Photo Booth Diary #5

It's been too long! How about an update in my Photo Booth Diary series? Here's how I described this back in 2009 when I posted my first one "...I hope others will share their own. I pulled 16 Photobooth pics, that are self portraits, and made a 4x4 contact sheet. They are better if you don't edit out the embarrassing ones."

2 new paintings

2 new paintings on small wood squares. Trying to do a little painting at night to offset all the design projects I'm working on. The face on salmon colored background is on a piece of dried PVA glue. This material presented some problems, as it was turning back into liquid glue as I painted on it!

Social Science

This Wednesday, March 30 from 7-11 pm is the Science Museum of Minnesota's first Social Science Event. It is an after hours, 21+ event with cash bars, food, music and science related entertainment. I'm especially looking forward to the animals the Minnesota Herpetological Society will have on view, like an alligator and TWO types of Sand Boas. More details about the event here.

I entered a competition to design the identity for this event, and happily my design was chosen. Here is some of my process, and the final designs.

I started sketching with the events features in mind: drink, food, fun, and science.

I decided to combine a beaker and a martini glass to pair the social and the science.

I tried two different directions for type. One inspired by the periodic table of elements (early process above.)

And the second, a hand draw playful treatment to express the youthfulness of the event.

After some feedback from the Science Museum staff, I created a wine and beer glass version of the logo, since that is what will actually be served at the event.

And here is the final mark! I refined the periodic table type treatment and incorporated the Science Museum's 'swirl' logo. Below is my suggested color scheme, the key art/icons I created, and some logo variations. Thank you to everyone at the Science Museum, this project was a blast to work on and I'm looking forward to all the Social Science events coming up!

Twin Peaks Illustration + Process

(Audrey Horne's saddle shoes)

A while ago I watched the Twin Peaks series in its entirety, in about a month period. I had only seen a few episodes here and there before, and never really got the mania about it. Once I watched it all in order I was hooked. I noticed so many symbols, like chess pieces and lockets, I thought it might lend itself to a good illustration. I started with image research, and making a list of about 20 items I thought summed up the important plot points and main characters of the two seasons.

(Dr. Jacoby and his freaky glasses)

(Hank and his domino)

(One Eyed Jacks casino chip)

I did ink drawings of all the symbols in my sketch book.

I scanned in the drawings and started coloring them digitally. Originally I thought the composition would be based off the "Welcome to Twin Peaks" sign. However, I mocked it up and didn't think it filled out the space very well.

So then I though I would have the composition be like a spread from Laura Palmer's diary, with these symbols and notes in it. I liked the composition, but not this weird 3-d diary style I tried.

I stepped back a bit, and re-colored each element, since I wasn't so happy with that either. Here is Laura's cousin Maddy Ferguson, with the new color treatment.

I tried the diary format again, but this time a little more laid back.

(Click to enlarge)

This is the final! The process for this illustration was a lot more time consuming than normal, but I was trying out some new coloring and texture techniques, so it's ok. I am happy with the final, and happy to be done with this and move on to other projects. Below are some detail shots.

Brief Apartment Tour

Traditionally I do a room tour any time I inhabit new living quarters. I haven't done one for my new Minneapolis home yet because I am still unpacking and organizing, but here are a few images.

My first before-and-after/DIY/design sponge/apartment therapy-esque project. Last night I was staring at our record cabinet and I thought of a use for some nice old wallpaper I've had forever. I whipped up some wheat paste and applied the wallpaper to the two sliding front panels. (You can tell the before shot by the bad lighting and poor picture quality.)

My grandpa made this bookshelf for me and I used it throughout my childhood. It has been in my parent's garage since, and I am happy to have space and a use for it again.

And this is what's on my drawing table! I've set a goal of blogging once a week, so check back soon.

Girls / Women Publication

I'm pleased to be posting about a new publication I made with Jordan Kay, called Girls (or) Women, depending on how you look at it. You can see more of it on my website, purchase it in my shop, or in Jordan's shop. It feels good to get more printed matter into the world. I had fun designing the format, which has two front covers, liner pages, cut-out dust jacket flaps, sewn binding, lots of different paper stocks/colors, and a fold-out poster! It nearly killed me producing an edition of 50 during my last week in San Francisco, but I'm very happy I did.

3 Works on Paper

I've been working at this specific size, a pice of drawing paper torn in half, four times (aprox. 5" x 7"). This small rectangle works well for my tiny drawing table in my room. That's all!