3.09.2010

Life is Short and Full of Stuff, so Let Me Know Baby When You've Had Enough!

heyyyyyyyyyy hey. After a week and a half of stupid "drawing" block and procrastination angst, I got a bunch of ideas and committed to possibly too many projects for the next two months. One of the things I was struggling with for some reason was thinking of an idea for a shirt design for my friend Carol's store, Toilet Water. It's absolutely stupid when you are given free reign to do whatever you want and your mind goes completely blank of (appropriate) ideas. After cruddy weather forced me to take the subway one morning all the sitting and waiting and walking resulted in a mini brainstorm. I decided to do a memento mori inspired design with lettering spelled in hair as a slight reference to mourning jewelry. I include a couple of close ups here since the blog format reduces the whole design so much:

The "Too Bad You're Gonna Die" phrase is actually lifted from a Cramps record, with the grammar corrected so that Carol wouldn't have to hear about it from anyone. Though I actually really prefer it with the incorrect grammar. I particularly like this phrase because it's kind of an obnoxious snarky reduction of memento mori.

On the same topic, shortly after I got to work with my idea for Carol's shirt already decided on, I read that Laurel Hill Cemetery is producing a publication for their 175th anniversary and they are accepting art submissions! I'm thinking about submitting something, because I'm a big fan of the cemetery (and cemeteries, and funeral iconography and mourning practice) and a lot of their tours and public programs. I'm thinking of working on a design that incorporates the braided hair lettering and one of the more famous monuments from the cemetery with a gravestone poem (probably culled from the hundreds of pictures I have from cemetery trips). Hopefully I can get something finished by the submission date and hopefully if I do it gets selected! It would be really cool. In the mean time I'm working on a record cover and some illustrations for a friends viking rpg manual, and as always working full time and hoping to occasionally see the outside.

In OTHER news, check out Mike's New Blog, which is completely devoted to his obsession with madballs, fake madballs, and assorted other monster balls (yes, I know that's funny). He's a wonderful weirdo. He's also been working on designing some of his own madballs, and will soon start posting those along with madballs designs by other artist friends, including me of course! Also I drew the header logo!

4 comments:

:: smo :: said...

there is much awesome happening here!

sick design! i go through the bouts of the block too, then suddenly it all explodes in my face and i have to harness it or die. the "do whatever you feel like!" thing kinda with projects gets me because then i think about it way too much. the stuff i wanna do whatever i feel like for i usually do for myself, but it's fun when you can sort of marry those two concepts and have fun on a project. if that makes any sense.

and holy shit madball blog?! dude should make and cast his own! i found this pretty good tutorial on casting a bit ago here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/meeellla/sets/72157594516593660/

though i still haven't done it myself. it would be badass if he could actually hand make a run of madballs...or boglins...yes please!

[smo shouldn't read blogs while drinking coffee]

wandering genie said...

DUDE. We've actually been looking for some good clear instructions for casting because making our own madballs was going to be a summer project. Thank you! I'm not the best sculptor but I think given enough time I could do it. And we've both come up with some pretty funny designs (and really good gross out pun names).

In regards to the other thing I think I definitely work best with really loose instruction like "make sure there's a bear in it and it says the name of the thing" or "draw something gross with boogers". And I have tons of ideas that have been sitting for years but they never seem to be right for the projects at hand. Ah well, I always work it out eventually, it just makes me way too bummed in the interim where I feel like I will never ever have an idea again. wah.

jacqueline c said...

Your inks are so gooood.
I love the hairy letters.

wandering genie said...

that's uncanny! I was just admiring your stuff earlier. Especially the Harpy!!!