Churchtime Tangles

I know a lot of y'all are here because of all the Zentangle things I've posted in the past. I haven't done a lot of tangling recently, but I haven't abandoned it altogether, either. I keep a sketchbook that I take with me to church and tangle in. Whenever I look back at a drawing in this sketchbook I can remember the sermon that was preached at the time!

Here are two of my churchtime tangles:

Monotangle with some aura-ing. Simple yet effective, both visually and for the purpose of
 keeping your mind on the speaker and not everything else it could be thinking about!

This one started out as an experiment with the new tangle, Rixty,
as released in the Zentangle newsletter a while back. I like it!

I decided not to shade these - partially because shading is a little too loud for church and partially because I just wanted to leave these as they are.

I hope this gives you some inspiration! What are some unusual places you've chosen to tangle in?

Long Time No See

Thirty thousand page views. I really can't believe it. I leave the blog for eight months and I come back to steady page views, even after all this time! This audience is the best. You - since you're reading this you're the audience - are the best!

I'm just a dude with a little creativity. A few videos (only three!), a bunch of pictures and words. Who'd'a thunk 30,000 people would be interested in that? Thank you ever so much, dear readers!

Now, to catch you up on a few things I've been doing. I'm just about to graduate from my community college with an Associates of Applied Science in graphic design - print media. That means I'm in the midst of my final semester for a while, which also means I'm busy branding, painting, studying, and designing, with only about six weeks to go!

One of my favorite projects to work on so far this semester has been a branding program for a company called Coccinellidae Co. I designed a logo as well as all the collateral (print materials such as business cards, letterhead, postcards and the like) needed for a company. Take a look:

Business cards and buttons - the cards are squattier than
normal business cards on purpose. It's a very mysterious company, so each card has
 a different vintage image as a background. Also see their blog.

Postcards, for mailing out and possibly as Kickstarter awards,
in case the company decides to do a Kickstarter campaign.

Letterhead. A business isn't a business without letterhead, right?

I am pursuing a career as a designer for Disney, so it makes sense to make some Disney designs, right? I've done several Disney pieces, including these buttons (I'm on a button kick this semester! If you have a button make you're done with, I want one SO bad and would gladly take it off your hands!) and a poster:

Just a few snapshots of things I love: Flynn and Rapunzel, Cinderella Castle and the Main Street Station, and Mickey Bars and Dole Whip!

Disney plunked down the giant Sorcerer Mickey hat in front of the beautiful facade of the Great Movie Ride. Lot's of people wish they'd remove the hat, including me. So, I designed this poster, playing off the idiom "old hat" for something, well, old.

I have a painting class this semester too - I've never painted (as in full blown on a canvas with nice paints) before, but I love that this class is required for my major. It's challenging sometimes, but challenge is good. I have two paintings finished so far:

Abstract piece entitled "Soarin'". It was inspired by the orchestral score to the identically named Disney World and Disneyland attraction. 36"x48", acrylic on canvas. 

Expressionist piece entitled "Kingdom Celebration". This one is based on yet another Disney reference, this time Disney's Tangled. 24"x36", acrylic on canvas.

A lot of you are probably wondering if I tangle any more. I do, but with much less frequency than I used to, unfortunately. Although most consider direct eye contact with the preacher on Sunday mornings to be sacrosanct, I've deviated a bit and now tangle in a journal during sermons. I find it helps me to concentrate on the words being spoken, as my brain is less likely to wander. Increased concentration and Zentangling? I call that a win-win!

One of the things I've loved about running this blog is getting to know some great people! I had the chance to meet another reader, New Zealand-based Karen Taylor, who runs a guerilla art blog titled Artshecried. She has beautiful work on her blog - go check it out! She asked me for an interview, which I happily obliged to!

I also wanted to let you guys know that I'll be heading out to work at the Walt Disney World Resort once again through the Disney College Program right after I graduate! I'm terribly excited, as this time around I'll be working in an attractions role. I thought my experience the first time was a once-in-a-lifetime deal, but it turns out to be a twice-in-a-lifetime deal, I guess! God is good!

You'll hear from me again, I promise. It might take another eight months, but you'll hear from me! I may end up posting more to my other blog, College Casted, since Disney is just around the corner, but keep an eye out on this blog too.

Until next time, friends, keep designing and creating!

Pachyderm Postage

During the entire first half of 2013 I've designed virtually nothing. And I call myself a graphic designer? I had an excuse, though. Working 24-32 hours per week, mostly in the late nights/early mornings really swiped all of my design time. Plus, wouldn't you rather play in Disney World than sit in a room and design something? Yeah, me too!

I've worked out a remedy to this situation, though. Over the Summer I will take on design challenges. For each challenge I'll have two days (give or take). The challenges I'm used to have typically come from my classes, with the teacher of the class assigning the project and giving specific details. This blog post and this blog post are examples of the projects I've been assigned for my graphic design classes. Rather than a teacher giving the challenge, I've decided to give it a random spin. I made a numbered list of things to design (i.e. a postcard, a book cover, a brochure, etc.) and a numbered list of themes (triangles, museum, coffee shop, train, etc.). For each challenge I'll pick out, via random number generator, an item from the "things to design" list and an item from the "themes" list. Then I'll design something based on those items!

The first challenge is "postage stamp" and "elephant". I made some sketches - probably not enough, that's something I need to work on - then picked one and created it in Illustrator.

Elephant sketch. Aww, aren't they cute?

Finished design.

It was great to stretch my design muscles a bit! Overall I like how it turned out - I think the top elephant's ear could use a little tweaking, but I can't pin down how to tweak it. Maybe the right edge needs to not be so straight. I did "cheat" and grab a pre-designed postage stamp border from the Internet. It would have taken forever to make from scratch!

Want to join in the fun? I'd love to see what you can come up with keeping within the "postage stamp" "elephant" parameters. If you have a blog let me know if you post your design challenge response! If you don't have a blog, why not post a picture of your creation on the Designed to Create Facebook page? Design on, friends!

Guerilla Art - Experiment #002

It's time for another experiment in Guerilla Art! If you missed the first one, see Guerilla Art - Experiment #001.

This time I thought out of the bottle and enclosed my experiment in a diminutive folder. A set of colored pencils hangs, stapled, to the front.

Illustrious Illustration

Last week I posted a picture of my workdesk as a part of What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, and in that photo I hinted around about the illustration project I was working on. Now you get to see the whole project as it stands so far - though it isn't finished. Yet.

The site flashfiction5.com has a challenge each month to write a 100 word story utilizing a list of 5 words. My co-worker wrote a story using this word list:

centerpiece
deficient
rock
despise
wink

And the story is as follows:

The rock despised himself, he was deficient in producing moss. He wanted to produce moss so he could one day become a centerpiece in the fairy's castle. To sit atop the fairy Queen's table was his dream. He would be amongst the fairy berry pies and giggling Lords and Ladies. However, without moss, he was not invited. Then one rainy day the fairy queen was taking her umbrella for a walk and saw the bald rock. She gave him a wink and walked on by. The next morning the rock woke up with a coat of moss on his head!

When my co-worker read it to me, I was delighted by some of the visuals (I could just imagine "fairy berry pies" and the Queen "taking her umbrella for a walk"!). She teasingly suggested that I should illustrate it - thinking I'd just draw a few circles on paper for the rock, a little fairy here and there, and be done with it. Little did she know that I decided to go all out! It's turned into a major project - one that I hope to have completed before the beginning of school next month (egad!).

Here is the (again, incomplete) cover. I took a vintage book bought at a garage sale (would they have sold it to me if they knew what I would do with it?) and removed the book block (hopefully the book wasn't valuable! Yes, Mother, I know you advised me to check on these things before tearing them up - but I forgot...). Then, inspired by a pin on Pinterest, I added binder rings by setting some eyelets into the book cover.

Rock the Block

If you have been in a craft store recently, you have probably noticed those glass crafting blocks they are carrying. I've seen some really cool stuff done with these, from lamps to dioramas, nearly enticing me to give in and pay the $10 these guys are going for ($20.00 on Amazon!). I'm glad I didn't fall for one, though, because last week my dear mother found a couple at a garage sale for $2! I started playing with it, not really intending to turn out a finished project without considering all the options and possibilities of the block form.

The Rolodex Project

In preparation for this post I was reminiscing on the origins of the project I will soon describe, and I sympathize with other creatives who are inevitably asked about the inspiration and genesis of a particular project. Ideas come from a myriad of sources, and concepts contribute to your thinking without your awareness. You may be able to tack down one or two main pieces of inspiration, but to list everything is impossible. On this project, for instance, I was inspired by Lea Redmond and her Rolodex Project, a pin I discovered on Pinterest, the Choose Your Own Adventure book series, the joy I experienced flipping through a full  Rolodex file, and many other venues, all diverse and unrelated snatches of information that I have let circulate in my brain. This truly illustrates the adage:

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

Altered Puzzle Part 1: The Beginning

The art of simplicity is a puzzle of complexity - Douglas Horton

I love altered art. Books, clocks, Rolodexes (Rolodice...Rolodeces...Rolodexes?), and now puzzles. Inspired by a pin on Pinterest, I picked up a cheap three-pack of puzzles from the Dollar Store. I bet those cute, unassuming puzzles never saw this coming! I'm treating each piece as a seperate canvas, which is one of the features I really enjoyed from my inspiration.

I've only completed the two pieces you see above so far, though I'm starting on a third. I wanted a driving force behind the entire puzzle (which will have thirty pieces), and I again took inspiration from a pin I found on Pinterest. Using this site, which is geared toward journal writers, I'm using a writing prompt from the random prompt generator as the basis of each piece. The first prompt asked me to describe the first thing I thought of when I woke up. The day I started creating the piece, the song "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold." came into my head right after the alarm went off. Random, no? With two illustrations (one from an old Alice in Wonderland book and one from a children's encyclopedia), some scrapbook paper, black Stazon ink, and cut out letters, the top piece in these pictures is a loose interpretation of that song. For the second piece the prompt was "List your hobbies", so I chose one, Zentangle, and illustrated the piece with patterns. Two down, twenty eight to go!

I'll post an update on this project when I complete more puzzle pieces.