One of my goals for Ex-Boyfriend this year was to in some way film myself working on a design and create a time-lapsed clip of it to post on YouTube. I finally got around to starting this project about a week and a half ago, and finished the editing last night. It features most of the process that my newest design required—I had some camcorder issues, so I apologize for not including the actual sketching of the design concept. Just as well, since most of that footage probably would have featured more of the top of my head than the actual paper.
I also have to thank my good friend Gary for permitting me to soundtrack the clip with his band The Outdoors’ song ‘I’m Just Drifting’. If you like the track, feel free to become a fan on Facebook and visit their website. Their EP is excellent (Amazing? Sure, that works.), and if you live on the west coast, check them out live—they’re currently on tour!
Anyway, this one is for you guys, the fans—I hope you enjoy it
So I’ve been working furiously for about a week and a half on a new design that was pretty ambitious. It features a lot of different elements, two conflicting styles of art, all for kind of a weird payoff. But I think it looks pretty cool:
It’s called Robo Retro Carnival, and it’s sort of a synthesis of two of my favorite art and cultural movements of the 20th century: art nouveau, and futurism. Art nouveau poster design from the 1890′s and 1900′s features some of the coolest illustration and painting, with very dense and detailed work. In contrast, the space-age futurism of the 1950′s and 1960′s is all about clean lines, primary colors, and space (both figurative and literal), much like art deco in the 1920′s and 1930′s, but depicting artistic visions of the future.
So what better way to combine the two than with a robotic carnival?
I also decided to record myself working on this design, and hopefully will wrap up editing today and be able to post the video tomorrow. You won’t see much of me besides the top of my head, but hopefully it’ll be cool to watch this whole thing come together!
Sometimes I miss certain coworkers from my previous jobs. While I am in no way suggesting that being a member of the workforce is in any way the same as fighting in a war (support our troops an’ all that), it can’t be denied that there is a bond formed when you go through particularly harrowing days or weeks at the office. I suspect that for most people, it’s that camaraderie that gets them to go back each day (that, and we all need to put food on our families. Cash rules everything around us, no?)
However, typically those work-comrades make up a pretty tiny percentage of the fools and trolls we have to put up with on a daily basis. The rest of them often fall into one of the the following six categories:
Post your most awful coworker anecdote in the comments section! Winner gets an “awww” and a cyber-pat-on-the-back from me!
Sixteen Candles, Pretty In Pink, The Breakfast Club, and Some Kind of Wonderful have all been making the rounds on TV in the last few weeks. Even Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was on Saturday night. All of this John Hughes-mania got me to thinking: how would one go about finding out who their ideal 80s iconic boyfriend is? Using my recently-busted Final Four bracket as an inspiration, here’s my flow chart for helping you find out!
Apologies to Farmer Ted for the omission, but head-gear and panty profiteering gets an immediate disqualification. Also, I could probably do one of these entirely comprised of characters John Cusack played: Lane Meyer, Lloyd Dobler, Walter “Gib” Gibson, Hoops McCann, Bryce (in Sixteen Candles), Denny LaChance (Stand By Me)…dude was everywhere!
So much new art to share with you today, you guys. First, there’s Whale Trip, a lysergic odyssey of large proportions. Then, there’s International Boozing; the globe, re-imagined for those of us who do most of our cultural explorations with our livers:
A new liquor store just opened in the neighborhood next to ours, and I of course had to scope out its beer selection. It was pretty impressive, and thankfully offered a different variety from the other stores in the area. I picked up two kinds, Allagash’s Tripel Ale (good, but not the best tripel I’ve had), and Dogfish Head’s Palo Santo Marron. The PSM was pretty awesome; classified as a brown ale, but man, is it dark. Almost stout-y. And far be it from me to dump on Guinness, but PSM is much smoother and more complex, with a strong vanilla nose and flavor to go along with the oak-iness. Just a lot going on (in a good way), and a nice choice if you don’t like stouts much. Watch out, though—at 12% ABV, it packs a creeping wallop.
Also wanted to let you guys know about a couple new designs that just went up in the last day or two: Luchador Luchador, and Pho-King Delicious. Check ‘em out!
So much new art, you guys. A ridiculous amount. Not only do I have two new ones of my own in the can and more coming in the next week, but new guest artist Hidden Eloise dropped EIGHT beautiful new ones in my lap last week that I threw up last night. Here are a couple samples:
You can see the rest of Eloise’s designs here and here, and you can check out her online shop here to see her prints, jewelry postcards, etc. Now, everyone settle down and say hello to your new friend!
1. Where are you from (both originally and currently)?
I live in the North of England, in the rolling hills of Yorkshire. Not to be confused with “the” Shire, but pretty close none the less.
2. Has that at all shaped you as an artist, or otherwise affected your creative processes?
The forests around here are enchanting, old but orderly somehow, not brimming with life but with enough little creatures to make every walk interesting and surprising. Whether I actually walk the forests around here or look at them from my window and imagine I’m there, there is a lot of the land in my art.
3. Can you let us know about some other visual artists that you admire and draw inspiration from?
The three art movements that have influenced me more than anything are Art Nouveau, Japanese Ukiyo-e and the Dutch Golden Age. You can see all of them seeping into my art, especially my latest collection “War of the Roses”. For specific artists from those bygone days, I love Rembrandt and Utagawa Yoshitoshi. On a slightly related note, I adore Shin Yun-bok!
4. How about non-visual artists (musicians, friends, family, public figures, filmmakers, writers, etc)?
I think my art looks well while listening to Cocteau Twins (Ed. Note: Yes, definitely. Maybe something early, like Treasure, Garland, or Victorialand), though I don’t necessarily draw inspiration from their dreamy world directly.
5. Did you receive any formal art training, whether it be in college, or elective classes in high school, middle school and so on?
Before I spent many misplaced years in university (getting a degree in Architecture that I have exactly zero desire to now make use of) I spent a year studying fine art. It was a great year, practicing classical painting and sculpting and I did get some knowledge out of it. I am mostly self-taught though and the greatest learning period has been the last three years that I struck out as an indie artist.
6. What’s your creative process like? Do you work in silence, or with music/TV/some other background noise on? Do you have a specific space set aside for working on art? What are your preferred mediums?
First, I need ideas and this is something that cannot be controlled or easily quantified. I note down ideas and make sketches whenever and wherever they happen to appear in my mind and as a result I happen to have an impossible amount of notebooks! Sometimes my ideas are specific emotions that seek an image and sometimes there is a very specific image that I need to see on paper.
When I know what I want to work with my process changes radically. I work on every artwork persistently and analytically, with planning and many iterations until I’m satisfied. The whole process takes around 10 full days on average and during that time there is mostly music, some silence, no TV and as little background noise as possible.
I always start with pencil on paper and that could be anywhere in the house that I can find a flat enough surface. After the drawing is done I do most of the work at my desk and I paint most of the art digitally with my mighty Wacom Cintiq21UX, a tablet built onto a screen so I can draw with a digital pen directly. This is the technique I’m currently infatuated with and I’m still just scratching the surface of the possibilities.
7. Do you have any pop cultural guilty pleasures you’d like to admit to?
I like C.S.I. Las Vegas. (Ed. Note: I’d like to make a snobby remark about this, but I just realized I’m a regular Gossip Girl viewer) It’s useful though! Never know when you’ll have to cover up a hideous crime… (Ed. Note: True.)
8. What are some of your favorite web haunts? Any blogs or websites you’d like to turn more people on to?
How about veganyumyum.com for animal-less eating? And then onto http://www.youtube.com/user/tedtalksdirector for something inspiring to watch during lunch! I think I have seen over 90% of all TED talks and I’m working on the last 10%!
9. Do you have any pets?
My kitchen-monster of a partner doesn’t count, I suppose. So no pets, not at the moment.
10. Beer, wine, or liquor? Which kind (ales, porters, pilsners, reds, whites, rums, vodkas)?
Some light white wine is as far as my relationship with alcohol goes these days.
11. If you had access to Doc Brown’s Delorean in Back to the Future, when in time would you go?
One of my hobbies is reading history. Especially history of the far east. So despite my better judgement, my heart takes me to 17th century Japan, just after the great wars ended. I would take in the sights and live the idealised dream for a short time, before running away as fast as possible, back to the future, to avoid the swift and terrible end that those rough and brutal times would gift me.
12. Cake, pie or cookies (ice cream and candy are also acceptable, but be specific)?
I am vegan for moral reasons, so pretty much all the sweets in the market are out of reach for me. So I make my own and I can be very specific in my desires! Currently in the fridge, wobbling blissfully, are a few tubs of vegan Japanese style caramel purin! Oh yes!
I know I’m off by a day, but cut me some slack; I’ve been laid low for nigh on two weeks by what has to be the worst cold I’ve ever had, and spent most of my weekend crying into my pajama sleeve over the fact that said cold prevented me from experiencing the Belgian Beer Festival being held mere blocks away. Plus, let’s not forget the high-maintenance kittens we’ve been fostering since Wednesday!
But enough of excuses; this week I’m happy to introduce two new designs in our guest artist series, courtesy of Milwaukee-based illustrator Matty Cipov: I Love Unicorns, and Tiger Owl.
Let’s go straight to the unicorn’s mouth for a little more background info on the artist, shall we?
1. Where are you from (both originally and currently)?
I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, raised in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and now I am back in MIlwaukee. I love it here.
2. Has that at all shaped you as an artist, or otherwise affected your creative processes?
The only thing I think being in the Milwaukee area, or the Midwest has done is that it has made me love our art scene rather than feel like I am lost in the fray of too many artists. Don’t get me wrong, we have a ton of good artists, but we aren’t overly choked with them like some other parts of the country are.
3. Can you let us know about some other visual artists that you admire and draw inspiration from?
Here is a quick list (if I think about it too much, it’ll be painful to compile this): JACK DAVIS… CHARLES BURNS… EGON SCHIELE…. DC COMICS… EC COMICS… DANIEL CLOWES… JACK KIRBY… AUBREY BEARDSLEY… and the list goes on and on and on…
4. How about non-visual artists (musicians, friends, family, public figures, filmmakers, writers, etc)?
Another quick list: RICKY GERVAIS… CHARLES BUKOWSKI… LENNY BRUCE… TRACY MORGAN… CORMAC McCARTHY… RADIOHEAD… WILLIAM BURROUGHS… MARK BORCHARDT… MY GRANDMA… KISS… SCHARPLING AND WURSTER… GEORGE ROMERO (circa the 1970′s and 1980′s)… STEVE COOGAN… RICHARD PRYOR… I could go on forever.
5. Did you receive any formal art training, whether it be in college, or elective classes in high school, middle school and so on?
When I was a youngster, I was always drawing. When I was in middle school and high school, I took as many art classes as I could wrap my brain around. And then for college, I attended the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design where I got a Bachelors degree in Illustration. I’ve always wanted to be a professional artist.
6. What’s your creative process like? Do you work in silence, or with music/TV/some other background noise on? Do you have a specific space set aside for working on art? What are your preferred mediums?
I like getting right to final art. I don’t like letting sketching or penciling guide me too much. I like getting right to paint and ink and the process of building my compositions based off of the core ideas I might have, but allowing for tangents and experiments to mutate what I think the finished art will end up looking like. And when I am truly inspired, art making is a fast process. Because of that, I limit myself to just pencil, ink and acrylic paint markers.
And I could never work in silence. I always have something playing in the background. It could be a food show… a comedy album… some crazy instrumental music… or possibly an episode of one of the most amazing shows ever: Parks and Recreation. That show always makes me laugh; it gets the giggles out of me more in 22 minutes than most hour and a half movies can. It’s good art fuel.
And yes, I do have an office in my basement, but dang, in the wintertime, it is really hard to be down there and draw. At this time of year, I prefer working on my bed.
7. Do you have any pop cultural guilty pleasures you’d like to admit to?
Not really. I am a major geek and always embraced all of the kitsch and corny stuff that brings me smiles. I don’t take myself too seriously and because of that, I don’t have too many entertainment bones in my closet. Just ask my wife!!!
8. What are some of your favorite web haunts? Any blogs or websites you’d like to turn more people on to?
I frequent far too many websites to even start this list. I have to keep my brain full of trivia… otherwise I think I might die. The internet keeps me full of facts and fun info and at times, confusion.
9. Do you have any pets?
Actually yes. Owing to my allergies to most furry critters, I have a pet cockatiel named Shadow. Many other parts of my life were enjoyed with pet turtles.
10. Beer, wine, or liquor? Which kind (ales, porters, pilsners, reds, whites, rums, vodkas)?
I enjoy a nice size glass of red wine most nights before bed. It helps me relax and shake off the intensity and over-thinking that I fill my days with all too often.
11. If you had access to Doc Brown’s Delorean in Back to the Future, when in time would you go?
I’d love to check out the 1950′s. The comic scene… the toys… the candy… the decor… the movies… I would love to hang out in the fifties and have a whale of a time.
12. Cake, pie or cookies (ice cream and candy are also acceptable, but be specific)?
I go in and out of phases. Maybe a while ago, I would have told you I was more into cakes, or donuts. At the moment, I am most into all of the weird new fruity favors of gum that are coming out… but chocolate comes in a close second…. and who doesn’t love a slice of good pie????
Indeed, who doesn’t love a slice of good pie? You can check out more of Matty’s work at his Etsy shop and on his website. I encourage you to do so; it’s all very excellent!
Then, there’s this little bit of awesome: my new tee design, Reasons I’m Late. If you dig my 3-Day Forecast shirt, you’ll probably like this one. You should maybe buy them both?
our customers
1. Where are you from (both originally and currently)?
