I heart House Industries?

Ever since I first saw them, I have been in love with the fonts from House Industries. Their fonts are both retro and classic at the same time. And you can be sure that as soon as I am able to make a major purchase, I will be buying the Neutraface Family. Beautiful.

Today in the mail, one of my birthday presents arrived. It was House Industries' The Book. (Yes, I picked this out and ordered it myself...but my grandma was kind enough to sponsor the gift.) I haven't had the chance to fully explore it yet, but it is filled with page after page of wonderful things. And it appears that nearly every page has special varnishing. I love spotting all of those little hidden details. The things that don't really need to be there, but they add so much.

I can't wait to see all that this book holds!

Addicted...to Animal Crossing?

I admit it. I'm 25 years old and addicted to video game designed for children. That's right. Animal Crossing fills up all of my free time. I am forever skulking (I've always wanted to use that word) off to play. I accept no blame for this. It's all my brother's fault. He's the one that convinced me to start playing and now I can't stop. So much fun! Keeping track of who needs what. Fishing for fish worth many, many bells. Today I bought turnips. And those birthday gifts the animals sent were so sweet. Ah, what an enjoyable experience. And I've been playing for less than a month.

Admitting you have a problem is the first step, right?

Illustration Friday?

Max, clinging to a leg.

Here is my first entry, cling, for Illustration Friday. I've been wanting to do this for a while, and I've finally made it! This is my 2-year-old brother Max. He is forever clinging to legs. He's shy, but there is often a smirk on his face! As I like to do when painting, I used watercolors on brown craft paper. I hope you enjoy!

*update* Thank you all so much for your encouraging words!

Twas the night before Thanksgiving?

...and this is what my house looked like.

With the snow here in Chicago, it felt more like Christmas than Thanksgiving. I guess the Holiday season is officially here!

Where have I been?

I've not posted for a while, and this is why. I've been working a lot and not taking time out to blog. I hate to miss even one day. Five days seems an eternity. But oh well. I did manage to find time to create this in the midst of things.

Here are all of the things that I've missed. I've completely dropped out of NaNoWriMo. There just isn't time. But the book is started and at some point, I'll finish it. Sunday was the Sketch Crawl. It sounded like fun, but I didn't sketch a single thing. Penelope's Illustration Fridays have been so interesting to watch, but I've never participated. This week though, I just might. The holiday may allow for this! Watch for that soon!

Ahh....It's good to be back.

Virgin grilled cheese?

If you've been awake anytime within the last few days, you're probably aware of a certain grilled cheese sandwich that was available on eBay. It's gone, but you still have a chance to bid on the even more rare Virgin Mary Kate and Ashley in Grilled Cheese. I just received a call from the seller of this item (a very good friend). His is the original, authentic hoax sandwich! He says that if you're interested, you should bid now. This thing is selling like hotcakes, er, grilled cheese sandwiches!

UPDATE: It seems that this priceless item has been taken down. So sad. I'll try and aquire a picture...

How's your portfolio?

When I was in my portfolio review class in school, I was told that how you present your work is as important as the work itself. And in fact, even average work can look better if it is displayed well. I'm sure this has been a comfort for many. If I have the chance, I enjoy looking at graphic design and illustration portfolios online. It is so inspiring to see what people are doing. Not just the work in the portfolio, but also the site itself.

Here are a few portfolio sites that I have enjoyed lately. The work speaks for itself, but the sites are great too!

Otterball
Glubibulga (links to many portfolios)
Isaac Tobin
The Heads of State
Bryan Katzel (my good friend, and graphic design genius)

I can't take credit for discovering these. Thanks to those who have shared them!

Monday?

Today felt like such a Monday. I wanted the day to be done. And now it's starting to come to a close. Finally.

On a different, but somewhat related topic, I am resolved to the fact that I will not be finishing my novel for NaNoWriMo by the end of the month. I still plan on finishing it, but with a current word count of 8303, the chances that I will reach 50,000 words are slim. Oh well. I've started and I will continue. I'll either have a novella, or it will just take a while longer.

Painting "painting the roses red"?

Here's another Alice in Wonderland illustration that I did. My friend Wesley said that I should paint one of the cards painting the roses red, so here it is! 

Crafty iPod-ness?

If I was feeling crafty yesterday, I really am today. Now that Apple has released the iPod sock, I think I may need to knit my own. You know, because I don't have enough that I'm working on already.

In the mood for Gocco?

My family tried very hard to surprise me, but I found out about my birthday present. I got a Print Gocco! I'm so excited! My good friend Bryan was the first to tell me about this amazing little machine. Since then it seems to be what everyone is talking about. I reminded my mom that I could even use it for printing our Christmas cards this year. So yesterday, I was given my gift a few weeks early. Now I just have to get brave enough to use it!

The Print Gocco has inspired me to get going with the Christmas gifts that I plan on making. Tonight I got back to working on the embroidered skull wallets that I started last week. They are going to be so cute! I am also planning on making some buttons and soaps. I'm in the mood to just set everything aside and get crafty!

For your protection?

Have you ever looked at warning labels and seen some of the crazy things they say? One of my favorites is the iron that tells you not to iron the shirt that you're wearing. Even the less ridiculous ones can be humorous though.

This is from a pack of IKEA batteries. The actual size of this is just over a 1/4". Fairly detailed, I'd say. Look at the expression on the baby's face. He's pretty excited! But to me, this is much better than the warnings where the baby is sad because he's playing with something, when you know that kids always have more fun with the dangerous stuff. This is way more realistic.

30 minutes, or it's free?

If I have to choose between a game of dominoes or a slice of Dominoes pizza, I'll take the pizza any day. I've never gotten into the game of dominoes. To me, the best thing that you can do with those little spotted blocks is to set them up in rows and then knock them down again. When Domino Rally was introduced, I thought, "Finally! Something useful!" They didn't even bother with the spots.

But today I found a more creative use for dominoes. And it will most likely take more than 30 minutes. All you need are some sets of double nine dominoes and patience. Robert Bosch creates large pieces of art using "integer programming," which I won't try to figure out on my own. Ever. However, you can download the plans and make your own Domino Artwork. I wish you the best of luck! (via Amanda's Sketchbook)

Vinyl will kill?

Designer toys. Urban Vinyl. Collectible figures. Whatever you decide to call them, they're cool. And sometimes out of my price range. But I want more of them. My favorites are Bo and Po, the LaLa Couple, by IT Rangers Lab.

Coming out soon is a book, poster, and card set that tells all about these wonderful little creations. It's called Vinyl Will Kill. The list of contributors looks excellent. I think this could be a nice gift to me! (via fwak!)

*UPDATE* It seems that the link has changed. For a photo and description of this too cool item, check out IdN or Magma. Thanks Drew for catching that!

Random holiday?

It's a little late in the day, but...

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

NaNo time?

Here's what I dislike about NaNoWriMo: It's eating up time that I really should be spending making Christmas gifts. There is no way that I'll be able to get everything done. It's hard enough for me to find time for one thing, let alone two major projects. I think the answer is to give everyone on my list a copy of my currently short novel.

Word count: 4052.

I must write faster!

You can't hurry love?

No, you just have to wait. Actually, you won't mind waiting for this beautiful animation to load. I'm not familiar with The Concretes (am I just out of the loop?), but I found their song "You Can't Hurry Love" and the video to go with it a joy to watch. I hope you will too. (via Veer)

Remembered forever?

I was homeschooled all the way through high school. So I didn't have a locker, a prom, or a year book. I didn't even have senior pictures taken. But if seniors pics come out looking like this, then I'm glad to not have one. These pictures and the the captions that go with them are so funny! Enjoy! (via YCD@W)

Word count - the first?

At the end of day one, I have written 1474 words. This wouldn't seem too bad, except that I'm already behind. I should have written closer to 2000 today. Let's hope that the rest of the month goes better!

Write a book?

A couple of people have casually mentioned to me that I might consider writing a book. I didn't think that I would ever actually do that, but with NaNoWriMo, this might just happen. So today, November 1, 2004, I start writing my novel. During the month I'll most likely blog about the process from time to time, as well as post a word count. It will be an adventure!

Book Title: Designing: A Novel

Word Count: 0