illo talk: Recent Episodes
Cory Kerr
The life of art, illustration, design and creativity. What is it like to lead a life of choosing to create things rather than merely consume them?
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This comic is a short I put together that originally was published in the Werewolves and Unicorns Anthology. One of my favorite things with this was researching all the creatures from different legends and mythologies to jam in there. I hope you like it… and if you do, consider sharing it on social media.
I’ve finally put together a page about my animated short. I can’t show it publicly yet, but I’ve gathered together all the social media posts that I made during the production of the film so you can build your own little behind the scenes out of them. Anyway, check out the page and let me know what you think.
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So, sometimes I go on a rant. The best way to view this video is to follow it up by listening to this episode of the 48 Hour Art Check Podcast… anywho, here you go.
Process, sketches, inks and colorsThe client asked for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as bikers. They didn't have many specifics in mind, which leaves me with a huge amount of freedom, but can also lead to doing a ton of work that doesn't get approved. I could easily see this happening with the character design on this one, so I did the following 43 character heads to narrow down what they really want for each of the four riders.
These sketches proved to be extremely helpful in figuring out the character designs without having to do a billion revisions. Huge time saver for me and the client. I did want to have a few of the riders be girls, but they didn't go for that (so watch out for the female versions of the riders in the future).
The various numbered heads allowed the client to easily navigate each design. Instead of saying, "The one in the upper right-ish area that kind of looks like a sailor..." they can just say, "number 7." You'll notice that they liked a few of these designs with very few changes.
I did the same for the bikes. A lot of people would tackle this scene with the riders riding down the freeway, but I pitched the idea of have them be posed for a club photo. I have some riding experience and I've found that the real hard core dudes don't feel the need to front and show off. The biggest threats would be casually standing next to their bikes not caring what you thought of them. I took that into the poses of these guys and wanted them to be intimidating (low camera angle) but casual about it. I explained why I wanted to do the fanned out bikes and the client went for it.
After I nailed down the arrangement of the bikes and the four riders' heads, I got out my big paper. I like sketching really large, especially since this will be an 8 foot wide sign. You'll notice that I was playing a little with the symbolism of each rider and how their attributes might translate to clothing, weapons, bike and physical appearance. The riders, War, Famine, Death and Pestilence, are each described with what they do and the color of their horse in the Book of Revelation.
Speed Time-lapse Videos War
I outfitted War with as many different types of soldiers' gear that I could. I used uniforms, gear and weapons from different time periods and countries including Ancient Greece, Colonial UK, LA streets, Medieval Europe, WWII and Vietnam. His bike is a red modified WWI with mounted ammo box and rifle.
Famine
Famine was a really fun one to do. First off, I was trying to decide whether he'd be really fat, as if he was causing the famine or whether he'd be really emaciated. I decided to go with the latter because I wanted these guys to be the embodiment rather than the cause of what they represent. So, Famine looks like he hasn't eaten in a long time. Everything in the verses is represented here.
And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
He has the judgement scales and his sleeve tattoo references Rev 6:6. His Converse Chuck Taylors and bike are thin and stripped down. I went with tall narrow ape hangers to elongate the bike and make it feel thinner.
Death
Death was interesting because The Reaper has been pretty well defined by many artists and writers in the past. I went with a thick Roadking style bike to add to the weighty idea of death. The color of the bike is described as "pale," but apocryphal writings often depict and describe this color as a sickly light green, or the color of a corpse. I added the bandana because I want these riders to feel authentic and not cartoonie. I used to roll with a dude that just used a bandana over his nose and mouth when he rides.
Pestilence
Pestilence (aka conquest) has a white bike. Again, with the embodiment idea, Pestilence wears a modified steampunk gas mask to protect against the pollution, poison and plague. He's wearing a shearling lined Swiss Army Sniper jacket called the m1909 field coat. This is the same jacket worn by Batman's Bane and Vin Diesel in XXX. There's a lot of symbolism here, firstly, it's part of a military uniform, but it also has the symbolism of the sheep's skin, or in other words, something had to die to make that jacket.
I've finished (almost) the first page of this short comic and I thought I'd talk about some of the tools I'm using to ink it as well as some of the storytelling and compositional choices I'm making and why. So let's jump in and talk about comic book art and stuff!
I’m too lazy to put the images and whatnot here, so click here to see the instagram post with all that jazz
Finished inking this page. Turned out okay. One down, three to go. #thee100santhology #makingcomics #inking #inkingcomics #comicbookart
46 Likes, 6 Comments - ★ Cory Kerr ★ (@coryrkerr) on Instagram: "Finished inking this page. Turned out okay. One down, three to go. #thee100santhology #makingcomics..."
I'm doing another Sticker Stint and you should do it with me. All you have to do is design or illustrate a sticker everyday for the last bit of February and share it with the hashtag #stickerstint.
Start with the idea phase, or what I call, "day zero," and come up with as many ideas as you can. Get out your notebooks and sketchbooks and write, draw, sketch, brainstorm, mind map, create word lists, do blackout poetry, read, take long walks, shower several times a day... whatever it takes to get the ideas coming. Plan out as much as you can to get started, then when Feb 14 hits, start making stickers. Make one everyday and share it with everyone.
More details can be found at http://www.corykerr.com/stickerstint
What is the problem with tribalism? When people get together and stop thinking as individuals, we get some major mob mentality problems. Being an individual balanced with the greater society is the goal. In this episode, I talk about how some existential theory might help us strike a balance of thinking for ourselves whilst keeping the collective society in mind.
What are you willing to pretend isn't happening if a group or issue you're aligning with is benefiting you? I'm talking about trains running on time under Mussolini, economic recovery under Hitler, and some benefits under groups that tend to have some huge downsides to their behavior...
Everyone seems to freak out about everything lately... here's a list of 10 reasons people get pissed about things like Star Wars and She Ra
Are you struggling to start a passion project? Having trouble staying motivated on your side hustle? Creativity isn't magic, it's a process. There are driven people out there, but they don't have anything that you don't have... their productivity on their personal projects comes from a series of practices.
Starting a personal project that stretches you, makes you feel vulnerable, that you work on often and that you share publicly will you put you in the optimal situation to learn and grow as an artist.
Starting a personal project that stretches you, makes you feel vulnerable, that you work on often and that you share publicly will you put you in the optimal situation to learn and grow as an artist.
Here's some unedited notes:Higher order thinking is dependent on foundational knowledge (people who have memorized lots of math, can do higher levels of math) The more you recall a memory of an event and tell that story, the more surrounding information is remembered. The more we do this in our lives, the more important those things that we constantly recall into working memory become.
Our brains put importance on things that are recalled more frequently and each time we recall them, we improve our ability to access them in both speed and depth. We are literally carving out deeper and faster paths to the skills, knowledge and memories that we recall often.
Two aspects of this come into play:
- spacing the learning over time
- retrieval practice
Rich Connection NetworkWhen we first start out learning, we have little or no connection network. As we learn and internalize many new concepts, we begin to associate new connections between previously unrelated ideas. The greater your mental connection network is on a subject, the faster you'll be able to add to it and the better you'll be able to recall and use it. Experts call this a "Rich connection network"
CuriosityIt seems that the best learning happens when we SEEK out knowledge ourselves. The main driver of seeking tends to be curiosity. This is why you hear so many artists and writers talk about the importance of being curious about things. They may not know the neurological benefits or the science of learning, but they've recognized that being curious is key trait to those that create. Curiosity can be peaked at the intersection of problems, questions and challenges. This is the best state of for optimal learning.
The WhyOne note on understanding and retention: knowing and being able to articulate "the why" of things increases your ability to access skills and knowledge for a number of reasons, the most obvious is that it enriches your connection network because the why often relates the previously unrelated.
Say it loudOne of the best ways to solidify and understand the why of something is reason it out loud to someone else I have suggested for years that the best way to improve your art is to take on a side hustle.
This should have three main components:
- it should be slightly outside your comfort zone
- you should spend multiple days a week doing it
- you should share your work publicly and often.
Interestingly enough, this seems to be the formula for the best learning. If you start a project, you will trigger the necessary ingredients to engage your creativity, thus causing you to seek out knowledge and skills to solve the daily problems that your project presents.
Spread it out, avoid crammingIf you spread out the production of this work and it becomes part of your routine, then you'll avoid the downsides of cramming and gain the benefits of a rich connection network of ideas and skills causing you to be able to more quickly recall and learn. Then, in sharing your progress out loud in a public setting, you'll solidify the reasoning that you went through during the process, thus carving a deeper groove in your brain for that activity.
In other words...if I start a comic and come up against the problem of rendering the human figure, then I'll seek out the solution to that problem, study and practice to get better at rendering people and eventually start to have a foundational understanding of the working parts and how they interact. With this foundation, I'll begin to notice more and more detail and expand on what I already know. All the while I'm recalling all of this often as I draw more panels and pages, increasing the importance of that stuff to my brain which causes greater connections and further increases my ability to learn more and expand my rich connection network on the human form. Then as I explain my progress and process publicly on my vlog, I'll begin to verbalize and articulate why all these things work together thus further solidifying the information in my long term memory and increasing the number of connections in my networks causing an increased ability to recall those things quickly and fully when I need them.
Are you a Hobbyist or a Professional... or are you something else. Defining our art by money is a problematic approach to our work because it turns our art into a product or a widget. A professional is a working artist. Either an employee or freelancer, someone who gets paid.What are you if money doesn't define your art? The terms working artist, hobbyist, aspiring artist, creative, etc are all problematic for various reasons. So, if you create for reasons other than employment, money or fun, how do you self-identify?
Cheshire is releasing a 5 song album titled, "...at least there's pizza" and asked me to do the cover. So here's the final image. I juxtaposed color temperature and mood in this one. You can see the process in the two videos listed below.
Traditional ink on paper, then colored digitally. You can see the tools I use for inks here.
album cover * My organized video page: http://www.corykerr.com/videos Catch me on social media: http://www.corykerr.com http://www.twitter.com/corykerr http://www.instagram.com/coryrkerr http://www.youtube.com/corykerrart Buy shirts and stickers and stuff: http://www.corykerr.com/store https://www.teepublic.com/user/corykerr https://www.designbyhumans.com/shop/corykerr https://corykerr.threadless.com/ Get a free audiobook (and support this channel in the process): http://www.audibletrial.com/illotalk My illustration portfolio: http://www.corykerr.com/illustration My latest blog posts: http://www.corykerr.com/blog * Sticker
Here's an album cover I just finished for Cheshire's new album, "...at least there's pizza" Also, I discuss advice from people with different levels of experience.
Check out the gallery of images for this project so far by clicking here!
Process Videos and VlogsThe following videos are from my youtube channel and show some of the work I've done up until this point on this book. You'll also hear me talking about different things, so if you're here just for the art, hit that mute button.
Click below to watch the videos of me working on this page. Click here to purchase the original inks page.
Finished Colors - level up by using diminishing returns Want to own the original page? Click here to grab a one of a kind.
Discussing icons and creativity with Kyle Adams. You can find his work and resources at kyleadams.me and get the free learning materials at learnicondesign.com
Read about Kyle's process with his clients here: kyleadams.me/process/
Watch the speed painting video of this sticker being drawn.
Check out my shirt shop to buy it as a shirt, hoody, etc. You can also get this as a sticker by clicking here.
How to color digitally with a cintiq or ugee tablet starting with inks then doing flats, adjustment layers and radial gradients.
Check out this illustration at corykerr.com/stickers
I'm doing stickers! Make sure to get on my email list so that you don't miss out on the announcement. If you want a little sneak peek, hit the video around 16:30 to see a few of the ones I've finished.
And, if you're interested in following along, make sure to follow me on instagram: coryrkerr, snapchat: coryrkerr, twitter @corykerr and/or youtube. Anywhoooo, here's the sticker that I drew while talking about how to consistently get inspiration for your creative work.
You should go there and take the #turnofftoactivate challenge. Read up on it there, it's pretty awesome (and fairly easy).
I wasn’t exactly sure what to name this video…
How to study inspiration How to breakdown reference How to learn from your idols How to reverse-engineer composition
Or go with something sensational like, “How pinterest is killing self education” or “the millennials’ guide to consuming everything while never learning anything”
Ultimately, I went with something simple: Learn, create, repeat: how to better study inspiration and reference.
I see a lot of beginners failing to understand the basic idea of deconstructing professional work. In anything that you’re learning to do well, you have to figure out how to close the gap between creative ability and the pros ability. There are two questions that you should ask when comparing your work to professional work
What am I doing that they’re not? What are they doing that I’m not?
While this seems overly simplistic, this type of study is crucial and often overlooked. Now, in no way should you copy other people’s work or try to mimic someone else’s style… BUT, someone who is producing work at a professional competitive level has learned how to solve visual problems and they’ve learned what, when, how and why to do things AND what to avoid.
Most people view art, illustration, photography, etc by speeding past hundreds of examples. People used to go to art galleries and sit and look at a single piece of work for long periods of time. Now, with google images, pinterest, tumblr, instagram, etc, we have access to an infinite number of images to consume.
But you have to understand something extremely important: spending a few minutes browsing hundreds of images is NOT studying. This is merely eye candy, empty calories that make you feel full, but offers absolutely no nutritional value. This type of visual snacking is the educational equivalent of eating ramen noodles every meal of every day… sure, it makes the hunger pains go away, but you’re going to die a ignominious and malnutritioned death and if you want to grow up to be big and strong you need to eat your vegetables (and I don’t mean mixing a can of peas in with your ramen)
By studying their work and looking at their process, you can begin to learn how to do professional work. By doing this often while you are creating work of your own, you will begin to internalize what you’re seeing and eventually you will be able to apply the things you’ve learned without thinking too much about it.
As you begin to dive deeper and deeper into the study of quality work, you’ll begin to see deeper levels and how the elements work together.
Level 1: identifying good work Level 2: recognizing that there is something that makes the composition work Level 3: identifying the elements that make up the composition Level 4: understanding how individual elements of the composition work Level 5: understanding how those elements work together as a system
- Spend time on a single image at a time
- Do draw overs
- Write your observations down by hand
- Constantly be creating your own work (don’t get into “learning paralysis” where you fool yourself into thinking that you’ll get better solely by study without creating your own work”
Study > create > study > create
And each time you go around this cycle you'll bring greater knowledge and skills from the last time
If you haven't listened to the soundtrack to Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton on Broadway, then you need to stop and do that right away. It is so good that I'm now reading Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton.
Hamilton, never a U.S. president, created our financial system, the coast guard, first Secretary of the Treasury and was George Washington's right-hand man during the revolutionary war and his presidency. In this illustration, I incorporated lyrics from "Right Hand Man" as General Washington was introduced in this play.
Here's a speed drawing of General George Washington with lyrics from the Broadway musical Hamilton See the finished drawing on my site: http://www.corykerr.com/illustration-george-washington-hamilton-musical-fan-art/ video music by Kevin MacLeod: Call to Adventure
Watch the speed drawing.
The following video shows the process of creating this illustration, starting in my sketchbook, creating basic shapes in Adobe Illustrator and then finishing it all off with digital inks and color in Adobe Photoshop.
In this episode of illo talk, I tackle the challenge of
Becoming a Working FreelancerWhat is the best approach to take to become a freelancer and how do you attract clients?
"I've said it many years and nobody ever takes note of it because it's not the answer they want to hear...be so good they can't ignore you... If somebody's thinking 'How can I be really good' then the people will come to you" - Steve Martin
Know it, Do it, Show it, RepeatThe challenge of becoming a working freelancer is two-fold. On the one hand, you need clients willing to pay and on the other hand you need a body of work that proves you are worth being paid. It seems like a catch 22 situation, but it isn't. You don't need clients to build a body of work, you need a personal project.
- Know what you want to do
- Be specific
- Can change over time, but focus and let it evolve
- Do something good, when that stops working, do something else good
- Do it
- Create the type of things that you'd like to create
- Choose a personal project that will help you create and showcase what you want to do
- Work for free, but work for yourself
- Many people wait for clients to do the work that they'd like to do, but a client isn't going to hire you if they haven't seen you make things.
- Show it
- Wip, Show your work posts, the story, or narrative of your work should be shared
- if you are constantly creating and sharing your work, then people will see what you're making and you'll be known for that type of work
- you'll build a body of work that you can use to promote yourself.
- Repeat
Other tips mentioned in this episode* Seek to make people's lives better * Follow people on Twitter and interact in a non-creepy/fanboy way * Support other creators on Kickstarter, Patreon, etc (give and take, law of harvest) * Be Patient it'll happen * Be consistent * Have a website (not .wordpress, .blogger, weebly, but a dot com/net/ whatever. Even .ink or .art) * Design your site to feature you work. Focus it. * Social media
Suggested Reading, Listening and Watching* Read Quitter by Jon Accuff * Read Die Empty by Todd Henry * Read the Icarus Deception by Seth Godin * dearartdirector.Tumblr.com * Drawn and Drafted * Illustration Party Time * Seanwes * Accidental Creative * Art and Story * anything Chris Oatley does
If you'd like me to talk about something specific or you want to be notified of future episodes, illustrations etc, then jump over to corykerr.com/email to subscribe to my email newsletter. Hit me up with questions at corykerr.com/questions
The number one most important thing that you can do at the beginning of your creative journey: Do something, do it now and start moving so that you can find your passion. Seanwes TV Passion: https://youtu.be/vL3YC1uTrNY The Golden Theme: http://amzn.to/1Rs20eP Start: http://amzn.to/22Ld63J Die Empty: http://amzn.to/22ADtfT Icarus Deception: http://amzn.to/1UhQOVG
The number one most important thing that you can do at the beginning of your creative journey: Do something, do it now and start moving so that you can find your passion.
Seanwes TV Passion
The Golden Theme
Start
Die Empty
Icarus Deception
Editorial illustration by Cory Kerr ( www.corykerr.com ) showing a time lapse of my photoshop inking and coloring process. I'm using Photoshop CC, a Wacom Cintiq and custom brushes by frenden.com and kyletwebster.com Music by brokeforfree.com used on the creative commons license.
In the following process video, I draw this image in Photoshop on my Wacom Cintiq while talking about some issues that businesses and creatives face.
Talking about the value of creative work in business and why businesses benefit from paying for quality work. I also discuss why illustrators, photographers, musicians, designers, etc should charge for their work and when, rarely, to do it for exposure.
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Jake Parker's Video about Exposure
I'm getting to the point in time my career where I want to warn younger creatives of some of the lessons that I've learned the hard way.
99% of the time, someone promising "exposure" is just someone trying to get something for free that they should pay for.
In this video, I discuss the difference between exposure and exploitation in the hopes that business people and artists can have mutually beneficial relationships.
I discuss at length the concept of relationships based on a balanced exchange of value. That value can be money, altruism and, on rare occasions, exposure, but often, that "exposure" is actually exploitation in the form of an unbalanced relationship where one side is getting a significant amount of value and not giving any value in return.
I made this image to show that women are still having to fight against misogyny. I used the imagery of stone/wall for misogyny as a barrier and a Molotov Cocktail as a representation of the ongoing fight. The idea of the power that women is represented by the fire. The Molotov Cocktail breaking through is the hope that the fight is working.
When my daughter started school, my longstanding concerns about the way school is structured became very real and concerning. You see, I believe that America's current school system is structured to create Model T factory workers, not creative, thinking adults. During the industrial revolution, America needed robots, but lacked the technology to build them. Instead, we began to train our children to be robots.
In today's education, children, all of whom are naturally creative and artistic, are told to sit down, be quiet and do exactly as they are told. Art, music and thinking are disruptive to the system and to the classroom environment. Over the course of years, our kids are trained to follow instructions, not to think for themselves and this has led to a loss of creativity.
The illustration merely shows creativity entering a school house and conformity coming out. The world can make robots now. We don't need people to be robots. We need people to be people and to think and create.
Learn more about this by watching this TED Talk.
An illustration about how we treat each other online. We should be kinder than we are.
See the "illo talk" video podcast featuring this illustration by clicking here
See the website I designed for this project here: turnofftoactivate.com Project Overview
TurnOffToActivate is a project intended to convince people to turn off their screens for a few minutes a day and allow their brains some downtime.
This project communicates that downtime strengthens peoples’ creativity, self-identity, moral compass, code of ethics and memory.
The objective is to get tech savvy adults from the age of 20 to 35 to realize the benefits of being bored for a few minutes each day.
Process Essay#TurnOffToActivate is a typographic project intended to convince people to turn off their screens for a few minutes a day and allow their brains to have some downtime. I chose this topic because I have noticed myself struggling to be present when I’m eating dinner with my family or playing legos with my daughter.
Neil Gaiman, a popular author, announced that he was taking a break from social media because it wasn’t allowing him to be bored and this got in the way of his creative process.1
My smart phone is constantly in my hand and I don’t even use the bathroom or fall asleep without using it. I was aware of neuroplasticity, your brain’s ability to adapt,2 and wondered what I might be losing. In other words, neurons that fire together, wire together. We are all constantly training our brains.
As I studied the topic I came across some studies that draw a correlation from boredom to creativity. It is very difficult to be bored these days and I think that our society is suffering because of this. Studies have shown that our creativity, self-identity, moral compass, code of ethics and memory are strengthened during mental downtime.3 Something called the “Default Mode Network” is one of 5 mental resting states and it has a dramatic effect on those things.
We can only get into DMN during wakeful restfulness.4 So I set out to get tech savvy adults from the age of 20 to 35 to realize the benefits of being bored for a few minutes each day. From a design standpoint, the simplest way to communicate this message was to visually juxtapose the downsides of constant busyness and stimuli with the benefits of the Default Mode Network. In addition to that, I chose a physically manipulated mechanism and completely avoided any digital media.
My idea was to “wow” people with paper. There is something about this generation where they are not impressed with apps, CGI, special effects, etc. If I had done a video motion graphic, it would have impressed baby boomers, but not landed with this target. In fact, in my focus groups, they were amazed at the flipping brain. Simple paper folding techniques used in pop-up books for years got the message across well: creativity is analog, not digital.
The hashtag #TurnOffToActivate became the title of the piece and the call to action. The users have to lower, or put down, the phone to activate the flipping action of the busy brain to the restful brain, as they do this, the words on the screen of the phone slide away and the phone is “off.” This correlation is very evident in the piece, the busy brain shows while the phone is on and the restful brain shows while the phone is off.
Then I needed to sell the message. I was hoping by this point that I’d have their attention, but I still wanted to engage them physically while they read the short descriptions of the benefits of downtime.
This led me to the imagery of downtime as the key that unlocks all of these benefits. So, the user has to physically use the key to unlock the “mental lock” before they can open the panel and learn about creativity, empathy, memory and neuroplasticity. The titles of each of these pages are fairly descriptive, in case some of the users just skim instead of reading
boredom increases creativity
downtime improves memory
replay strengthens empathy
resting wakefulness and neuroplasticity
I used Filmotype Honey for each of the key benefits in the title. The Filmotype library has a beautiful retro feel due to the hand lettering. This is a nice throwback to a simpler time when people didn’t have tiny computers in their pockets.
For the rest of the text on the page, I used various weights of Le Havre and Le Havre Rough, a clean sans serif to pair with the script in the title. I also used Le Havre on the lock and key.
The busy brain has some chaotic, overlapping, blended typefaces including BAQRounded, Mothman, Smashing and UncleTypewriter Box.
While I was going for chaos, I made sure to choose fonts of different weights and moods to compliment each other while I used the colors and placement to conflict and compete.
The background text is the closing paragraphs of Moby Dick where Ahab’s obsession and hatred destroy the Pequod and everyone on it, a rather stressful and busy scene. The typeface is Ultra Condensed Line with the leading crunched down and an envelope warp applied to amp up the stress.
I made the restful brain out of hand drawn bubble letters that I sketched and then recreated in vector. The colors on this brain are the same as the chaotic brain, but the layout is simple and calm with lots of negative space. None of the letters touch each other and everything has room to breath. There is no background texture or sharp edges.
The type on the phone, arguably the most important part of the piece, is carefully chosen.
This is seen while the phone is “on” and the brain is multitasking chaos, but I wanted it to have the promise of calm. “Turn Off” written in plump and round BAQRounded pairs the elegant lighter weighted strokes of Filmotype Honey’s “to Activate” and then finish off with the sans serif no nonsense command of “PUT THE PHONE DOWN” written in Le Havre Thin.
I tried to have this combination of typefaces bridge the gap of the chaotic busyness with a promise of the calm restfulness.
1 Lea, Richard. “Neil Gaiman Prepares for Social Media ‘sabbatical’” The Guardian. June 14, 2013. Accessed February 9, 2015. http://www.theguardian.com/ books/2013/jun/14/neil-gaimansocial-media-sabbatical.
2 Cherry, Kendra. “Brain Plasticity: How Experience Changes the rain.” Accessed February 9, 2015. http://psychology. about.com/od/biopsychology/f/brain-plasticity.htm.
3 Jabr, Ferris. “Why Your Brain Needs More Downtime.” Scientific American Global RSS. October 15, 2013. Accessed February 9, 2015. http://www. scientificamerican.com/article/mentaldowntime/.
4 Immordino-Yang, Mary Helen, Joanna A. Christodoulou, and Vanessa Singh. “Rest Is Not Idleness.” Rest Is Not Idleness Accessed February 9, 2015. http://pps.sagepub.com/content/7/4/352.
The following quotes are from the course assignment description:
This project was to create an “emotionally charged, factually driven typographic solution” focused on a “social-awareness topic.” We were challenged to “both inform and influence your audience by communicating with type as well as with words,” and make sure that any and all visuals were original and didn’t overpower the typography.
RequirementsProject must be primarily type based, can be made from any material, should have multiple panels, support the message and work for the audience. The project should be based on research and, “be appropriate...effective, original, and memorable.”
MaterialsThe message is targeted to get people to step away from their screens so it seemed appropriate to do something physical. I sought to create an experience rather than just deliver information. I settled on using pop-up book and papercraft techniques to create a tactile experience accompanied by movement that didn’t require screens or batteries.
ActionAfter sketching some concepts and doing some papercraft research, I decided to employ a technique that used a waterfall pull tab to visibly change a “busy” brain to a “calm” brain by putting the phone down. I hand lettered the calm brain and overlaid words in different typefaces to simulate a stressed brain trying to multitask. When the phone is pulled down, the screen turns “off” and the brain flips from stressed to calm.
ProcessI took my research and wrote the copy for the brochure focusing on four main benefits of downtime. I made several mock-ups to test out the proportions and actions of the piece. I then took my sketches and mock-ups and designed the piece in Illustrator. I then printed, cut and assembled the final piece.
RevisionsBased on the feedback I received, I put everything into a grid and narrowed the number of typefaces in the headers down to be less distracting. I simplified the design to add clarity and eliminated unnecessary elements.
TurnOffToActivate is a typographic project intended to convince people to turn off their screens for a few minutes a day and allow their brains to have some downtime. I chose this topic because I have noticed myself struggling to be present when I’m eating dinner with my family or playing legos with my daughter.
Neil Gaiman, a popular author, announced that he was taking a break from social media because it wasn’t allowing him to be bored and this got in the way of his creative process.
My smart phone is constantly in my hand and I don’t even use the bathroom or fall asleep without using it. I was aware of neuroplasticity, your brain’s ability to adapt, and wondered what I might be losing. In other words, neurons that fire together, wire together. We are all constantly training our brains.
As I studied the topic I came across some studies that draw a correlation from boredom to creativity. It is very difficult to be bored these days and I think that our society is suffering because of this. Studies have shown that our creativity, self identity, moral compass, code of ethics and memory are strengthened during mental downtime. Something called the “Default Mode Network” is one of 5 mental resting states and it has a dramatic effect on those things. We can only get into DMN during wakefully restfulness.
So I set out to get tech savvy adults from the age of 20 to 35 to realize the benefits of being bored for a few minutes each day. From a design standpoint, the simplest way to communicate this message was to visually juxtapose the downsides of constant busyness and stimuli with the benefits of the Default Mode Network. In addition to that, I chose a physically manipulated mechanism and completely avoided any digital media.
My idea was to “wow” people with paper. There is something about this generation where they are not impressed with apps, CGI, special effects, etc. If I had done a video motion graphic, it would have impressed baby boomers, but not landed with this target. In fact, in my focus groups, they were amazed at the flipping brain. Simple paper folding techniques used in pop-up books for years got the message across well: creativity is analog, not digital.
The hashtag #TurnOffToActivate became the title of the piece and the call to action. The users have to lower, or put down, the phone to activate the flipping action of the busy brain to the restful brain, as they do this, the words on the screen of the phone slide away and the phone is “off.” This correlation is very evident in the piece, the busy brain shows while the phone is on and the restful brain shows while the phone is off.
Then I needed to sell the message. I was hoping by this point that I’d have their attention, but I still wanted to engage them physically while they read the short descriptions of the benefits of downtime.
This led me to the imagery of downtime as the key that unlocks all of these benefits. So, the user has to physically use the key to unlock the “mental lock” before they can open the panel and learn about creativity, empathy, memory and neuroplasticity. The titles of each of these pages are fairly descriptive, in case some of the users just skim instead of reading:
boredom increases creativity
downtime improves memory
replay strengthens empathy
resting wakefulness and neuroplasticity
I used Filmotype Honey for each of the key benefits in the title. The Filmotype library has a beautiful retro feel due to the hand lettering. This is a nice throwback to a simpler time when people didn’t have tiny computers in their pockets.
For the rest of the text on the page, I used various weights of Le Havre and Le Havre Rough, a clean sans serif to pair with the script in the title. I also used Le Havre on the lock and key.
The busy brain has some chaotic, overlapping, blended typefaces including BAQRounded, Mothman, Smashing and UncleTypewriter Box. While I was going for chaos, I made sure to choose fonts of different weights and moods to compliment each other while I used the colors and placement to conflict and compete.
The background text is the closing paragraphs of Moby Dick where Ahab’s obsession and hatred destroy the Pequod and everyone on it, a rather stressful and busy scene. The typeface is Ultra Condensed Line with the leading crunched down and an envelope warp applied to amp up the stress.
I made the restful brain out of hand drawn bubble letters that I sketched and then recreated in vector. The colors on this brain are the same as the chaotic brain, but the layout is simple and calm with lots of negative space. None of the letters touch each other and everything has room to breath. There is no background texture or sharp edges.
The type on the phone, arguably the most important part of the piece is carefully chosen. This is seen while the phone is “on” and the brain is multitasking chaos, but I wanted it to have the promise of calm. “Turn Off” written in plump and round BAQRounded pairs the elegant lighter weighted strokes of Filmotype Honey’s “to Activate” and then finish off with the sans serif no nonsense command of “PUT THE PHONE DOWN” written in Le Havre Thin.
I tried to have this combination of typefaces bridge the gap of the chaotic business with a promise of the calm restfulness.
Lea, Richard. "Neil Gaiman Prepares for Social Media 'sabbatical'" The Guardian. June 14, 2013. Accessed February 9, 2015. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jun/14/neil-gaiman-social-media-sabbatical.
Cherry, Kendra. "Brain Plasticity: How Experience Changes the Brain." Accessed February 9, 2015. http://psychology.about.com/od/biopsychology/f/brain-plasticity.htm.
Jabr, Ferris. "Why Your Brain Needs More Downtime." Scientific American Global RSS. October 15, 2013. Accessed February 9, 2015. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mental-downtime/.
Immordino-Yang, Mary Helen, Joanna A. Christodoulou, and Vanessa Singh. "Rest Is Not Idleness." Rest Is Not Idleness. Accessed February 9, 2015. http://pps.sagepub.com/content/7/4/352.
Note: The following is a paper I wrote recently for a contemporary art history class. It features Sean Gordon Murphy, Jake Parker and Skottie Young. You should become familiar with these artists and buy their work.
Traditional ink in an industry of digital color Will Eisner, creator of The Spirit and one of the earliest artists to draw comics in their modern form, stated that, “Story is the most critical component in a comic. Not only is it the intellectual frame on which all artwork rests, but it, more than anything else, helps the work endure.”1 In many ways, sequential art is a type of storytelling that is very limited compared to other media like novels and movies. Comics, with their lack of motion and sound, have only written words and static images at their disposal. Comic characters cannot employ voice inflection or tone while delivering dialog, nuances that are just as important in conveying meaning as the words themselves, the music that builds suspense, the sound effect of an explosion or the detailed written description cannot be used in comics as they are in books and film. In sequential art, storytelling, changes in mood, pacing and emphasis must be conveyed visually in a still image.
Since their inception in the 1930s, technological barriers of reproduction necessitated the use of black ink lines in comics.2 For decades, color in comics was limited to four colors. This limited color palette caused the inker’s line to carry the bulk of the narrative responsibilities. As technology progressed in the 1980s, the advances in printing and software allowed for the use of more and more colors. A group of Marvel’s best artists quit and founded Image, then revolutionized the coloring of comics by using Photoshop.3 This pivotal moment marks a significant shift towards an industry dominated by color and away from storytelling. The industry is only recently recovering and trending towards a focus on good storytelling. As the pendulum swings back, artists focusing on the black ink line are beginning to stand out. Sean Gordon Murphy, Jake Parker and Skottie Young create a feeling of movement and narrative in monochrome in an industry that relies heavily on color.
After touching on the use of line in impressionism and expressionism as a tool, “to suggest the inner state of the artist and to provoke the five senses,”4 Scott McCloud states that, “art historians have generally held that while painters, musicians and poets have grappled with such ideas, practitioners of the ‘low’ art of comics have remained blissfully ignorant of them,” then simply questioning that statement with, “but have they?”5 McCloud proceeds to employ such adjectives as proud, dynamic, rational, gentle, savage, weak and honest to describe different examples of monochromatic line work in comics.6 With the understanding that a black line of ink can convey mood, emotion and sensation, one may read the narrative of an image.
Sean Gordon Murphy Ryan Ottley, artist of Invincible, says that Sean Gordon Murphy is on the same level as, “the great comic artists of yesteryear,”7 and calls his work “genius.”8 Murphy began, “pushing a really messy style with a lot of black,”9 during his run on DC’s Hellblazer. Heavily influenced by the Italian illustrator Sergio Toppi, Murphy’s use of blacks is explosive, energetic and often angry. His use of conflict and opposition is strong. Not only do his blacks and whites often seem to fight each other for space, the juxtaposition of his stationary objects against the indication of the moving objects seems to increase their speed.
In this commission (figure 1), one can sense the very real movement of Marty sliding across the hood of the Delorean, the car’s wheels firmly planted in the shadows, pressing into the ground, thick blocks of black indicating the weight of the vehicle while the thin, long lines defining Marty’s outstretched legs seem light, their diagonal angles indicating action and direction; the viewer of this static image can almost hear the sound of his jeans sliding across the metal. Note the street light in this image, not depicted as a soft glow, but as a stark explosion of light invading and cutting into the darkness of the night sky. The composition of this piece shows asymmetry and balance. The clock tower and the raised door, both triangles, are drawn at slightly different heights. The shapes and values created by Marty’s face and hair are diagonally balanced by the mirrored shapes and values in the street lamp. The objects in the foreground, middle ground and background all overlap each other, giving each other form with their contrasting values.
These days, Murphy mostly inks by instinct while focusing on, “clarity, mood and precision.”10 This panel from Punk Rock Jesus (figure 2), written and illustrated by Murphy, is overflowing with storytelling. Utilizing a one point perspective, the speed lines on the street and in the sky, coupled with the blurred buildings whizzing by and the car in mid impact, all combine to tell the story of a horrible case of road rash. In fact, the only two things that break out of this vanishing point are the man’s sprawling legs and the crashing car. Note again the starburst explosion of the motorcycle’s headlight cutting into the black night. The storytelling of this piece needs no color. The stark monochromatic pallet takes a backseat to the visceral reaction of the reader as one imagines how much that would hurt. There is blood-like arterial spray in this image, but not where you would think. The grime of the ground is being displaced and sprays in either direction as the tires speed down the road. Where the viewer would expect to see spray, the man’s face meeting the street, Murphy has nothing but negative space. No blood, shadow or line. Only nothing. It is as if Murphy is indicating what will happen moments later, this man’s face will disappear as it the road wears it away.
In this commission of Batman and Wonder Woman, Murphy draws a simple scene (figure 3), but indicates an impending threat. Murphy uses shadow to define the form of things. Note how the forms of the tires are shaped by the shadows cast on the underside. He is able to depict the curvature of the tire, the texture of the tread, the bead of the rubber as it meets the rim with the consistent application of shadow indicating the direction of the light source. One can tell that Batman is stepping forward because his right leg is cast in shadow. The shadows are anchoring the vehicles to the ground in a way that allows the viewer to feel their weight. Note that the heavier of the two bikes sinks into the ground more than the smaller, lighter bike.
Mood is an important factor in visual narratives. Color is typically a huge component of setting the mood in sequential art. “The style I’ve settled on conveys a couple of things pretty well I think: mood, darkness, humor, movement, energy, iconography and storytelling.”11 These are not photorealistic representations of the human form or human biology. They are impressive depictions of mood. Batman’s mood is indicated in his stance, locked arm, tensed shoulders and in something Scott McCloud calls, “a visual metaphor - - a symbol.”12 The ink splatter spraying diagonally away from Batman is a visual metaphor of his intent to intimidate. The acting of each character in this shot is different and has a different mood. Superman seems detached, almost pouty, Batman seems threatening and Wonder Woman seems curious, but unconcerned.
There are, of course, many ways to read this image. In fact, this particular image spurred a little debate about what was actually going on. Murphy was accused of portraying Wonder Woman in a weaker, inferior and vulnerable position in her relation to the men in the image, though the author clarified that she was not calling Murphy a misogynist.13 In a response to that accusation, other possible interpretations were given in defense of the art.14 Are they being attacked and Batman is on edge while Wonder Woman seems unconcerned? Was there a noise or explosion that drew their attention? Is the artist calling the viewers intentions into question? Is Batman angry with the viewer for ogling Wonder Woman? It should be noted that Wonder Woman is standing from her bike and turning and Murphy has a body of work that is far from the common cheesecake objectification of woman in comics. Like most good art, there are as many different interpretations as there are people viewing the art. One thing is clear, all of this discussion of mood, intention, action and story was triggered from a black and white ink drawing without the need of color.
Murphy’s fingerprints are all over this commission, literally and figuratively. Note his fingerprint right under Wonder Woman’s rear tire. Stating that he didn’t invent the use of fingerprints, Murphy said, “Fingerprint inking is old. Others did it before us.”15 And yet, Murphy’s fingerprints in his work act as a symbol of his unique style. No one draws like he does. In an industry where a house style makes it hard to tell one artist from another, Murphy’s style is much like his fingerprint, completely his own.
Jake Parker An article in Salt Lake City Weekly starts, “Jake Parker’s name might not immediately ring any bells to most, but his work sure does.”16 Parker has worked in animated films, children’s picture books and comics.17 He has been published, self published and run several successfully funded kickstarter campaigns. Parker founded InkTober in 2009 after his friend gave him a brush pen. He found the brush pen, “somewhat unwieldy,” but liked the results.18 Parker describes his results in his collection of his 2013 InkTober drawings, “The biggest thing I walk away with is how it consistently challenges me to become better and more refined, not only in the application of line, but in the narrative of my visual storytelling.”19 Parker’s confidence in his line work grew that first year and now thousands of artists across the world participate each November.20 Parker’s line is fast, sketchy and has a very human quality to it. Watching Parker ink something,21 one will note no hesitation in his decisions. He draws at a fairly consistent pace, varying the weight of his line slightly, lifting his pen infrequently like a series of small continuous-line contour drawings. He is known for both for his “mech” and cute subjects.
In this image (figure 4), a mad scientist has mutated a blowfish into a huge monster. The slight black lines in between the bricks curve to indicate that this scene is taking place inside a tower. The cylinder shape is repeated throughout the image in the pedestal, pipes, tubes, and containment tank, all in Parker’s dieselpunk mech style. The intentional shakiness of Parker’s lines add some movement as the viewer’s eyes trace the ellipses and cylinders. Parker deftly indicates form with the weight of his line, thicker on the edges of a shape, thinner and broken on a corner or a bend. His line also suggests material. The glass has a very light line, while the metal and stone have heavier lines. There is a diagonal balance to the triangular black shadows that frame the image. There is also a childlike playfulness to his ink work as he allows his lines to overlap each other, trading precision for whimsy. The two characters on this page contrast each other, the heavy, round, lumbering fish monster opposite the small, jubilant, spindly mad scientist.
This image of a monster attacking a trolley (figure 5) is all rhythm and repetition. Note how the detail and size of the track shrinks and fades to black in a display of vanishing and atmospheric perspective as it snakes into the background. The trolley jumping off of the rising and falling rhythm of the track creates a flow that leads the eye to the monster and then up the monster’s raised arm bringing us back to the trolley. The bits of debris and small amount of air between the wheels and track not only make the trolley look like it is in motion, but add the personification to the trolley, jumping in cartoon surprise just as it hits the apex of its ascent to see the monster’s raised hand and gaping mouth. The repetition in this adds depth to the structures and unifies the elements. Note the repeated shapes in shadow on the far side that form the depth of the trolley and the tracks. The careful observer will also note that the roof of the monster’s mouth is roughly the same size, shape and angle of the shadow cast on the underside of the closest apex of the track. The small group of flying debris is repeated in the background as the monster crushes the track. Finally, the monster’s tail repeats the rise and fall of the snaking track.
Throughout these pieces, what seems at the initial glance to be a haphazard, chaotic placement of blacks, after careful inspection seems to be revealed as the implementation of a carefully, calculated series of design and compositional rules; in fact, it is neither haphazard nor calculated. Parker describes the experience of drawing comics, “it can be overwhelming… everything you have to learn to do comics, but I think a lot of that stuff is intuition. If you’ve read a bunch of comics… you already understand the language and a lot of that stuff can flow out onto the page, even if the rules aren’t being followed closely…”22
Skottie Young Shawn Chrystal, comic artist and host of the Inkpulp Audio podcast, says that, “Everyone who knows Skottie, feels a positivity coming off of him. He is alive. He is full of life…he always seems to find the positivity in things.”23 As Young tells Chrystal of his rough past on the Inkpulp Audio podcast, the listener starts to develop an understanding of what that an accomplishment a positive attitude is for Young. His interest in art really flourished as a teenager when his friend’s father gave them the keys to an abandoned car dealership and he decorated it with graffiti. At 15 he was hired to hand draw signs for a retail store and “I just sat there and drew the Big Lots superhero guy, smoking cigarettes, listening to [hip hop] and drawing signs.” Moving out and living on his own while still in High School, Young learned life lessons and work ethic. After quickly breaking into comics at a young age, he publicly learned drawing and storytelling as he was being critiqued by a harsh readership.24
Young’s style involves a chaotic, expressive line with radical thick to thin transitions. He often adds a mess of frayed cloth and hairy curly cues inspired by Sam Keith. His exaggerated form and children’s book style are reminiscent of Dr. Seuss, Shel Silverstein and Quentin Blake, of whom Young says, “These guys taught me how to draw.”25 Young draws a daily sketch in ink as a warm up practice.
In this Sketch, titled “Scavenger Mouse” (figure 6), Young portrays an image of a mouse, laden with gear, walking in the dark during a rainstorm, a makeshift light bulb staff illuminating his way. The scene is almost completely black. White splatter lines are strewn diagonally across the page to indicate rain and the light reflects off of the rippling puddle covering the mouse’s feet. Thin, quickly drawn circular lines outline swirls of wind and radiate out from the bulb as a cast shadow defines the shape of the inside of the sleeves, bottom of the pockets and curvature of the ear. Young depicts the rain so well, that the viewer would be forgiven for feeling cold and wet as they get lost in the moment portrayed.
This Daily Sketch of Gizmo (figure 7) depicts a scene with the character ready for battle. Young’s brushwork, in quick, thin strokes, defines the furry outline of the character. In the crook of the bent elbow, we see the fur lines overlapping and clearly defining the bending joint. Note how the weight and variation of thick to thin transitions are used to depict texture, the furry body versus the leathery ears, hands and feet. Young uses a series of strokes to define a ragged edge and erratic folds of the bat-like ears. Gizmo is standing, one leg on a box of matches, the other on the tile floor, the lines in the tile suggesting a slight perspective grid and adding a touch of depth to the scene. Note the playful lines that shape the matchbox; they should be straight and rigid, but instead are thick and wavy, a mere suggestion of form and an indication that this is not the focal point. Instead, the viewer’s focus is brought to the eyes as the lines of the eyebrows, eyelids nose and mouth all converge on a central point. Even the fur radiates out from this focal point. The furrowed brow serves both to draw the viewer in and to show the threatening expression.
This image (figure 8) is a child wearing headphones. The artist depicts this kid as fun-loving and playful, though the moment is calm. There are indications that both the headphones and the child have had some wear and tear. The dents and creases of the metal headphones are a fitting match to the Band-Aid on the child’s cheek. The curly cues mentioned above, define the mess of frizzy hair on both the child and the little creature. There is diagonal balance between the gnarled cords attaching to the headphones and between the Band-Aid and the smiley face pin. Note the exaggerated anatomy, the large circular head sitting on the long, thin and slightly crooked neck. A mere suggestion of a nose sits slightly above an off centered, crooked smirk with the mop of hair sweeping across and obscuring the eyes. This child is the everyman and the viewer’s childhood experiences dictate why the child is smiling.
Even in the limited medium of sequential art, storytelling can be ingrained in the line itself. Without sound, motion or color, these three artists are able to effectively communicate a message and elicit emotional responses. Will Eisner said, “There is a psychic transmission present in the best graphic storytelling. It is generated by the storyteller’s passion. It carries the story’s emotional charge to the reader.” He goes on to explain, “Invariably the storyteller becomes identified with and somehow part of the narrative,” and possibly remembering the loss of his daughter and how it affected his own work, continues, “Contriving the postures and gestures of a heartbroken character reacting to a great misfortune, for example, stems from inside the storyteller. The graphic story-teller has to be willing to expose himself emotionally.”26
Could it be that it is the passion and dedication to their craft that drives the narrative in these artists’ work? Could Skottie Young’s childlike escapist style be a result of his childhood? Could Sean Gordon Murphy’s aggressive line and conflict laden style be a result of his transition from devout Christian to staunch Atheist? Could Jake Parker’s quick sketchy style be a result of the fear of all of the projects that he won’t get to if he doesn’t hurry? There is humanity and personality in those monochromatic images unique to the artist. In an industry bursting with digital color and locked down with house styles, artists who are inking traditionally with an individual style are standing out.
I want to point out two things:
- I love color and colorists. In no way, should the following be read in a way that disparages any of the amazing colorists in comics right now, many of which I almost wrote this paper on.
- There are a lot of incredible illustrators out there that I could've written this about. Due to the constraints of the assignment, I had to choose three and I needed a lot of background information that I could do research with. I love these three artists, but I could add a handful more to the list that are just as amazing.
1 Eisner, Will. Graphic Storytelling. Tamarac, FL: Poorhouse Press, 1996. Xii 2 Flanagan, Josh. Sean Murphy: Will Inkers Be Obsolete? December 15, 2011. http://ifanboy.com/articles/sean-murphy-will-inkers-be-obsolete/ (accessed November 17, 2014). 3 Gary, Beatty Scott. Comic Artists Direct. June 18, 2006. http://www.comicartistsdirect.com/articles/coloring.html (accessed November 17, 2014). 4 McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: HarperPerennial, 1994. 121-123. 5 McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: HarperPerennial, 1994. 123. 6 McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: HarperPerennial, 1994. 124-126. 7Ottley, Ryan. Twitter. October 26, 2014. Accessed November 19, 2014. https://twitter.com/RyanOttley/status/526460523354013697 8 Ottley, Ryan. Twitter. October 26, 2014. Accessed November 19, 2014. https://twitter.com/RyanOttley/status/526460783065300992. 9 Murphy, Sean Gordon. "Hellblazer." Sean Gordon Murphy. Accessed November 19, 2014. http://www.seangordonmurphy.com/gallery/hellblazer/. 10 Murphy, Sean, and Cory Kerr. "Conversation." Twitter. November 16, 2014. Accessed November 19, 2014. https://twitter.com/Sean_G_Murphy/status/534084529041207296. 11 Murphy, Sean Gordon. "Quick Fire round 2." Sean Gordon Murphy. May 4, 2010. Accessed November 20, 2014. http://seangordonmurphy.com/?p=483. 12 McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: HarperPerennial, 1994. 128-129 13 Sonne, Ray. "How My Critique of Sean G Murphy Led To Misunderstandings About Art, Feminism, & Debate." Eat Your Comics. February 12, 2014. Accessed November 19, 2014. http://www.eatyourcomics.com/2014/02/12/how-my-critique-of-sean-g-murphy-led-to-misunderstandingsabout-art-feminism-debate/. 14 Drici, Adam Joseph. "Three Feminists Walk into a Comic Book Store..." Driciorg. February 13, 2014. Accessed November 19, 2014. http://drici.org/comics-criticism-and-feminism/. 15 Kerr, Cory, Sean Gordon Murphy, and Cam Kendell. "Conversation." Twitter. November 3, 2014. Accessed November 19, 2014. https://twitter.com/corykerr/status/529421678707609600. 16 Sheehan, Gavin. "Jake Parker." Salt Lake City Weekly. May 29, 2011. Accessed November 20, 2014. http://www.cityweekly.net/TheDailyFeed/archives/2011/05/29/jake-parker. 17 Parker, Jake. "About - Mr Jake Parker." About - Mr Jake Parker. Accessed November 20, 2014. http://mrjakeparker.com/about. 18 Terry, Will, and Jake Parker. "#6 Jake Parker - Inktober - Interview by Will Terry." YouTube. September 22, 2014. Accessed November 20, 2014. http://youtu.be/2mACqDl42SU. 19 Parker, Jake. InkTober. 1st ed. Salt Lake City: Jake Parker, 2013. 3. 20 Note: search the hashtag #inktober on most social networks to see the participants. 21 Parker, Jake. "Skullchaser in a Mech." YouTube. March 14, 2014. Accessed November 20, 2014. http://youtu.be/QFDaXryAL10. 22 Drozd, Jerzy, Jake Parker, and Kohl Glass. "CAG! 86 - Getting Out From Under Your Medium with Jake Parker and Kohl Glass." YouTube. October 13, 2013. Accessed November 20, 2014. http://youtu.be/amzYhWwofgA. 23 Chrystal, Shawn, and Skottie Young. "Inkpulp Audio." Podcast. June 1, 2013. Accessed November 20, 2014. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-6-skottie-young/id586276073?i=160345244&mt=2. 24 Chrystal, Shawn, and Skottie Young. "Inkpulp Audio." Podcast. June 1, 2013. Accessed November 20, 2014. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-6-skottie-young/id586276073?i=160345244&mt=2. 25 Montgomery, Paul, and Skottie Young. "CBR Sunday Conversation: Skottie Young." Comic Book Resources. December 22, 2013. Accessed November 20, 2014. http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=49869. 26 Eisner, Will. Graphic Storytelling. Tamarac, FL: Poorhouse Press, 1996. 153-155.
Bibliography
Chrystal, Shawn, and Skottie Young. " Inkpulp Audio." Podcast. June 1, 2013. Accessed November 20, 2014. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-6-skottie-young/id586276073?i=160345244&mt=2.
Drici, Adam Joseph. "Three Feminists Walk into a Comic Book Store..." Driciorg. February 13, 2014. Accessed November 19, 2014. http://drici.org/comics-criticism-and-feminism/.
Drozd, Jerzy, Jake Parker, and Kohl Glass. "CAG! 86 - Getting Out From Under Your Medium with Jake Parker and Kohl Glass." YouTube. October 13, 2013. Accessed November 20, 2014.
http://youtu.be/amzYhWwofgA.
Eisner, Will. Graphic Storytelling. Tamarac, FL: Poorhouse Press, 1996.
Flanagan, Josh. Sean Murphy: Will Inkers Be Obsolete? December 15, 2011. http://ifanboy.com/articles/sean-murphy-will-inkers-be-obsolete/ (accessed November 17, 2014).
Gary, Beatty Scott. Comic Artists Direct. June 18, 2006. http://www.comicartistsdirect.com/articles/coloring.html (accessed November 17, 2014).
Kerr, Cory, Sean Gordon Murphy, and Cam Kendell. "Conversation." Twitter. November 3, 2014. Accessed November 19, 2014. https://twitter.com/corykerr/status/529421678707609600.
McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: HarperPerennial, 1994.
Montgomery, Paul, and Skottie Young. "CBR Sunday Conversation: Skottie Young." Comic Book Resources. December 22, 2013. Accessed November 20, 2014. http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=49869.
Morrison, Grant. Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us about Being Human. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2011.
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Murphy, Sean Gordon. "Hellblazer." Sean Gordon Murphy. Accessed November 19, 2014. http://www.seangordonmurphy.com/gallery/hellblazer/.
Murphy, Sean Gordon. Punk Rock Jesus. 2nd Print. ed. New York: DC Comics, 2013.
Murphy, Sean Gordon. "Quick Fire round 2." Sean Gordon Murphy. May 4, 2010. Accessed November 20, 2014. http://seangordonmurphy.com/?p=483.
Ottley, Ryan. Twitter. October 26, 2014. Accessed November 19, 2014.
https://twitter.com/RyanOttley/status/526460523354013697
Ottley, Ryan. Twitter. October 26, 2014. Accessed November 19, 2014. https://twitter.com/RyanOttley/status/526460783065300992.
Parker, Jake. "About - Mr Jake Parker." About - Mr Jake Parker. Accessed November 20, 2014. http://mrjakeparker.com/about.
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http://youtu.be/QFDaXryAL10.
Schumacher, Michael. Will Eisner: A Dreamer's Life in Comics. New York: Bloomsbury, 2010.
Sheehan, Gavin. "Jake Parker." Salt Lake City Weekly. May 29, 2011. Accessed November 20, 2014. http://www.cityweekly.net/TheDailyFeed/archives/2011/05/29/jake-parker.
Sonne, Ray. "How My Critique of Sean G Murphy Led To Misunderstandings About Art, Feminism, & Debate." Eat Your Comics. February 12, 2014. Accessed November 19, 2014. http://www.eatyourcomics.com/2014/02/12/how-my-critique-of-sean-g-murphy-led-to-misunderstandingsabout-art-feminism-debate/.
Terry, Will, and Jake Parker. "#6 Jake Parker - Inktober - Interview by Will Terry." YouTube. September 22, 2014. Accessed November 20, 2014. http://youtu.be/2mACqDl42SU .
I'm putting a lot more content together for my Vector Graphics class. This video is a teaser of a longer tutorial. It's fast and only a few minutes.
Process: How I made a punk rock mouse
Small White Mouse was a new site that we launched while I was Director of Marketing at Chesbro Music Co.
To get started, I photo referenced a lot of mice trying to figure out what it was that actually made a mouse look like a mouse. The ears are actually quite a bit smaller than many cartoons would have you believe. It was difficult to make sure that the mouse didn't end up looking like a bat, rat, dog, etc.
I started sketching the logo and just tried to get a bunch of ideas out. It was actually a lot harder than I thought it would be because quite a lot of what I initially drew looked like Mickey Mouse or Deadmou5.
Sketches: Round One
Sketches: Round Two I let my sketching get a little more refined and less “logo-y” here. I was starting to like what was going on. At this point, I’m was pretty sure that I wanted circles to be involved; maybe something along the lines of a seal or something that would go well on a patch. I wasn’t quite there yet.
Sketches: Round Three in ink I had to cleanse a little bit, so I drew a few rock stars as mice. At this point, I was still experimenting with ear and nose shapes. What was it that made a mouse look like a mouse. If I could get a human to look "mousie" then I'd be onto some of the elements that indicate "this is a mouse." These were done with a Pentel Pocket brush and some drafting pens.
Vector: Round One
After getting that out of my system, I felt like a had a handle on what makes a mouse look like a mouse. You'll notice that I played with different nose and ear shapes in each ink drawings. I hit the computer and started refining the specific shapes of the face, nose, eyes and ears. Initially, I was going for a guitar pic shaped face, but it was too narrow, so I widened it. Most of these are still awful looking and a few of them looked more like koalas and dogs than they did mice.
Vector: Final Round I developed the final three versions of the logos by further simplifying the images and refining the shape of the face and placement of the objects in relation to each other. Here are the final three logos.
Extras Then we built the site, made a bunch of icons, patches, pins, shirts and stickers and launched it. The entire concept of the site is a nod to the Hitchhikers’ Guide, thus the reference to the mouse and number 42.
Video: The Rise of the Small White Mouse As a bonus, here is the video I produced to set up the story of the brand. You can see the logo treatments at the beginning and end.
Here are some close ups of a conceptual illustration I just finished for my Masters at SCAD. If you are not aware of Labeouf's delve into crazy town, here's the scoop:
I'm into comics and specifically I'm into indy comics. Labouf wanted to get into it too, but he kind of went crazy and ended up plagiarizing, stealing and generally acting like a nut job. Here's a little article about some of his more interesting responces to copyright infringement.
Basically, he tried to do a comic, but doesn't know the difference between a picture book and sequential art. Then he stole a comic and made a movie out of it. He was caught and apologized for not giving proper attribution (showing that he doesn't understand that he would have to pay for the rights to the original comic creator, not just site his work). Ironically, his apology was plagiarized. He showed some more ideas for storyboards of an upcoming project, also plagiarized. He then tweeted that he was resigning from public life and started showing up to red carpet events with a bag on his head with the words, "I AM NOT FAMOUS ANYMORE" written on it. He made a nonsensical comment at a panel about seagulls chasing boats. Then he opened up a performance art piece in NY where he would sit with this bag on his head across from the table from people and cry. Later, he got violent at Cabaret and was arrested. The arresting officer made a statement that he doesn't think Labouf was sane. He stated that while he was trying to arrest him, Labeouf was not making any sense and started doing pushups next to the squad car.
I'm not sure that he's actually nuts. He could just be a huge thieving jerk who's trying to hide behind insanity as a defense or he's doing it all for publicity. Either way, stealing a creator's work and passing it off as your own is really low, even if you may be insane.
These illustrations are for an event at the local Barnes and Nobel in Idaho Falls. They had a book reading to the kids, the 501st was there in costumes and it was a great Star Wars event.
[gallery type="rectangular" link="file" ids="3013,3014,3015,3016,3017,3018"] Here's a quick run down of an experiment I just finished using C. F. Payne's techniques.
So, here's my first attempt at colored pencils. The flower turned out well. I need to figure out what to do with the background.
Doing some pen and brush sketching in prep for an illustration. I'm trying to get a feel for how I want to do this particular style.
I am an artist, graphic designer, illustrator and writer. I conduct and promote my business online. I connect with friends, family, coworkers, collaborators and customers online. A neutral Internet has destroyed the gate keepers. Now more than ever, any American citizen has access to the public. Race, gender, social class, etc. no longer matter. The only thing that matters is whether the public is interested in what you're creating. Allowing huge faceless companies better access to a faster Internet whilst throttling the Everyman's speed is throttled is counterintuitive to the American dream and dangerous.
It is not outside of the realm of possibility to imagine a world very soon where American citizens are not allowed to speak their mind if their opinion runs counter to giant corporate conglomerates who have a better access to the Internet than the average citizen. The following is a quote from battleforthenet.com. Go to this site and help.
Net neutrality is the First Amendment of the Internet, the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) treat all data equally. As an Internet user, net neutrality is vitally important to me. The FCC should use its Title II authority to protect it.
Most Americans have only one choice for truly high speed Internet: their local cable company. This is a political failure, and it is an embarrassment. America deserves competition and choice.
Without net neutrality, a bad situation gets even worse. These ISPs will now be able to manipulate our Internet experience by speeding up some services and slowing down others. That kills choice, diversity, and quality.
It also causes tremendous economic harm. If ISPs can speed up favored services and slow others, new businesses will no longer be able to rely on a level playing field. When ISPs can slow your site and destroy your business at will, how can any startup attract investors?
My friends, family, and I use the Internet for conversation and fun, but also for work and business. When you let ISPs mess with our Internet experience, you are attacking our social lives, our entertainment, and our economic well being. We won't stand for it.
ISPs are opposing Title II so that they can destroy the FCC's net neutrality rules in court. This is the same trick they pulled last time. Please, let's not be fooled again. Title II is the strong, legally sound way to enforce net neutrality. Use it.
A couple shots of the drawing I just did for school. I'm taking classes at SCAD right now. It's really stretching me.
Here's a little commission I did for this Kickstarter
I like getting the opportunity to do a little pixel art.
Last week, the Communications Department of BYU-Idaho visited the Bay Area and met with some of the best companies on the planet. They are full of top notch people. Each company has a unique company culture, but they all had a similar thread. I’m going to take a moment and talk about the commonalities in these companies and the people that make them great.
What struck me about these people is that they are not God-like Super Beings. They are normal people like you and I who choose to do exceptional things everyday.
We visited Big Monocle, Linkedin,Three Marketeers, Facebook, Google, Clorox, Edelman, Goodby Silverstein, Ebay and Paul Gustavson.
The purpose of this trip was to make connections with these companies to better prepare and place our students in high quality jobs. In addition to our conversations with these questions:
What are you looking for in people when you’re hiring?
What do you wish you would’ve learned in college that would have better prepared you for this job?
What could we do to improve our curriculum?
In no particular order, here’s a list of the top things we heard.
Passion Projects One thing that stood out with each of the people that we met was that they all had side projects that they enjoy. A woman at Facebook quit her job to start an effort to help a leper colony. Employees at Big Monocle routinely break up their day by creating crazy vine videos.
An employee at Ebay wrote a textbook of a class intended to teach visual designers how to code, a class he wishes existed. Every Google employee is expected to be “googlie,” or in other words, be the type of person who does something more than what is expected of them. In fact, google expects you to work 80% of your time on the job that you were hired for and 20% of your time on something that you’re passionate about. The employees we met at Edelman were hired based on their extracurricular activities. One woman began writing about sustainable agricultural practices in college to raise awareness on the issue (something she did on her own that had nothing to do with her classes) and was hired based on this extra effort.
Each company that we visited are looking for passionate people. The owner of the Three Marketeers said that he finds it very difficult to find employees with drive and ambition.
Several of the companies echoed what we heard at Skype, “Great storytelling is crucial.” Almost all of these companies mentioned that altruism was an extremely valuable trait in a potential candidate.
Think about it; the type of person who is so passionate about something that she writes about it for free or spends his free time creating it or builds a nonprofit to fix it is the type of person who will bring that same effort to the job. These are not the slackers.
Today’s employers want passionate and driven employees. Doing more than you’re asked because you want to is a great way to demonstrate these qualities.
Takeaway: Do something. Do it now. Don’t wait to be asked. Don't wait to be granted permission. Get in and help. Create something. Chances are that you are watching way too much TV. Cut an hour or two out and do something that you love.
Start a personal project today and do it everyday. Your personal project should have 2 main criteria:
- You should feel vulnerable doing it.
- You should share it with the world.
Concise Writing This came up at every company and, not surprisingly, was emphasized at the companies that require a lot of writing. No one in business appreciates a long winded email, no matter how well crafted it is. The ability to succinctly communicate your message is key. The recruiting sift through hundreds of cover letters a week. I wish I could convey the overly dramatic full body eye rolls that I watched as they described the “cover letters that go on forever,” and the “resumes that never end.” This is why I am such a huge proponent of Twitter. Learning to craft a message in less than 140 characters is great practice is concise writing.
Takeaway: Edit yourself and cut the fat in your communication before you send anything. Start practicing concise communication now so that you’re not learning those skills while writing your cover letter or sending a message to your boss.
Twitter is a great way to practice succinct communicating because you're limited to 140 characters. Figure it out The best way to learn is “being dropped in the deep end.” The idea of learning to swim by being tossed in the deep end of the pool and possibly drowning may sound a bit harsh, but in today’s work environment, no one is going to spoon feed you the answers. On the job training does not mean that there is a regimented training program set up to teach you everything you need to know. It means that you will be required to do things that you’ve never done. In fact, some of the most agile companies we visited take on projects where no one in the company has any competency in the necessary skills. This may seem crazy, but they have full confidence that their people will figure it out and they continue to deliver quality results project after project. Many of these companies are on the cutting edge and are the ones blazing the trails into uncharted territory. They draw their own maps and write their own manuals. There is no tutorial for the thing that no one has done yet.
Takeaway: If any of the following sounds like you, then you need to change your mindset and learn to figure things out:
- You email your professor before you try to find the answer online.
- You find yourself waiting to be told what to do next.
- You get frustrated when you’re expected to perform a task without detailed instructions.
- The idea of jumping in and figuring it out as you go freaks you out.
- You wait until you feel completely competent at something before you start trying it.
- The idea of starting a personal project sounds like something you may do in the future when you’re better, more prepared or experienced.
- You view failure as an end rather than as part of your iteration process.
Urgent vs. Important We are all pulled in a million directions all the time. The unfortunate situation is that the things that are on fire and need immediate attention (urgent) are usually not the things that will have a significant positive impact (important). The important things in our lives and work are easily put off until tomorrow to take care of the incessant needs of the urgent things.
One employee at Ebay told us that he had to learn which meetings to accept and which to turn down because he could fill every day with urgent meetings and never get anything important done.
Takeaway: Prioritize your long term and short term objectives and make sure to move the needle on the important stuff everyday without ignoring the urgent stuff. This is a difficult balancing act that will require constant tinkering. The key is to do something that moves the needle in the long run every day.
If you spend all of your time on the urgent and do not carve out time for the important, then you will die having accomplished nothing important. Visual reinforcement of the company culture I’m a visual creative. I have spent most of my early career working for small companies with small margins and crappy workspaces. The single most impressive thing that I saw on this trip was that these offices looked amazing.
What made them truly incredible was that while each one felt different than the others, they were all communicating something. Every building, cubicle, wall, bathroom, window, break room and landscape was sending an intentional message. None of the spaces had been left to rot or looked dated. Everything was new and specifically designed to create an efficient workspace for creative employees.
Many will talk about on-campus massages, free laundry, free food, free bicycles, foosball, pool, ping pong, maternity/paternity leave, etc, but these are all part of treating your employees like people rather than a cog in the machine. The real key to the company culture is in the posters and decor. Campuses like Google and Linkedin are some of the most impressive work places that I’ve ever been, but Facebook really knocked it out of the park.
As I walked in, I was immediately struck by the hand screen printed, gig poster styled, propaganda posters covering every wall. When I investigated further, I was taken to the “analog research laboratory.”
The screen printer told me:
“this is where we do the opposite of what everyone else at facebook does.”
They had a letterpress station with movable type. They had screen printing. They made buttons, posters, cards, flyers and shirts... one at a time, by hand.
Here’s the key: these were not top down mandated messages. Anyone at Facebook can walk into the Analog Lab and make a poster. It was a grass roots system designed to give a visual voice to the feelings of the employees. I walked away with a huge stack of posters and a new insight on the importance of surrounding ourselves with good design.
Later, in his living room, Paul Gustavson explained the importance of a well designed workplace with before and after examples of businesses he turned around. He starts by changing what the employees see in the office.
Takeaway: Surround yourself with visuals that remind you why you do what you do. You spend a huge amount of time in your office, it should look incredible.
Fill your life with good design. Analyze and breakdown ads People who create advertising and visual communication pieces don’t like or dislike things; They know why they work or don’t work. As someone who wants to connect and communicate with people, you should be able to analyze and breakdown what works in a project. Knowing the basics of design (proximity, repetition, alignment, contrast, flow, typography & color theory) are foundational principles in business today. Understanding sound writing practices is also key.
You don’t need to be a writer or a designer, but you do need to be able to communicate with them in industry standard terminology. Goodby Silverstein mentioned that they often require impromptu analyzation of ads during their hiring process.
Takeaway: What is it about that photograph, magazine ad or TV commercial that is making it work?
Make a habit out of asking yourself why you like something. Be exceptional Exceptional people are exceptional because they do exceptional things. Way too many people today are concerned with entertaining themselves and spend their entire lives never having made a difference. Too many students are waiting to be told what to do. We've built an academic culture in this country that produces students who are only concerned with how little effort they can put in to get the grade.
Exceptional people don't focus on minimum requirements. They meet the minimums that they're required to do and then get to work. They have passion. This passion drives them to excel and break barriers. They don't care about the minimum requirements any more than an eagle cares about a traffic jam.
Someone who is working on a side project instead of rotting on the couch is doing something exceptional. Putting forth any effort above what you are minimally required to do is out of the ordinary. If you are passionate about that extra effort, then it is exceptional.
Takeaway: Becoming an exceptional person is very simple:
- Do exceptional things
- Do those things everyday
The employees we met at these places are normal people who do exceptional things everyday.
Your thoughts? Tell me what you think or ask me questions about what these places are like in the comments section.
Make sure to go full screen when viewing this. This is a quick tutorial about the Shape Builder Tool in illustrator. It is the evolution of the Pathfinder, but it is a lot quicker and more intuitive.
Here are a couple of video tutorials of how to use some of the vector options in photoshop. If you're going to follow along, you probably want to go full screen with these so you can see what's going on. I zoom in as much as I can, but full screen is a good idea with these tutorials.
I've been doing more inking lately in my sketchbook. These are all rough shots. There's one that I'm going to composite some other drawings into, but here's they are raw.
Here's a few "work in progress" shots.
Here's a sketch I did last night. I was walking through the mall and I saw an image of a woman crouching in a pose like this. It made me think of what she wasn't looking at. I'm not terribly happy with the face, which seems kind of expressionless, but the rest of it turned out okay. Here's a few "work in progress" shots
I recolored this piece to get a better contrast separation with the background. More contrast between the subject and the background.
You can find the original here along with some work in process shots.
- Portfolio (Scribd.com):
[scribd id=216527524 key=key-fp644bkue7y7cjop15r mode=book]
- Project Corrections / Time spent: I spent 3.5 hours creating a new black and white "graduate leadership" flier.
- Message: Communicating a message visually can be done in a number of different styles.
- Audience: Potential employers
- Top Thing Learned:
- Future application of Visual Media: I will continue to use Visual Media skills to communicate to my audience through direct mail, websites, flyers, pamphlets, books, catalogs, etc.
- Color scheme and color names: blue, brick, gold - Big Split Complimentary
- Title Font Name & Category: Riesling, Decorative
- Copy Font Name & Category: Times New Roman
- Thumbnails of Images used: I created all of the graphics from scratch in Illustrator.
- Description: A gate fold brochure about Amazon Prime in the style of a cardboard box.
- Process (Programs, Tools, Skills): I started by finding cardboard textures online. I then photoshopped an edge on one of them and added another masked layer to have the cardboard looked ripped a little by the tape. Then I created the tape. I looked at references online of what amazon tape looks like and created a series of gradients to imitate the texture of the tape with the raised sections reflecting a little and casting a shadow over the words. I then created a white box and styled it like a shipping label. I took all of these elements and placed them on the artboard. I then began to add in my own custom shadows and used blended gradients to create the appearance of creases and wrinkles.
- Message: My message is that Amazon Prime offers free 2 day shipping on thousands of products.
- Audience: People who make online purchases or are considering doing so.
- Top Thing Learned: I had to make the folds line up according to the specific printer in the Spori.
- Color scheme and color names: Complimentary: teal & orange
- Title Font Name & Category: Veneer, display
- Copy Font Name & Category: Humanist521BT, sans serif
- Word Count: 288
- Thumbnails of Images used:
- Sources (Links to images on original websites)
- http://kamiakcreek.wordpress.com/tag/box/
- http://www.texturegen.com/free-textures/texture-840/
- http://www.sycha.com/10-free-high-res-cardboard-textures
- http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/digitalscrapbooking/ig/Paesaggio-Digi-Scrap-Kit/Paesaggio-Torn-Handmade-Paper.htm
Click below to see the process of creating this image. Check the captions for a little description of each thumbnail.
I'm going to be posting some process shots of some of the more interesting pages of my comic. This page, found here, was a particularly entertaining page to layout because of the depth that I was trying to achieve. If you haven't read my comic yet, you can start at the beginning here.
- Description: I was asked to come up with the branding for a lecture series that will be put on at BYU-Idaho. The acronym PIE stands for Passion, Innovation and Enlightenment.
- Process (Programs, Tools, Skills): I first sketched quite a few concepts on the windows of my office with a dry erase marker. Then I took several of those ideas and sketched them many more times until I narrowed it down to what I felt the essence of a slice of pie was. I always really try to go for a strong silhouette. I snapped a picture with my phone and emailed it to myself. Working as much as possible outside of the computer before I get started in the computer really adds to the end result. I then used the pencil, pen and blob brush tools to trace my sketches. I used the direct select and convert anchor point tools to smooth out and finish up the shapes. Add a little color (and on the last one, a little gradient blending shape) and I was done.
- Message: Passion is contagious. Come listen to some passionate people and have some pie.
- Audience: College Professors at BYU-Idaho
- Top Thing Learned: Trying to make Pie elegant is quite difficult.
- Three Color Scheme and Color Names: All schemes are monochromatic with black, red then orange.
- Three sets of Title / Body Font Names & Categories: no fonts, Lao MN & Filmotype Honey,
- Votes on favorite logo:
- Top Logo = 7; Middle Logo = 3; Bottom Logo = 0;
- My favorite logo is the top one. I've shown it used here in a mockup template from pixeden.com
Description: A poster compilation of several pictures using masks to mix the images. Process (Programs, Tools, Skills): I started by putting a gradient layer of black to blue. Then I added images of a ray and whales. I masked out the edges with several custom brushes on may Cintiq. Then I added the rest of the images and painted the edges out. I then adjusted the color and blending of each layer so that they mix appropriately. Message: The great unknown is dangerous, but worth it. Audience: Fans of seafaring stories and Joseph Conrad. Top Thing Learned: I used a custom brush in a different way. Filter / Colorization used and where it was applied: I used colorization to match the edge of the water and the whales. Color scheme and color names: Blue and orange, complimentary Title Font Name & Category: Georgia Oldstyle Copy Font Name & Category: Georgia Oldstyle
Description: This is a project I designed with the intention of getting adults to find the value in play.
Process: I started by taking a series of interesting shots of lego figures. I chose Boba Fett because it matched my chosen color scheme and my message. I wanted to have a design style that would match the time period of the original Star Wars release dates, so I used a '70s style with the colors and shapes. I took the image into photoshop and created a vector mask for the circle. Then I created a vector circle behind the picture. Then I created a series of vector swooshes and curves by duplicating a slightly changing the curves with the pen tools. I then altered the text from the quote in Illustrator and imported it into photoshop as a smart object. Finally, I painted some watercolor splashes and stains, scanned them in and brought them into the design. I used the blending layer options and opacity to mix them into the design. Then I masked out the areas where I didn't want watercolor texture.
Message: Creativity comes from playing and adults who would like to be creative should remember what it was like to play as a child if they would like to be creative.
Audience: Baby boomers who where children during the release of the original Star Wars trilogy.
Top Thing Learned: I typically don't use purples, pinks, or violets, but I found that it works very well here with what I was trying to do.
Color scheme and color names: Tetradic - Violet, Brick, Lime and Teal.
Title Font Name & Category: Magestra Script - Script (or Decorative Destroyed Script)
Copy Font Name & Category: Optima - Sans-serif
Date and location you took the photo: I took this image Feb 4 in my studio.
I've always liked the shape of the taylor building. For the first lighting shot I waited until the sun started to drop and turned the bottom of the clouds to warm colors. I metered the camera on the edge of the clouds and sky, then composed the shot and took it. I then lighted up the mid tones and shadows in the foreground and midground in photoshop. For the indoor lighting shot I grabbed two designer vinyl toys with vastly different textures and put them on a chess table that my dad made. I lit them from the side with a bright lamp attempting to get some really good shadow definition. A few adjustments in photoshop and a little sharpening and we have the second image. For the Focus Control images I set up a group of toys staggered on the chess board and moved the light a little further away to diffuse it. I first focused on the bounty hunter and then focused on the skeleton. In both of these shots, I pulled the yellow back a lot to give it a more natural look. In the first composition shot I was walking around campus and noticed that a large group of birds moved from the trees to the roof of the building. I waited for a while and snapped shots in burst mode when they did it again. I framed the shot and waited until the birds entered the frame. The sun lit the wings of the birds as they flew by, separating the black birds from the shadows of the building nicely. I accentuated this in photoshop. Finally, I got out the Ninja Turtle my daughter gave me for Christmas and composed a shot showing a little lead room for Michelangelo.
- Description: The "Climb for the Cure" event ad in full bleed.
- Process (Programs, Tools, Skills): I scanned a full page image from a rock climbing magazine. Then I imported it into a word document and created some shapes with the shape tools. I matched the colors of the shapes to the color pallet that I had chosen and ended up choosing Veneer as my typeface. It has a roughed up style that reminds me of the texture of granite.
- Message: We're raising money for cancer. The message is to come and participate.
- Audience: Rock climbing and outdoor enthusiasts between the age of 18-32 years old.
- Color scheme and color names: Monochromatic. Lime.
- Top Thing Learned: I learned that if push comes to shove, you can design in Word.
- Title Font Name & Category: Veneer. Decorative (destroyed sans serif)
- Copy Font Name & Category: Times New Roman. Oldstyle
- Scanned images used, sources, original sizes, location of scanner used: A full page image from Rock & Ice magazine, 8.5x11, third floor of the MC.
I love this game. I've been spending some time on the OUYA playing some old emulator games.
Edit: here's the updated colored version.
This is not photoshopped. We set up the strobes, counted to three and jumped into the air at the same time. This was for a thing that Small White Mouse was doing for the Christmas season.
Since I'll be moving on to go teach at BYU-Idaho soon, this is likely to be the final thing that I design for Teton Guitars. You're looking at the stickers that will go on some crates for the booth at the NAMM trade show that Teton Guitars attends in Jan. Below you'll see some color wedges and at the bottom you'll see the colors that we'll be using for the shirts.
Jake Parker set up a little deal called INKTOBER [link goes to Parker's explanation] where you draw a bunch of drawings using traditional inking methods. My schedule didn't permit me to do one every day (I plan to next year), but I did get a few done that I thought turned out fairly well. These also represent my first attempts using any kind of brush to ink on paper. I've used drafting pens, and mostly ink digitally in Photoshop using a Cintiq. This time I thought I'd try out a sythetic brush I've seen a lot of illustrators use by Pentel called the "brush pen" or "pocket brush." Boy, once you get used to that thing, it is fantastic. Anywho, thought you might enjoy seeing these.
I've been doing a couple of #inktober drawings. I'll get them all up here soonish, but I thought I'd share this one. I don't do portraits very much, but this turned out well.
Here's some fan art I did for a book I recently read. It's a pretty sweet book, you've gotta check it out. Click here to see it on Amazon: East of West Volume 1
To see more of this style of art, check out my comic The Mixed at mixedhistory.com
Here's a quick graphic I did for a friend of mine running for city council. I tried to get away from the basic red stripe/blue stripe and do something that still involves stars and stripes, but is a little more interesting.
A funny little comic about what we could do with the interwebs and what we actually do with it. What do you think? Leave a comment and then head over to MixedHistory.com to read my long form comic.
I thought I'd post some of my favorite panels so far. If you haven't checked out my comic yet, take a minute and pop over to The Mixed [mixedhistory.com]. It updates every Thursday and I've put a ton of time and energy into this project.
Here's a keyboard I had to make real fast. It's a single compound path in an .eps, so it should open in most applications. It's free to use for whatever. If you feel like linking to this site or my comic, I would love it but it's not required.
Download here
House MD Game of Thrones Sigil. Sometimes it's fun just to do a little poster for no reason. I used to like this show, it has been a few seasons since I've watched it.
Here's a video that I put together. I storyboarded this concept and put it together for the site that I'm designing and building with a small team. It is a pretty cool site. You can see the logos that I created in this other post here. This may be one of the most entertaining video editing jobs I've done. Building the sound FX was very fun. I really liked how speeding up the footage turned out during the crazy first minute of this one. I will say that shooting with a mouse was very ... interesting... that thing would not go for the peanut butter or BBQ sauce that I was laying down. I thought we'd never get her to chew on those wires or "talk" into the mic. Anywho, hopefully you enjoy the video.
Go check out the site: www.SmallWhiteMouse.com
I posted a comic page today that has roots in my childhood. There was a lady who came into my brother's intensive care unit and gave him a cocoon glued to a stick. Almost 30 years later, I still remember the lesson she taught us. Head over and check the page out and leave a comment.
This is the cover of my comic and the pencils of an unfinished page. Check it out at mixedhistory.com
I have been working on this story in the evenings since November. I'll be releasing one page a week until it is finished or I lose the use of my hand in a freak gasoline fight accident.
The site updates on Thursdays. Sign up for my email list to make sure you don't miss any pages! Basically, you'll get an email once a week telling you there's a page up.
Here are a couple of recent "digital" paintings that I did. I'm working on getting faster digitally. My usual process involves starting the drawing on paper and finishing up the coloring digitally. It is still a painting process even though it is digital because I'm using a Wacom Cintiq... so mainly I just don't have to wait for the paint to dry.
Avid followers of this site have been chomping at the bit to know what this post was about... (see me messing around with the concept here) Well, wait no further tens of people... I give you the Small White Mouse branding... or the beginnings of it. This will be a site launched mid-year this year that sells high-end guitars. I've gotta tell you, it was a lot more difficult to come up with a logo for this property that I thought it would be. The main problem I had was coming up with something that didn't look like Mickey or Deadmau5. In any case, I prevailed and created a unique style that will be carried through the site. The silhouette was the most important thing to get right. I really wanted to create something that could be "played" with quite a bit like a lot of the surf/sk8 brands do with their logos. The whole concept of the site is a little nod to the lab mice of Hitchhiker's Guide being much more than ordinary mice. Anywho, enjoy.
This is a character in the comic that I'm writing and drawing in my spare time. Yaggi is a wise old turtle who plays the part of the sage old man in the story. He rides around in a little cart of his own design.
I sketched this in pencil and then painted the textures in watercolor. I scanned all of that in and colored everything in photoshop. If you'd like more information on Yaggi and his backstory, sign up for my email list and I'll send out a message when I start posting this graphic novel/webcomic online.
This is the cover of the mini-catalog that will be used with this booth.
Everything is made out of shipping crates and labels, so I carried that theme on through into the collateral. I built the "crate" backdrop in photoshop with a series of wood textures, then created everything else in illustrator. I spent some time with the gradient pallet and blended the gradient shapes for some shadows and folds in the paper. The gradients are really what made mixing the vector objects with the photos of wood work together.
This one is about a year old, but I really like it. The different metals visually reinforce the solid construction of the product. If I were to do it again, I'd make the fonts look a little more like they were stenciled on the wall with spray paint... but I had to do this in a hurry.
A page I designed for some collateral for Chesbro Music. This is part of a larger 12 page piece to be handed out at NAMM, a music retailer trade show. I tried to go for a letterpress meets wet canvas look to incorporate a vintage beach feel.
Digging through an old hard drive, I cam across some portraits I took a little while ago. Enjoy
A couple of posters I sketched and was messing around with. Everything after the pencil sketch was done in Illustrator.
Sometimes I really just like to illustrate an ad. I don't think you see this as much, because grabbing a stock photo is so much quicker. In this, I developed a repeating brick pattern and had a little fun with juxtaposition (robot vs human). I basically made a robot out of old/retro looking tech with the cassette tape player.
Another poster to go with the rest of the group. I'm really enjoying the vintage stuff the last few days. For more description and to see more of these posters, click here.
I've included here a few shipping labels that I've designed that will go on Chesbro Music Co's NAMM booth. You'll notice that these are quite distressed. I've made them to look like they've been shipped across the ocean and/or have been heavily used. This year we've designed the NAMM booth to be a 1920's shipping/loading dock. You can see some images of the back wall of the booth here. You can also see Last year's NAMM booth which was a hybrid of this theme. We'll be replacing the back wall and reusing the crate stacks.
In the last little while, I've shot a lot of images of people playing guitars for catalogs and websites. Here's a few of them to enjoy. You'll notice that there are different looks between the electric and the acoustic guitars.
I've been working on a comic and developing a new style (for me) in coloring. Here are a few examples of what I've been working on.
Lately, I've heard a lot of "zero sum" talk about the economy. One person even said that the rich people are selfishly hoarding all the money so that there isn't any left for the rest of us. I just want to clear something up: money is not a limited resource, it is a transactional resource. How much is a dollar worth?
That's a stupid question, a dollar is worth a dollar right? What about the physical paper; what is that worth? It depends on how many times it changes hands. Each time a dollar passes from one person to the next, value is created on both sides. There is a trade. The purchaser is gaining a product or service while the seller is gaining money.
There is worth on both sides of the transaction. In each transaction, a dollar retains its value while leaving value behind. The more transactions there are, the more money there is in that society. It is not a limited resource.
A small example will help illustrate this. A man has $1,000 and pays a contractor to improve his bathroom. The contractor now has money and pays a plumber and a finish carpenter to do the work, then keeps some for himself. The value of the man's home increases with the improvements on his bathroom. The plumber buys a TV. The TV store uses the money to pay employees. The carpenter pays his rent. The carpenter's landlord uses the rent money to save for his son's college tuition. The contractor pays someone to mow his lawn... and so on and so on.
Each transaction, each time money changes hands, value is created. The more transactions there are, the more value our money has. Or in other words, the more value people add to other people's lives, the wealthier we all are. If each of us strive to bring the best value (read: products and services) to everyone else, the better we all are.
This is some work in progress shots of the booth I designed. You can see the original drawing here. Combined with the crate stacks and tower of music from last year's booth,
this 16'x6'x12' booth represents the large warehouse full of product that Chesbro Music Co has ready to ship to your store. Now we just have to throw a bunch of guitars and ukes up there and some signage to describe them and blam-o... we're ready to go. The cool thing is that this booth sets up in less than an hour and breaks down to fit on two pallets.
Here are some progress shots of the NAMM booth we are working on. I've also attached some concept shots.
check out this post for more
Dave Murray takes antique silver and hand works into rad awesomeness. You should check his stuff out. I did this logo as if it would be stamped on an old school letter press. Then Dave ups the quality and stains the cards with tea!
A little animated gif I designed for a guitar website header.
EDIT: Check the updated branding I did here (after I decided that I completely hated the "hand drawn" indy look of the above style for this project)
The opening spread of the graphic novel I've been talking about. It is likely that I won't be posting many more pages here as I don't want to ruin the surprise or the story as I'm making it. So, if you are not already on my mailing list, jump on over and sign up to be notified when I do start posting pages. It'll be fun, it'll be free and you'll lose weight and smell better... somehow.
You can also follow along on Twitter and DeviantArt for more Work-in-Progress stuff.
Here are some "process" animations to get an idea of how I'm coloring these.
You may have noticed that my posts have slowed down a little lately. Never fear, I'm still alive. I've been spending my early mornings and evenings working on a graphic novel. This will be the first comic I've done. I'm not trying to break into the comic industry or work for Marvel or anything. I just have a story to tell and I'm following my personal rule to work on skills unrelated to my current employment. Its pretty exciting working on something of my own, rather than someone else's project. My plan is to post the entire book online for free with the intention of seeing if anyone is interested in reading it. If there is an audience after I've told my story, then I'll see if anybody is interested in purchasing a printed copy.
So here's how that is going to work. I'm drawing the pages of the book out of order. I also want to make sure to meet my schedule and with a full time job, that means that I'll need a cache of pages already done before I start posting them. So while you won't see a ton of stuff posted here in the next few months, just know that I'm holding back some really good stuff.
I'll announce via email, twitter and facebook when I start posting pages (which should be mid 2013 at the latest), so stay tuned.
In the mean time, I'll be getting up early to spend several hours drawing and writing before I need to go to my full-time job. So far, this has been one of the most rewarding things I've done with my "free time." It is an amazing way to start the day. I highly recommend getting up early and creating something, even if you don't plan on showing it to anyone.
I thought I'd post a quick look at what I've been up to. Now, this doesn't look like a ton of work, but it took the last week+ full of early mornings to come up with the way I wanted to color this thing. BTW, if you hadn't heard yet, I'm working on a graphic novel. I've got a great idea for a story and I'll be posting pages every week starting mid 2013 (once I get enough pages done to have a big stockpile of pages). In the interim, I'm getting up a few hours early every morning to make this happen. If you know me personally, you'll know what a big deal sacrificing sleep is.
I'm in love with the story I've come up with and I'm really stoked about the style of lines and coloring that I've decided on. I'm mainly excited to be working on something completely my own. As I've heard it said several times in different ways, once you start taking money from other people, other people are allowed a say in what you do. For right now, this is an unpaid exercise and I'm really enjoying it.
I'd be remiss if I didn't thank Jason Brubaker and David Peterson for helping me figure out a lot of things. They don't know who I am, but they've both posted podcasts, articles, tutorials, screenshots, etc that have been extremely helpful. Specifically, Jason runs a site called MakingComics.com geared towards self-publishing independent comics and David writes and illustrates Mouse Guard, a story about mice with swords all completely done in watercolor and ink.
Both have been nice enough to answer some of my questions on twitter. I hope to send them a free copy of my book someday. Now, I've gotta get to bed so that I can get up early again.
I was told the original design needed to be "classy, like the people who attend symphonies..."
Here's the first draft of Chesbro Music Co.'s 2013 winter NAMM booth.
This will be the back wall of what will look like a large shipping and receiving dock/warehouse. We'll be reusing parts of last year's booth, but moving away from the "beach shack" look towards a full shipping and receiving facility. This booth will be completely modular and will collapse down and fit on a couple of pallets. I'll produce it with normal cheap woods, then distress and age them. Some graphics in the form of labels, stencils and wood burning will be applied to convey the idea of the crates coming from different parts of the world and different countries.
One of the most frustrating things in graphic design is gathering source material and getting started. This difficulty stems from a lack of understanding about what the terms "high res" and "print ready" mean. In this post, I'll explain these terms and why the following statements torment your designer.
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"what's the big deal? It looks great on my screen"
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"oh yeah, I just scanned the logo from an old flyer."
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"My sister's kid designed the logo. He only gave me a .jpg, won't that work?"
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I designed the flyer in photoshop elements, can you work with that?
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our logo is our name spelled in this font I got online
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and so on
Let's talk about dots Resolution is a measurement of dots (or pixels) per inch. The more dots per inch (or higher DPI), the higher the image quality. The fewer dots per inch (lower the DPI) the lower the quality of the image. When an image is low resolution, it will look "pixilated" and edges will have "stair stepping." Basically, it will look terrible.
What DPI do you need? When giving images and logos to a designer, the bigger the file size the better. A good designer will know what to do with large files. Also, you can always go smaller. That is important enough to repeat: an image can always be reduced in size or quality, you cannot increase the quality of an image. Here's the rules:
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300 DPI is print quality (you can skate by with 150 DPI if you have to)
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72 DPI is screen quality
Your screen needs significantly fewer dots per inch, that's why something can look great on your computer (at 72 DPI) and print out crappy (printing needs 300 DPI)
Vector vs Raster or Scalable vs Pixelated There are two types of images. Vector (math based) & Raster (pixel based) A pixel based image, or raster image, is made up of thousands of colored squares. Think of Monet's pointillism. These are typically photographs or digital paintings. If you zoom in on a raster image or enlarge it, it will degrade in quality and you'll start to see the squares of color (pixels) that make up the image. A good rule of thumb is don't enlarge pixel based images. One more thing to think about when talking about resolution of raster images. Resolution is a function of the number of dots per square inch. If you take a 300 DPI image and double the size (avoid doing this at all costs), then your Image is now 150 DPI. Where'd all your pixels go? There is still the same number of pixels, but you image is now bigger, so there are fewer of them in an inch. (now if you could figure out how to make an inch bigger, then you'd really be onto something)
A vector image is completely different. Instead of the image containing thousands of pixels, it has no pixels. Instead, a series of anchor points and lines. These make two things very different for vector files:
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Smaller file sizes: the computer doesn't need to memorize every dot in the file, just the shapes and colors made of the anchor points and lines
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Scalable: vector files look good at any size. They can be on a postage stamp [outdated reference] or the side of a building. As Yoda says about vectors, "Size matters not."
So, when vectors can be used, they should be.
So, which is best? That's kind of like asking what the best flavor or what kind of vehicle is the best. It all depends on what you're doing and what you're doing it for. If you don't know, hire a pro. Things go much better with the right designer on board.
A couple of sketches for a project I hope to get off the ground soon that I'll maybe talk about if I can get through the red tape.
So, I was riding my bike on the sidewalk, because people like to yell at bicyclists. There was this car looking to pull out of a parking lot into traffic. Normally, cars will be as close to the road as possible. This guy was at least five feet back. He saw an opening in traffic right as I crossed in front of him. A split second after he hit the gas, he hit me... Or the back tire of my bike. My left knee was wrenched as my bike spun out from under me and I hit the ground. I feel very lucky that he hit my bike and not me. At this point in time, the law is on his side, since I am not allowed on the sidewalk. Had he stopped, I would've received a citation and been responsible for the damage to his car. Instead, after hitting a human being with his car, he decided to commit a felony and speed off, post haste. Flee the scene of the crime even. I've wondered since then if he knew whether he had killed me or not. He was gone before I tried to get up. I wonder if the lingering thought of vehicular manslaughter runs through his head at night. The impact was so loud that the cars across the street waiting at the red light rolled down their windows and someone shouted, "are you ok!?" I said, "NO!" Then the light turned green and they all drove off. I wonder, as they told the story later that day if it occurred to them that they left me laying there in the sidewalk unable to walk. "Cory," you ask (or I pretend you do to move this along), "why weren't you in the road where you should've been?" That's a great question. Sometime earlier a teenage girl doing her makeup while driving hit me while I sat at a red light. When I looked behind me the terrified girl behind the wheel threw her hands in the air grasping a compact and a makeup brush and mouthed, "I'm so sorry!" Since then I've had many drivers yell at me telling me to get off the road and into some dank dungeon where I belong. The honking, daily near misses and shaking angry fists built up until I took to the sidewalks. There are no bike paths in this town. So now, a few days later as I'm hunched over a cane and shuffling along like an octogenarian, I'm thinking about how much I'm going to enjoy getting yelled at again. It's safer in the street. This time I'm strapping flashing red LEDs all over my bike and I'll be lit up like a Christmas tree rolling down the middle of the lane. As an interesting point of law (at least in idaho), a bicycle is considered a full vehicle on the road. I have all of the rights of all the cars and trucks. I won't apologize if you have to change lanes to go around me. Drivers do this for slower cars and often don't give it a second thought. Let's share the road and be civil to each other. And for heaven's sake, if you hit someone with you're car, stop and see if they're ok.
I believe the secret is to stop labeling mistakes and failures as such and start experimenting. When you experiment, you're on an exploration. You don't know what you'll find. You're exploring a concept or an idea. It's fluid. It changes. It's not wrong or right because it's not done. You may have to go back a step or two. You may have to start over. You haven't failed, you've found a route that doesn't go where you want it to. A quick story will illustrate this.A father and son are lost in the woods and come to a fork in the road. Not knowing which one to take, they say a quick prayer and feel like they should take the left road. As night begins to fall, they quickly realized that the left road is not the correct path. As the head back to the fork to get on the right road, the son asks his father, "why did God send us down the wrong road?" His father responded, "So that we knew for sure that it was wrong. Now we can forget about it and focus on the right road." So stop beating yourself up about failing and learn from your experiments.