TEARS OF JOY

History repeats itself. 

If you've taken ANY history class at all, you learn that quickly. So when I read the news about the 'tears of joy' emoji (or as I like to think of it, the LOL emoji) being named as the Word of the Year by Oxford Dictionaries I had to 😂😂😂

I find it odd and wonderful that pictograms are back, in such a big way. 

Back when humans were a young species, before the written word, we had cave paintings like those found in the French cave of Lascaux and a bit further south lived the iconic hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt. Pictures told the stories of the human experience.

I use emojis on the REGULAR as punctuation and in conjunction with words via text and social media. It is as if these little emojis express something that words simply cannot.

I think people love them because they are easy to use, cute, and provide a good visual break among a TL;DR amount of words. I also believe that it reconnects us to part of our human experience that our modern selves haven't used in a long time (emoticons, aside).

Yes, emojis can seem lazy or as just a fad of modern technology but I find it interesting that it pulls us back to the oldest form or record keeping and human expression. I'm not saying that we should abandon words again and only write documents in emojis. HOWEVER! Wouldn't you love to see the iTunes terms and conditions form written in little faces and food pictures? Sounds brilliant to me.

On a slightly more serious note on this silly topic, I find the combination of pictures and words to be an indication to how people prefer visual, easy to digest communication in modern media consumption. I am seriously WAITING for a book or magazine to throw emojis in their body copy. Call that crazy all you want, it probably is, but there is something about that idea that thrills me! I believe it's because it fully embraces where we are today in culture and communication. Expect to see it! I have a feeling we will.

Something I also find interesting is that there is a distinct difference in interpretation of these 'picture characters' (the direct translation of the Japanese word 'Emoji'). Like I said earlier, my interpretation of this > 😂 was 'laughing out loud' instead of 'tears of joy'. Both translations work well depending on their context.

The embrace of emojis as a way to communicate takes me back to learning about the history of art and design. This is because emojis are becoming an artifact of our history—a design element, even. It all feels very full circle and that we are much closer to our ancestors than we think.

We don't really know what the Lascaux cave paintings were saying all those years ago. We can guess, we can even have very educated guesses! I imagine that 10,000 years from now emojis will be the same.

STUDIO SOUNDS

While I'm working on drawings or photo editing I typically listen to music or podcasts. Here is what I've enjoyed the most in recent weeks!

tUnE-yArDs
This band has an amazing way of working with sound, not just from traditional instruments but from layers of sounds using the voice and elementary tools like clapping. This band tows the line between catchy interesting songs and bringing a powerful message to their audience. A song that I especially enjoy is called Water Fountain. The music video is quite strange which I think is distracting from the actual song, I recommend listening to it in a different tab in your browser while you go about your interneting. Water Fountain was recently featured in a recent episode of the podcast 99 Percent Invisible. The segment adds a good heap of context to this band. 

The Memory Palace
This podcast features a moment in history, a person or incident that acts as a lens into humanity, which DOES sounds heavy. However! this show is well produced and has amazing rhythm and storytelling. This is my favorite episode at the moment.

J Mascis
The album Several Shades of Why, specifically. His voice is smooth yet gritty like Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam circa his work on the Into the Wild movie soundtrack. This album has a chilled vibe that moves unhurriedly from track to track but with a tempo that pulls the album along. Picking and strumming guitars make me feel like I'm at an open mic night at a college coffee shop, but like a REALLY good one. The title track of this album is my favorite or the set. The added string instrumentals transport my mind into the most peaceful place.

What have you been listening to lately?
 

RELATIONSHIP GOALS

From the moment I’m done being out and about in the world I have one thing that I look forward to the most. One action that provides me with the most satisfying amount of freedom. That is when I trade in my regular pants for sweat pants. My sweat pants are old. I’ve had them for years and I love them. The longer I own them, the more I love them. The more I love them the more I hope that they never fall apart and that I’ll be wearing them when I’m 90 years old.

I look at these pants now and I don’t just see pants, I see memories like watching movies with my husband, relaxing while on vacation, quite moments of reading, etc. These memories mean that I am forming a relationship with these items.

In recent months I have been making more of an effort to use what I have and not be so hasty to replace things. To keep these relationships going I have to take care of these items much more. Like washing them regularly and keeping them stored away when I’m not using them. Like everything else in life, I am aware that these items that I’ve formed a deeper bond with will not last forever so I am just hoping that I can appreciate them as much as possible and take care of them well so they can stick around as long as possible.

I know I started off by talking about sweat pants and the joy that comes from wearing these magically comfortable leg warmers. The interesting thing about recognizing this love is then having the realization that it won’t last forever and that it will change over time. So do form a better bond with not just people in your life but the things that serve you. Love them a lot now so when they do need to be retired or leave, you can do so with zero regret.

BEHIND THE STUDIO

There is no question that I love to see the projects that creators are proud of. I also love to see these projects, when they are photographed in a stylized photoshoot. There's not much better than looking at these works in an idyllic set-up with perfect natural light, simple white backgrounds and cozy details like plants (always with the plants!) because those take a hell of a lot of effort! But I think there is something even better to look at; That is bursting the bubble of designers/artists/craftsmen etc. and having a look behind the scenes.

I find it interesting that when work is created it leaves behind a wake, one that is invisible to the audience. The conditions of which the work was created are a total mystery to all except the creator. Maybe that's why I find it so fascinating when people do share these views. I feel like I somehow understand the work more and then form a deeper connection with it. 

So that's what I'm doing now! I'm lifting the veil of my studio. Showing the work AND the madness that it takes to create the work. It's not galm, but it's real and that is what is valuable to me.

Enjoy this unconventional show-and-tell!

I've recently become infatuated with using cut paper as a tool for lettering. I like the way it mimics the effect of vector forms that are common with computer generated graphics, such as type itself.

Layering paper, measuring, cutting out shapes, moving things around again and again and then applying glue has been my rhythm for these projects. It looks like a tornado of paper at times. I then set up a very small photo studio to shoot this project on. Having a minimal background IS way less distracting (even though it can be a bit cliche to use these days). But yeah, mine is tucked in a corner and has easy set up and tear down. The flat surface is a piece from the IKEA as-is section and the paper is just a large piece of watercolor paper that I attached to the wall with blue painters tape.

This small color explosion comes from my Daily Intentions series that I post to Instagram. I used bright colors in a very stabile looking san serif type for the word 'challenge'. The contrast of type forms and color were interesting to me. I used oil pastel crayons instead of ink for a different texture. This proved to be a difficult to keep everything tight. A little bit of wobble around the edges was fun though.

Anyway, in order to keep the colors true and saturated I used a combination of the oil pastel crayons, a blending stick, and a paper towel (see above). That paper towel was used to clean off each crayon before and after each use to make sure each crayon was going to be clean. I also used a straight edge to make sure my baselines were anchored. Keeping this colorful medium under control was a huge challenge that went with my message better than I intended.

Here is another project form my Daily Intentions series that is also based on cut paper. This time the scale at which I was working was much larger. I cut my pieces at my table and then basically sat on the floor moving things around for maybe 30 minutes to get it in place in a way that challenged the color palette and the shapes. Just when I thought I had it right, I would take a photo and notice something that should change. A lot of back and forth with this one!

I took my lettering game to a new level last weekend when I was asked to make wedding signs! Before this, I had not worked with chalkboard art at all. I was excited to give it a go though! I was given the boards, what they should say and the pens, but the artistic direction was up to me. 

I did rough draft drawings for the larger signs on paper. When I had my plan I then drew on the boards with pencil and made edits before using the markers. The markers were permanent so the pencil lines were crucial! With the help of my rulers the baselines were all straight. Using a ruler is really the best way to get hand lettering to look professional. Once I inked the pencil lines I used my eraser to remove any visible pencil marks and then used a large paint brush to gently remove the eraser dust. I did two coats of everything written in white because the white would fade a little too much when it was fully dry. All in all I would say this took me about 4 hours to complete, maybe 5 with breaks.

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Hope you enjoyed this post and a little more talk about to 'how' of these pieces!

sidenote:
a few work essentials I always keep within arms reach away are…

1. A glass of water
   I do this to remind myself to drink more water. When I'm working I tend to forget about everything else which is no good. Having water near by means I'll come up for air (and water) occasionally.
2. H2 pencil & Pentel Click Eraser
   H2 is my favorite lead for pencils when it comes to illustration and lettering. It creates a very light line and it's easy to erase. The click eraser is just so easy to use. I've had the one I have now since high school, possibly middle school! I just buy refills and keep on truckin'.
3. Chap stick
   To be honest, chap stick is almost always an arms reach away from me.
4. Chocolate
   I'd say it's for an emergency supply of energy, but really it's because I like it!

NEW FROM MY STUDIO: 2015 CHRISTMAS CARDS

My greeting card factory switched gears about a month ago into a foray of designing cards for Christmas when a friend asked me to design their cards this year!

I was floored! Getting asked to do something that I'm nuts about is one of the best feelings I know.

This opportunity gave me the chance to not only create unique customized designs BUT it gave me the chance to really think about how I set up contracts, timelines and how to best schedule myself. My freelancing heart felt empowered as heck!

A little more info about the cards:

Lately my work has focused on drawing by hand so as I got started I knew that I wanted to use hand drawn elements as the anchor point for this set of cards. What that meant was drawing, A LOT. I bet I used 20 to 30 pieces of paper to write the words 'Merry Christmas' in different ways and draw Christmas trees, wreaths, poinsettias, etc. Once I had a lot of options I looked everything over. It looked like the floor in our apartment was carpeted by Christmasy drawings! I starred the ones I thought would work, photographed them and then used my computer to bring it all together.

This process did take time but it was thorough and I was so thankful to have as many resources as I did to work with. Without further hold up, here is each card I designed in better detail

The cards:

I ended up using a combination of brush lettering, brush pens, calligraphy, and paint brushes for this set.

Looking back, I like that the set is varied in texture but maintains a similar color palette.

I also enjoyed creating a set that has a slightly varied visual tone which ranges from elegant to whimsical because chances are that the card recipients are not all the same ;)

Thanks for reading about my latest card project! If you need holiday cards this year, let me know :)