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Posts Tagged ‘design’
We Can Be Heroes
Welcome to the big leagues little rabbit. Last week both MTV and CNN reported on a project that I was lucky enough to work on for Warner Brothers/DC Comics while at Studio Jelly: a campaign titled We Can Be Heroes that was created to bring much needed relief to the Horn of Africa. The face of the campaign is not just one, but seven, superheroes. Together they comprise the Justice League, with each superhero representing a trait necessary for the triumph of good over evil.
My role working for Studio Jelly was to help set the tone and create initial artwork for the print campaign, shown in the snapshot above. Striking a balance between comic book cool and a cause helping humanity was a good challenge, and I think the end result is both badass and respectful. A short video was also created, directed by Benjamin Reece with creative director Jelly Helm and writer Kathleen Lane. The girl in the red coat is basically me and every other pre-teen at that age, and we’ve been trying to make up for it ever since.
Thanks for having me, Studio Jelly. I also want to thank Aquaman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, The Flash, and Cyborg for standing so still for their group portrait. Barring one small kerfuffle when Superman stepped on Batman’s cape, their composure and professionalism was excellent.
Well Vegan (Hold the Pickled Herring)
The most recent project I’ve been working on, Well Vegan, just launched at the New Year. I enjoy eating healthy food frequently and on a regular basis, so when my friend Katie asked if I would help make it easier for vegans to do the same, I jumped on board. I’m not a vegan, but I have some vegan friends, and seeing some of them struggle with finding a variety of things to make that were also meeting their nutritional needs made this project hit close to home. Katie’s personal motivation to start Well Vegan stemmed from having her young daughter suffer from food allergies that were only ameliorated by switching to a vegan diet.
The first task was to create a logo for Well Vegan. After a short design brainstorm, the theme of “it’s in the greens” bubbled to the top, and resulted in a happy pea pod bursting with, well, veganism.
Well Vegan logo in various color ways.
The second and main task was to design a website. Katie wanted the site to reflect her healthy, simple, and homespun take on veganism. Visually, this is reflected by using the approachable and versatile font Skolar alongside rough-edged and spare illustrations.
The font Skolar pared with a simple illustration style.
Basically, Well Vegan is a repository of vegan recipes that are partnered with shopping lists and weekly meal plans that take all the hassle out of planning how you are going to sustain yourself. Sure, some people take joy in shopping and figuring out each and every meal, but others just want to get the job done without spending hours poring over recipe books and making lists. Using Well Vegan for $9.99 a month gives you all the tools necessary for eating home-cooked meals most every day. And if that’s what it takes for some vegans to eat healthier on a regular basis, I’m all for it.
How the Well Vegan plan works. Pretty simple, and then you're full. Also, beets are pretty rad.
Some people might have the misconception that vegan food is bland, but with the right recipes it can be anything but. A series of illustrations were made to let the ingredients take center stage and focus on the uncomplicated nature of the vegan diet. I’m not sure eating a tofu cube that large is realistic, but it gets the point across! Send me some giant chopsticks and I’ll let you know how it goes.
Food for giants! Or very hungry vegans!
I even got to use my new favorite phrase on the error screen, making this my favorite error screen second only to the consolation trout I made for Under the Table with Jen.
If you’re interested in checking out the site and what Well Vegan has to offer, visit www.wellvegan.com, or follow them on twitter at @wellvegan.
Last Year’s Wrapping Paper
Each year when we receive our Christmas package from my Danish grandparents, my sister and I marvel at the wrapping paper that is almost as old as our grandma. With a soft fabric like quality from years of folding and re-wrapping, some of the prints have been in circulation as long as I can remember. There must have been a wrapping paper sale in 1962 that she has been carefully meting out paper from since. Past tape marks and rips are carefully covered, but often too plentiful to be obscured completely. While I admire her resourcefulness, I am also thankful that the presents inside are always new…I think.
Since it’s been a busy month here at the Bureau, I decided I would take a cue from Grandma. Not worse for the wear, here are five winter wallpapers from last year for use on your digital devices.
All The Future Is New
Download options for All The Future Is NewDancing Pole Rats
Download options for Dancing Pole RatsWhite Noise / Let It Snow
Download options for White Noise / Let It Snow (three colors available!)Warm Fuzzies / Cackle Crackle
Download options for Warm Fuzzies / Cackle CrackleMerry, Happy, Joy & Tidings
Download options for Merry, Happy, Joy & Tidings (five colors available!)The Timbers Say Thanks
Here is a nice little ditty I worked on for the Portland Timbers soccer team thru Jelly Helm Studio. I’m not the biggest sports nut around, but I do appreciate the talent and dedication it takes to play a game well. The part that usually rubs me the wrong way is the untouchable icon status that sports figure often inhabit. As my dad would say, “They put their pants on the same way as you do, don’t they? One leg at a time?” Sure enough. So when I was working on this piece, I was pleased that the tribute giving was going both ways. YES, the players are fantastic. YES, the fans are also fantastic. THANK YOU to the whole Timbers community for being what you are, and for the exchange being two way, three way, four way, the best way.
Click the image to zoom in on the notes of thanks from the Timbers soccer team.
Story Cards
As a follow up to the business cards I designed for Jelly Helm Studio, here are some additional cards that show a little bit about how the studio approaches things. All of the cards were letter pressed on cream colored Neenah Classic Crest #165 cover.
Good questions.
The cards were printed at Brown Printing, where they were very helpful in trying out an unusual combination of printing techniques: first embossing (raising) the paper in a tree shape, and then letter pressing text (pushing the paper down) on top of the tree shape. For all that pushing and pulling of paper with the text being pressed into both the tree and non-tree area, it turned out pretty well.
A very advanced "who, what, where, when, how" diagram.
My favorite of the three cards is this reproduction of a diagram by Joseph Campbell. Wikipedia says “…his work is vast, covering many aspects of the human experience”. No small task to fit onto a 1.75×3 inch card, even with some rejiggering on our end so the large original diagram translated well to a tiny version of itself.
This should get you through most situations.
The Goodie Monster Is Here
Just in time for Halloween! Over the weekend my friend Mark and I put the finishing touches on the Goodie Monster: a vending machine filled with healthy, tasty snacks. Not only does it taste good, it looks good too. Check out the full project process and see more pictures of us sewing and painting nonstop to create a green fur-clad monster complete with a mountainous environment where pears fly south for the winter. Read more >>
Calling Cards for the Digital Era
One of the projects I’ve worked on recently for Jelly Helm Studio was to design the studio’s business cards. Several ideas were sketched out (monograms, pop-up castles, and a series of tableaus, among others), but early in the brainstorming process we decided that simple was better. To support this direction, internet research turned up calling cards from way back when.
Most business cards from days of yore included only the person’s name. Additional notations on the card (in the lower corners) were left for specific reasons and were part of the intricate etiquette system surrounding the calling card, which are detailed in The Gentleman’s Guide to the Calling Card. We took the calling card structure and updated for the 21st century. Done and done.
Simple does it.
The smaller-than-usual cards were letterpress printed by Kyle van Horn of Baltimore Print Studios with a nice deep plum ink on French Muscletone Whip Cream. During the project, Kyle sent us this slip taped to a furniture cabinet at the Baltimore Print Studios.
According to this, Jelly Helm’s business card size (1.75″ x 3″) is somewhere between a Miss and a Mister. According to me, it’s just the right size to carry the information on it.
Other people get cards too.
A calling card for the digital era.
Lego Logo Wall
While in Copenhagen this summer I stopped into a Lego store to browse, and was rewarded with a little designer treat – a giant wall of Lego’s logo history, surrounded by an even more giant lego dragon hovering ominously over a replica of the fuzzy-hatted Danish soldiers that guard the royal palace.
For Champion Eaters Only
Being a champion eater doesn’t come without some drawbacks, including a paltry wallet and an overly developed mid-section. In celebration of the latter, I made these face stuffer buttons for the launch party of Portland’s 100 Best Places to Stuff Your Faces.
If you want to make absolutely sure you finish 2011 with a muffin top, beer belly, love handles AND a spare tire, download the Eat Sheet to mark your progress on foraging your way through the dining spots included in the guidebook.
Tre Trin Til en Festlig Dag
This summer my Aunt Nete is turning 50, and I am very excited to visit Danmark for the event. The Danes like to celebrate, and this will be no exception! The “three step” party will include a sailing trip on a boat named Dagmar, a luksus picnic at Skanderborg Sø, and finally a live band at their home terrace in Århus so everybody can really party down.
Keep reading »
Portland’s New Food Pyramid
Enjoy a good gastro-challenge? Love making tiny checkmarks? Need more refrigerator swag? Don’t we all! That’s why my friend Jen compiled the Eat Sheet, a stalwart Facestuffer’s best friend, to go along with her new guidebook. Affix it to your fridge, steering wheel, elliptical machine, or antacids bottle, then Go Forth And Eat!
You can download your very own Eat Sheet right here.
Portland’s 100 Best Places to Stuff Your Faces
For the past five months I have been working on a side project that IS…NOW…FINISHED. Written by Jen Stevenson, it’s a guidebook of all the best places to eat in Portland, Oregon. Between her hilarious writing style, meticulous research (seriously, who else eats three dinners a night?) and single-minded obsession with food, I think this one is a keeper.
Your chance to become a champion face stuffer.
Jen writes the blog Under the Table, and follows the mantra of “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all”. It’s refreshing to work with somebody who focuses on the positive, and we all know it gets a bit tedious to sift through thousands of polarizing Yelp reviews. Instead, Jen only features what she considers is the best, and leaves the rest up to you. How you decide to stuff your face is, as we all know, a personal preference.
Primary Diagram: How to Properly Stuff Your Face.
This project was a labor of love in many ways. As a fledgling self-publisher the budget was in the pro-bono range, so instead of cold hard money I accepted a few free meals, a flexible timeline, and a fair amount of creative freedom in exchange for my efforts. Having a single pro-bono project at a time is also a good way to get some kicks that you might not otherwise get from paid projects. Kicks like hand drawing maps of Portland…
Put a bird on it, Southeast Portland!
To Jen’s credit, she chose the high road in the production phase by printing the book at local Brown Printing instead of producing the book in China or through an online vendor with less material options and size limitations.
With 220 pages of reviews and tips, over 80 illustrations and the afore-mentioned custom maps of Portland (whose streets do not care if you want to be orderly and label things in a consistent manner) this project was an undertaking, but well worth it. If you’re interested in the guidebook, you can buy it directly at www.bestplacestostuffyourfaces.com. If you’re competitive or like checking things off of lists, you can track your face stuffing progress with the Eat Sheet. Enjoy!
Moveable Type: Cross Country Adventures in Letterpress Printing
The genesis of this project started quite a ways back, in ’05 or ’06 when Kyle Durrie took a letterpress class from me at the IPRC. I teach there frequently, so I see many students come and go with varying levels of interest in letterpressing. Many dabble a bit but never fully embrace the craft of it, which requires patience, skill and more patience. Kyle, however, decided to make it her mainstay and formed Power and Light Press.
A few years later we both became members of Em Space, a printing and book arts group. There I got to know her a bit better, her effervescent nature and gusto for everything letterpress. So I wasn’t surprised when she put up this Kickstarter video for her latest idea: building a mobile print shop and touring the US teaching letterpress.
The project got funded and I was thrilled to imagine Kyle in her trusty letterpress van on the open road, nothing but her and some moveable type. Wanting to get in on the action, I offered up my computer skills so she could have a logo and website to help make her adventure an even bigger success.
Kyle gave me some inspiration to start with, from which I made this hand drawn 3D type reminiscent of both old building signage and of those interchangeable letters that Gutenberg thought were a good idea. Turns out he was right.
Damn, that's some hot type.
A couple of alternate logotype treatments.
Matthew Johnson also volunteered to help out by setting up a wordpress site that Kyle could update with the latest events from the road. Follow along on her adventures, see when she might stop by your town, or request a visit from one of Portland’s leading ladies of letterpress at www.type-truck.com!
Bar Gelato Logo and Packaging
I looooooooooove to work on food identity and packaging, so when Substance contacted me to help work on a new gelato product, I was psyched! Their long-time client Gelateria Naia was preparing to unveil a gelato in bar form, and needed branding to support their pilot efforts. While Substance managed the project, marketing and created the Bar Gelato website, I was focused on making a custom logotype and labels for their first run in stores.
After lots of sketching, we agreed a “just gelato” approach was best, using a simple and bold type treatment reminiscent of window signage. Orange worked two shifts as a bright and cheerful color that stood out against the bars while nodding to colors used in Naia’s branding.
Created from a scanned type sample called Kent Sans, and altered generously to become Bar Gelato.
To get into the gelato mindset wasn’t hard, as I often think of what’s for dessert after I’ve finished lunch. And I was in luck, because Naia had sent Substance a batch of sample gelato bars, which I nabbed six of for a personal tasting session. And thus began the Great Gelato Hoarding of 2011. Knowing that I only had a limited supply, each night I cut 1″ chunks off of each bar and then stapled shut the cellophane wrapper to keep it fresh for the next “serving”. Out of 6 bars, I made about 30 mini-desserts (except for the hazelnut bar which I ate in one sitting because I couldn’t help myself). These gelato bars are the most delicious thing I’ve tasted in a while!
Nom, nom, nom. There are plenty more flavors in a select central coast California Whole Foods.
The first roll-out of Bar Gelato in San Francisco and other Central Coast California locations has gone very well, and I encourage any of you Californians to stop into a Whole Foods to try a bar or two. OR, buy some and put them in one of those styrofoam coolers made for shipping things like special Danish hotdogs or other perishables, and send them to me. I will take gooood care of them, I promise.
Label close-up and gelato bar seal quartet.
Thanks for having me, Substance…and to any other artisan food creators out there who provide samples to inspire their designers – bring it on!
Island Mist Logo and Illustrations
I’m excited to finally share a project I worked on at the beginning of 2011 for Boyds Coffee. The project entailed updating their logo and branding for Island Mist, a line of iced teas. Their previous logo used the font Papyrus, and the people at Boyds wanted to nix it…I felt like I had hit the designer jackpot! The new logo is a refined version using a “cool pool” border and some slightly retro island-inspired type.
Left: old logo in Papyrus...Right: new logo NOT in Papyrus
Another portion of the project was to create flavor labels for dispensers in restaurants and convenience stores. Most of the competition used giant images of iced tea in a glass, usually splashing out of it with lots of ice everywhere. It kind of looked like watered down coke. It’s my belief that you don’t always have to SHOW people watered down coke to make them want iced tea. So for Island Mist’s new dispenser wraps we chose the next closest thing to induce thirst: a series of summer beach illustrations.
When I see a tropical beach scene I want two things: sunblock and to know how to swim with my head underwater. But I'm guessing people less peculiar than I will probably want a drink of something refreshing...like maybe an iced tea.
A bevy of spot illustrations were also created to populate the wraps and be used in various point-of-sale and marketing materials. Here are a few of them…
Calling All Timbers Fans!
Recently I had the opportunity to spend a few days with Jelly Helm Studio working on two giant fan murals for the Portland Timbers. You’ve probably seen the official billboards and branding around town, and soon there will be a billboard featuring four fans chosen through popular vote by the general public.
When the namesake of the studio first told me about the project I had about 3,817 internal conniption fits thinking about the size of file it would generate, and then got down to it. Which meant placing photos of 1,200 soccer fans into two 10×15 foot and 7×21 foot murals.
To get into the right mindset, I wore my Timbers-themed outfit, held my own miniature photo shoot and did my best impersonation of a sports fan.
As the 1,201st fan to use this ax, this pose caused a light burning sensation on my tongue that lasted for about three hours. I am not kidding you.
After spending a fair bit of time with the fan photos, the giant grid of Timbers support began to grow on me. I’m not a sports nut, but seeing the range of soccer enthusiasts, from grizzled grandpas to sweet little girls, showed off one of the better sides of sporting culture – solidarity. Here are a few of my favorites…
Keep reading »
Mister Museum, The Debut and Making Of
At the end of last year I was lucky enough to help create branding for an idea called Mister Museum. Sometimes when a new client crosses your path, you just KNOW it was meant to be. Here is a stylized version of the Bureau’s first meeting with the man behind Mister Museum.
MM:
- I’d like to promote the content that museums and educational institutions curate, but in a more interesting manner so that it engages the general public. Basically, this would be a venture for increasing art and science literacy, with a point of view.
BB:
- LEARNING IS THE COOLEST!
MM:
- My target audience is people that are curious about things in general with access to up-to-date technology.
BB:
- THAT’S ME! SCREW INTERNET EXPLORER 6!
MM:
- I don’t want this to be any old museum-y logo. It should be fun!
BB:
- I LIKE FUN!
As you can see, I was psyched to help build a voice for such an interesting client. We decided a logo, website and e-newsletter were the best things to start Mister Museum off on the right foot. So, I got to work. I started with a typical brainstorming exercise, the word cluster, a very useful tool in case you get stuck in a creative fire swamp.
Keep reading »
Kahuna Gift Company Logo
In September I landed one of the larger projects I’ve tackled since going solo – branding and packaging for a start-up Hawaiian gift company. I love to work on packaging, especially if it is food related, so this was a great gig. Unfortunately, due to a macadamia drought, the packaging component was put on hold midway through the project. Major bummer! Designers get used to strange things derailing projects, but I never imagined a nut shortage would be one of those things.
Nuts or no nuts, the client still needed a logo and website, so I finished up those elements while we waited for the macadamias to make a comeback (still waiting).
Kahuna Gift Company logotype
I created a straightforward logotype with tone-on-tone sky and surf colors, intentionally steering clear of the clichéd palm trees and hula girls that adorn many a Hawaiian logo. The logo needed to be used in various situations, so a few options were created to accommodate different uses.
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Arhus – Byen Ved Havet
This summer I spent some time visiting my family in Arhus, Danmark. While there I went to see the poster exhibit “Genkendelsens Glæde”, and bought a few oversize postcard replicas. With advertising like this, I’m surprised more people aren’t flocking to Arhus. It’s pretty nice, I have to agree.
Poster by Henrik Hansen, undated.
Proverbs Revisited Poster
As part of a letterpress print exchange centered around Poor Richard’s Almanack, I made this poster to trade with other printers in Portland. “Opposites Attract” takes some of the Almanack’s most commonly recognized proverbs and reinterprets them with math symbols, drawing inspiration from Franklin’s interest in both the literary and scientific fields. Proverbs revisited…
Proverbs: love and be loved • two wrongs don’t make a right • do as I say; not as I do • birds of a feather flock together • the pen is mightier than the sword • six of one…half dozen of the other.
An edition of 10 is available for sale – if you’d like one send me 40 bucks and I’ll put it in the mail. Printed on Cougar 80# cover, size is 12×18 with an image area of 8.5×15.5 so you can either trim to the print area or hang as is with a white paper border.
Denmark, Country of Smiles and Peace
While visiting Denmark this summer I went to Den Gamle By in Arhus where there was a travel poster display. “Genkendelsens Glæde” is a collection of classic Danish posters from the 20s-90s. When we walked unknowingly into the exhibition hall I heard my sister say “Uh, oh, we’re going to be here forever…”. I only wish. Below is one of the better pictures I could take, and also a good summation of my childhood memories of this tiny country.
The Danish Poster Museum has a partial digital archive of the collection, as well as some reproductions of various posters in large format postcards that are for sale.
Fly Like an Eagle, New Guitar Logo, Fly!
Sometimes a client knows exactly what they want, and we can get right down to business! When I recently worked with Pro Guitar Shop to create some merchandising logos, the direction from the client was wings, wings, and more wings! It’s the same thing I chant when I go out to dinner with Jen, so it wasn’t hard to get into the mindset. Plus, drawing lots of wings is a nice illustrator workout for designers.
Drawing inspiration from retro signage, hotrods, and vintage cars and of course guitar parts (all things the main audience would dig), I created a few winged logos for Pro Guitar Shop to use on their wares. Below are the two final logos.
It's a neckless guitar...at least it has wings to get around.
The Guitar Pick Grill, where guitars and cars mingle over shakes and curly fries.
Adidas Mega
Last month I had the opportunity to work with the team at Liquid on an Adidas project. MEGA is a new product line-up, and Liquid was tasked with creating a range of in-store displays to sell the new shoes. Photography, which was based on the commercial, included celebrity appearances by B.O.B and Paul Iacono. The campaign was centered around a diner theme, and I worked with the team to expand the MEGA print and in-store branding with typography, graphics and 3D ideas for the displays.
Above are a few of my contributions and digital sketches from the project (not all of it made the cut). Thanks for having me Liquid!
How to Make a Pocket-Size Bird Guide
My Dad sure liked his digital bird guide that I made him for Father’s Day, so a few days later I repurposed it into a paper version for my officemate’s 6-year-old daughter. I used a form factor that I learned at Em Space that allows you to create an 8-page pamphlet out of one 8.5×11 sheet of paper printed on one side.
To make a small guide for scouting fowl, download and print a PDF of my Pocket Size Bird Guide. Or you can make any kind of miniature booklet using this template for reference. Heck, make a whole library!
Also, here is a quick video tutorial on how to fold the booklet. I use a bone folder to crease the edges of the paper, but you can use the back of a spoon if you don’t have one. Likewise, a scissors will suffice instead of an exacto blade. I recommend you put on some nice background music while watching this.
The Original: Mr. Rankin’s Foolproof Bird Guide to Central Oregon
Mr. Rankin’s Foolproof Bird Guide
Since you now know about my friend Mark’s wily ways, you’ll understand the motivation behind my Father’s Day present this year. Like every other dutiful 7-year-old daughter, I drew my Dad a picture.
My Dad is retired and one of his joys is to watch birds from our Central Oregon home. A bird book and binoculars are always perched at the living room bay windows which look out on no less than 3 bird feeders and a bird bath.
When Mark discovered Mr. Rankin’s love of bird watching, it took him about .00017 seconds to find a way to torment him with the very thing he enjoyed. While standing at the window Mark would shout “Wow, check out those birds!” to the effect of Mr. Rankin scrambling to the window to see whatever winged creatures were available. Of course, there was never a bird in sight as Mark stood by and took pleasure in my Dad’s gutted reaction to the bleak, birdless landscape.
So, for Father’s Day this year I made my Dad a foolproof digital bird guide, so no matter what Mark does, my Dad can always have some birds to watch. Happy Father’s Day Dad!
A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned
Ever since I participated in the Ben Franklin Print Exchange with local Portland letterpress artists last fall I can’t keep Poor Richard’s Almanac proverbs from popping into my head. When a recent discussion about my thriftiness started getting long in the tooth, my mind wandered into this interpretation of “A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned”. File this under “30-second-designs” for time thrifts.
Diagrammed: Mustache on a Finger on a Stick
Check out the full process of raising my hip factor via a mustache-on-a-finger-on-a-stick.
Wordcake Cards
When friend and food blogger Jen Stevenson of Under the Table wanted to start her own writing business, she came to me asking advice about collateral. She had chosen Wordcake Communications as her business name and needed a logo, business cards and a simple website to get the business going. “I was thinking I could have a big cake, with the word Wordcake on it!” she said, giving me creative rein with a theme. I replied with a somewhat muffled “Let’s see what we can do with that…”, and got to work.
Riffing on the idea of frosting, I found this typography sample in an ornaments and borders book and transformed it into Wordcake.
Before
After
The idea of a sophisticated take on a “cake on a platter” appealed to me since Jen is the epitome of a hostess with the mostess, even when she is stuffing your gullet with stinky cheeses and sweet confections. However, Jen wasn’t rolling in dough from creative writing (yet), so an economic solution was needed that would still help her stand out. I scoured the internet for an oval punch that could take the place of a diecut. Turns out, crafters have thought of almost everything, so after a bit of sleuthing I found several oval punches, perfect for the miniature platter shape that her business cards would become.
The cards were printed digitally and then hand punched by Jen in about an hour, after which she claimed she’d sprained her thumb. I told her she would have to toughen up, because once The Onion started calling and she had to churn out snarky story upon snarky story in record time, her thumb would have no reprieve.
Punch, punch.
Punch, punch, punch.
Many punches later.
Little paper hors d'oeuvres.
Wordcake Communications : Jen Stevenson : Pen for Hire
“Rid of Me” Trailer Site
A while back I helped James Westby, director of Film Geek and The Auteur, put together a trailer site for his new film. Check it out at www.ridofmemovie.com. (Update: looks like the site has since been revised by Bitclone).
Registration Print Process
Em Space, the local book arts center I’m involved with, put on their first anniversary show recently and asked members to submit a small printed piece so we could send a Petite Print Suite collection as a thank-you to people who had helped the organization in its first year. The theme was “print terminology” and I chose registration (basically, lining up two or more colors when printing, usually using a guide such as a X or dots to align colors). Little did I know that registration would be the least of my worries when producing 100 copies of the bar-4 card.
I chose to do a linoleum cut because 1) I am frugal, 2) I thought it would be easy, and 3) I had waited too long to get a plate made. I settled on my design and started carving away…
Carve your linoleum block backwards. It should take you two tries or less.
My linoleum had a dead spot in it, right around where Oregon should be.
To compensate for the dead spot (I like Oregon, it shouldn’t get the shaft because of some printing problems) I used torn newsprint to build up the area underneath the blank spot, so when the paper made contact with the linoleum block the surface receiving ink would be even, thus giving Oregon and the Western US its full due.
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Book Bot makes his first appearance in print
Stumptown Underground’s 8th Issue “Everybody Do the Robot” is in production, and Book Bot made the cut! Come to the release party Thursday, April 22nd at 8pm at The Fez. Book Bot’s evil cousin, shown here using his books for nefarious purposes, will NOT making be making an appearance. He had to stay home and polish his shoes, because he’s vain like that.
Year of the Tiger
To kick off 2010, my friend Jen Sbragia sent me this super cute card that she made with spraypaint. I tried some spraypainting the other day and it wasn’t that easy. I nearly spraypainted my dog Lucy and definitely got a dry eye out of the ordeal. I think I’ll stick to letterpress.
