I've been working at a small sporting goods company, doing what I do for money, which is graphic design. There are only nine of us, it's a manufacturer/wholesaler (I think I spelled both of those wrong). Their design has been done by either the product designer or contract in the past. It is bad and very dated.
The owner has been pretty good about trying to update, while not wanting to shake things up too much; he did hire a full time designer, after all, a pretty big step in any small company.
It is not the most creative work by a long shot, but the opportunity to shape an entire business, from catalog, packaging, website, logos, everything; that doesn't come along too often.
I just finished the main project, catalog/workbook, and did a press check in Canada. This one was pretty breezy, as there wasn't high color demands and the digital press had it all under control. We made two or three minor changes, lasting about ten minutes each. Of course it was an hour between them and a four hour drive each way.
On the way home, duty free, of course, where I dropped $130 on two bottles of scotch (technically one scotch/one blended whiskey) and some cigars. I'd specify 130 US or CAN, but it doesn't matter. Remember the good old days when our Presidents were mildly criminal, but our economy was decent? The Canadian dollar was 75 cents (I'd put the little cent sign, but Mac keyboards don't feature it... at least this one doesn't and $.75 looks stupid) to our dollar, making a trip to Canada a spending heaven.
Now our President is a complete fucking criminal and our dollar is one to one with Canada. Technically 90something cents, but any stores up there pretty much use one to one.
In the meantime, politics, as you might have noticed, is making me angerier and angrier each day. The President needs to be jailed or executed for crimes against the US (I'm not being hyperbolic, I really think he does) and the completely pussified Democratic party won't even put impeachment on the table. At this point they can both blow me.
I've done a few freelance projects lately. I did the recent Magic the Gathering style guide, which you can see if you are or know an artist that is working on one of the new sets. I can't tell you which one, partially because of the NDAs I sign, partially because I just know it by the code name.
I also worked on a small leave behind for my friend Brian, who does archival illustrations. You can find his work here:
Brian's Superkeen website
That Japanese mask that pops up on the first page is a painting, by the way, not a photograph. They all are. He does traditional media paintings of Japanese armor and swords, among other things. He's going to a show in August (SF, I think) and he's using the catalog I made him to drum up business. I also got to make him a business card. Also, since he's a working professional in a related field, he doesn't try to screw people he commissions artistic projects from. He paid me fairly and on time.
In brief, I liked the new Die Hard, like the new Transformers, thought the new Harry Potter movie was okay and haven't read the new books. Or any of them, for that matter. My roommate has, and, in fact, stayed home all weekend and blazed through the last one so she wouldn't hear spoilers. I don't want to, either, since I want the movies to be fresh... but I can avoid it more than she can.
Of course I think that people that intentionally spoil things for others are tiny penised hobgoblins, with daddy molestation issues and copious amounts of self-loathing. But to each his own.
I'm going to Salt Lake City in a couple weeks. Never been. Might be fun. I guess.
I'm working on a Cthulu rpg adventure which is almost done. I recent got a 3D animation program, which I'm learning on my own. Four hours to animate 10 seconds of a planet orbiting. It'll get better. Of course all I'm using it for is cut scenes in a Star Wars adventure I want to run.
Sigh.
The owner has been pretty good about trying to update, while not wanting to shake things up too much; he did hire a full time designer, after all, a pretty big step in any small company.
It is not the most creative work by a long shot, but the opportunity to shape an entire business, from catalog, packaging, website, logos, everything; that doesn't come along too often.
I just finished the main project, catalog/workbook, and did a press check in Canada. This one was pretty breezy, as there wasn't high color demands and the digital press had it all under control. We made two or three minor changes, lasting about ten minutes each. Of course it was an hour between them and a four hour drive each way.
On the way home, duty free, of course, where I dropped $130 on two bottles of scotch (technically one scotch/one blended whiskey) and some cigars. I'd specify 130 US or CAN, but it doesn't matter. Remember the good old days when our Presidents were mildly criminal, but our economy was decent? The Canadian dollar was 75 cents (I'd put the little cent sign, but Mac keyboards don't feature it... at least this one doesn't and $.75 looks stupid) to our dollar, making a trip to Canada a spending heaven.
Now our President is a complete fucking criminal and our dollar is one to one with Canada. Technically 90something cents, but any stores up there pretty much use one to one.
In the meantime, politics, as you might have noticed, is making me angerier and angrier each day. The President needs to be jailed or executed for crimes against the US (I'm not being hyperbolic, I really think he does) and the completely pussified Democratic party won't even put impeachment on the table. At this point they can both blow me.
I've done a few freelance projects lately. I did the recent Magic the Gathering style guide, which you can see if you are or know an artist that is working on one of the new sets. I can't tell you which one, partially because of the NDAs I sign, partially because I just know it by the code name.
I also worked on a small leave behind for my friend Brian, who does archival illustrations. You can find his work here:
Brian's Superkeen website
That Japanese mask that pops up on the first page is a painting, by the way, not a photograph. They all are. He does traditional media paintings of Japanese armor and swords, among other things. He's going to a show in August (SF, I think) and he's using the catalog I made him to drum up business. I also got to make him a business card. Also, since he's a working professional in a related field, he doesn't try to screw people he commissions artistic projects from. He paid me fairly and on time.
In brief, I liked the new Die Hard, like the new Transformers, thought the new Harry Potter movie was okay and haven't read the new books. Or any of them, for that matter. My roommate has, and, in fact, stayed home all weekend and blazed through the last one so she wouldn't hear spoilers. I don't want to, either, since I want the movies to be fresh... but I can avoid it more than she can.
Of course I think that people that intentionally spoil things for others are tiny penised hobgoblins, with daddy molestation issues and copious amounts of self-loathing. But to each his own.
I'm going to Salt Lake City in a couple weeks. Never been. Might be fun. I guess.
I'm working on a Cthulu rpg adventure which is almost done. I recent got a 3D animation program, which I'm learning on my own. Four hours to animate 10 seconds of a planet orbiting. It'll get better. Of course all I'm using it for is cut scenes in a Star Wars adventure I want to run.
Sigh.