Deer Winter

india election pics

2009-05-25T00:03:00.002-04:00

More amazing pics here

Tattoo Dress

2009-05-13T23:07:00.002-04:00

Wow that's a really neat and unique dress! Worn by Asia Argento at the Cannes Film Festival

in flight

2009-04-28T02:19:00.002-04:00

STeW, originally uploaded by S T e W.

beautiful color scheme and awesome patterned textures in the wings

Koi Tattoo

2009-04-22T02:08:00.002-04:00

, originally uploaded by amfdesigner.

The shading on the koi is so amazing!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs Runaway

2009-04-21T00:26:00.003-04:00

Heard this song on Gossip Girl tonight and I decided to check out the new Yeah Yeah Yeah's album It's Blitz. This track is really beautiful this whole album is really, really damn good. The word disco was thrown around in reviews for it but I don't think the disco vibe is that strong, the album has a great spring/summer vibe to it. They are some some beautifully haunting mellow tracks and then they're some tracks that make you wanna dance. I highly recommend it!

Philadelphia Photostory: Bricks & Blooms

2009-04-12T18:34:00.003-04:00

Infancy

From my favorite new alley called Try On. Gosh I'm so jealous of people who have these little courtyards with sakura trees! Also I feel a bit creepy peering through their gates to capture the beauty but I'm getting over it hahaa.

Slowly coming out

Another really spectacular small alley, I forget what its called but I got a lot of great pictures from that will be in another post soon.

Full brick & bloom

Same alley as above, I'm really loving the dark brick buildings around my neighborhood, I often feel a bit transported back in time when I come across buildings like this.

OMG when I entered this particular alley I was greeted by a HUGE cherry blossom ~~dream~~ tree, it was magnificent. I just love the whole environment of this alley.

Church in the bg, while I was taking this a pic two men were talking and one of them was saying how he was tempted to take a stem back to where he's from so he could plant a tree.

Taken at sunset, I love how my camera captures the sky reflected on windows. ♥

Wolverine Japanese Style

2009-04-10T13:55:00.004-04:00

I love ukiyo-e style art so I thought this rendition of Wolverine was particularly awesome! They're many more interpretations of him in various art styles over on the marvel.com website, they're celebration Wolverine Art Appreciation Month in order to promote the X-Men Origins movie.

Maxstudio little black dress

2009-04-09T01:31:00.003-04:00

I wish I could afford things in this store, they have the most amazing dresses. I have one dress from them that I bought to wear at a wedding, its made of silk and is so comfy.

I really, really want the dress on the far right, its like a perfect little black dress. I also love the women's tailored suit on the far left, so chic and sexy.

Deer crochets

2009-04-07T12:55:00.002-04:00

Taxidermy Deer Wall Wear $45
Fawn & Flower Wall Wear $85

So cute! Get them on etsy.

Bad Type Good Type

2009-04-07T12:14:00.005-04:00

Good Typography is invisible/
Bad Typography is everywhere

via graphic-exchange

This is amazing, it's a giant typography wall sticker! I want it so bad for my tiny studio apartment. Get it here

how to letterpress video

2009-04-06T12:14:00.003-04:00

If you're a fan of letterpress and wanted to know a bit more about the process that goes on in order to create some pretty cool and beautiful stationary, posters, etc then check out this video.

Letterpress Poster Printing from Joshua Gerken on Vimeo.

via iLt

Philadelphia Photostory: Found Type

2009-04-05T19:18:00.002-04:00

I've been taking photos for this photostory for a couple of weeks and its my most favorite one so far! As I was walking around I noticed some really great examples of typography on signs and row home addresses, but then I also found some cool uses on everyday objects and then of course the ultimate subversion of typography, tagging!

2006
Entrance of a row home, I kinda love everything about this pic, the textures, the paint splatter on the door and the decaying print of the letters. And the reflection in the glass, that was quite accidental.

Angled
This entrance was quite odd, its on an angle like that. This was located in a small side street called Tryon and it has some really fantastic houses and architecture, I'm waiting for a sunny day to go take some photos over there.

Apt 1 & Apt 2
I was actually walking around Chinatown and saw a collection of mail boxes and the type on them looked so fantastic, I didn't have my camera with me at the time! Which sucked because I saw a lot of cool stuff I would have liked to photograph that evening, anyway I'm glad I caught another cool looking set of mailboxes.

2010
This is a new house they finished building last summer, I don't think anyone moved in yet though but I love all the modern elements on the door compared to the 2006 door.

IPA advice
Lagunitas IPA beer label on my dark blue jeans. I was intrigued by the slogan, well the label had many sayings on it but this was the best one, "Life is uncertain, don't sip!". I'm not sure what that means though.

S is for schwinn

This is the same yellow bike I took a pic of a few weeks ago but this was taken in a totally different location haa. We meet again yellow bicycle! I just love the S on the seat and because S is my initial.

Books behind bars!
I was wandering around and came across this amazing old bookstore, I didn't go inside because I feel bad going in small local businesses and not buying anything, but they sell like really old 50 cent books.

Twerp
I'm kind of obsessed with Twerp's tags, I see them all over, there's even one outside my workplace!! Its on a small gold pipe, I haven't gotten a chance to take a pic yet because people take their smoke breaks there.

Meats and Provisions
This was painted on the afore mentioned bookstore building, I loved the old Western type and style.

All images copyrights to S. Bakr, please do not reproduce or repost without my permission.

Diesel store Philadelphia

2009-04-03T12:43:00.002-04:00

The Diesel store in Philly has this weird new window display, usually their displays are rather innocuous but I walked by yesterday and out of the corner of my eye I saw this dude sitting there with his hands out like he was begging and I was like WTF? Then I looked closer and realized that he was a screenprinted rag doll of some sort but his facial expression and skinny body just made the whole thing rather bizarre looking, kinda reminds me of Christian Bale in The Machinist.

The girl one isn't nearly as terrifying, and I guess they should be congratulated for not using mannequins like every other store on the block, the whole thing is definitely weird and eye catching.

Michelle Obama in London

2009-04-02T19:17:00.003-04:00

I feel as if her cardigan is having an identity crisis haha, its kinda weird yet hip at the same time. The sparkly detail on the ONE sleeve is just no.

I love this whole retro fullskirt x cardigan look, although the whole thing just makes her look like a passive 50s housewife doesn't it? But maybe that's the point, her approval ratings are at an all time high of 70-something percent, compared to the 32% they were during the campaign when she spoke at rallies and the media coverage of her dealt more with her words rather than her fashion. However I'm glad that she's no longer perceived as an angry Black woman, we need more positive portrayals of Black women abroad and at home.

Wood Type

2009-04-02T16:21:00.002-04:00

Wood Type, originally uploaded by Leo Reynolds.

My flickr fav of the day! I wish I had blocks like these, Anthropolgie sells a lot of giant alphabet letters you can decorate your space with.

Anthropologie Philadelphia & Joan Shepp

2009-04-02T00:24:00.005-04:00

Anthropologie's latest window visual, honeycomb! The lighting is really cool at night.

Joan Shepp has this awesome shoe display, I need to get some new shoes so bad! Pay day today I think :O! I've never actually been in this store because I could never afford anything in there but their visual merchandising is always pretty eye catching.

WPA Posters

2009-04-01T14:38:00.008-04:00

I'm doing some research for work, the project I'm working on is a flash piece which plays a snippet of FDR's speech regarding creating jobs. I was looking for some WPA posters for some art inspiration for the piece and I found these awesome examples on flickr, all uploaded by Banjohead except for the last one uploaded by wnyc. Click to enlarge.

These have such great composition and use of negative space, line and type.

Flirty Spring Styles from Asian Fashion Brands

2009-03-31T00:39:00.003-04:00

Some cool outfits from yesstyle.com

1.BBon J Frayed Ruffled Collar Plaid Vest $75

2.Spring Girl Mock Two Piece Dress $56

3.Chiffon Empire Dress $30

4.Cara Drop-Waist Chiffon Miniskirt $82

5.Antic Beads Flair Satin Waist-tie Dress $55

6.Antic Beads Lace Trim Chiffon Sleeveless Minidress $58

7.Antic Beads Lace Hem Knit Sleeveless Dress $50

interior inspiration

2009-03-30T17:02:00.003-04:00

These were originally posted over at Design is mine and I'm so into the mood and aesthetic of these interior spaces!

I've been watching HBO's Deadwood and I'm kind of obsessed with old western aesthetics at the moment, a lot of the graphics that I'm doing for work have that look. I need to post some of my work on here soon, haven't had the time to collect my fav pieces yet.

elsita illustrations

2009-03-30T12:35:00.003-04:00

I was doing some research for work and came across some of the work of Elsita Mora, her illustrations are so simple, beautiful and whimsical. She has an etsy shop where you can buy these prints along with her amazing paper sculptures and paper cuts. Be sure to also check out her blog.

Philadelphia Photostory: Street Graphics

2009-03-30T10:42:00.005-04:00

My weekly pics post is late on here, this week my theme was Philadelphia street graphics, I don't know if I'd call it art necessarily but last week I got obsessed with the tags I saw around the streets that I take to and from work. Although I think tags can be a visual nuisance, the colors, shapes and humor I found were very visually stimulating. Plus now that I notice all these tags, its like a fun game to walk around the city and notice where some people have laid their names.

Stop Rape
This first one isn't a tag but I thought it was really bold and awesome. I found this at the end of small side street featuring many historic Philadelphia row homes. It was kind of a shock to see such a bold statement.

I love the humor in these two.

I see Twerp's tags everywhere now! There's even one right outside my workplace o.O;

All images copyrighted to S. Bakr, do not reproduce or repost without my permission.

Cherry Blossoms

2009-03-27T18:27:00.002-04:00

Cherry Blossoms, originally uploaded by swabreen.

Just shot these, I can't wait for more of them to populate the trees! More over on my flickr

Mod Cloth Dresses

2009-03-24T23:47:00.005-04:00

I love so many of the retro inspired dresses on Mod Cloth, although right now I couldn't afford many of them but I like these six to wear to the office.

1. Best of Both Coasts Dress $129.99
2. Cosette Dress$64.99
3. Magnificent Mod Girl Dress $49.99
4. Torch Song Dress $137.99
5.Britannica Dress $91.99
6. The Kenley Dress $199.99

Philadelphia Photostory: Branch Road

2009-03-21T17:17:00.003-04:00

Spring Alley
This little tree continues to thrive and be pretty! I love the shapes the branch's shadow's make on the wall.

Sakura branches
While walking down Lombard I found another fledging sakura tree. Taking pics of branches like this is kinda tough because one little wisp of win and you have a blurry pic D: But this composition reminded me of sort of ukiyo-e style illustration but in photographic format with a modern building backdrop.

Blue and Orange
I haven't take sunset pics in ages! I was obsessed with sunset pics in college and I have a little photo album of the sunsets I saw from the various dorm rooms I lived in. The framing of this pic and the tree makes this pic seem set in a more exotic location rather than Philadelphia.

Red bloom
These little red blooms are terribly hard to photograph because they never show up well against the sky backdrop but they look great against this building.

Silhouette
The branches formed all sorts of amazing silhouettes during sunset, this tree is actually not that good looking under direct sunlight but it looks amazing here.

Sunset down the street
The view down my street while I was crossing it.

Dita von Teese in Inked Magazine

2009-03-20T16:24:00.006-04:00

Finally after like 3 months of consecutive lame cover worthy actresses Inked finally scored someone smoking! Ms. Dita Von Teese herself! I have a free digital subscription to the magazine so I got a sneak peek of it before it hits bookshelves next wednesday March 24th!

The pics inside are pretty hot, so make sure to go check it out. I think I'll buy this issue, they have this one photo story in there for them hot tattooed men getting in a fist fight. I need to buy another back issue of theirs where they had this great photo story of this tattooed guys running a barber shop, it was so beautifully shot!

Also its the first day of spring and I need to change my deer in winter to deer in spring! Maybe I'll get that done this weekend, I haven't really kept up with my own illustrations since I've started to work again.

Pink Philly

2009-03-18T17:56:00.004-04:00

Ubiq sneaker store on Walnut St. Philadelphia

Ubiq's current eye catching store front, they actually have some pretty cool graphics on their store fronts. Last November they had an Obama mural plastered on their window. Last summer people were camped out across the street from the store to buy limited edition ?uestlove related sneakers. The actual store also sells really cool and hip clothes for men along with sneakers and toys, but the few times I've been in there the customer service wasn't that great. Maybe you need to be a sneaker fanatic to fit in haa

I am so excited about the impending Spring Cherry Blossoms! Philadelphia has a Cherry Blossoms Festival every year, when spring rolls around many side walk trees bloom white and pink. It looks gorgeous, one of my fav times of the year.

Random pink Whale tag I found, they always tag these post storage boxes and they always get painted over eventually.

Fashion Illustration

2009-03-17T00:11:00.002-04:00

V.Westwood, originally uploaded by pierluigi.longo.

Two cool illustrations from Flickr

Chanel and Alexander McQueen accessories by Ida Svenungsson

Philadelphia Photostory: Night & Day

2009-03-15T12:39:00.004-04:00

I've gotten into the habit of taking my camera with me everywhere because there have been too many missed opportunities in the past where I see something weird, funny or beautiful that I wish I captured! These were taken from last Tuesday 10th to yesterday Saturday March 14th and are from around my neighborhood.

The week started off foggy and it looks pretty much the same outside right now.

Awesome yellow bicycle found on Pine street on my way to work

Beautiful heart shaped shoes from Anthropologie, too bad they were a size 8! And cost over $100 D: I'm a size 6 boo but they're still out of my price range

Twilight pic taken on the way home from work

The first signs of spring have sprung! Yey! Cherry Blossom time is one of my fav times in Philadelphia and I look forward to it every year! Here are some cherry blossom pics I took last year over by the Rodin Museum and around my neighborhood.

Anthropologie Philadelphia

2009-03-13T14:26:00.005-04:00

Teacup displays at the Anthropologie store in Philadelphia

This store has some of the most amazing visual merchandisers around! Every time I go in there I spend a lot of time just taking in all the little details and the amazing creativity on display. I find the whole place really inspiring and go in there a lot when I'm feeling mentally drained, it provides a great pick me up.

I snuck in these pics when I was there yesterday, I mean you could photograph the entire place they're so many great details to admire and capture. I love the initialized teacups, I have three of them featuring my initials S, A and B :D
I usually only buy stuff at Anthropologie when they're on sale because it is a very pricey store lol, they always have great sales on home goods though and I have a lovely collection of plates and teacups from there.

Tilda Swinton in Another magazine

2009-03-12T00:09:00.002-04:00

~Fierce~!!!!! She looks amazing and the dresses look like pieces of art. More scans here.

Houndstooth details by McQ

2009-03-11T15:56:00.003-04:00

Omg I need this dress in my life! I love how the houndstooth pattern gradually morphs into the birds. Its so beautiful and a great detail. I thought houndstooth had an overused run last season but apparently not! The amazing details and tailoring that went into these outfits just makes me wish I was a millionaires so I could buy them all!

I can totally see Gwen Stefani wearing these previous two outfits! *want want want*!!!

More F2009RTW over on style.com

Gualicho Street Art

2009-03-11T12:43:00.004-04:00

Buenos Aires Mural

Originally uploaded by gualicho!

I love really bizarre and colorful street art, it definitely adds a new energy to urban settings. We have a lot of great murals in Philly but the style in which they're rendered are pretty traditional, I would love to see explosively bright modern murals like these too. Check out more of gualicho's work on his flickr, I love his color palette and imagination.

Universidad Creativa Mural in San Jose, Costa Rica

bombin vancouver

2009-03-09T19:06:00.003-04:00

I posted about how lame I thought taggin was the other day, and here is something to illustrate my point! Instead of taggin something illegible why not tag a piece of art, something that makes a statement and contributes to a part of the community instead of just a selfish act of scribbling a fucking name?? D:

Originally uploaded by STeW on flickr.

Originally uploaded by STeW on flickr.

Originally uploaded by STeW on flickr.

The Great Lady O's come together

2009-03-06T12:50:00.004-05:00

Michelle Obama and Oprah on the cover of ... Oprah magazine

What is going on here? Is Oprah praying to Mrs. Obama? LOL! Also ... plastic belt? Oprah's live show today will discuss this issue of the magazine and her interview with Mrs. O

birdie

2009-03-05T18:31:00.003-05:00

Birdie No. 21 on etsy

Fez on etsy

Love Birds Second Edition Print on etsy

So cute! All work by Genine.

Britney Circus Tour

2009-03-05T13:01:00.007-05:00

Britney Spears Circus Tour Live in Louisiana

A guilty pleasure of mine because sometimes you just want some fun music to listen to and dance around by yourself or with your girlfriends! I love Britney's tattooed body suit she's wearing on her current Circus Tour. Check out even more pics from the first stop of her tour on ohnotheydidnt.

There are a plethora of bootlegged videos of the show on youtube but I gotta say I'm really disappointed in the choreography, too much walking around on her part but maybe it'll get better as the tour moves along. I mean you don't go to see Britney live for her singing! You go to see her performance so hopefully it gets better lol.

Britney Spears - Boys & If You Seek Amy Live

Vanity Fair Funny Men

2009-03-03T15:33:00.004-05:00

Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen and Jason Segel in Vanity Fair

I was reading Jezebel yesterday and they were all up in arms about this photo parody because the male comedians aren't nude and are wearing body suits and men should be equally objectified just as women are and made to pose nude to further their career and DOWN WITH THE PATRIARCY WAHWAHWAHWAH!

I didn't see it as a gender issue but a body size issue, would Americans really want to see doughy Jonah Hill's naked ass? Besides Jezebel fails to make note of all the other photo fashion shoots in which men are naked and objectified just as women in a wide array of fashion magazines. So this whole OMG THE PATRIARCHY STRIKES AGAIN bullshit is just lame. Because its not like men aren't EVER nude in magazines, its just that when they are, they have really hot bodies that fit some mainstream definition of what an attractive male's body is supposed to look like.

Granted their making a direct comparison to the original Vanity Fair cover which honestly I find nothing sexual about it, nudity doesn't always equal sex, Scarlett and Keira look like muses that were rendered in paintings from centuries ago, its not a Maxim style shot.

Anyway I thought the parody was strengthened by their use of body suits and you could argue that making them wear body suits further de-sexualizes people who don't fit the mainstream definition of beauty and having the perfect body. So its not all about putting down women, there is some element of putting down men who don't have model type bodies by needing to cover up fat.

dick tag

2009-03-03T14:36:00.003-05:00

.Dicko* struck my nice neighborhood with douchebaggery! Way to turn what is ordinarily a nice little side street into something ugly. I don't get bombin', its completely selfish and devoid of artistic merit. If you're gonna tag your name then at least do it in some cool spray painted font or something that requires some thinking and artistic vision D:
More lame neighborhood tagging here.

Happy Birthday, or whatever

2009-03-02T19:36:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday, or whatever, originally uploaded by sadmascot - this winter.

nothing says i love you more than a slightly sarcastic die cut piece of printed matter...

LOL! sarcastic die cut, I love the facial expression. I bet hipsters would love a product like this.

Winter Wonderland

2009-03-02T19:21:00.004-05:00

More pics from my neighborhood!

More here

snow day

2009-03-02T12:14:00.003-05:00

The north east is experiencing a massive snow landfall today, some places might even get up to a foot! Some pics of what it looks like in my neighborhood.

Tattoo machine

2009-02-27T20:31:00.006-05:00

Fifth, Sixth, Seventh..., originally uploaded by ImeanHoneyBee.

The contrasting colors in this pic are great aren't they? Also I love the concept of people building tattooing machines, in this day and age how often do we handcraft the tools we work with?

Holy crap! I literally gapsed out loud when I saw this! Amazing!

the king

2009-02-27T16:56:00.003-05:00

, originally uploaded by .Bu.

this is adorable! not a huge fan of the font though, its hard to read at first glance but the swirl hair details are fabulous.

deer dj necklace

2009-02-27T00:47:00.003-05:00

originally uploaded by Ponygraph.

This is such a bizarre combination of things, a DJ and a giant deer necklace by missdisguise.

high waisted

2009-02-26T23:11:00.002-05:00

High Waisted skirts from Urban Outfitters

I'm really into skirts this season because I own a lot of jeans but I never got into buying skirts in the past. I love the silhouettes UO has going on right now. I bought the two skirts on the right column and they're super cute. I don't think the model's body's do them justice in these pics lol.

From L to R and Top to Bottom

Ecote Watercolor Silk Skirt $58
Silence & Noise Pleated Skirt with Pockets $58
Play by C. Ronson Hi Waist Button Skirt $49.99 (on sale)
byCORPUS Hi-Waisted Gathered Skirt $78

baby deer!

2009-02-26T15:04:00.004-05:00

Baby Deer Print by Sharon Montrose

Omg how adorable!!!! Sharon Montrose's fine art animal themed prints are beautiful. I love the color scheme that emerged from this goose print. Buy them over at etsy.

Goose Print by Sharon Montrose

via swissmiss

cutie

2009-02-26T12:00:00.003-05:00

Omg I had the worst walking commute to work since for whatever reason I decided to wear really uncomfortable shoes D: Bad bad idea! Anyway it was miserable but seeing this dulls the pain a bit.

Mushi Mushi Gocco print by StudioMIKMIK

Evil Twins Tattoo

2009-02-25T17:46:00.003-05:00

Skull and Sakura by Johan of Evil Twins Tattoo

I am loving this style of Black & Grey with a hint of color. This Swedish tattoo shop is filled with some amazing talent, check out their portfolio of work! So beautiful!

I am in awe! *bows down* hahaa.

Design with words

2009-02-25T15:58:00.003-05:00

Just LOL!!!! This is my new fav site i can read, found via swissmiss.

I also love this one ...

Deer & Wine

2009-02-25T14:11:00.006-05:00

I've started working again and have been too busy to update this blog as frequently as I'd like. I've seen many wonderful and inspiring things and hopefully I get to post them sooner than later. I maintain two blogs and blogging is really like a second job. Between doing the research and finding material to post about, typing up the entry, proofreading it and resizing and retouching the images and what not, a good two or three hours can go by.

Awesome wine labels via all stripes

The color palette on these wine labels have inspired me for a project that I'm working on right now. I'm on a work computer and they haven't upgraded their software and I'm stuck with Illustrator CS2!!! *gasp* It seems almost primitive to be working on it when I've been using CS3 all these months and now there's even CS4!! Anyway I dearly miss the color guide function in CS3 :/

Deer Anatomy Screenprint by Mark Weaver

I saw this on flickr the other night, I love how deers inspire people to make so many weird things lol. I'm tempted to buy the screenprint from etsy but I'm hesitant because I dunno if it would freak me out to have in my tiny studio apartment. The red bg is quite loud, but then I think it would be fun to have something so bizarre in your home.

Spiderling Cloud Letterpress Edition

2009-02-24T01:30:00.003-05:00

Spiderling Cloud Letterpress Edition, originally uploaded by cMaille.

I love this limited edition letterpress illustration. It's available for sale on etsy, proceeds go towards a charity that provides books for low income children.

Typography

2009-02-23T16:03:00.006-05:00

Engraving by Sam Alfano

I saw an image of Sam Alfano's engraving work over on iLT a few days ago. I absolutely love this style of work, its used a lot in Black & Grey tattoo style. The igraver.com website has some more great examples.
Another great website I found via iLT is Image Spark, its basically an online mood board where users can upload pics that inspire them.

I haven't been keeping up with typography in a while since I was focused more on illustration but I'm doing some contract work involving animated banners whose main feature are words, so typography plays a big part in their design. The typography tag that iLT linked too has some amazing examples for inspiration, check it out.

Coraline

2009-02-22T14:44:00.004-05:00

Coraline visual development drawings by Burst of Beaden

via Illustration Friday

Check out the bigger version on the link, they're amazing. I love the color schemes and line art quality. I haven't seen the movie Coraline as yet but I would love to see a movie done in the style of the drawings. Reminds me of some old school Hanna Barbera cartoons for some reason. Also check out Jon Klassen's blog with some more amazing work.

Fever Ray - When I grow up

2009-02-21T14:31:00.002-05:00

When I Grow Up from Fever Ray on Vimeo.

I love the surreal and weird nature of the Fever Ray videos so far.

Pillow Talk

2009-02-20T19:00:00.004-05:00

I have this thing for interior decorating. I recently started to buy some cool pillowcases and pillows for my bed. I got a Marimekko set from CB2 but they're also some awesome ones over on etsy.com
From left to right and top to bottom:

Ukiyo5 Pillowcase - Riku $35
Lit 101 Pillow $19.95
Boo Pillow by Chris Bettig $32
Origami Pigeon Pillow $36
Vintage Pocket Watch Pillowcase set $18
Koi Fish Pillowcase set $14.99 (on sale)

Rain in Paris

2009-02-19T21:43:00.004-05:00

by the cherry blossom girl on flickr

by marceline on flickr

by Anushka In Repair on flickr

Some of my favorite photos on flickr, I like these pics of Parisian neighborhoods, I feel as if you rarely see that in people's Parisian pics. I love mundane neighborhood shots like these.

Diesel Spring/Summer 09

2009-02-19T17:17:00.003-05:00

Diesel Intimates

Diesel is one of my favorite brands, not for their jeans but more so for their accessories line, jewelry and bags. Last year they introduced an underwear line and this year they have a home textiles line of products so you can make your home much more rock n' roll looking, although I don't know how safe these studded hand towels are.

Diesel Home Textiles

Etsy Favs

2009-02-19T15:00:00.005-05:00

B&W Whimsy

Some of my fav items from my favorite sellers on etsy. I don't think I've ever actually bought anything from anyone on etsy, then gain my disposable income for the past year has been very little and I stopped shopping for the sake of shopping. But if we want to help the economy we need to buy stuff lol and what better way than to support these selfmade small businesses.
You can find some amazing items on etsy for great prices that you wouldn't find anywhere else.

Papercut Print Tree House $25
Lets Eat Gocco Printed Invitation $3.50
Oh Deer Necklace $20
Craft Scissor Earrings $8.00
Wonderland I'm Late Necklace $22
Octopus Sliver Platted Necklace $11

Vintage Fashion Inspiration

2009-02-19T01:07:00.004-05:00

Piksi_'s Fashion Flickr

I came across this wonderful fashion photostream on flickr run by a young lady from Finland. She takes pics of her day to day vintage inspired fashions. She's gorgeous and has a great body to pull off these types of clothes. I need to get back into being creative with my wardrobe, I tend to dress very practical since I live in the city and I like to be able to get around with ease. So I avoid wearing heels because Philly streets just destroy them if you wear them too often and I like to walk fast lol. I also don't tend to buy skirts because I can never find any to fit my tiny waist, there's too much vanity sizing in stores and size 0s are more like size 3s -.-; But I love getting dresses for summer and little cardigans. My favorite store to get cute and relatively inexpensive items is Zara.

I love her outfits because they look like they'd be great for the office. They're fashionable yet formal enough to wear to the office. I'm starting to work again on monday and I need to build up an office friendly wardrobe. The place I work at is very, very casual but I need to define a workplace wardrobe so that when I'm on my off time I don't wear the same kind of clothes to the bar and movies. I've been trying to build up a date wardrobe too, but I was unemployed and didn't feel like spending the money lol. So maybe now that I'll be earning some dough I'll shell out for some cute Spring date outfits.

Piksi_'s Wardrobe Slideshow

Lily Allen - The Fear

2009-02-18T00:44:00.002-05:00

Lily Allen - The Fear

This video is so cute, I think Lily Allen is super adorable and I'm really loving the lyrics on her latest album Its Not Me, Its You. Its rare to find such honest lyrics coming out from the current music scene.

Obama offers cookies

2009-02-17T16:06:00.005-05:00

Office in Air Force One

President Obama offers cookies in the White House's movie theater

How cute! Cookies from the President, those cookies couldn't convince the vast majority of House and Senate Republicans to vote for the stimulus bill. The office in Air Force One is amazing! It barely looks like they're all in a plane.

These are a series of photos by Pete Souza that were put up on the White House website to track the President's courting of Congress men and women to vote for the stimulus package that he signed into law today.
They also set up this website Recovery.gov so that citizens can track the spending of the money in the bill and see the results of the money that's being invested in various projects. You can also read the full bill on the website, which not even the people voting on it got the chance to do o.O;

I have the say the series of photographs are kind of odd, the compositions are awkward but not in an interesting cutting edge or artistic way. Gawker said they seemed very claustrophobic, but I guess Souza was trying to get them to be very candid and in the moment.

Lily Allen

2009-02-17T12:37:00.008-05:00

Lily Allen in Glamour UK magazine

I think these shots of Lily Allen in the March edition of Glamour UK are so cute! I love the concept and the Union Jack flag always leads to strong and amazing imagery. See more at the source.

Below is a sampler of songs from her new album It's Not Me, It's You..

Valentine

2009-02-13T23:55:00.004-05:00

Today is the big day for all chocolate sellers, flower growers and greeting card makers! These industries are hoping for a bump in the black during this time of recession. From my experience out yesterday in Philadelphia, men and women are not shy about purchasing some of the best chocolates from Godiva (the line in the store went out the door) and sexy little things from Victoria's Secret. Frankly I think retail hasn't been severely affected in Philadelphia, I mean the shops are always filled with people on the weekends, specially when we get the odd day with 58 degree weather in February.

I made this card to send out to my friends because valentine's shouldn't just be an occasion for lovers, because they're all types of love aren't they? I love designing little things to send out to friends, its one of the reasons I started to make my own stationary in the first place.

Vector Illustration for You Are A Sweetie

You are a Sweetie printed version (Back and Front)

I treated myself to chocolates, roses and jewelry! There's no rule that says you can't give yourself those things because Valentine's Day should be about loving yourself too.

♥ Pink Roses and Sakura earrings from Juicy Couture ♥

Hello Kitty meets M.A.C

2009-02-13T13:50:00.003-05:00

AD Campaign for Hello Kitty for M.A.C makeup line

Very gorgeous ad inspired by Alice in Wonderland. My only gripe with it is that a lot of the shots of the Alice character focused on the model's legs, if only they had cast a model with a nice set of legs that didn't make you think eating disorder every time they came on screen. I'm sorry but toothpick legs like that just look weird and unattractive to me. Aside from that visually its a beautiful piece of promo video.

Kat Von D High Voltage Tattoo

2009-02-12T20:39:00.009-05:00

High Voltage Tattoo
$19.79 on Amazon

Last week I picked up Kat Von D's first book entitled High Voltage Tattoo, I was pretty excited to flip through it because I've been wanting her to release a compilation of her tattoo work for a long time. I think the skills she has in terms of rendering realistic imagery onto the skin are just mind blowing.

I first became familiar with her work on the TLC show Miami Ink, on that show she was the only female crew member of an all male tattoo shop, although the men on the show had some great skills of their own hers really stood out to me. Before I saw her work I didn't give much thought to the artistry that really goes into tattooing, I didn't know much about it or had any respect for it, but seeing the things she was able to accomplish with a needle, ink and skin, were really amazing to me. It made me look at tattooing on a whole other level and her attention to detail, the intricacy and Baroque inspired artistry that she puts in her work are really inspiring to me.

Memorial tattoo by Kat Von D

Kat Von D now has her own show on TLC, called L.A Ink, for her shop she focused on hiring a mostly female and very talented main crew. The contents of the book range from the biographical to her portfolio of work. I wasn't that interested in the bio stuff as much, but I loved the portfolio section more than anything.
I can't really put into words how beautifully designed this book is, its something that you have to see for yourself. Conceptually its very Gothic and has many little intricate details that totally reflect the artistic and personal style and lifestyle of Ms. Von D herself. It makes for a great coffee table book and an awesome reference piece if you're an illustrator interested in tattoo work, or just someone who is a fan of hers and her work.

She specializes in Black & Grey work, which she thinks allows for more realism. My favorite thing about her work are all the little details she adds like the filigree and her use of shading to add volume and dimension. When I first started illustrating my work was very minimal but that was more because I was lazy and not a chosen aesthetic. Her work inspires me to take more time and really add those details that will make my work look like a completed piece instead of something half way done. You can always tell when you work needs that extra something to make it pop.

I love the fact that drawings she did as a kid are included in the book. I still keep a lot of my early drawings from when I was around 5 or 6, and some of the sketches I did in school while bored lol. Its great to look back on that stuff and see how much you've grown as an artist over the span of your life.

I highly recommend checking out the book if you're a fan of hers or you want to see some great examples of tattoo work if you're interested in getting one done yourself. The book has advice on how to go about selecting your tattoo, finding an artist, what you need to communicate to your artist, what the process will entail and what to do to take care of your tattoos. She also has a section where she busts some tattoo myths. There's a 3 page layout chronicling all the individual tattoos on her body, and at the end of the book the work from some favorite fellow tattoo artists is featured.

Its a great book, filled with rock n roll and some of the best tattoos in the world!

Kat Von D will be doing a book signing at Borders Bookstore on Broad Street in Philadelphia on March 7th! So look out for her in a bookstore near you.

MTV Duelo

2009-02-12T01:14:00.003-05:00

MTV_duelo_01, originally uploaded by indio san.

I love everything about this design, its from indio_san over on Flickr. The textures and 3D aspects of it are fabulous and it has a nice use of a sunburst and the way the waves are illustrated are very organic and awesome. Great color scheme too.

Michelle Obama in Vogue

2009-02-11T19:57:00.006-05:00

"I first met Mrs. Obama at an impromptu dinner at Oprah Winfrey's house in Santa Barbara, California, on the eve of the divine Ms. O's Legends Ball in 2005. I was seated between the then Senator Barack Obama's wife and Tina Turner. Do I remember what Michelle was wearing? Not at all. What I do remember was how informed she was on so many topics. And when she said she actually knew who I was, I was so flattered my jaw dropped."

The disconnect is so apparent in that paragraph, I find Michelle Obama an inspiring and memorable FIrst Lady not because of what she wears but because of what comes out of her mouth. Her mind, intelligence, demeanor and fearless-ness are far more inspiring traits than the clothes she chooses to wear. That's why the fashion industry's obsession with trying to turn her into another woman who only cares about clothes is so annoying to me.

"What Michelle Obama is less focused on—in direct inverse proportion to the focus of the public—is fashion. Which isn't to say that she doesn't appreciate good clothes. Or that the fashion choices of a woman whose image will shortly be—or already is—among the most recognizable in the entire world aren't iconic. And thus far, those choices have been fearless. Every moment she sallies forth, she will be scrutinized, then alternately set on a pedestal or skewered."

Its too bad that what she wears will be more coverage and recognition than the policies she wants to work on and promote. Just because of her gender the media has already put her into this box, she's a woman she MUST like clothes and we will only pay attention to that because that's what other women are interested in and relate to -.-;

What I find most exciting about Michelle Obama being in the public eye is that she is an example of a fiercely intelligent woman who isn't afraid to tease her husband and doesn't fawn at him and take a back seat. We see so few examples of women like that in media that I wish her narrative would be more about her brain rather than her wardrobe. But hopefully in time her endeavors as First Lady will get the attention they deserve.

Read the entire Vogue article here

Valentine's Day cards

2009-02-11T14:29:00.003-05:00

Sweet Cupcake

Part of my February design goals was to design a series of Valentine's Day themed cards. I went into a wonderful paper/card store the other day and looked at their Valentine's cards and they were all cheesy and in the same shade of red and pink D: When I first started to put these together the color scheme was no where near pink or red, they started out blue and black actually lol. But my new favorite and indispensible part of Adobe Illustrator CS3 is the color guide function. It makes picking your color schemes much easier, basically you just select a color and go to the color guide and it lists all that color's complements, analogs, compounds, etc. Best thing they ever added to that program in my opinion because color schemes are kind of difficult for me.

This cupcake design was inspired by a tattoo trend, usually when people think of tattoos they think of really scary things like skulls and what not. But a lot of girls love getting cupcake tattoos as evidence by this large gallery on flickr. The first time I ever saw one was in Inked magazine when they had a feature on Twinkie Chan.

It was a fun design to do and I love the color scheme, it complements the things that are illustrated and makes me think of yummy sweets and chocolate, although getting the right shape for the top of the cupcake took some time D:

I also wanted to do a design for men, when I sat down to think about what kind of tattoo inspired designs would be appropriate for men I realized that men get a lot of motifs and designs that are usually associated with women outside of the tattoo world. Whether that be roses or cherry blossoms in American style tattoo or Japanese traditional style. I bought Kat Von D's book which I will post more about later and I wanted to do some black & grey inspired roses along with this pistol design I originally made for a screenprint.
The trick was recreating a textured version in Illustrator, I really like how this design turned out, there's another version that says Death Before Dishonor, a Sailor Jerry reference and I thought it seemed appropriate given the content of the drawing.

Overall my goal was to create some designs that weren't totally conventional and that could also be used for any occasion just not the big hallmark holiday. Valentine's is a weird holiday, it creates really odd expectations on the part of men and women. Women are taught to expect roses, candy and jewelry and men are taught that that's what all women want and that's what they need to give them in order to make them happy on this day.
Frankly I find the whole roses and candy think corny and unoriginal, because its not like that guy put a lot of thought into buying those things right? Also there's that whole other underbelly of it where women are expected to give sex in return for the man's investment in $85 bouquet of roses and jewelry. LOL, in the end it ends up being really unromantic and just a headache for both parties involved.

I hope you all have a great Valentine's day be it with your friends or significant other.

Michelle Obama & Fashion

2009-02-10T21:52:00.007-05:00

Vogue U.S. March Cover featuring First Lady Michelle Obama

The high-end fashion industry has an unhealthy obsession with First Lady Michelle Obama, every time I read coverage about it, they seem to want to reduce this highly accomplished and intelligent woman to someone who's only role in the Obama administration is to provide the fashion industry with an opportunity to congratulate themselves.
This is a woman who wears clothes from H&M and J. Crew and doesn't go out of her way to be particularly fashion forward, so the obsession the fashion industry has with her comes across as so desperate.

Here in Philadelphia, local high-end shop Joan Shepp has a window display dedicated to Michelle Obama that somehow relates to celebrating Black history month, even though the designer clothes in the display aren't all my African American designers. And the First Lady hasn't worn any of the dresses in the display either, so its just like pics of the Obama family surrounded by dresses and designer sketches selected by Andre Leon Talley. Its just feeding off the Obama brand and seems like a really weird and desperate tie-in.

Photos taken by me.

Blue & Yellow

2009-02-09T17:42:00.005-05:00

Steven Klein photography via Jezebel

Wow the male model's painted mask is one of the more visually arresting images that I've seen in a fashion shoot in a while. Reminds me a lot of The Joker. Also I love the use of color in this his wardrobe and makeup, the combo of yellow and red don't usually lead to such a sinister visual combo but I think the model's facial structure adds a lot too.

More pics and commentary at the source.

Julie Becker in Inked Magazine

2009-02-06T17:20:00.007-05:00

Tattoo artist Julie Becker
Inked Magazine September 08 issue

This is one of my all time favorite photoshoots featured in Inked magazine. Inked is a rare tattoo magazine in terms of design, it debuted in Fall of 06 and when I picked it up I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw inside. I was like ... wow its so clean and not tacky looking! I really commend the design team behind the magazine because it really stands a cut above all the other tattoo magazines, which all have this same kind of trashy look. My first impression of Inked was that it was a lifestyle magazine for people who love tattoos or happened to be tattooed themselves. They hire great photographers and models and the magazine itself looks very highend. And not to mention that they have some great interviews and other written pieces.

Anyway this particular shoot was amazing, I ended up cutting out a lot of the pics and framing them on my wall in some filigree/gothic decorative frames. My only gripe with Inked is that their celebrity photoshoots rarely have any close-up or detailed photos of the person's tattoo. I mean I figure this personality is in the magazine because of their love for tattoos, so I want to see what tattoos they have. Don't make them wear a long sleeve dress shirt if that have a full sleeve. It defeats the whole purpose of being in a magazine dedicated to tattoo culture. I think that's why I loved Becker's shoot so much, the photos really captured the beauty and detail of her tattoos and it wasn't just an excuse to style her in lingerie and kimono robes.

Sailor Jerry

2009-02-05T20:31:00.004-05:00

Spring '09 Sailor Jerry Catalog

I dropped by the Sailor Jerry store today in Center City because I was looking for some inspiration on two Valentine's tattooed themed designs that I'm working on. For those of you who don't know Sailor Jerry is a legendary American tattoo artist who specialized in nautical art with a touch of Asian style inspired tattoos.
There's a flagship store in Philadelphia that sells merchandise featuring his artwork, the store is beautiful and it has a great vibe. When you walk in you immediately get visually hit with a ton of really great and inspiring art. What I like about Sailor Jerry's style is his use of color and shading, his style of drawing wasn't the most precise or perfect but that gritty quality and the imperfection is precisely what gives it a great non-mainstream quality.

The Spring line has some really beautiful and surprising items compared to what this brand has offered in the past. These were my favorites.

Jumper $138

Pin-up Dress $130

These are adorable! They had these in the store today, the purse costs $42 and the wallet $24.

Women's Cardigan in Grey and White $74

I have a weakness for cardigans, which has resulted in me owning one two many gray cardigans BUT I really love this one and I kinda want it. If you visit their website you can see that the clothes I've featured here are a far cry from the lame stuff on their online store lol. At least this brand hasn't been completely bastardized like the work of Sailor Jerry's protege, Don Ed Hardy.

A lot of these items haven't arrived on their online store as yet, so check back later if any of these caught your eye!

February Goals

2009-02-05T01:44:00.003-05:00

Blooming Love

Part of my February goals is designing some Valentine's Day cards. I started out with a traditional pink and red design, but then it kind of made me nauseous so I made this instead. Somehow it doesn't seem Valentine-y enough, I've been brainwashed to associate only the traditional red and pink tones with this day. However I'd like to think an unconventional woman would like to receive this more non-traditional version. Plus I think it can serve for an all occasion card that loved ones can exchange regardless of the date, or it could one friends exchange too lol.

Design Goals

I. 2 Valentine's Day Cards
II. 2 Get Well Cards
III. Owl Illustration
IV. Deer Illustration

I tried working on the owl illustration the other night but it just wasn't working D: I need to do some sketches and return to the computer later.

Cherry Blossom Girl

2009-02-04T15:32:00.004-05:00

World of Whimsy

I was reading the latest issue of Bust magazine and they had a write up about this French fashionista blog called The Cherry Blossom Girl. Its curated by this young woman called Alix, she has a really great sense of style and accentuates her outfits by photographing on locations to add an air of whimsy. She has a great eye for color and and gorgeous Chloe shoes. I love the mood she creates with each photo session, it lends a less superficial air to fashion and shows her passion.

The best part is that quite a few of her outfits are from stores like Zara and H&M, so they're not completely inaccessible to her readers. But unfortunately not all of us can afford fabulous shoes like these Chloe ones!

Check out her blog if you need some inspiration or to get lost in a whimsical world of fantasy.

Snow

2009-02-04T01:43:00.005-05:00

I took these at 1 a.m in the morning. I was working on a new piece in Illustrator and happened to look out my window to see about 2 or 3 feet of snow on the ground. I love how serene and quiet it gets when snow falls. The tree bows look great.

Batman Haunted Knight

2009-02-03T19:25:00.005-05:00

Batman Haunted Knight

The first time I browsed through this graphic novel I wasn't sure I liked the artwork, but I ended up picking it up again a second time a few weeks later and read through the entire thing and ended up finding the art inspiring in it. Its very loose and kind of gritty, it has a certain raw quality to it that lends well to the stories being told.

There are many great panels that visually draw my attention because I find the illustration style kind of unique for a comic book. These two panels in particular really stood out to me the first time I read it.

The way they rendered motion in this one panel stood out to me because usually comic books show movement in side to side panels, but I loved the take on it here. Its kind of a static approach to how you'd render hand drawn animation. I hadn't seen that in anything prior and I've found it inspiring for an illustration I want to do.

This panel has a really beautiful interpretation of Poison Ivy, I love the minimalist interpretation of the leaves, they give this long standing Batman villain a really unique visual look. I think if they make another Batman movie, Poison Ivy should definitely be a villain in it because environmental crisis is a very pertinent topic to our times. However I think the screenwriters of the new Batman movies would need to learn to write some female characters who aren't victims or love interests. Then again I find the Bruce Wayne of the Nolan movies rather vapid himself, now movie Tony Stark has some personality lol.

Koi Red

2009-01-29T15:18:00.006-05:00

Koi Red by ~bakrsa on deviant ART

Design goals update
I - 3 Birthday Cards
II - 1 Blog banner
III - 1 Koi Spring illustration
IV - 1 Deer Spring illustration
~~V - 1 Thank you card~~

Wahhhh this took a long time to do because of all the detail in the fish scales but I love how it turned out. It looks like a more fleshed out version of the previous Koi illustration I did. I might go back and rework that one.

This piece started out from a sketch I did back in December that was inspired by the work of legendary Japanese tattoo artist Horiyoshi III. I really admire all the detail in his work and I find it inspirational since its only recently that I've started to include more detailing in my work. Its time consuming but the end result is worth it.

I'm obsessed with Koi tattoos but I'm excited to get to work on the Deer illustration. The way how I envision it in my mind isn't necessarily spring themed, it might end up with the same color scheme as the piece in my blog banner, but the composition I have in mind was inspired by a panel in a Batman graphic novel. I need to go buy it because the artwork in it is truly amazing.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

2009-01-29T01:57:00.005-05:00

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Rockers to Swallow

I was browsing through last.fm yesterday and came across the Yeah Yeah Yeahs page. I never got into them when their huge hit Maps was out, but I listened to some tracks from their IS IS EP and fell in love with this song and Down Boy. I ended up buying the EP off of iTunes for $4.99 I love how raw the vocals sound at times, the tracks are really great overall.

Second koi piece is about 99% done, all the detail work in the fish scales took like 8 hours total to do or something ridiculous. It looks a million times more detailed than the previous koi pieces that I've done.

Steal

2009-01-28T14:24:00.005-05:00

via swissmiss

As a designer it took me a long time to come to terms with the content of that quote because we all come out of college thinking we're going to design the next big thing that NO ONE has ever seen before. In reality when you look around at a lot of commercial graphic design, what you see is a derivative from some other style or its coasting on the trendy style of the moment.

I think as designers we look at the world through a different lens and overanalyze most of what we see, but the average joe is going to gravitate to a design and style that they like and something they connect with on some emotional or superficial level.
As a consumer I gravitate to Japanese inspired motifs or tattoo inspired prints and I'm not alone in that, that's why so many designers use that style because they know it sells and people like it.

Eventually I just realized that you don't have to try to be the most original designer, you just have to design things that people connect with.

I think that's why I got so attracted to tattoo art, there's no pretending in trying to be original, as a tattoo artist you just try to excel at whatever style you like, be it Japanese, Black & Grey or ultra realistic, among others. No one is trying to reinvent Japanese waves and shading techniques you know?

To me the important thing is to become really great at what you do regardless of where the inspiration comes from, because at this point its hard to be truly original, everything is derivative and that's ok.

Kings of Leon

2009-01-28T03:27:00.005-05:00

Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire

Currently listening to this after browsing for bands on last.fm
I haven't used last.fm in like 3 years but Coldplay is still the number one most played artist on there! LOL its been like that for like 5 years I swear.

I'm working on finishing up my design goals for January because I only have this week left or probably not even because my birthday is on Sunday so there's going to be lots of socializing going on from Thursday onwards. I'm working on the Koi Spring piece, its going well just have to add the sakura, I hope to finish it up tomorrow or today during the day.

There's a fresh batch of snow on the ground!

44th!

2009-01-20T14:06:00.002-05:00

The Obamas!

I can't believe this is our new First Family!! I totally cried when he was sworn in. I volunteered for his campaign over the summer and early Fall. Its weird to think that something many of us worked very hard for actually came through! I'll never forget the night it was announced that he won and Philadelphians celebrated in the streets. The whole country seemed to come together in happiness.

I think now everyone definitely feels a bit more hopefully about the future of the country, even though there's a long way to go and a lot of hard work to do.

Also ... In the South American country of Guyana, dozens of work sites closed at noon to let employees watch the inauguration.

"As far as I am concerned, today is a holiday," said Patrick Hazelwood, an insurance agent in the capital of Georgetown. "I have also told my staff they are free to do what they want and take in the ceremony. Today is a serious day for everybody, a historic day." - Worldwide hopes soar!

Amtrak to the White House

2009-01-17T12:31:00.008-05:00

This Obama train ride news coverage is so silly! CNN has a live cam that feeds footage you can see through the train window. Over on MSNBC Chuck Todd is actually IN the train. And the CNN Situation Room is outside in the freezing cold whereas MSNBC invested in a warm pop up room or something lol.
LOL Nora O'Donnel! THERE'S JOE BIDEN GETTING ON THE TRAIN!!

*dies*

Its kind of a cute idea though. Today is Michelle Obama's birthday, it is also my mom's birthday! Happy Birthday ladies!

There was an article in Philadelphia's City Paper where the author compared the hope and enthusiasm Barack Obama has generated to that of our mayor Michael Nutter. Everyone in the city was excited and were expecting change and a general upswing, but the budget crisis hit and the mayor started threatening to close LIBRARIES and now everyone hates him lmao. So the moral is ... don't get too excited about these politicians, there are outside circumstances that affects the chances of them delivering all the sweet shit they promised in the first place.

Also Obama is having a dinner in honor of John McCain omg. I mean honestly when you think about of all the bullshit the McCain campaign swung Obama's way during the campaign its kind of infuriating. But I guess you got to make some sacrifices and appease the other side in order for Congress to stop being a bunch of babies and get something actually done D: He has to butter up all these egomaniacs so they can vote and pass bills they might not otherwise agree on.

Fever Ray

2009-01-15T15:26:00.004-05:00

Fever Ray - If I had a heart

This is the strangest and creepiest video that I've seen in a while.

The Knife - Bird

I'm really into this song, I've never heard music like this before lol. Its all very strange and whimsical which fits the mood of my designs lately.

Cards

2009-01-14T23:36:00.006-05:00

Inspired by model Josh Beech's torso tattoo. I was trying all afternoon to design something but no ideas were coming together so I looked inside my inspiration folder and I was like ohh black and grey tattoos! I love that style.

Revised this design from the earlier version and made it a Birthday card instead because it looks more celebratory lol. I mean it would probably work either way. I made a birthday version of the rose and swallows design above, will probably mess around with it a bit before I post.

After looking at stationary designs at a few locals shops I learned that you don't have to be the most original designer because people will always gravitate to a certain style no matter who designs it. XD

Design goals update
I - ~~3 2~~ 1 Birthday Card
~~II - 1 Blog banner~~
III - 1 Koi Spring illustration
IV - 1 Deer Spring illustration
~~V - 1 Thank you card~~

Type for lines

2009-01-13T21:38:00.003-05:00

A Grammy 2009 promo featuring song titles that inspired Thom Yorke. Not the most original idea ever but its kind of refreshing to see it in mainstream American design.

Tsang Kin-wah designs a lot of text/pattern installations like the one featured in this design. In this one book I have they featured one such installation in a bathroom. It was a floral wallpaper, all the lines of the design were rendered in text that spelled out profanities haha.

Thank you card

2009-01-13T14:45:00.004-05:00

Thank you card! I actually designed this to send out to a friend who sent me some lovely Japanese charms. I drew these swallows last year but I hadn't used them in anything official yet. Its a bit of Americana tattoo style with Japanese motifs. I really liked how the blog banner I designed came out so I wanted to replicate the style in a stationary design.

So far the design goals are going great! I'm going to try and finish up everything on my list soon so that I can get started on designing some vector packs for sale. I have certain themes in mind already so its going to be interesting to design those. I have to do some research about it before I really get started.

Updated Goals
I - 3 2 Birthday Cards
~~II - 1 Blog banner~~
III - 1 Koi Spring illustration
IV - 1 Deer Spring illustration
~~V - 1 Thank you card~~

Design goals update

2009-01-12T19:34:00.007-05:00

So far the design goals are on track! I've completed one of three birthday cards and I've completed the blog banner design.

See the banner in action on this blog

Updated Goals
I - 3 2 Birthday Cards
~~II - 1 Blog banner~~
III - 1 Koi Spring illustration
IV - 1 Deer Spring illustration
V - 1 Thank you card

Geiko of Kyoto

2009-01-12T16:29:00.005-05:00

Inspirational pic of the day!
This whole set by mboggiedown on flickr is a great color palette resource I think, not to mention the inherent beauty of the fabrics, settings and floral motifs.

Philly Walker

2009-01-12T00:27:00.006-05:00

I live in Center City Philadelphia, I usually walk everywhere so I have to deal with stupid drivers in the city from a day to day basis. I have some pet peeves.

-Dear Drivers, do you see that zebra crosswalk? Its called a pedestrian crossing area, you're supposed to stop your car BEHIND this crosswalk, NOT in the middle of it, not after it!

- In addition, I may not drive or even own a driver's license but I know some basic fucking road rules, that being when the YELLOW light is on that's a signal to SLOW DOWN and not speed up to run the red light you dumb fuck! To add to this if you find your car in the middle of the crosswalk because you speed up during the yellow light, REVERSE and give me the room to cross the street safely. You should have slowed down at that yellow light signal then you wouldn't be in the middle of the crosswalk D:

- You should ALSO use that thing called a turn signal if you're gonna turn at a crosswalk corner so that I the pedestrian know where your dumbass is going. The turn signal isn't just for the other drivers, its for everyone to be safe on the road.

I also have a pet peeve regarding bicyclists, I know everyone is trying to be all green and what not, and the city isn't equipped with bike lanes but that doesn't give you stupid bicycle riders the RIGHT to ride on the damn side walk! Either man up and ride on the road with the crazy drivers who wanna ram you off the road or don't bother being a bike rider if you're gonna get all up in the pedestrian space.

Anyway today I took a cab home from the train station and my fare was $8, I gave the driver a $20 and he gave me back $52 in change, I was like, "Woah you gave a $50 instead of a $10!" and he was like, "Omg thank you!" and as I leeped out the cab I said to myself, "Yea! Good samaritan deed for the day!"

Its a tough time for everyone, I wouldn't have felt right walking away with his $50, even though an extra $50 would have served me nicely.

Also the Eagles won against the Giants! Yea! LOL! I'm sure bars around the city were ultra happy and extra drunk lmao. Next up we need to defeat John McCain's home team the Cardinals!!!!

Design Goals: January

2009-01-10T17:35:00.003-05:00

I - 3 Birthday Cards
II - 1 Blog banner
III - 1 Koi Spring illustration
IV - 1 Deer Spring illustration
V - 1 Thank you card

Yey goals! I think this will be a good way to get myself designing the elements that I need in order to have enough sample stationary cards to mail out to companies who make cool stationary in the style I like. And also in order to build the collection of work to display in a coffee shop.

Currently working on birthday card #1! Its about 90% done. Three people I know are having birthdays in the coming weeks so its for them and for my portfolio :D

I have three weeks to complete these goals! I shall post the results as I finish.

What I do

2009-01-10T14:50:00.006-05:00

Koi Snow by ~bakrsa on deviant ART

As I said on my profile I'm currently an unemployed Graphic Designer, I started doing vector illustration about 2 years ago I think and since I first started my work has evolved and become more complex, detailed and whimsical. I use Adobe Illustrator to do all my illustrations, some start from sketches and others start directly on the computer screen.

In college I only ever had ONE course in Illustrator and even then I wasn't taught exactly how to draw in it, it was more of a typography class ... I'm not sure why we didn't have a course in Quark if they meant to teach us typography but whatever LOL. I think back then InDesign didn't even exist but I digress. I learned more about Illustrator when I did an internship in college and did really bad drawings in it, but I've come a long way since.

Koi Girl Tattoo by ~bakrsa on deviant ART

These days my main inspiration is Japanese Tattoo style, in the past I used to look at a lot of other graphic designers and illustrators for inspiration, but their work seemed to run together and everyone was doing that cutesy style or the graffiti influenced style and I didn't find that particularly interesting after a while.

Tattoo imagery has always fascinated me and I like the centuries, decades and years of tradition behind the different styles. I find it a bit more pure and not driven by trends as most contemporary illustration seems to be.

The koi fish and black motion lines in the Koi Snow piece were actually hand drawn at first and then scanned it and redrawn in illustrator with the pen tool. The thing I like about studying Japanese tattoo style is that it forces you to actually drawn on a page and learn to be a good hand drawn illustrator and not just one on the screen.

Currently I'm working towards putting together a minimum of 10 stationary designs and another 2 koi themed illustrations. I eventually want to have a theme of illustrations that I can take to coffee shops and see if they would like to display them on their walls. Its a great way to get exposure because you never know who is walking into these coffee shops. Hopefully someone who can offer me a job LOL!

You can see more of my work on my professional online portfolio: http://coroflot.com/bakrsa

India reimagined

2009-01-09T19:09:00.004-05:00

Sita sings the blues - Blue Landscape

Wow I love the illustration style for this animated movie Sita sings the blues. Its fun to see a modern interpretation of classical Indian art style. You can see more colorful examples here.

Big O ... Year I

2009-01-09T10:07:00.011-05:00

What we need is not a leader to assure us of our greatness...

Yesterday Obama gave a speech regarding the economic crisis this country is facing right now. It contained that rhetoric about how America has the best most productive workers in the world and other such b.s. I wish politicians would stop spewing. It sounds like pandering and it sounds too self involved, you know as if other countries around the world have really lazy workers and workers who aren't as productive. Also it reminded me of rhetoric John Mccain would dole out during the campaign when he flubbed his line on the American economy being strong.

Obama's speech was short on specifics and contained much of the rhetoric he's been doling out for the past few months regarding investing in infrastructure in order to create jobs. However I wish his people would outline what these specific jobs would be, because I would imagine that construction workers would benefit from this, so would managers and secretaries, but would architects and other type of designers? Its just that the type of work it seems to imply isn't something that the population at large can say, "Oh wow once that happens I'll have a job for sure."

I'm a graphic designer and every time I hear about this infrastructure business I'm like how would that benefit me and other people who are in creative fields of work? Hell even some Senate Democrats are expressing their distrust in the plan, in this NYT article, Senate Allies Fault Obama on Stimulus.

There is talk about sending out another round of stimulus checks, because that idea worked so well the first time around.

Several Democrats on the Finance Committee earlier in the day questioned the proposal to give tax credits worth $500 to individuals and $1,000 to married couples. Several senators said that initiative would provide a token sum of money, which taxpayers were likely to save, not spend.

Did the last round of checks help the economy? NO! People used those checks to pay their bills, they didn't go out to buy luxury goods or new HD tvs and they did nothing to improve consumer confidence. I mean honestly when you're an unemployed individual an extra $500 isn't something you look at and go, "Wow I can finally go on that shopping spree." Its money that goes into your budget to pay off your bills, if you're a fiscally responsible person trying to support yourself that is.

I think the main thing is that businesses need to have credit and incentives in order to start creating jobs outside of the infrastructure sector. Obama acknowledge the skepticism and said,

“I understand that some might be skeptical of this plan,” he said. “Our government has already spent a good deal of money but we haven’t yet seen that translate into more jobs or higher incomes or renewed confidence in our economy.” But he said his plan “won’t just throw money at our problems. We’ll invest in what works.”

I dunno, still sounds like a gamble but hopefully it has a good impact to lower the unemployment rate. I feel really bad for people every time they release the new job loss numbers, because as a someone who's been unemployed for the majority of 2008 and continuing to do so now in 2009 I understand how hard it can be for people. And frankly it takes a toll on you mentally, the lifestyle you'd grown accustomed too is ripped out from under you and applying for jobs day after day and getting no replies back can be very depressing. It was a very dark time for me when first got cut from my job so I can sympathize with how helpless and insecure people are feeling.

Just in case...

2009-01-08T16:55:00.004-05:00

I have a blog over on livejournal however there's been some speculation over whether or not that site will survive in the long run, so I decided to make another blog so that my friends from over there can still keep up with me if LJ dies lol. Plus that journal started out for one purpose but it doesn't really fit me completely anymore so its nice to have another place to post random stuff that I'm interested in.

Hopefully LJ doesn't die because there's a lot of stuff over there that I would be saddened to lose, specially my old jrock posts with contain valuable info, pics and clips regarding the old 90s jrock bands I used to be obsessed with. Its a great archive and resource that I think is useful.

I've been blogging since I was about 17 I think, I'm ~~currently~~ will be 25 in Febuary, so its been 9 years! I actually never looked back on how long I had been blogging. As a child I kept diaries, but diaries and blogs are not things that I actually re-read. I guess I use blogs as a means to pour out what's inside my head at the moment. I'm the kind of person who obsesses over things if I don't get the opportunity to talk about them or write them down. So I guess blogging is a nice means to let out that extra energy in my head.

Anyway currently I'm an unemployed graphic designer looking for my dream job ... well any job actually. Many people are in that same boat, and at this point I feel as if I need to become fluent in another profession in order to survive in the future. So I am looking into pursuing a degree in Art Education because there is ALWAYS a need for a teacher. Plus I like working with kids and have taught them before.

So on this blog I shall be posting musings on my life, current obsessions, music, movie reviews, thoughts on trashy reality shows and my artwork. The illustration in the header of this blog was done by me. It was for a series of holiday cards that I designed to send out to my friends. You can check out my portfolio site here: http://coroflot.com/bakrsa