RELOAD! Reactions

(Reactions besides immediately reloading...)

Click image for larger version

This is a family of designs that I feel gets...less reactions than I would like. As much as I might tout my obsession with my arachnophobia, RELOAD! is kind of my flagship design. And even when they do get reactions, I always get a sense that the people reacting to it are not fully aware of what it is that my designs are depicting. As some of you may know, the whole premise behind my RELOAD! designs—which up to this point include the GI1911 2.0, GI1911 1.0 (pictured here), and another which I've yet to present in a blog—feature semi automatic pistols with their slides locked open, signaling that they've run out of ammo. It's that little detail which I feel people don't quite understand, which is fine, but still an unfortunate wasted of human visual recognition capabilities. I think people would enjoy or appreciate it a little more if they were able to connect the text with the imagery.

I suppose that Hollywood is partly to thank for its continual depiction of pistols who only indicate that they are empty when the trigger is pulled and they go click. But mostly, it is the reality that most people don't have any real understanding of how firearms function. I mean, Hell, even during my time in service, a majority of us were taught only as much as we needed to know about the firearms that we handled on a daily basis. Even the manuals I read incorrectly stated that Condition Two "does not apply to the M9 Service Pistol". What?!


But, it's Ok. I understand that most people might never need, or care, to know all of these things. Like the cycles of operation (firing, unlocking, extracting, ejecting, cocking, feeding, chambering, locking), or the differences in between a recoil operated gun and a blowback operated gun, as examples. I get that not everyone's brains are sponges for information. But with that rant (and my revelation that I've got a bit of a hard-on for the guts and inner workings of firearms) out of the way, I think you might have a better understanding of some of the...validation that I felt when the following happened. These are the exact words that I posted as a status on Facebook on the 12th of this month, minutes after it happened:

"So, I'm walking to get my mail, and I notice two Sheriff's patrol cars parked up ahead. I notice that one of the deputies has his passenger side's door open, and he's pouring some kind of solution onto his hands and scrubbing away. (Probably just got done busting someone's head open or something.) Anyhow, as I get closer, he faces in my direction, and then keeps starring at me. I can see he's squinting his eyes even. So I'm thinking 'Grrrreat! What now?...', and right when I'm about 10 feet away he says 'Nice shirt!' So I respond 'Thanks!' while thinking 'Whew.' Figures though, that it would take someone who carries a pistol around all day to appreciate my 'RELOAD!' design..."

Hahaha. I'm such a little kid, huh? The specific design I had on was the one pictured above, in all white and on a black t-shirt, so it's what I'd call high visibility. Speaking of, I've actually been thinking of updating the 1.0 design, since it was one of the very first for Flex printing vector designs that I've made. I've gotten working within the restrictions down to more of  a science now, so feel like I could do a better job. I'll probably leave it alone until I've cranked out several more of the designs on my list though. I've got enough on my plate just with those as it stand. Well, that's about all I have or this update. Be sure to swing by the shop if you want any of these designs for yourself, and to see what's new. (I'll probably get around to updating the look in that place soon here as well.) So, until the next time, y'all get out here!

J, out...

A Few Thoughts

I like to sit down to re-read through my posts a few days after I've written them. It gives me a "fresh eyes" kind of perspective, and I am able to catch little mistakes or to cut some stuff out (for the sake of brevity). I noticed something different though...

I stated in my first blog that I would do my best to either explain any of the jargon that I might use, or to leave it out all together if possible. With that in mind though, some "jargon" is necessary for the sake of brevity. For example, when concerned with brevity, "slide" is better than "that top, long, horizontal piece of metal that moves back and forth to aid in the ejecting of spent bullet casings and in the feeding of fresh rounds into the chamber of the barrel".... See?

I mean, I know not everyone reading this will know what the Hell I'm talking about when I'm describing gun parts, and I don't expect them to. I don't expect that very many of you would know how to take an M16A2 service rifle apart and put it back together in seconds while blindfolded (I'm mentioning that, of course, because I could). Not very many of you visiting what is, essentially, an art blog will know your way around firearms. So with that in mind, I put the following together:

(Click image for larger view)

I put this together for the sake of brevity, readability, and understandability in my Reload! 2.0 and Reload! 1.0 blog post. It contains just about everything essential to cosmetically describing a 1911 type pistol. So if you go back and read those, you'll notice that I've edited this image into them. This should allow me to cut some of extra fat off from the sides.

In other news! I was speaking with a friend of mine recently and he was telling me that he's interest in acquiring a Beretta 92fs. The 92 is basically the civilian version of the M9 which, if you didn't know, is the current standard issue service pistol of the U.S. Military's conventional units. The switch from the M1911A1 to the M9 is considered controversial to some (I know some old timers that still think the M9 is shit and that it was a mistake downgrading from the .45 caliber round to the 9mm), but that's a discussion for a whole different day!

My interest in my friend's interest in acquiring a 92fs is that I want to do my next "RELOAD!" designs based on the M9. I personally never cared for the M9 while I was in either, but I know a lot of folk who like it plenty (*cough!* probably because they've never held a 1911 *cough!*). If he owned one himself, I could get some great reference photos to match my vision as much as virtually possible!

...I have a funny story, related to this. So, several years ago I convinced this same friend to buy "Super Dragon Ball Z". He wasn't interested, and felt disappointed enough about most attempts made to turn DBZ into a solid fighting game not to want to try it, but I persisted! "Dude, it's from the makers of Street Fighter II! How could they mess it up?!" Well, he gave in, we drove to Wal-mart, picked it up, went back to his place, booted it up and.....an hour later we were at Gamestop trading it in because Wal-mart wouldn't give him a refund.

So, with that bit of history on my mind, I feel a little guilty when I consider egging him onto buying a 92fs of his own (when I wouldn't buy one myself). An alternative is renting one to shoot at a local gun range and taking pictures of it there, on the low (they don't "allow" photography there, and the shooting area doesn't have the best lighting in the world, so it's an undesirable alternative). The third alternative is searching for some good images online, but if my search results for the prior two "RELOAD!" projects were any indication, that will take me a few days and the results might not be worth it (no offense, but gun owners make really bad photographers).

Man...having a consciousness sucks sometimes! Well, that's all I had for that one, I suppose. Don't forget to swing by my shop sometime! New designs will keep popping in, unannounced, until I can catch my blogs up. So, until next time, carry on.

J, out...