It's been awhile...

...but the last few weeks of my internship at the Press didn't produce a whole lot of portfolio-worthy material. Mostly just a few ads to be done quickly without much design work necessary, which is fine, but I wouldn't want to put it up here. Good news, though, is that school's started again, and there should be plenty of work to put up now.

Humpy's Ad

Here's an half-page ad that I did today at the Press. So far everything I've done over there's been weird. Skeleton's playing golf, Godzilla, monsters. Oh well, I guess that's just how things go sometimes.

*Update* The skeleton playing golf was deemed "too Halloween-y" by Humpy's and was cut and replaced with some golf-themed clip art. It's alright though, I thought I might've been pushing it a little bit anyway.

Hooray! I'm published

So I'm finally a published designer, which is exciting. My fill for the Press ran Thursday, and if all goes well there'll be two more this next week. Woo-hoo! I guess it's not that much of a big deal, but it's kind of a milestone in my design career. We'll see what my next assignments are tomorrow, and hopefully they'll be as fun to do as these were.

Realism be damned! I'm an optimist!

So I think things are pretty exciting. I'm right now in a very good place. Not summer vacation specifically, but just in general. I feel like there's a lot of neat things in the world to explore. Things like careers, the complete discography of the Talking Heads, hiking trails, Japan, libraries, noise, and exotic foods. I think I can do that.

Anchorage Press Illustration Fills

Here are a couple ad illustrations that I did for the Anchorage Press, a free weekly newspaper that kind of like the Anchorage equivalent of the Seattle Stranger or the LA Weekly. I'm interning there now, and so far I've done a couple of these "freelance photographers and illustrators wanted" ads/fills and an ad for a hotdog stand. It's pretty fun work, and the people are fun to be around. I'll replace these tiny pictures with larger ones soon.

"Transformers" and a rascist in disguise

So Leslie and I were standing in line at the concession stand at the movie theater and, as she usually does, she asks me what the chinese kanji tattoo on the man in front of us says. It's on the back of the man's neck and he's buying candy for his kid. I squint my eyes and look at it and--while I'm pretty poor at reading chinese, I recognize the two symbols. The first is "white" and the second is "power." I thought it was kind of strange, to declare your prejudice so publicly, yet at the same time hidden in a foreign language. It's kind of a paradox. A declaration of racial supremacy written in a language that is very much the language of a different race and culture. It was pretty odd. "Transformers," though was awesome. Aside from the few moments that felt like I was watching a GMC commercial.

"Tiffany Jones" poster and invite comps

This was kind of a long project that I did in my design class. We were each given a film title and had to make up a short synopsis, then designed logos, posters, and an invite for a screening of the film. My film "Tiffany Jones" was sort of a mockumentary/"Life Aquatic" hybrid.

Wilderness

I think that nature, while beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dangerous. I went and saw Gregory Colbert's "Ashes and Snow" exhibit when it was in Santa Monica. It was big and fancy and boring. Every picture was some ethnic child cradling a leopard or having a hawk land on its small brown head. It was the stereotypical "communing with nature" bit, and it (along with the "Where's Waldo" and "I Spy" books) inspired me to make these two prints, which--I think--are a little more real. Nature isn't something to dilly-dally around with, because it will try to kill you. Every time I go backpacking here in Alaska (so far every weekend this summer) I'm frightened by the prospect of running into a bear or falling down a mountain. They're real fears and should be respected. For these photos I went out to Joshua Tree National Park for the first image and the Santa Monica Mountains for the second. All the animals were photographed in the National History Museum of Los Angeles.

I am under your control

Well, if you click here then you'll be able to experience total control of my virtual self. Feed me, make me watch TV, sleep, use the bathroom, it's all here. If my life meter runs out I will die of boredom/starvation/dehydration/etc. Interesting? Inane? You be the judge. As a side note, it needs flash and--since it's kind of a large .swf file--broadband is pretty much a requirement.

Printmaking 101

Here's a little project that I did for my printmaking class I took last semester. I kind of flopped the class (though my grades were fine), but it was a lot of fun. There were a ton of really talented people in the class, so that was exciting. This was a copper etching loosely based on Timothy Treadwell, the subject of the Werner Herzog documentary "Grizzly Man." It's a dude inside of a bear. Unfortunately, not a very good scan.

backyard photos (L.A.)

This is our stray cat. His name is Oilspill and he is friendly. And gross.


Backyard mood-lighting:


Fun with flash:

"Problem" Solved...

For awhile my pictures were uploading as negative images and I was like "why?". Well, I forgot to put them into RGB before converting them to JPEGs. That's why.

A short story I wrote last fall

"Donald, dear, I've fallen in love with one of my patients."

Donald--a balding, fat man in his late forties--was caught off guard. "Jane!" he gasped. "But what of the years we've shared together? Our honeymoon? The children? What of the long nights when we stayed awake listening to the crickets, waiting for the sun to rise?"

Jane threw herself onto the reading room's ornate sofa, sobbing. "All lies! It's no use Donald, our life, our marriage--it's all a sham! You don't understand. The waiting. The loneliness. I needed to find comfort somewhere, and you'd abandoned me to a room in the attic. You don't know how cold it gets up in that corner room! The night air, it chills me to the bone. I can't live like this any longer!"

Donald had placed himself on the opposite end of the sofa. He now moved closer to his estranged wife. "I know," he said, acting as grave and understanding as his stiff Victorian upbringing and a life of privilege would allow. "It's been, well, a rather difficult year for us, but Jane," his voice trailed. "How could you? One of your patients?"

She shuddered visibly, speaking slowly, "I don't know what came over me. Call it fate, call it pheromones--animal magnetism. I don't know. I was compelled."

Donald was disgusted. He had given her all that she'd wanted, and more. He had left her to pursue her childish interests, and this is what had come of it: an abomination.

"No one can know about this," He said sternly, "No one."

"I can't live a lie anymore! It's--it's horrible! Throughout the day, people look at me, I can feel them talk about me behind my back. They sneak looks at me with their tiny eyes. Snickering and pointing at me. It's more than a soul can take! Let me leave. If I leave I can be my true self. Donald, I've become a husk. I feel empty. Let me leave."

"Of course, dear, We'll go on holiday immediately. I'll begin packing tonight. We'll leave for my family's summer home at dawn. Just you and I. Away, until you get better."

Jane held her face in her hands, speaking into them, "No. No, that's not far enough. I'll never be better there! That's what I'm trying to tell you! The summer home isn't far enough! I need to leave the city, and London, and Europe, and the rest of the world. I've made the arrangements already. The two of us, we--we're going to Africa."

Donald's face reddened, and he began to pull at his Theodore Roosevelt mustache with painful ferocity. He remained silent for a long while. Jane cowered on the opposite end of the sofa.

"Well who was it?" Donald sneered. "Was it Harry? Was it Junior? Or was it that damned Neville? Which one of those animals was it? You shame yourself, Jane."

"What does it matter?" Jane said in anguish.

Donald's face reddened. "Just tell me, Jane! I have the right to know with whom you've ruined me. I'll never be able to show myself in public again."

Her voice faltered, "It was... Jojo."

"Jojo?!" Donald cried out, "The chimp?! Great Scott! You'll never be able to practice veterinary medicine in this country again!"

pop magazine cover layout

This design comp was made for a fictional 8"x 8" 1960's pop culture magazine that my class made. I headed the class' design team, which was a good time. the logo was designed by Nicole Landa, and the pieces of art are, of course, by Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. The following comp is an earlier draft of the same project.

evil twin project

this is a project that I did for my digital photography class last semester. I had a couple of my friends imagine scenarios that they might have with an evil twin, then enact each part separately. I then digitally pasted the two figures together in photoshop. Jared, my roommate, imagined his twin to be a feral, half-naked barbarian who he constantly had to clean up after and keep out of trouble; while my girlfriend, Leslie, had this to say about "Bernadette," her twin:

"My evil twin, Bernadette, is a strumpet. I am always shouting at her - in the car, around the house, at church, in front of Grandma - “Close your legs!” But she never listens. She’s been like this since we were little. And she makes me so angry, but somehow, always somehow, she’ll giggle a little and tell a joke so I wont be so angry. That’s how she traps the men. Always charming them. And the minute I think she’s not so bad she goes straight back to her pavement princess ways! Tart. Father liked her best.”

early design work

these are a few little bits of design that I did just for fun. the top image is a poster for a show that my old band played awhile back, and the second is a logo for my dad's website mycontrails.org.