Hello all 3 of you (tops) who read my blog. I should explain myself.
I have disappeared because I've started a webcomic (finally) that I've actually been updating on a regular basis. I've had a few false starts on webcomics in the past, and this time I'm determined to stick to it. I've also been getting favourable responses, so that's helping. Mind you, 99% of the people reading my comics are my friends, and would likely not tell me if my comics sucked, so I should take that for what it is. When I get around to doing some real promotion (not until I hit 30 strips, as some wise webcomic authors have suggested) then hopefully I'll start to get some feedback from people who don't know me directly. Whether it's people emailing me with things like "hay faggit, ur comic sucks lol. go back to idiot school" or just staring for hours at a Google Analytics screen and wondering what the fuck a 'bounce rate' is (I know what a bounce rate is...now). I'm taking some advice from the people who do Webcomics Weekly, and I'm not getting too ahead of myself before I've established some kind of nest for myself. That is, I'm not thinking about t-shirts, or conventions, or books or any of that crap, I'm just focusing on the comic, and as a sidebar, getting people to read the comic. Of course, the best way to do that is to make a good comic, so I'll try. I'll probably look back on the comics I'm doing right now in a year or two and cringe, but we'll have to see. It's like those wise webcomickers said - we have the unique opportunity of practising and improving while also presenting it to an audience. We can get real-time critique as our art and writing develops, which is something that was unavailable back in the days when in order for your work to ever be seen it had to be syndicated. My short term goal is to put out 100 comics in the first year. That is, hit comic #100 by January 2nd 2012. I'm sure that I'll miss an update or two, I'm human, and I need to work and go to school and to actually have ideas and stuff, but I'm going to try. 100 comics in a year, that actually sounds crazy and undoable now that I see it written out. Then again, I'm at 20 now, so we'll see.
As more of a record for myself, here is my current plan:
Comic 30 - apply for Project Wonderful to put a couple of ads on my site. This will (maybe, hopefully) earn be a couple of bucks, but most likely earn me nothing and put my name out there for advertisers to notice.
Comic 45 or 50 - put out my own ads. The reason I don't want to do it before this is a) monetary b) so that I can prove to myself that I can go half of the year without a lot of outside encouragement and still want to do this and c) I'd like to have a really nice backlog in case people like my comic enough to spend some time reading it.
Comic ~75 - At this point I'll probably start to expand the way that I'm telling people about the comic. I'm not going to start listing it on those "webcomics top 100 list" sites, because let's be honest- who cares? I used to go to those sites when I was 11 and the comics it had me reading were usually pretty crappy. When I say I'll expand, I mean message boards that I frequent, talking to people I know who run blogs and stuff, it's not gonna be anything major, I'm not looking to become Scott Kurtz 3/4 of a year into my strip, but I want to sort of get used to talking about my comic.
Comic 100 - Celebrate, then realize it's an arbitrary number and get working on comic #101.
That's basically that. How much of this is going to go according to plan? Who knows, maybe this time next year I'll have a few more readers than I do now, maybe I won't. I'm not gonna agonize over it so early into my comic. I'm doing this because I love doing it, and there's nothing I'd rather do than draw comics for the rest of my life.
Speaking of my life, I need an internship, and a job ... FAST.
All that being said - I probably won't be updating here often. I've started a tumblr (HERE) and my comic is located at www.adventuresome.ca. I'm not gonna take this blog down, because I'm sure I'll want it again sometime, but for the time being, that's where you will find all of the garbage that spills out of my brain.
Laters, yo.
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Saturday, March 05, 2011
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Like old Job
I had a dream last night that Josh Homme and Billy Corgan formed a band. This would be incredible. Those two guys are both among my favourite guitarists and vocalists (don't even ask me about Billy Corgan, I don't know why but I can't get enough of his voice for some stupid reason). I was pretty disappointed when I woke up and that wasn't real.
Also the thought of those two being on the same stage is hilarious.
So I got my new guitar yesterday. An Epiphone Les Paul Studio. I got it with funds I got from selling my bass (finally) so I'm not at a loss. It's so very pretty, and I can finally play some songs that I've wanted to but didn't have the right tone (or for that matter, number of frets) to sound right.
Haven't named it yet, but I have a couple of ideas.
On the topic of having a guitar I can play, I want to get songmaking. Andrew and I were talking about doing some stuff for Imperial (a steampunk prog project we came up with once for god knows what reason, I think we were making fun of Metric), and There's A Couple of Guys Work The Panic, which I would really like to get working on, it's just a matter of the two of us being there at the same time and not either a) tired as hell b) about to go out or c) sleeping. It's been a busy summer and between money issues and things going on music time has been limited. I'm hoping to get past that soon though because I wanna.
Also, I have some songs written that I don't really think fit into either of those projects, but I dunno. That can wait.
On the topic of ambitions, Art... I really need to get on that shit. I spend close to an hour and a half a day on public transit. Maybe if I converted that from staring blankly into drawing time, I could get some work done. I find that once I start something like that I am much more inclined to see the final product, it's just that I spend far too much time thinking about it, and not enough time making it happen. Need to improve that.
I've said it a million times, but I'll say it again, I want an artist table at next year's FanExpo.
So, albums currently occupying my time:
QOTSA - Era Vulgaris
Blackfield - Blackfield II
Marillion - Clutching at Straws
And hard as I might try, I just can't seem to get into Riverside. Sorry, Zack.
Also the thought of those two being on the same stage is hilarious.
So I got my new guitar yesterday. An Epiphone Les Paul Studio. I got it with funds I got from selling my bass (finally) so I'm not at a loss. It's so very pretty, and I can finally play some songs that I've wanted to but didn't have the right tone (or for that matter, number of frets) to sound right.
Haven't named it yet, but I have a couple of ideas.
On the topic of having a guitar I can play, I want to get songmaking. Andrew and I were talking about doing some stuff for Imperial (a steampunk prog project we came up with once for god knows what reason, I think we were making fun of Metric), and There's A Couple of Guys Work The Panic, which I would really like to get working on, it's just a matter of the two of us being there at the same time and not either a) tired as hell b) about to go out or c) sleeping. It's been a busy summer and between money issues and things going on music time has been limited. I'm hoping to get past that soon though because I wanna.
Also, I have some songs written that I don't really think fit into either of those projects, but I dunno. That can wait.
On the topic of ambitions, Art... I really need to get on that shit. I spend close to an hour and a half a day on public transit. Maybe if I converted that from staring blankly into drawing time, I could get some work done. I find that once I start something like that I am much more inclined to see the final product, it's just that I spend far too much time thinking about it, and not enough time making it happen. Need to improve that.
I've said it a million times, but I'll say it again, I want an artist table at next year's FanExpo.
So, albums currently occupying my time:
QOTSA - Era Vulgaris
Blackfield - Blackfield II
Marillion - Clutching at Straws
And hard as I might try, I just can't seem to get into Riverside. Sorry, Zack.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Essay - Graphic Design History
Haven't done something like this in a while, so I figured I'd do it in a public arena so that you can see the inane methods to my awful essay writing. This is an essay due tomorrow. I am starting it ... now.
Topic? Alright I think I've got this narrowed down to something like "how does war influence trends in design?" but more eloquent? ... hmmm "What is the effect of war on the climate of design, its aesthetic and communicative methods, not only during but after the time of conflict" Something like that, anyway.
Okay, need 3 images, graphic design from periods pre 1900, 1900 - 1955, 1955 onward. Hmm, okay, the 1900 - 1955 is easy, I'll go with "Cut with a kitchen knife Dada through the last Weimar beer-belly cultural epoch of Germany" by Hannah Hoch, photomontage, crazy dadaist absurdity, 1919, lots of german post war angst, perfect.
The pre 1900 might be the trickiest, trying to work in the art neauvau thing, I can't think of a crazy design movement that happened because of any war before 1900 (at least not one we've covered in class). I might have to come back to this one.
Okay, 1955 onwards. I know the international style was born out of WW2, there was the fact that there was a huge shortage of all kinds of stuff after WW2 that could have contributed to the minimalist feeling of the images. I think I'll go with the VOLG grape juice poster from 1962 by Brockmann for this period, a good example of the minimalist feeling. Plus I could talk about it being unusual in the sense that it's using an irrational tone in a rational design period. Good idea Keith, have a pomegranate tea!
(back 6 minutes later)
Okay, pre 1900s, hmmm, this is gonna be harder. There is the easy way that I could do this, that is take an example of pre-WW1 design and compare/contrast it with post WW1 art, that is not to say that it would make writing the essay any easier, but I just don't think I'm going to be able to find another image at this point. So I guess that is it. So, I need to find the most blatantly ornate and "art nouveau" looking thing I can find.
Wait wait.
Sudden Idea. This might be better, it's a sudden change of topic, but what about :
"How design is used as a means of individuality on both large and smaller scales"
or more like
"Design as Identity: culture to corporation" and the thesis could read like "How graphic design is used as a means of setting ourselves apart"
For this one ...
pre 1900 - one of Gustav Klimt's posters for the vienna secession should work just fine.
1900-1955 - 2 options here. I could talk about de Stijl and it's whole distinct European feeling, but I feel that wouldn't do the time period justice. I think I'll do something like Purism, a direct rejection of the idea of individualizing nations, an attempt to unite Europe in a big artistic field ranging over furniture design and all that fun stuff. For purism I guess I could talk about ... Le Corbusier, and his "Pavillion de l'Espirit Nouveau" interior design from 1925.
!955 onwards - I think it's obvious that here I should talk about the advent of Coporate Identity, logos and branding. It will not be difficult to talk about this at ridiculous length, but to narrow it down to just one image, I would have to say ... Paul Rand's 1956 design for the IBM logo would be an obvious choice. Just, all around a good image to drive the point home.
Allright, my 3 images! Now I just need to do an outline and actually, you know, write the essay. FUCK
Topic? Alright I think I've got this narrowed down to something like "how does war influence trends in design?" but more eloquent? ... hmmm "What is the effect of war on the climate of design, its aesthetic and communicative methods, not only during but after the time of conflict" Something like that, anyway.
Okay, need 3 images, graphic design from periods pre 1900, 1900 - 1955, 1955 onward. Hmm, okay, the 1900 - 1955 is easy, I'll go with "Cut with a kitchen knife Dada through the last Weimar beer-belly cultural epoch of Germany" by Hannah Hoch, photomontage, crazy dadaist absurdity, 1919, lots of german post war angst, perfect.
The pre 1900 might be the trickiest, trying to work in the art neauvau thing, I can't think of a crazy design movement that happened because of any war before 1900 (at least not one we've covered in class). I might have to come back to this one.
Okay, 1955 onwards. I know the international style was born out of WW2, there was the fact that there was a huge shortage of all kinds of stuff after WW2 that could have contributed to the minimalist feeling of the images. I think I'll go with the VOLG grape juice poster from 1962 by Brockmann for this period, a good example of the minimalist feeling. Plus I could talk about it being unusual in the sense that it's using an irrational tone in a rational design period. Good idea Keith, have a pomegranate tea!
(back 6 minutes later)
Okay, pre 1900s, hmmm, this is gonna be harder. There is the easy way that I could do this, that is take an example of pre-WW1 design and compare/contrast it with post WW1 art, that is not to say that it would make writing the essay any easier, but I just don't think I'm going to be able to find another image at this point. So I guess that is it. So, I need to find the most blatantly ornate and "art nouveau" looking thing I can find.
Wait wait.
Sudden Idea. This might be better, it's a sudden change of topic, but what about :
"How design is used as a means of individuality on both large and smaller scales"
or more like
"Design as Identity: culture to corporation" and the thesis could read like "How graphic design is used as a means of setting ourselves apart"
For this one ...
pre 1900 - one of Gustav Klimt's posters for the vienna secession should work just fine.
1900-1955 - 2 options here. I could talk about de Stijl and it's whole distinct European feeling, but I feel that wouldn't do the time period justice. I think I'll do something like Purism, a direct rejection of the idea of individualizing nations, an attempt to unite Europe in a big artistic field ranging over furniture design and all that fun stuff. For purism I guess I could talk about ... Le Corbusier, and his "Pavillion de l'Espirit Nouveau" interior design from 1925.
!955 onwards - I think it's obvious that here I should talk about the advent of Coporate Identity, logos and branding. It will not be difficult to talk about this at ridiculous length, but to narrow it down to just one image, I would have to say ... Paul Rand's 1956 design for the IBM logo would be an obvious choice. Just, all around a good image to drive the point home.
Allright, my 3 images! Now I just need to do an outline and actually, you know, write the essay. FUCK
Sunday, November 01, 2009
It is beautiful ... then gone
In my typography class last week our prof mentioned a book by a designer that was called "It is beautiful ... then gone" and I am just now getting to thinking about it.
I think the book was about found objects and was a collection of the designer's work, but after thinking about it, the title just sums up so much of what we as designers do, exactly what our role is. If you think about it, we're creating images to make a huge impact, in a relatively small amount of time. Glancing from a car window at a billboard, looking at a poster on the walls of a subway station as your train pulls out. Nobody ever spends a lot of time looking at it, it's just there for a moment, and then it's gone. It needs to be as beautiful and as incredible as it can in that moment, or it is lost entirely. We'll spend hours, days, weeks staring at every letterform, making sure that everything lines up, that it is interesting, it has balance and rhythm and adheres to a certain tone. We are composing little symphonies of type and image, persuading, informing, and hopefully pleasing you. And we've got seconds to do it in.
We work on a canvas that exists not only in depth, height and width, but in time as well, in a very specific and small amount of time. It is beautiful then gone.
I think the book was about found objects and was a collection of the designer's work, but after thinking about it, the title just sums up so much of what we as designers do, exactly what our role is. If you think about it, we're creating images to make a huge impact, in a relatively small amount of time. Glancing from a car window at a billboard, looking at a poster on the walls of a subway station as your train pulls out. Nobody ever spends a lot of time looking at it, it's just there for a moment, and then it's gone. It needs to be as beautiful and as incredible as it can in that moment, or it is lost entirely. We'll spend hours, days, weeks staring at every letterform, making sure that everything lines up, that it is interesting, it has balance and rhythm and adheres to a certain tone. We are composing little symphonies of type and image, persuading, informing, and hopefully pleasing you. And we've got seconds to do it in.
We work on a canvas that exists not only in depth, height and width, but in time as well, in a very specific and small amount of time. It is beautiful then gone.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Sketchbook
I am doing homework right now, so this will be quick, but I feel I had to post this.
I came across two pages in my sketchbook today that I have no recollection of drawing. The first is a cartoon of a man riding on the back of a jack-o-lantern and shouting, but I haven't written anything in the speech bubble, and the second is a little girl sitting on the head of a giant robot and reading to it from a book of some kind.
Coming across these, clearly drawn by me, and with no recollection whatsoever is leading me to believe something that I haven't thought about for a long time. I used to think that I lost big gaps of time at night when I was alone because I can never remember what I did in that time. I dismissed that though, as me simply being asleep and therefore doing nothing and just not remembering falling asleep. This makes me question that dismissal though ...
Is this what it is I've been doing at night when I can't remember? If so that's swell and all, but I wonder if there's a way to get my brain to (apparently) autonomously do my studio work at night, so at least I'm being productive.
Ja
I came across two pages in my sketchbook today that I have no recollection of drawing. The first is a cartoon of a man riding on the back of a jack-o-lantern and shouting, but I haven't written anything in the speech bubble, and the second is a little girl sitting on the head of a giant robot and reading to it from a book of some kind.
Coming across these, clearly drawn by me, and with no recollection whatsoever is leading me to believe something that I haven't thought about for a long time. I used to think that I lost big gaps of time at night when I was alone because I can never remember what I did in that time. I dismissed that though, as me simply being asleep and therefore doing nothing and just not remembering falling asleep. This makes me question that dismissal though ...
Is this what it is I've been doing at night when I can't remember? If so that's swell and all, but I wonder if there's a way to get my brain to (apparently) autonomously do my studio work at night, so at least I'm being productive.
Ja
Thursday, July 16, 2009
The beast in Jamesian grove will never jump
So guess whose scanner is sitting in a garage in Clinton? MINE. This is pretty sucky, because I've got a pile of sketches that I was going to include in a blog post tonight. I may know someone with a scanner I can use, which would be sweet, but I am not going to bank on it, so I may or may not have a chance to put up some drawings sometime soon.
I finally sat down and started to write an adventure comic, but I'm having a problem coming up with a premise. I've got a ton of stories in my head and written down, but I don't really want to re-appropriate any of them to this work, I like them the way they are in my head right now, I just don't want to draw an epic this summer. I have a couple of ideas that link to other stories I've thought up, so I might work with one of those, but we'll have to see. I've got a couple of pages drawn up so I hope I can scan them sometime soon.
I also still have to scan the rough pencils I did for that one-shot a few days ago. It was sort of a dumb little story, but that's okay, it was really just practise. I'll upload that as soon as I can too.
We got new design computers at work today, they are running an RC of Windows 7 and I have to admit I'm impressed. The OS is pretty, it's functional and easy to use. I think with time I might even grow to like it more than OSX. It's a very nice OS and aside from a couple of networking issues it's running very smoothly. Well, that and the fact that these computers are - for a lack of better description - tricked the fuck out. They've got two sticks of 2GB RAM with massive fucking heat syncs on them that I've dubbed Thug-RAM. It's sexy.
Speaking of sexy, there's a Rival Boys show this Saturday at Lee's that I am pretty happy is happening. That will be a thing.
I finally sat down and started to write an adventure comic, but I'm having a problem coming up with a premise. I've got a ton of stories in my head and written down, but I don't really want to re-appropriate any of them to this work, I like them the way they are in my head right now, I just don't want to draw an epic this summer. I have a couple of ideas that link to other stories I've thought up, so I might work with one of those, but we'll have to see. I've got a couple of pages drawn up so I hope I can scan them sometime soon.
I also still have to scan the rough pencils I did for that one-shot a few days ago. It was sort of a dumb little story, but that's okay, it was really just practise. I'll upload that as soon as I can too.
We got new design computers at work today, they are running an RC of Windows 7 and I have to admit I'm impressed. The OS is pretty, it's functional and easy to use. I think with time I might even grow to like it more than OSX. It's a very nice OS and aside from a couple of networking issues it's running very smoothly. Well, that and the fact that these computers are - for a lack of better description - tricked the fuck out. They've got two sticks of 2GB RAM with massive fucking heat syncs on them that I've dubbed Thug-RAM. It's sexy.
Speaking of sexy, there's a Rival Boys show this Saturday at Lee's that I am pretty happy is happening. That will be a thing.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Colours
I've learned one thing this year, I think. I've discovered the one thing that's always there for me, the one thing that I love that will never leave me, my actual passion, my real life. And it's colour.
I've never known so absolutely that my life would be absolutely worthless without something, as much as I've know about colour. It can make me feel, make me taste, make me hear, make me see things that I didn't know existed.
It changes with me, it feels the same way I do. It is limitless in it's beauty. Nobody and nothing has ever made me feel as alive, or made life seem so worth living the way that colour has.
I can wield it the way a soldier wields a gun, the way a preacher wields a book, and at the same time the way a child wields a toy.
More than food, more than water, more than air I need it. It's better than religion, better than art, even when it's a part of it. Colour, to me, is better than sex.
I can control it, and it can control me. Our relationship is so wonderfully balanced, and even now, I know that it's all around me, even as I shut out the lights and lie down to sleep, I know it's right there behind my eyelids.
My biggest fear is that one day I'll wake up, and I won't be able to see it anymore, that it'll go away. But even then I know I could still feel it, I know I could still use it and it could still use me.
I love colour, and at the risk of sounding insane, I think I would die without it.
I guess that's why art will always have me, looks like it's time to abandon my dreams of being a neuro-surgeon.
I've never known so absolutely that my life would be absolutely worthless without something, as much as I've know about colour. It can make me feel, make me taste, make me hear, make me see things that I didn't know existed.
It changes with me, it feels the same way I do. It is limitless in it's beauty. Nobody and nothing has ever made me feel as alive, or made life seem so worth living the way that colour has.
I can wield it the way a soldier wields a gun, the way a preacher wields a book, and at the same time the way a child wields a toy.
More than food, more than water, more than air I need it. It's better than religion, better than art, even when it's a part of it. Colour, to me, is better than sex.
I can control it, and it can control me. Our relationship is so wonderfully balanced, and even now, I know that it's all around me, even as I shut out the lights and lie down to sleep, I know it's right there behind my eyelids.
My biggest fear is that one day I'll wake up, and I won't be able to see it anymore, that it'll go away. But even then I know I could still feel it, I know I could still use it and it could still use me.
I love colour, and at the risk of sounding insane, I think I would die without it.
I guess that's why art will always have me, looks like it's time to abandon my dreams of being a neuro-surgeon.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
I measure distance in lines
Hey, wanna look at some of the awful work with html and CSS I've been doing in class? No? Fuck you! Click the title link anyway.
(It's abstract arty shit so don't come whining to me about the navigation or layout)
Anyway, I've got the following assignments to do until the end of the year:
Fine Arts & Cultural Studies Essay : 50% done
Design & Image project 3 : 0% done
Design & Colour project 1 : 80% done
Design & Colour project 2 : 10% done
Design & Colour excercise 5: 0% done
NATS Short Story : 10% done
And a mish mash of smaller stuff I don't care to list.
This summer is going to be good. I will be working as a Graphic Designer at the school, for the time being, and making about 11$ an hour, which is pretty sweet. I really like the environment too, so that helps. Probably the best job I've ever had. Boy, this going to university thing really does work!
I've been wanting to get to work on any number of comic for a while now, 3 specific ones come to mind, but I haven't had any time at all, and probably won't for a while. I also want to DnD sometime soon, but I don't see that happening until June at least. Hopefully this summer I will have some more time to work on that, I feel like some of the ideas I've had over the past few months really need to get down on paper, it's just insane finding the time to do so.
Speaking of not having time to do things - I have to get back to work, then hit up the design labs to finish Design & Colour excercise 5 and get to work on Design & Colour project 2
(It's abstract arty shit so don't come whining to me about the navigation or layout)
Anyway, I've got the following assignments to do until the end of the year:
Fine Arts & Cultural Studies Essay : 50% done
Design & Image project 3 : 0% done
Design & Colour project 1 : 80% done
Design & Colour project 2 : 10% done
Design & Colour excercise 5: 0% done
NATS Short Story : 10% done
And a mish mash of smaller stuff I don't care to list.
This summer is going to be good. I will be working as a Graphic Designer at the school, for the time being, and making about 11$ an hour, which is pretty sweet. I really like the environment too, so that helps. Probably the best job I've ever had. Boy, this going to university thing really does work!
I've been wanting to get to work on any number of comic for a while now, 3 specific ones come to mind, but I haven't had any time at all, and probably won't for a while. I also want to DnD sometime soon, but I don't see that happening until June at least. Hopefully this summer I will have some more time to work on that, I feel like some of the ideas I've had over the past few months really need to get down on paper, it's just insane finding the time to do so.
Speaking of not having time to do things - I have to get back to work, then hit up the design labs to finish Design & Colour excercise 5 and get to work on Design & Colour project 2
Friday, November 28, 2008
Question
Does anybody know if there is a foolproof way to transfer all of my posts from this blog to one on wordpress? I think that if I am going to make my blog and portfolio work cohesively then Wordpress might be the better option based on the designs for my portfolio that I am considering.
Also, in the way of news, I am getting off my ass and drawing a webcomic. It's called "Uncle Andy" and it's about a jobless, sad man in his mid to late 30's (Uncle Andy) who lives with his slightly more successful and upstanding friend (Dave) and his son and daughter.
Essentially it came from a conversation I had with Andrew about how when we are older I'll be a mildly successful graphic designer and he'll be a jobless bum with an English degree living in my garage. So we said "hey! webcomic!"
We have like 3 written and Im gonna draw some up this weekend while I should be doing Killing Time.
Ja
Also, in the way of news, I am getting off my ass and drawing a webcomic. It's called "Uncle Andy" and it's about a jobless, sad man in his mid to late 30's (Uncle Andy) who lives with his slightly more successful and upstanding friend (Dave) and his son and daughter.
Essentially it came from a conversation I had with Andrew about how when we are older I'll be a mildly successful graphic designer and he'll be a jobless bum with an English degree living in my garage. So we said "hey! webcomic!"
We have like 3 written and Im gonna draw some up this weekend while I should be doing Killing Time.
Ja
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Signifier/Signified
So York is on strike. There isn't a lockout, which means I still have access to the labs, albeit a very limited amount of time each day. I still have classes on wednesday and tomorrow I have a major test in my Critical Issues in Design course. Wooooo.
Anyway, in my spare time I've done a fair bit of drawing. Mostly little comics and sketches and stuff, but I'll get to that in another post when I have time to upload it all.
I have been working on a re-design for my portfolio site, and so far I've had time to work on three solutions. Unfortunately I am at the labs and only have some process for one of them here, so I will show you that.
I am going for a bit more simply organized site this time around, having a main page, an about page, a contact page and a gallery page, rather than a page dedicated to each of the categories that my gallery will contain. This particular design works on an axial balance at the top of the page, and the colour scheme is fairly neutral, without being too bland.
The font I used for all of that header is Univers. The body font might be something in the Garamond family, or maybe minion, I haven't decided anything other than the fact that it will be a serif font, mainly because there won't be a whole lot of body text outside of the about page, so I wanted a decent amount of contrast.
I won't be putting any sort of news on the main/splash/home page, instead I might just put the last major work that I did, or failing that some recent work that I like, I'm not sure for this one yet. It's probably my favorite of the ones I have, it's also in early stages though.
There's another one that's a blue colour scheme with brighter more decorative heading text, and another that's closer to the one I have now, just optimized.
But yeah, I plan to host all of my school work on it, so that people can see what it is that I am wasting 8000.00 a year doing here. It's not going to be ready any time soon, I'm aiming to launch a re-designed site in 2009 (as in January 1st) so that gives me a little more of a feasible timeline to do this, seeing as I need to create a site that I can easily update.
Anyway, back to working on Visual Language ... sigh.
Ja Ne.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Remember Remember the 5th of November.
So, as it turns out, there's like a 99% chance that as of the end of this week, my school will be closed as the result of a strike.
Let me try to make you understand how much this sucks. I pay about 8000.00 in tuition per year for my program, if there is a strike, we have to make the time up that we miss somehow, which means that the school year will be pushed into the summer, leaving me less time to work, and ultimately, less time to make money, meaning that depending on how long the strike lasts, there is a very real chance that I may not be able to return for a second year, at least not immediately.
However, if there is a strike, it will give me an opportunity to do a number of things that I have been putting off for some time now.
First and foremost is Killing Time issue 2. The issue is thumbnailed and ready to be drawn, I just haven't had the time to in recent months. However in the event of a strike, that could happen.
I also want to update my portfolio. The current portfolio is shoddily programmed and was put together fairly fast as an attempt to display my work for universities. Now that I am in school, I want to use it to chronicle that, and to display the work that I am doing in the event that any potential employers should some across it, they might have a more up to date idea of what work I am doing right now.
I should mention that because this blog is designed to match my current portfolio, any changes I make will probably result in blog being re-designed as well, probably.
And lastly, a project that I have been thinking about and planning for sometime now. I won't say too much about it in case I don't end up having any time for it, but it involves a hobo named Mac, and it's goddamned heartwarming.
Anyway, I guess I should get back to homework, not that I think I will need to hand it in this week, but you never know.
Ja.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Just turn around, yeah, you're not welcome anymore.
So I think I need to go grocery shopping, I haven't had anything vaguely nutritious in the house for a good long while, with the exception of a Beef Stew that My friend Jenny and I made (and by that, I of course mean that Jenny made it while I stood around and pretended I was useful).
Classes are insane, they're asinine, they're taxing, and they're awesome. If I wasn't sure that this was what I wanted to do before, I sure as hell am now. I think that my love of design has only multiplied through all of these insane deadlines and bad marks and long strings of all-nighters pulled only to achieve an abysmal grade. I see things differently, I can tell why the stupid fucking type on the Sunglass Hut billboard is arranged the way it is, I know a whole ton of otherwise unimportant and useless things, and I love it, it's like being 8 years old, and having a language that only you and the other people in your clubhouse understand. Sure other people can hear you speaking it, but deep down, only you know why it makes them feel the way it does.
In the next week, I have to finish :
1 Visual language assignment - Vectorizing parts of images from the image archive we compiled over the last couple of weeks.
2 Typography assignment - Page layouts for a book of Aesop's Fables.
3 Typography assignment - Research and design a poster that gives information of a method of communication in the field of type (in my case, Caroline Miniscules)
4 Critical Issues in Design assignment - Rough draft of an essay comparing author's methods of describing the the Apple iMac , a Photo and a poster.
5 Fine Arts and Cultural Studies assignment - write a review on a piece of art outside of your primary discipline.
For that last one I will use either the CAKE show or The Dark Knight. I haven't decided yet.
Anyway, I should get to working on that stuff, but before I do, I should mention, because I don't think I mention it enough, that Zack and Chris are awesome, and essentially my brothers, and we need to hang out more.
Ja
Classes are insane, they're asinine, they're taxing, and they're awesome. If I wasn't sure that this was what I wanted to do before, I sure as hell am now. I think that my love of design has only multiplied through all of these insane deadlines and bad marks and long strings of all-nighters pulled only to achieve an abysmal grade. I see things differently, I can tell why the stupid fucking type on the Sunglass Hut billboard is arranged the way it is, I know a whole ton of otherwise unimportant and useless things, and I love it, it's like being 8 years old, and having a language that only you and the other people in your clubhouse understand. Sure other people can hear you speaking it, but deep down, only you know why it makes them feel the way it does.
In the next week, I have to finish :
1 Visual language assignment - Vectorizing parts of images from the image archive we compiled over the last couple of weeks.
2 Typography assignment - Page layouts for a book of Aesop's Fables.
3 Typography assignment - Research and design a poster that gives information of a method of communication in the field of type (in my case, Caroline Miniscules)
4 Critical Issues in Design assignment - Rough draft of an essay comparing author's methods of describing the the Apple iMac , a Photo and a poster.
5 Fine Arts and Cultural Studies assignment - write a review on a piece of art outside of your primary discipline.
For that last one I will use either the CAKE show or The Dark Knight. I haven't decided yet.
Anyway, I should get to working on that stuff, but before I do, I should mention, because I don't think I mention it enough, that Zack and Chris are awesome, and essentially my brothers, and we need to hang out more.
Ja
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Blambot is a goldmine
Alright, so I'm nearly done the ink for the first issue of Killing Time, and I'm starting to think about lettering.
We've decided on the Font Digital Strip from Blambot for the main text in the comic.
Although if we could wrangle up the 20$ for it, I would also like to go with Blambot Pro.
But I could also live with Letter - O - Matic...
So in conclusion we haven't settled on shit just yet. But anyway, the point of the post was to show you some of the sound effects I've been playing with. These aren't by any means actual shots from the comic. The first image is the poster, and the second is a shitty thing I did for University. I just wanted to give them some background.
We've decided on the Font Digital Strip from Blambot for the main text in the comic.
Although if we could wrangle up the 20$ for it, I would also like to go with Blambot Pro.
But I could also live with Letter - O - Matic...
So in conclusion we haven't settled on shit just yet. But anyway, the point of the post was to show you some of the sound effects I've been playing with. These aren't by any means actual shots from the comic. The first image is the poster, and the second is a shitty thing I did for University. I just wanted to give them some background.
So that's all the Killing Time news for now. The first issue should be inked by the end of the week, and the first 6 pages already have flat colours.
In other news, while taking a break from inking, I decided to play with an idea I had for a comic a while ago (like a year). I'm not sure how funny it is anymore, but I'm pretty happy with the way the art turned out. Unfortunately, I only brought this image with me on my flashdrive today:
Which is a screenshot of a part of a single panel of the comic being worked on that I made for some reason. It's done though, so I'll bring it tomorrow and update again.
Ja.
In other news, while taking a break from inking, I decided to play with an idea I had for a comic a while ago (like a year). I'm not sure how funny it is anymore, but I'm pretty happy with the way the art turned out. Unfortunately, I only brought this image with me on my flashdrive today:
Which is a screenshot of a part of a single panel of the comic being worked on that I made for some reason. It's done though, so I'll bring it tomorrow and update again.
Ja.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Peddling our Cheesy Wares.
So tomorrow Andrew and I will head over to Goderich to pay a visit to a little hobby store called The Literary Dragon. We are hoping that they will be so kind as to put up a few issues of our comic for sale.
In order to help things along I made up this image that will be printed on an 11x15" poster and placed in their window (should they accept)
So yeah, wish us the greatest of luck, for we shall be needing it.
In order to help things along I made up this image that will be printed on an 11x15" poster and placed in their window (should they accept)
So yeah, wish us the greatest of luck, for we shall be needing it.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Ink Ink and more Ink
Digital ink, I suppose.So anyway, I'm roughly halfway done the inking for the first issue of Killing Time, and it's coming along pretty nicely. It's difficult to sit here and ink panel after panel though, and it's becoming pretty taxing on my wrist, given the angle at which I have to sit. Gah, what I wouldn't do for a Cintiq.
Andrew and I went into a hobby/bookstore not too far from here, and we had every intention of forcing the comic onto their shelves, however, the owner wasn't in, so we are going to have to return on wednesday (or some time around there). However, this trip has left us a little more time to prepare, in that we will most likely have something poster worthy (or at least, "throw this in your window please" worthy) the next time we head down there.
If all goes well, we will be able to peddle our cheesy wares there for issues to come as well.
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