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...

Sex Sells

(But is that what I'm selling?)

Been a while since my last post. I'm, like, Opposite of what I say-Man. When I'm all, like, "I'll try to post more often!", I definitely do not. And then, when I'm all, like, "I'm gonna be falling off of the face of the Earth for a bit" I come back and post something the very next day. How about I just don't comment on when I will and will not be able to post more? Sound good? Great. Moving on...

About the title of this post; I've noticed that my girls (including the singles) have been selling pretty regularly. That makes me think about how some of the future designs that I'm planning to add to my "Davilaisms" section also have to do with the, um...gender. They'll be fun, so stand by for those!

I'm also thinking about (it's more, like, I've already made up my mind, and am thinking about when to sit down and crank it out) redesigning the brand. I predict that it won't be the last time, either. Anywho, I feel like what I have in mind will look pretty fucking wicked... I just have to get to it.

That's about all I wanted to say for now, I think. So yeah, until the next time (which I refuse to predict when it'll be), y'all carry on!


J, out...

Brand, version 3.0 (or "Let's Get to it Already!")

I've been posting updates about the "Brand" for a good while now, so I think it's about time that I got on with it. I've already made a post about how I came up with the design and so on. Not a day later and I posted another update about a change of heart I had on the usage of the brand, for sake of keeping the costs as low as possible. And finally, just last week, I posted an update about some of the changes that the Brand has gone through during the time since I made that first post debuting it, but it was nothing but vagueness, so I'm addressing it here!

My first reason for changing the first design was that it was not compatible with "Flex" printing. The simple way to explain it is that sections of a vector design have to be at least 0.06x0.06 inches big, and spaces in between sections need to be at least 0.04x0.04 inches big. Obviously (or not, just from looking at it), the first Brand design did not meet the criteria, so a redesign was in order.

The way I tackled it was pretty simple, and looking back, I could have probably gone with a thinner type face, since the type I went with was definitely much wider than 0.06 of an inch. Anyhow, I opened the design with the original spider by itself in Illustrator, took the eraser tool sized to a circle approximately 0.04 of an inch wide, slashed through the divisions already in place on the body and legs, joined the fangs with the thorax (as well as for making the points of the fangs hang downward), got rid of the eyes, and made leg sections thicker were needed, mostly near the ends. To finish, I then joined it with a thicker font and left the store URL out (font that small would obviously not fit withing the 0.06 inch width).

The image to the left here (click for larger version) is the final product of that effort. It's definitely not as organic as the original, and I dislike that the eyes are gone, but I like the legs thicker. I had a digital direct version (so that it would match the main design on the front, in color, feel, and texture) printed on the back of the "GI 1911 RELOAD! 2.0" t-shirt prototype that I ordered, but noticed that it was a little large for the role I wanted it to play (I wanted the "JR DAVILA" a bit higher up on my back, but the spider pushed it down a bit too much so it fell out of my vision for the placement), so I immediately decided that I would be redesigning it.

An aside, and something that doesn't really matter now (you'll see when I show you the final revision), was something else that my friend Cindy pointed out to me. She was reading the brand out as *JUNIOR* Davila, while I meant it to be read as *Jey-Ahr* Davila. When I told her this she went "But you ARE a Junior!", "That doesn't matter, it's supposed to be my first and middle initials!", "What, R****?", "Don't call me that!"

*Ahem!*... So, yes, that's why I'm not signing off as "JR" anymore, either. Moving on...

Fast forward two months (like 3 weeks ago) and I got some time to sit down and hash it out! Plugged my tablet in, opened up the original spider design, selected the pencil tool set to fill all strokes and went at it! It took me longer than I'd rather admit, so I'll just skip to it and show you the finished result!

(Click image for a larger version)

It's beautiful!...in, uh, it's very own, disgusting, creepy, arachnid kind of way (gag). And I was even able to add in (or would that be subtract out?) some eyes for it! That's one of my favorite parts about it. I'm going to post an update later with some of the doodles that I made while still trying to decide what my brand would look like, and explain the significance of the six eyes then.

Y'know what though? I'm surprised it took me all the way until this post to start mentioning Cindy, since she seems to be one of the only other artist critiquing my designs before, (more on that later) during, and after my creative sessions. So far, she's been the only person to question my choice to go with six eyes instead of eight. Of course, I quickly explained to her that some spiders have even less. Besides that she loved it though! She didn't actually see it until I was already wearing it on my "GI 1911 RELOAD! 1.0" tee. It rides right on my left shoulder blade on that t-shirt. She liked it so much that she wants me to get her something with just the spider on it though. She thinks it's "cute" (I strongly disagree that anything with 8 legs is cute, but...).

As far as usage for this brand design goes, as I mentioned before, it will be just for promotional purposes, so it will only go on t-shirts that I order for myself or for friends. I'll also be making PNG versions to coincide with any digital direct designs, and those will contain the shop URL in a crescent path around the spider.

That seems like just about everything I wanted to say about the brand for now. Keep a look out for the next post, when I'll return to muse about my "RELOAD!" design. It'll be a good one, I promise! Y'all carry on now.

J, out!

Keep it Simple, Stupid

I just wanted to make a quick "heads up" post. I want to keep this one short because the tips of my fingers and nails are hurting quite a bit right now. I was at the beach earlier today, and while digging a hole with my bare hands, found out just how tightly packed the sand is down there. Like...WOW! I think I almost ripped my nails off trying to break through it! I can see under there a little, and...it looks kinda red in there. I'm thinking about going and dipping my finger tips in rubbing alcohol. Man, that's gonna burn though... It shouldn't have surprised me that the sand was packed so tightly though, with around 67% of folk in our great country being overweight or obese!.....

Huh.... Did not see that random rant coming. Let's get back on track....

This, is about the brand. It just so happens that I have redesigned it twice since that post was made. It makes me laugh a little that after much brain storming, and lots of trial and error and tinkering, the design that I reached in the end was the simplest. The title of this post is something that I need to remind myself of, should I run into problems like this in the future. A fault of mine is that, sometimes, I fall into some sort of obsession with the details and become overly focused on things that are, essentially, unimportant. I need to learn to step back and give my brain a chance to focus outwards, on the Big Picture.

This seems like a lot to write for a "non-post", but I guess I just felt like some self-disclosure tonight. Truth is, this "journal" is as much about the artist as it is about the designs, since neither exists exclusive of the other, and the latter is wholly dependent on the former. Let's cut this short here before it dives deeper into the theoretical and philosophical. I could go on about things of the sort for an eternity. Y'all carry on...

J, out!

A Quick Note on the Brand

So, on my last blog I spoke about my "brand" at length, but I've made a change since. Not a change in the design, but a change on where this design will actually be placed.

I originally planned to place the brand, in whatever color configuration, on the back, bellow the collar, of all single design t-shirts (some of my ideas have a front and a back). Now, in the spirit of making the products more affordable for any possible buyers, I'll be removing the brand from all shopper available products. What do I mean by "shopper available"? I mean that I will be the only person with buying access to the products bearing the brand.

So why keep the products bearing the brand at all? Well, I intend to get several of these out, as promotional products, to my close friends and family. The brand will include the shop's URL, and that's pretty self explanatory, I believe.

Y'all carry on now. That's all I had for that one.

JR, out!

JR DAVILA

The first design task that I undertook (the logical choice, I think) was that of my "brand" (click on the image for a larger sample).

Being the detail obsessive individual that I am, I first spent about 3 months obsessing on the design orientation itself and on the name. For the name I had a few ideas floating around in my head and couldn't really make up my mind. Was the brand itself going to be "TaranTulas", or would tarantulas be one of the themes? Then I thought, "Y'know, my name is probably what I should be concerned with 'getting out there' right now." Once I had my mind made up on that, the arachnid design and the font orientation was something that I also fought with for a while. I came up with all sort of "wild" ideas, but in the end I just scrapped them all and went with the most simplistic one. Font from left to right and the arachnid on top. Simplicity is...well, it just "is". It works.

Next was the font face itself. I took typography and learned a few things, but I still felt like I didn't know enough about "font choice". After becoming a little frustrated with my perceived lack of knowledge on "appropriate" font choice, I brought it up to a buddy of mines, Jeremy Moses (you probably think I love name-dropping by now, huh?). He's a graphic designer, and has a lot more experience and education on the subject than I, an animation student, would. His advice actually caught me by surprise. It was something along the lines of "look around and pick whatever you like". I felt a little silly after that. I mean, all of that time I spent fighting with it, and it was just up to me? I thought there were some rules, guidelines, hierarchies, or something that one would follow when choosing a font for a design. I'll blame APA Style for putting the idea in my head that the font you use, beyond it being serif or sans serif, actually matters.

Once I got past that, I went online searching for some big spider reference images. Did I mention I hate spiders? That probably makes no sense, but it's true. The desktop background image on my laptop at the moment is a super close-up of some disgustingly menacing looking spider. Think of it as some sort of...self administered "exposure therapy". Funny that most of my nightmares since have included huge, disgusting spiders. Anyhow, after a cringe inducing google session, I found the image I would use as reference for this initial design. I believe it's a "wolf spider". A kind I've had to smash plenty of in my day. Creep me the Hell out...

So I dropped the image into Illustrator, double clicked the pencil tool and set it to fill outlines (I prefer the pencil tool over the pen tool for more organic subjects) and went to work. I've had to stick to uploading the current design to Spreadshirt as a PNG, since it doesn't fall within their vector parameters. I'm working on finding a different spider to replace it, but in the meantime, that's it. The font is just "Eccentric" with the counters removed and the dimensions warped to my liking. I played around with the idea of having the parts where the font and the spider legs meet turn negative, but it made the design a little busier than I would like, so I kept it as is.

For now, there is only one t-shirt using the logo, and the design is restricted to "digital direct" printing anyhow so it isn't an issue yet. It shouldn't be long until I have a "flex" friendly version ready.

The design was more of a requirement than anything, so I don't feel quite as inspired about it. Maybe one day I will and I'll revamp it however it is I feel, but until then I don't see it changing much. That's all I had for that one, peeps. Carry on!

JR, out!