A Quick Peek, As of November 2011

As some of you might remember, I posted a blog a while ago (partially) revealing how my list of Designs that Need Doing was looking as of that time. Currently, it is looking something like this;

Designs that Need Doing:

* I saw a gun in her hand (LIGHTS)

* Food pyramid

* Devil dog beta type

* Next needs up (demon)

* Any backstabber

* Any blood burst

* (something with spiders!)

* A spider ate my homework!

* "SPIDER BOSS"

* 4 Horse Men

* Davilaisms

* *BIGGEST* FAN!

* REFRESH!

* Cupid Kills (Male/Female)

* [omitted] Ninja (!!)

* "The Creation of Next"

* "I'm [omitted]"

* [omitted] can be deceiving

* NEXT's face

* Next Needs Up spider's face

* Girl with headphones, and [omitted]

* NEXT NEEDS UP tribal

* "SPIDER"

* You can't [omitted]

...yeah. I know.

These are all either very general, or censored to the point of illegibility, but it's for a reason. As I mentioned in the previous "quick peek" post, I'm kind of protective of my ideas, and more so if I feel like they're pretty original, so that is what's behind the omissions. Sure, some are spelled out pretty clearly, but for those I believe that either no one would be able to figure out what I mean by that, or that no one would visualize it in the same manner, thus making them irrelevant to protect.

Something I feel I should note, is that I've created designs since that were never on this list. They were designs which I felt inspired to create right there and then, and literally did, so I had no reason to scribble them down on the list. Others, which are text based, I've already begun working on, and left saved for later. Their nature of starting out as lines of text made it so that I simply opened a new Illustrator file, pasted or wrote in the text, saved them, and closed them out for later.

I can't tell exactly what design my next blog will be going over, since....well, I'll have to look at the design creation chronology to figure out which is next in line, but I can say a little about the design I will be working on next, and the image to the right, used only for research (and not referencing) purposes, is one of the obscure hints that I am willing to give at this time. It's going to be a pain in the ass, and I don't know exactly when I will be done.

The reason being that I will be trying to make a very modular, almost global design. It's very obsessive, this idea, but I don't feel right making it otherwise. So, as you might know, the thing with modularity is that many parts have to be made in preparation, and just the thought of that is what I'm hung up on at the moment. I'll probably get over it once I actually start to crank it out. Currently, I'm still stuck in the drafting stage, concepting, brainstorming, researching, consulting with artist friends,and deciding what the best route forward will be.

(I write a lot, don't I?)

Anywho, that's about as much obscure nonsense as I feel like writing for today. Stay tuned. Things should get interesting! Carry on for now.

J, out...

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...

2nd Departure: Double the Cross

(Double the Cut)

So, it's time for the next "variations" blog post! Someone pointed out that "deviations" is what they call things on deviantART, so I figured I'd call it something else...maybe.

Anyhow, as with the 1st of these, I will be going over designs that are derivatives built from the components of some of my other original designs. In this instance, it is the main components of the first two backstabber designs; the KA-Bar and the tanto. The origin of the following is exactly the same as the origin of the "Twins!" designs linked at the top of this paragraph. I was playing around with the solo KA-Bar design, and thought "Hm...This would probably work better if I put another one in there..." And, voilà! That was it. That's some exciting origin story, huh? I hope to give my future children origin stories about themselves that are just as exciting. Hahaha....

So, here they are! The KA-Bar Cross and Tanto Cross (Click image for full size)

Again, as with the "Beaut(y/ies)" designs, I chose to combine these to make the design possibilities cheaper to purchase. Initially, only the "edge out" versions existed, but as I played around with them, I realized that an "edge in" variation would look better if the design is flipped tips up, and thus I made and uploaded an "edge in" version for both of these.

And, actually, one of the reasons why I've delayed as much as I have with this blog post is because I've been fighting myself about several other two-blade design arrangements. Fighting, because part of me is lazy and doesn't want to do it, and because the other part of me is all like "Dude, it's too late. You already thought of them, you might as well arrange them and upload them to Spreadshirt!" But I decided to just make an addition to this post when I get around to that. It would take less than half an hour to work on the arrangement and so on, but I'm just not in the mood at this moment.

Also, I've yet to find any sort of caption to add to these. Like, putting "Twins!" at the bottom of the Beauties design just made sense. Here? I'm kind of drawing a blank. If you've got any suggestions, feel free to share. Just know I won't compensate you for it. Haha...

That's it for that one. By the way, that brand redesign that I had been blabbing about (WOW! That was all the way back in January? FML!) for a while got finalized and produced at last, a short time ago. Either I was going through some sort of creative block that just kept me from visualizing it, or I am undermining the genius of the idea and what the minimal amount of effort required was going to be, just to get close to visualizing such a nebulous concept. Either way, it doesn't matter anymore. It is done (For now. I am meaning to tweak some minor things.) and I can move on to visualizing and producing the next twenty concepts ricocheting around in my head. So, until the next time, I leave you. Carry on!

J, out...

1st Departure: Are Two Girls Better Than One?

(...many seem to think so)

But I'm not here to make a statement or to educate anyone on latent (??) sexual preferences (heh). This is about a deviation (sounds more fun than calling them "variations") born from another design, and the first of its kind.

This first one was born from a part of the Danger & Beauty design. One third of the design, to be exact. The following four deviations came from the "Beauty" design. Both the original one, and the negative space bikini one were used. They're no surprise, so I'll go ahead and show all four of these puppies, and then expound on how they came to be. I believe it will be easier that way...

(Click images for larger versions)

Unless you're half blind (or spatially challenged...), then you've probably noticed that the girl on the right of each of these pairs is simply a mirrored image of the one on the left. No voodoo magicks there...

The way that first pair (without the "Twins!" font) came about was from my messing around with combining designs to display as examples of what anyone browsing through my shop could arrange themselves, to put up in the shops "product examples" section. As I might have mentioned before, each part of my Danger & Beauty design is available to buy/use individually.

So what I did was take two and stick 'em on a shirt, then I horizontally flipped the one on the right and voilà! There it was! But...I noticed that the price on the product with two designs on it was too high for my linking, so in the spirit of keeping the cost down as much as possible for any possible customers who might like that arrangement, I went back into Illustrator, replicated what I had done in Spreadshirt with both the bikini and bikini-less designs, and uploaded each back into Spreadshirt as two color, single designs!

Next, during another session of messing around with the Spreadshirt product designer, I added "Twins!" underneath  the girls and placed it on a t-shirt to display on the product example window. As any of you who've gone and at least messed around on Spreadshirt know, adding font adds to the cost. Things remained that way for a while after...

Fast forward to this post, and while simultaneously messing around with my designer shop and writing the blog, finding the whole "Twins!" thing funny enough to keep around, it came to me that I should probably unify the two girl design with the text myself, and upload it all as a three color design (meaning anyone can change the color on either of the girls and the text independent to any of the other elements), thus what you see just above. Hm...

(stepped away and wrote down a bunch of new ideas)

Anywho, that's about it for how those designs came to be. There is no philosophy that fueled these designs, or any crazy revelations received while hanging out in a cave, simply opportunity, and my aim to keep my designs affordable. You can find these designs under "Twins!" and "Beauties", "Alpha" for the the ones with bikinis and "Beta" for the bikini-less. I'll have posts on other deviations coming soon. Stand by.

J, out...

Never Take Your Eyes Off the Goal

(And whatever you do, don't look down!)

It's been a while. Actually, I'm pretty sure this has been the longest lapse of time in between posts yet. I'd apologize, but I've never promised frequency or volume. Plus, it isn't like I've been lounging around this whole time, either...well, not all of it.

I've probably said it before, but my social life and school work take precedence, and the latter kept me very busy during the final weeks of this past quarter. Enough, in fact, to make me want to take a real break from anything art or design related for that whole week that I had off. And yeah, that included posting anything here. And, actually, the last design I uploaded to Spreadshirt was on the 19th of August, and it is the design directly related to this post, so yeah, it's been a while since I've designed anything.

And then, there's today! I recently learned that that "11.8inch x 11.8inch" size limitation only applies to flex printing. The size limit for digital direct printing is closer to 15inch x 15inch (or "3,000pixels x 3,000pixels" at 200dpi)! What this knowledge has done, is open the floodgates of my imagination, and I've got all sorts of crazy ideas spilling out. BUT!...that's an issue because I'm far from catching up on my "design journal" posts on here for what's already available.

So, I'm kinda having to rededicate myself to this blog again. As I've explained before, I'd rather be making designs than sitting and writing about them. But...it's why I started this blog, so I migth as well. Can't be going and half-assing things, it ain't my style. I'll start as soon as I can work up the motivation to. Until then, carry on...

J, out!

Variations and Deviations

(but aren't they all deviations?)

This is just a quick update. So, I feel like I am at a point (as far as catching my design blogs up to the available designs) in which I can start rolling out some of the alternate versions of some of my main designs. Less of a variation from RELOAD! 2.0 to 1.0, and more like the difference in between the KA-BAR Backstabber, and a Backstabber featuring a different knife. And then, some of these are combinations of elements from other, multi-part designs.

I'll be starting to post some of those soon, so be on the look out for them! That is all. Carry on.

J, out!

"Beautiful Strokes"

(I just like that name, I don't know why...)

So I just upgraded to CS5 last night, but I've been too busy to try playing with any of these new things yet. My school is still on CS4, and was on CS3 when I started there in the Summer of '08. I can't say I ever took the time to learn what was new from CS3 to CS4, but I'm taking a little more care to find out about some of these things now. I figure knowing about these could open the door to many new possibilities in my head, at the least, and with just about everything I do starting there, that would be optimal.

I still remember how my imagination exploded with ideas and possibilities when I first learned about and began to understand the concept of "layers". It may sound silly, but I didn't sleep much that night. My mind just kept cranking out idea after idea after idea and I couldn't get it to shut up!

Folk who know how I go about creating digital art (which, admittedly, I don't create enough of and working within the restrictions of Spreadshirt greatly tones down some of these ideas I have. BUT!...that stuff is for a later time) know I'm BIG on layers. Like...BIG! They just make things so much easier! But...I'll leave it there. I gotta watch myself, lest I got off on some random rant. I don't really have time for that today. I'll try to drop by soon to post some more t-shirt design process blogs. But until then, feel free to visit my designer profile and look through my shop and designs from there. Y'all carry on now...

J, out.

Meat Pyramid

(No, not that kind of meat, pervs!)

So, about a month ago, before I began writing the blog for the GI 1911 RELOAD! 2.0 design, and idea popped into my head. This even excited me enough to mention it at the beginning of the blog! Now, I won't claim that it is my most original design idea yet, but I designed it myself and I've yet to see anything like it on Spreadshirt. But, let's cut the gibber-gabber and get on with the blog!

The concept: The idea for this came from a pretty mundane source. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but the origins of human behavior are of high interest to me, and I am someone who believes that we should do our best to live in a more..."natural" state, for the sake of our bodies and of our minds. So with that said, I am completely opposed to the idea that being a vegan or vegetarian is better for you. That shouldn't be that much of a surprise. I mean, I just posted some blogs about a design which includes a hot chick, a gun, and a car. Would anyone really think I'd not be a meat lover after those little revelations?! I'd think not.

I don't want to go off into a rant, but I'll say this much; A friend of me who was mostly vegetarian quit recently after seeing her health go progressively south, and after finding out that soy products are just about the worst substitute for meat, in relation to health. I had been telling her about that for ages, so my gentle "I told you so" kinda sparked this idea in my head. I hadn't made any very provocative designs up until this point (what a damn liar!) so I thought I'd take a stab at it! You could say this is my blatant, offensive way of letting the world know that I enjoy eating other animals very much. If you agree though, then you might also find humor in it.

The execution: First, as always, I began by hunting down some reference images. I got myself a hen, a piggy, and a cow.

(Click image for larger version)

I started with the hen. This was pretty straightforward. I think I wanted to go a little less detailed with the silhouette, but...well, it is what it is! The only thing of note that I can think about with this design in particular is the change I made with the legs. If you haven't noticed, this design is not a perfect copy of the reference image I have linked above. The first silhouette was, but that rear leg just bugged me to no end, so I chopped it off!...and then copied the forward leg, dragged it back a bit, played around with the orientation and there you have it! I personally think it works a lot better now.

(Click image for larger version)

Next, we have the piggy! Same as the hen, It was pretty straight forward, but I feel like it's the least detailed of the bunch. I mean, it's got a pretty plain form, but I guess I can blame the reference image for that. Same as the hen though, I altered it as I saw fit to get the message of "Hey, it's a pig!" across loudly and clearly. The more obvious of the two is the third leg back. If you note the reference image, you'll see that its hind legs are close together. That just wasn't working for me, so I took the first leg, added more leg to it and moved it back into place. The next change (which I consider the least obvious, but it probably depends on the individual viewing it) is the extra piggy ear. In a true silhouette of the reference image, you wouldn't see that second ear, but this was something else which I felt would help solidify that this is, in fact, a pig. So, there you go!

(Click image for larger version)

And last but not least, we have the cow! This was a little tougher to get done in a simplified enough manner. On one of the initial runs (I have to create an outline for these from start to finish, and it's difficult going back and fixing something midway through) I was going too detailed so I had to start over from the start. Later I realized that I didn't have a clear view of the hooves, so I had to leave those alone, find a separate reference image for cow hooves and then return and make some while playing it by eye. So yeah, those hooves are a definite edit made by me that wasn't found in the original reference image. Next, is that utter to the left. As you might have noted, there's a calf suckling the one in the reference image, so I had to play around a little with that. That's about all I did with the cow design.

Next I created a triangle, played around with the distances from animal to animal, and then with the distances in between the animals and the horizontal dividers...and then with the sizes of the animals and the width and height of the triangle itself. Getting it all sized and spaced to where it felt good and right was a pain in the ass! That problem took the most use of my braincells (I might have even stopped the music from playing on my iTunes so I could concentrate, haha). So, here is the finished product!

(Click image for larger version)

As you might be able to tell, the animals are not perfectly centered, but that's because it felt wrong when they were. The alignment I used was by eye and based on the proportions of them instead, and I think it worked much better. There was just something...unnatural about having them in a symmetrically centered fashion. Even though the designs were centered, their weight wasn't. Also, I mirrored the cow to face in the opposite direction. It would have been weird having both the pig and cow facing the same way in sequence when the hen wasn't, so I alternated them all by simply having the cow face left. I actually just got a version (I chose a red pyramid with white animals) of the t-shirt in the mail a few days ago and it looks great (this photo doesn't do it justice, but I have no better lighting to work off of. Also, the pyramid really is red, but the light is reflecting off of it and making it all kinds of different colors in the photo).

In relation to the "disclaimer" calling y'all pervs at the start of this post, it's related to something that happened the same night I received the t-shirt. I had a friend over, and before leaving to have dinner she jumped in my bed and noticed it laying there, so I took it and hung it out in front of me for her to get a better view and said "I call it...the 'Meat Pyramid'" but before I could say another word, she replied "You should make it have a huge cock at the top instead of that chicken!" (typical), so I told her "That would match your diet very closely. I'll be sure to make one like that just for you..." in my most sarcastic tone.

With that in mind though, I have considered making alternate meat pyramid designs (no...not with cocks), but have come to the conclusion that these animals are satisfying enough eats for now. Maybe, in the near future, I might get a clearer vision concerning other alternative food pyramids to design, but for now this is all I got! Interesting to note is that this design is still the only one that comes up when one searches for a "food pyramid" on Spreadshirt. I think that's pretty cool!

Well, that's all I have to say on this design! Remember to swing by my designer shop from time to time, as new designs will continue to drop in irregularly. Now go on, get out of here...git!

J, out....

LYPHE

(Also known as "life")

So!...things like school (and the beach, and drinking fishbowls full of alcoholic beverages, and discussing art with friends) have kept me more that just a little busy these past few weeks.

(*checking out when my last post was made*)

Holy Hindu cows! June 30th, huh? (*cringe*) O.K. so maybe it's been a little more than just a few weeks. But, what can I say? I like for these design posts to be nice, clean, and well put together. So while I could just drop in, post a bunch of images and say "There ya go!" it would be incongruent with my M.O. Half ass-ing (stuff I'm into) is definitely not my thing.

You could say that I've gone a bit art heavy on my chosen courses this school quarter, so I will be busier with that stuff regardless. But also, the first few weeks are busier to boot. It's the time when I have to make several adjustments to my schedule, acquire books and supplies, and get my mind in the game.

So with all out there, I think it's safe to say that I won't be making any significant posts for at least a few more weeks. I don't like leaving a two part post all alone by itself like that, but it is what it is!

Still, there are new designs available beyond what I have featured in this blog, so feel free to check out my Spreadshirt designer profile, or my designer shop, for peeks at those. I know, I know! The designs are not as pleasing to view in their small size on there (which is kind of the whole point of this blog!), but it'll have to do in the meantime. That's about all I had for that. I have a lot of drawing to do for class! So, until next time, carry on!


J, out!

A Quick Peek

(at my ideas list)

So, with the rushes of ideas that I get at random, from time to time, sometimes several stack up and it becomes a little too much to try to manage by my memory alone. In all truth, if an idea has enough of an impact on me, it won't ever really disappear from my mind, but it might be lost in there somewhere until I am reminded of it again. So, my solution is to simply write their names down in a little sketchpad that I keep close by (this comes especially handy when I get an idea late at nigh, as I won't be able to fall asleep from continuing to think about it until I at least put it down on paper).

I wouldn't say it is the number of ideas as much as it is what makes up these individual ideas that make them all difficult to just hold in my head. Anyhow, here's what the current list looks like;

Designs that need

Doing:

* I saw a gun in her hand (LIGHTS)

* Food pyramid

* Devil dog beta type

* Next needs up (demon)

* Any backstabber

* Any blood burst

* (something with spiders!)

* A spider [omitted]!

* "SPIDER BOSS"

* 4 Horse Men

* Davilaisms

* *BIGGEST* FAN!

The one's with the strike-through are just so on paper, basically designs I've already completed. And with the "Backstabber" designs in particular, it would be hard to forget about doing the rest of them when I've already got two made (one of these days I'll get around to posting a blog detailing that variation from the original).

The "food pyramid" one I've also done already. Actually, I did it first thing after posting this blog, and it's actually the idea that I mentioned at the start of it. I guess it just motivated me that much! If you check out my shop and look over the designs though, you'd spot it pretty easily. The small display there doesn't really do it justice, but yeah...I'll blog about that soon enough, so no worries.

Another thing to note from that list, is what I've left out, or the vagueness. Well, if you've been reading the rest of the posts before this point, then you might have already figured out that I'm kind of protective of my ideas and designs. It's necessary though. A good example of that is the "Davilaisms" one (after my own last name). Davilaisms just include ideas that I feel are too hard to define, or that would not have anything else to compare them to, to create their own categories for. Some include just images, others have funny sayings of mine, while the rest are what I describe as personal "aphorisms". So, of course, I would leave said sayings and aphorisms from view.

Also interesting to mention is that the last item on that list is one from before I started keeping the list, and I just remembered about it a little while ago. I'm actually in the process of completing that design, so look for it later in the shop! That's all I had. Carry on!

J, out!

Like I Cracked My Head Open, and Ideas Are Spilling All Over the Place

(that's gonna leave a stain...)

This is kind of funny. You might not be aware of this, but I've been trying really hard to catch my blogs up with the designs that I have made. Like, I want all of my designs to have a coinciding post of their own, y'know? I've been getting around to that, but there is a phenomenon that has occurred now that I have free time in my warm little hands; I've received an influx of creativity and the motivation to do something about it.

Just last night I ended up creating a new "Backstabber" design, another all new design, and by midnight I had revised and tweaked the KA-BAR Backstabber design! What does that all mean? Simply put, that I'm churning out designs faster than I am posting blogs to detail their conceptions and gestations. Of course, if you faulted me, a visually creative person, for this, I would disagree with you in a strongly worded fashion. But, still, I feel like at least some sort of explanation is needed. Why?

Because my designer shop is open for business! Now, any design that I have available there is, more or less, open to public viewing. I guess you could say that I like to give everything a little bit of context, lest I feel a bit naked. But feel free to peruse all you wish, and keep an eye out for any additions. Meanwhile, I'll continue my efforts to get my posts caught up to my designs. Until next time, carry on.

J, out!

Designer Shop

(Kinda late for an update. It's past my bedtime! Haha...)

I'm working on getting a designer shop set up at the moment. I've had a premium account on Spreadshirt for a minute now, but I haven't had the opportunity to work through the intricacies of setting up my designer shop. The advantage of a "designer shop" is that I don't have to worry about all of the minutia that I would with a standard shop (available to anyone with a free account). Some of these "minutia" include what I believe are some pretty important details. For example, what piece of apparel should a design go on? Should it be a heavyweight men's t-shirt, or a woman's v-neck t-shirt....in pink?! What about the color of the design? The exact size and placement?

Sure, as the originator and creator I have a vision, my own artistic direction, to each design. But what happens if  a person loves the design, but not necessarily my arrangement? What if an individual likes my Backstabber design, but would rather have it without the text on the front? Or even yet, what if they want the design on the front of their apparel?...

If you can't tell by now, I could come up with many more scenarios for why a designer shop, which allows the customer to set up the design they want (in whatever color, size and orientation), on what piece of apparel they want. There is A LOT to choose from, clearly too much for me to decide what gets in and what doesn't. I actually have about 10 new designs waiting to be approved, so for now, I won't be making my designer shop active. Also, I will be deactivating my old "Tarantulas" shop and designating the new designer shop as such. It's kind of useless at this point.

I'm feeling kinda rushed, so I don't know if I left out anything else that I might have wanted to mention, but for now, that is all I had for y'all. Carry on!

J, out!