PAPER SKILLS

One of the classes I took a year or so ago at WSU was Graphic Materials and Processes. That's pretty much a fancy name for a paper folding class. I made some really fun stuff that spruces up my portfolio a notch or two and I learned a lot about how to professionally fold, glue and build in 3D.

Yet I never really thought it would be applicable to a career unless I went into package designing, which is probably slim to none. But last week I built some handy dandy little Christmas signs for work that were a heck of a lot more professional looking due to that class and the teachings of my professor Jeff Pulaski. I suppose it just goes to show that you shouldn't write things off so quickly, even if it feels like arts and crafts fluff fun time.

NEW GRAPHIC DESIGN JOB

For over a year and a half I had been hunting, searching and scouring every job board, employment agency and shaking down all my Wichita contacts for any kind of full time design work. Applications and resumes galore were seeming to get lost in limbo, time and again. I began to panic as my reserve dough was coming under fire and my school funding from the military was about to run out in less than 2 months time. I had to get something solid and that paid decent before the end of the year, design or otherwise. I only held out as long as I did for the continuity of my resume as I've had only art related jobs ever since the military. What can I say, I'm career driven.

So I decided it was time to change ammo and overhaul my resume and portfolio. After which, I all of a sudden started getting hits left and right! Design jobs and intern positions alike at some pretty rad places were trying to get a hold of me, some from contacts others from simply applying. It very well could have been the natural ebb and flow of the design community here in Wichita but I believe it was due to my upgraded new look. In fact, one of the design firms owners said it was the best resume she had seen all year at least.

One of those hits ended up being at a place that I was extremely hopefully of getting into after they contacted me back for an interview. So I donned my slickest garb and went in for the kill. It wasn't even halfway through this interview face to face time that I just knew the position was mine. My style, design capabilities and personality just seemed to fit perfectly. The funny thing is, this place has a love for grunge, the distressed look and edgy, dark, kick-ass-ness almost as much as I do.

I've have now been working for this place for a little over two weeks and I freaking love it. The fates really had my back on this one. It's official, I am now a graphic designer for Harley-Davidson.

BRICKMOB: NORTH END URBAN ARTS FEST

Brickmob, the art and clothing collective I'm working to get off the ground, has it's first show this weekend at the North End Urban Arts Festival! It's totally free and should be pretty rad. We'll be unveiling a new shirt design at this event so come check out our art wares, meet the crew and talk of revolution!

About the North End Urban Arts Festival
We provide a vibrant, high quality urban arts festival that engages and benefits the Wichita North End community, along with local artists, crafters, musicians and performers. This festival is a free community event, open to the public, where all are welcome to come and experience Wichita’s urban arts!

BRICKMOB IRS LETTER

Brickmob, the artist collective and clothing line that I'm helping found, is really building steam. The first show for us will be at the North End Urban Arts Fest in Wichita on October 4th. That being said, the crew and I have been busting ass to get everything in order. Planning, designing, building... the works.

What did I get in the mail today?

Oh laws... we are an official business/brand.

SUMMER OF SWEAT

Wow, the last time I posted a blog was on Jun 5, 2014. Time really flies when you're... short on time? Anyways, this summer was hectic indeed. I won't barf all of it up in one blog but how about just the top three.

New nine-to-fiver as a sign painter
Yep, I now lay paint to wood to create signage. Sometimes it's hand lettering with a fine brush and others it's by stencil and airbrush. It's actually given me quite a lot of ideas for pieces and prints and I get to paint all day which isn't half bad.

My brother and I launched a Kickstarter campaign
Spearheaded by my brother, we have launched a fundraiser to help us start a photo business. But not just any clicky-clicky studio, our backbone is that we will use a high definition aerial drone and support it with ground based imagery. Can you imagine the rad stuff I can video or take a pic of with a flying freaking camera and multiple angles? Click here to jump over to our Kickstarter campaign just in case you want more info or possibly have the desire to assist us to reach our goal. Time is in fact running out but... no pressure or anything.

Brickmob is growing
I have yet to post anything online before this other than the occasional vague Facebook update that I'm working on a clothing concept. I initially wanted to play the whole thing close to the chest just in case all the parts didn't line up. But the gears are really falling into place and it's time to start tapping the vein. The quick synopsis:

Brickmob is a clothing company with it's premiere article of clothing being tactically designed and hyper stylized hoodies based around the graffiti artist, guerrilla art and freedom of expression fueled by the generally pissed off 99%. Each hoodie has a mask to help deter fumes, overspray, the elements and maintain anonymity. There will also be pockets designed to hold aerosol cans but usable for anything from water to Molotov's, though I don't officially condone the latter. It's meant to help art thrive by any means necessary and look good doing. All art will be hand printed by real artists and a portion of the proceeds will go to a charity that has yet to be determined, preferably urban and/or art concerned.

That should do it for now. There will be more to come on all of this and so much more! Oh and I'll also try not to suck and disappear for so long.

LAWRENCE STEAMROLLER PRINT EVENT

I recently had the chance to be part of a steamroller event alongside my fellow Wichita State University printing guild members. We were asked to carve a block of wood that was 4 ft tall and a little over 2 feet wide. This is not really my area of artistic expertise but then again, when have I ever backed down from a challenge?

Most people that revel in this medium use old school hand wood carving tools. I have poopie el cheapo versions that uber suck. So I decided to work smarter and not harder... and snagged my buddy Duane's rotary tool, otherwise referred to as a Drimel.

This still took quite a lot of patience and precision that obviously can only come with practice. I think it's proven quite useful and time saving so in my next attempt at this medium I'm going to really design something with this particular tool in mind.

Then it was off to the main event! It was held during the Art Tougeau Pre-Parade Street Party Friday, May 30 at the Lawrence Arts Center in Lawrence, Kansas. So a quick two plus hour ride from Wichita and I was in the thick of it. It was hot, fun and I made a short 30 second video of the inking and pressing of my piece. Check it out:



It was one hell of an event with many talented artists and people that fight to keep the art scene thriving. I can't wait for the next ink smeared heavy roller happening that I can be a part of.

Ink slathered woodcut

The first print on muslin

BEAD EAR

Today when I got home after picking up my two and a half year old son from the sitter, we began our daily wrestling in the living room. I hemmed him up into a ball and when we were face to face upside down, he whispers "Daddy, bead ear." Thinking he had said bee ear and was being a jokester, I continued tickling and wrestling. Then after a loving body slam he says to me again, bead ear. So I took it a bit more seriously and busted out the flashlight. Upon further inspection, I found the following little treasure lodged in his ear.

Good thing I have mad Operation skills.
Kids man. Kids.

THE PATRIOT

It's been quite a while since I've posted anything. My bad. But I haven't been lazy. In fact, I've been working in a new medium, video. I worked up a mock Showtime series title sequence for my motion graphics class. Here's the scoop:

Retired detective sets out across America finding the scum that slipped through the cracks in our crooked legal system. This aged gunslinger uses his police and military background to add a cold and calculated approach to his methods which is mirrored by old school brutal Louisiana justice.
Enter, The Patriot.

 
The Patriot - Title Sequence from LASTDEVIANT on Vimeo.

INTERNATIONAL TYPE THROWDOWN WINNER

My letter took 1st in the Sanskrit category of the TypeThrowdown competition! 615 to 226 votes… a landslide victory. Endless thanks to ALL OF YOU and your support! http://typethrowdown.wordpress.com/

Posing with the Wichita State University mascot and my art college homie and winner of the Greek category, Christina Jacks.

SHOP: NEW SHIRTS AND PRINTS ADDED

4 new women's shirts, 2 new mens, and a new art print just added to the shop!

TYPE THROWDOWN SEMIFINALS

I'm here to ask for your help yet again. One of my three letters that I designed for the International Type Throwdown is now in the Semifinals! There's an exhibit at the Ulrich Museum that has all of the brackets hung and allows for in-person voting as well. It would be awesome if you saw it in person but if not, please help me by voting online. You can vote as often as you want so bookmark the Sanskrit Type Throwdown page and vote away!

Then refresh... and vote.

Then refresh... and vote.

Then refresh... and vote.

Then refresh... and vote.

Then refresh... and vote.

Then refresh... and vote.

Then refresh... and vote.

Then refresh... and vote.

This is my Sanskrit letter:

If you DO decide to check it out in person, it's the letter I have circled in this pic.

The Ulrich commissioned me to do the event posters that have all the info and the sticker at the bottom which you get free when you vote at the museum!

•••••••••• VOTE NOW ••••••••••

KAVINSKY'S OUTRUN

My oldest friend Xander came over this past week to make a mix CD. Yes, people still do that. This tends to happen at random intervals with a decent amount of time in between so that we can find new musical goodies to share with each other. This time the album took a little more electro feel but with some random choice selections tossed in for variety. You also might notice that there are a few soundtrack snags in there. We both find a lot of decent stuff from soundtracks and movie trailers. Usually, movies have a nice assortment of bands to explore and sometimes some pretty obscure ditties. This was mainly an album for him so he chose the odd ones below like the Conan and Miami Vice tunes. The new ones that Xander brought to the table that I had never heard before are the ones in red.

1. I'll Be There For You - Mount Eden
2. Midnight City - M83
3. Sail - Awolnation
4. Crockett's Theme - Jan Hammer (Miami Vice TV Soundtrack)
5. Nightcall - Kavinsky (Drive Original Soundtrack)
6. Time to Pretend - MGMT
7. Stripped - Rammstein
8. Born To Be Wasted - 009 Sound System
9. Hands of time - Groove Armada
10. Anvil of Crom - Basil Poledouris (Conan the Barbarian Soundtrack)
11. Never Wanted To Dance - Mindless Self Indulgence (Combichrist Electro Hurtz Remix)
12. More Human Than Human (Big Black Delta Remix) - White Zombie
13. Vice - The Crystal Method (London Soundtrack
14. Oblivion (feat. Susanne Sundfør) - M83 ( Oblivion Original Soundtrack)

The above CD is dope but it's only the preface to what this post is really about, song 5. I had completely forgotten about this track as I had originally heard during the credits in the killer movie Drive. After re-hearing this top-notch tune I decided to look up Kavinsky and check out his other works. He has but one studio album, OutRun and I have to say, I can't stop listening to it. I love every damn song on this album save for the remix at the end. It's like Daft Punk melded with a Ferrari and got infused with the collective power of every 80's movie that ever existed.

I especially like jamming to this while working out, driving and working on art. I seriously need a faster car to truly enjoy this CD. I mean the album is named after Sega's 1986 arcade game of the same name, which featured the Ferrari Testarossa for Pete's sake! See the concept behind OutRun follows Kavinsky's backstory of a young man who crashed his Testarossa in 1986 and reappeared in 2006 as a zombie. How bad ass is that?! Kavinsky said he had influences from 80's video games, television cop shows such as Miami Vice and the films of Dario Argento. The intro and outro have semi-corny voice overlays that set the mood for the entire album but I think it's 80's kick-ass-cheese-tastic.

PLACES TO FIND ANTIQUE PRINTS AND ART

I read a very amusing post today about some prints that Steven Heller aquired in France. He found them at this little shack of a shop in Paris right next to the Seine river. This is the picture I got from his site.

How amazing is it that a little art shanty like this even exists! I wish things like that could be found around these parts here in ole ICT. This train of thought took me down another mental path. I thought it would be fun to sit down and create a little list that I and other designers, artists or enthusiasts might use to find such amazing art gems. Plus, I just love making lists.

PLACES TO FIND ANTIQUE PRINTS AND ART

1. Thrift Store
-I've found quite a few old prints and art at thrifts stores, not to mention sweet old man pants.

2. Antique Shop
-Nearly all of the antique shops that I've been too have had old imagery but they can sometimes be a little over priced.

3. Vintage Reseller
-Vintage resellers a good place to look but be preparred to spread that wallet wide open.

4. Art Gallery
-If they have any at all, art galleries are again super expensive.

5. Museum
-If museums have any, and most that I've been to only have reprints of famous stuff, want a pretty penny to hand over anything. One good thing about this venue is that you at least know what you're getting is authentic.

6. Flea Market
-Oh I love going to flea markets. It's like a seedy sideshow that you can buy strange and interesting treasures from. Knock-off name brand clothing, hordes of cassette tapes and typically plenty of dusty boxes of art.

7. Print Store
-I've found only one print store that has had anything that was actually the real article but I still look around anytime I find a new one.

8. Garage Sale
-It's obviously a crap shoot but garage sales are rad for finding all kinds of handy dandy hand-me-downs. Once in a while you'll hit a jack pot like when an old lady cleans out her attic.

9. Estate Sale
-As morbid as it is, when the old pass away they leave behind old art and I've found gobs at estate sales. I've found some amazing things this way. It's ok to suppress any guilty feelings for being such a vulture with the ideal that these are living on as tributes to fallen art supporters.

10. Online
-Duh.

Do you have any other places to look? Shoot me your thoughts! This is one that my wife found while in Virginia that adorns our entertainment room entrance. Yep, that's how we roll.

KEEP NET NEUTRALITY

We just lost Net Neutrality and that super-duper sucks. What is Net Neutrality you say? Watch this short and easy to understand video.... then I can do my little rant.

 

Now keep in mind, nothing will change for consumers this very second, but it will. This is only the beginning too. More regulations will follow now that this big one got through.

The Problems:

1. Everyone gets their Internet from an Internet Service Provider. With net neutrality gone, ISP's can discriminate, favoring their business partners while delaying or blocking websites they don't like. So if AT&T, Cox or some other ISP gets in a pissing match with let's say Facebook or Twitter, they can block it no questions asked.
2. ISP's can charge fat fees to websites that want quick content delivery. This means those long load times will go to poorer sites that can't pay up. No more free websites or indie sites which means even more hardships for small business.
3. An ISP could slow or block all peer-to-peer file sharing, or all online video streaming. So Netflix watchers and BitTorrent users might want to beware. No more cheap (let alone free) video and file streaming. If netflix has to pay more for big bandwidth, then so will you.
4. ISP's will be able to make even more money off their existing customer base. They won't need to improve service or bring broadband to rural areas because they'll be able to keep growing (financially, at least) by charging content providers more for faster delivery and charging customers more for faster access. In all likelihood, this ruling means the problems with America's slow internet will only get worse.

The Internet was designed as an open medium, not to be regulated so fat cat companies can hog bandwidth and charge us commoners an arm and a leg to not have archaic speeds. They have enough damn money. When the net is not free, we will lose the biggest tool to educate and to help keep freedom and truth alive.

Mad yet? I sure hope so damn it. There is still hope so use that motivation! The FCC could reinstate Net Neutrality right now. The Save The Internet site below has all of the info that you need to understand this debate and how to take action.

www.savetheinternet.com

WEAR SAFETY GOGGLES CHINA

Yep. All of China, put on your safety goggles.

This has been a public service announcement from my el-cheapo mini hammer.

X-MAS BREAK 2013

What did my lil fam do on this x-mas break? Here are the top three things that came to mind... or at least that were photographically documented.

1: Played lots of video games

2: Installed a new dishwasher from scratch

3: Shot our new bow and arrows and BB gun