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...

Once a Backstabber, Always a Backstabber; The Tanto

(you can count on that)

Upon sitting down to start preparations for my next "deviation" blog, I realized that I hadn't actually gone over one of the designs that I would be featuring a deviation for. Obviously, that's no good, so here I am!

For this post, I will be (briefly, I predict) going over a "Backstabber" variant, this time (if you had't surmised as much from the title) featuring a Tanto. As mentioned in this follow up Backstabber post I plan on making several other Backstabber variant designs, featuring all sort of pointy objects. With as many ideas as I have coming into my head, it's difficult to actually execute on very many of these (and yes, I have a long list of Backstabber variants already). I won't even mention my time constraints (but I did)!

So, the same as with the KA-BAR, I created a Tanto "icon". The process was pretty much the same. The reference image used was this one. I like it. It's plain, clean, sharp, and gets the message across (that being "Hey, look! I'm a tanto!!"). Next I opened up my Backstabber "work" file (I save the "work" and "finalized" versions of every design separately. Makes it 79% easier to go back and make any fixes or revisions), removed the KA-BAR, and readjusted the blood a bit. Once the Tanto design had been completed (you can't really tell, but I'm pretty anal about these designs, and the final appearance betrays the attention to detail that goes into it), the rest was pretty much just about orientation and what-not.

Anywho, here's what the "Tanto Backstabber" looks like. I'm considering (meaning, I will...just not yet) creating some "Backstabber" text of my own (meaning not from one of the template Illustrator fonts), so I haven't actually gotten a t-shirt of my own with this design on it yet. With as many Anime/Japan geeks as there are in my school though, I'm sure several would stop and ask me about it if I wore it (sure, the KA-BAR Backstabber that I wear every now and then gets reactions, just...y'know).

In other news, a recent gaffe involving a digital direct print has halted some of my Spreadshirt shopping progress. Basically, I want to wear this damn design (done right!), so I'm waiting until the return gets back to them and they credit it to me before trying again. Until then I'm gonna sit here (not the whole time, mind you) and wait for the email with the digital coupon code. I understand that they'd recently become very backed up (some partner's shop was getting a massive amount of orders for digital direct printed designs), and they had to up production by adding more personnel and working throughout the week, so I'm attributing it to that (especially since the t-shirt that I ordered with my "GI1911 RELOAD! 2.0" printed on it over half a year ago looked awesome, and still does after many washes!).

Well, I'll stop boring you with my personal problems now. I'm gonna try a little harder to at least do one of these a week, so that I can finally get caught up. The designs featured in my shop with a blog post of their own are currently outnumbered by the ones without, and I'm not exactly happy about that. It sort of dissuades me from getting to cranking out some of my other ideas, because that will just back me up more on this end, and that's not good if getting more designs into my shop is my goal. That's enough for now. Until next time, carry on!


J, out...

*Biggest* Fan Reactions

(Post last updated 10/30/2010)

Hey there. I just felt in the mood to post something, but not enough to get to my next "deviation" post, so I thought I'd go with something that I can wrap up quicker.

It's been about 2 months or so since I ordered a "*Biggest* Fan" tee of my own to wear, so I thought I'd share, briefly, on its reception by the "audience" that's been exposed to it.

Honestly, I had a doubt or two about this. But after seeing that 4 sold soon after I had made it available on Spreadshirt, as mentioned in the design's introductory blog, the doubt began fading a bit. So, I ordered my own and patiently waited until it came in the mail.

The reactions to it have been varied, but positive overall. One instance that sticks out in my mind was that of an acquaintance from school. When she initially saw it, her first reaction was to roll her eyes and say "Oh my god..." but it was followed by laughter, so I thought "Alright, that's not ALL bad, I guess." Later though, I ran into her again as she was talking to a group of her friends and she went, "Oh my god, y'all have to look at his shirt, it's *epic*."

..."Epic?", I thought, "Didn't she roll her eyes?"


I figured I'd just go with it though. I mean, it is pretty silly, so I suppose a roll of the eyes to the self-assuredness of a claim such as being the *biggest* fan is the appropriate response to expect (can you tell that I didn't ponder what the response to this would be as much as I did with my "Backstabber" tee?).

[1st Update, 10/30/2010]


Just a few days ago, I had a few more reactions to my *Biggest* Fan t-shirt that I thought I'd report, one being a reaction of my own. This first reaction might also be a "note to self", as this could be avoided in the near future (but would I want to?). So, I had some stuff to take care of at my apartments' leasing office, but as I began to state what my business there was, the lady just busts out laughing! So I'm standing there, giving her a bit of a confused look she goes "You are always wearing the funniest t-shirts!", at which point I look down and go "Oh...right. So, anyhow, as I was sayi-", but again, I was interrupted by more laughter. It took a few more moments of this, and of her asking which one I was wearing the last time (it was the "Meat Pyramid" one, by the way) before we could get to talking business. Honestly, if it wasn't for the fact that I had a sense of urgency about things, I would have found it very amusing. I guess next time I wear this thing out, I'll try to keep the fact that I'm wearing it in mind, so there aren't too many surprises, which directly relates to this next "reaction".

The next reaction, which was more of a thought, came from myself. As the day went on, and I returned to my normal level of self awareness (contrast from self-conscious), again I found it curious that more people than normal (thus making me consciously aware of it) were staring at me with odd looks on their faces. I was having dinner with a friend that night, and after returning from a trip to the little boys' room I sat and told her "Y'know...I should probably try to remain more conscious of what I am wearing when I'm out and about with these on. I keep getting these funny looks and forgetting why..." She agreed.

[end 1st Update]

Most times the response is a smile with a shake of the head, but I haven't actually worn it very much, so I guess I'll wait and see some more. I think that's about all I have for that one. My next post should be on the next "deviation", and for those of you that keep up with what's currently up in my designer shop, the next design should actually be a digital direct design that'll be sure to flare up my phobia. So, until the next time, don't eat that, and 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!