and you know it.

Since I can never have a band I figured I would make myself a fake band and start designing logos and posters for it. I might even do some interesting stuff with them. Yes you probably should be afraid of my willy nilly use of interesting or that I used willy nilly. Here are two ideas so far and there will be more to follow soon.

Orange Sheep & Venn Diagrams

Here is some new Stuff to put up for something I'm working on for my mother. She is going into a new business venture and requested that I make some business cards and a logo. I'm stuck in the unpleasant area of "why don't you look right you silly silly logo." But since out of love I'm not requesting payment I am therefore going to wait till she has time to look over it before I allow myself to go full on crazy and start picking it apart.And with that I'm going to go work on an Orange Sheep idea I have. Yes you know you want to come back to figure out what I could possibly mean by Orange Sheep. Well you are just going to have to wait because I'm tired and television beckons me but here is something hilarious I stumbled upon today which is by far the ultimate graphic designer Venn diagram.

The true meaning of yellow is square.

Tis a new year and although I didn't post anything by my dedline to say "yay I did it" or "I'm freaking awesome for getting my own stuff done" I do have a very valid reason. I became a carrier for the plague. It had been going around so eventually I knew I would get it but what I didn't count on is I would get it during Christmas and it would last for two weeks. So that unfortunately put me out of commission for awhile but I am finally back to 100% if not for a little lingering cough.

I still can't believe it's been an entire month and although I didn't work on what I said I would initially I still did do something which was my very own and I'm extremely proud of that. I also wish that this could be a longer blog as I have a lot to say but I have a diner to go to and I'm still not dressed for that or bought the dessert either. (yay procrastination!) So I will leave you with a quote that I read in the new issue of CMYK magazine featuring an article with Art Chantry in which they ask him questions about the industry today. The quote that struck home the most was one in which he hit home exactly what I think we do as Graphic Designers.

"In our culture, 'yellow' means something. A circle means something. A square means something totally different. And we use this language to trick folks into thinking differently about something. We try to trick them into making choices our clients want them to make. We fuck with their minds. We’re dangerous people."

So here is something I couldn't get out of my head last night and was up sketching ideas till 2am. Enjoy and I am off to dress and buy dessert type products.