Feathers N' Bullets

Maybe Blue

2011-06-23T16:10:00.000-07:00

Something happened today that should have had me blue
Head hung low, shoulders curled, smiles far and few
The burning pain of anxiety settled in and beginning to brew
Down on bended knees in an unfamiliar pew

But Strangely, none of these things had occured
Put down my woes, took up my faith and found I couldn't be deferred
With my chin held high and my pride intact, my dreams will be preserved
And the blessings that are soon to come will flow from a bottomless reserve

You see, I had a choice and I made it right
I could bend with fear or stand up and fight
Believe the lies or seek the light
When your day turns blue, what will you decide?

Keep This In Mind: Business Cards Edition

2011-02-24T23:14:00.000-08:00

It's easy to make a bad business card. Sometimes there's too much information for such a small amount of space. There are a few things that you can keep in mind when designing that may help.
I'll be using generic googled photos for examples because I'm too lazy to plug in my hard-drive.

1. Information, Information, Information

Make sure the design doesn't overshadow the information. If anything, the design should lead the eye to the information. A business card is intended to convey information so if people can't find it, the business card is useless. Pertinent information should be legible. Fonts are fun to play with but some aren't easy to read. Also, know your audience. If you deal with elderly people you may want to consider using a larger font with a decent amount of kerning so they don't have to go on a hunt for their reading glasses. Transparency on pertinent information is not recommended. "What is pertinent information?" you may be asking...

2. Pertinent Information

Name
Number/Email/Website
What you do

These are the basics. Figure out your name and contact information. When it comes to what you do, take your time to figure that out rather than listing out all of your skills on the business card. If you don't quite know how to explain what it is you do, maybe you need to try brainstorming, throw out some words that describe what you do.

Example:
Q. what do I offer my clients, what do I specialize in?
A. Operational toilets, paint, yard work, piano tuning

So with this cluster of words you might come up with "Plumber/Handyman", which makes sense. Sometimes you will find that you need to make more than one set of cards. You can't be a "Plumber, Handyman and Piano Tuner" all in one card. While some people will think you are resourceful, many others will think that you don't specialize in the trade they are looking for and find you to be an undesirable candidate for the job. I like to substitute "Senior Genius" as my job title until I figure out what best describes the position.

3. Focal Point

The focal point of a business card is usually the logo and/or the pertinent information. As stated in the first point, the design should lead the eye to the information. You can use line, color, negative space or a number of other fancy terms to get the audience to look at your name, number and other tidbits. If your logo is terrible, seek help immediately or don't use it at all...

4. Don't Clutter It Up

Photoshop offers a number of fine filters. This does not mean all of them should be used at once. When you use filters, make it count! There's nothing worse than a business card with a montage of the "Plumber/Handyman's" face with a transparency of a toilet in the background with a motion blurred wrench and some unidentifiable object. Often, less is more, not to say multiple filters can't look good, you just have to choose your battles. Don't clutter the business card with your inner-most thoughts either, too much text is too much text. Get to the point!Click on the image below to get the gist

5. Font Choice
I personally don't use more than two, maybe three fonts on a business card. Once you get past three fonts, things start to look confusing and convoluted. You might think that the variety is needed, but it makes things look unorganized and that is how the client will perceive you. The fonts should be legible and as long as this is accomplished, you're in good hands (Allstate, pay me).

6. Don't Be Intrusive

If you happen to be designing a business card for someone else, don't make your self-promotion intrusive. I personally don't put my information on other people's business cards because I think the card should be about the client, not the designer. Some designers however place their website, logo and/or email on the back of the card or somewhere obsolete which is considerate (I don't judge). And then there's other designers who like to make their self-promotion splendiferous and grand! On a scale of 1 to 10, their self-promotion is Kanye West. So if you can't be inconspicuous, don't put your information on the business card. Let your client shine!

7. Resolution and Dimensions

Maybe this should have been the first suggestion, just imagine it is...Before you even start your business cards, have an idea of what dimensions you want them to be. A typical business card is 3.5 by 2 inches, this fits in a rolodex, congratulations. You should use a resolution of at least 150 pixels/inch. I usually go with 300 just to explode my file size.

Anyway, some people have managed to stray from these suggestions and still have a decent looking business card. Go figure, "Yes we can!"

Here's some video to help illustrate my point or further confuse you:

Untitled: Blewish

2011-02-11T19:30:00.000-08:00

Acrylic on canvas

Not a great quality photo, blame it on Nokia. This is the gist of it though. It's kind of wonky and distorted and that's what I like about it. I don't like to do photo-realistic paintings because, well, why not just take a photo?

Still Here...

2010-08-13T12:48:00.000-07:00

Well for the most part. I've been working on several projects, one a motion graphic logo and the most recent, an animated short... Don't let the term, short fool you, its a very trying process.

For example...

Yeah...

So Pixar has thousands of people working on a project, and I have two, including myself...
I still have this naive sense of confidence though, willing to see this through!!

I have some pretty corny t-shirt ideas (as if I'm able to generate anything other than corny) that I'll be posting.

In the mean time, stay awake folks!!

Everybody, Everybody!!

2010-03-24T15:49:00.000-07:00

I've been working on the redesign of Robey Theatre Company for the past couple weeks, hence the hiatus... Anywho, go check it out. and leave comments making fun or congratulating, whatever you see fit.

And go buy some tickets to the The Emperor's Last Performance starting this Friday!!!

Notorious pt.1

2010-03-04T18:29:00.000-08:00

This is the first part of a very silly t-shirt in the works for my brother. I'll think about posting the end result if its not too ridiculous. Click and drag away if you want a new desktop!

American History: Distressed

2010-03-04T18:21:00.000-08:00

Although it's a small part of black history, slavery somehow seems to overshadow the greatness and achievement that has also been a part of black history. This piece illustrates that dilemma, although a little late for black history month due to some technical difficulties on my part... Anyway, enjoy!

Please note that this is not intended to diminish or ignore the existence of slavery, but to point out that there are other parts of black history. Slavery did indeed happen in America and it continues to exist worldwide.

Photoshop Facelift

2010-03-01T17:47:00.001-08:00

Making A Difference

2010-02-24T16:35:00.000-08:00

Well it looks like this blog is actually doing some good. I passed by the chuuch and noticed that they made some edits to their signage. It feels good to know I'm making a difference in my community although chances are the blog had nothing to do with it, I'll just run with the notion that it did. I think what actually happened is Sister Jenkins got upset and pulled her donation after finding out the youth group came up with the new "hip" slogan in an effort to pull in a younger generation of chuuch goers. Maybe the problem is that it worked and they ended up with a donation basket full of EBT cards, bus tokens and Chucky Cheese tickets... Anyway, I digress. Here are the before and after photos of the sign.

Before

After

The Wee Hours

2010-02-20T20:35:00.000-08:00

Now Leaving Mr.Rogers' Neighborhood

2010-02-11T18:42:00.000-08:00

On my way to partake in some T.V. making at the local public access channel, I saw this "unique" sign in front of a church, or should I say chuuch...

Vocab Boards

2010-02-09T14:44:00.000-08:00

I got bored last night and designed these boards to put in my shop on zazzle. Well leave it up to zazzle and of course they're out of stock on the pro boards. I went ahead and uploaded them anyway so when they get them in stock, the boards will be ready to go. I did the text in Illustrator and the background in Photoshop. It didn't take me too long to do aside from me playing with the colors for a good two hours. Ok you go buy now!!

Back Up Offa Me!

2010-02-08T17:52:00.000-08:00

I did this when I was first learning to use Illustrator. I didn't take the photo I used for reference.

I found a photo of actress Lisa Raye and I liked the detail in the water and the focus on the eyes. Its meant to be viewed from far away, that way the water looks more realistic.

Sketchin'

2010-02-08T17:27:00.000-08:00

A couple sketches I dug up. Both done in Illustrator. Enjoy...

My Take on "Portrait of Frau Isabel Styler-Tas 1945", by Salvador Dali

2010-02-08T16:10:00.000-08:00

I did my own rendition of a piece by one of my favorite artists, Salvador Dali. I did it in Adobe Illustrator back in 2005. I'd like to add more detail but its not absolutely necessary. I just think I made the skin look a little too shiny, like a Hype Williams video. I like it though, and yes that was me with hair. I look angry...

Barcode Internet Cafe

2010-02-08T13:35:00.000-08:00

Barcode Internet Cafe is a cafe with an extensive (and overpriced) dessert, soup and snack menu where you can surf the web free of intrusive marketing ads (boo on you Starbucks!). There are plenty of outlets to keep your laptop juiced up or you can book a computer for a small fee if you don't have one. If you sign up for a membership, you are entitled to great savings coupons and dibs on the computer lounge, you might even get a free bagel here or there! Barcode Internet Cafe is located in Old Town Pasadena and will be open for business this summer. If this sounds too good to be true, its because it is!

Much Better!

2010-02-06T12:34:00.000-08:00

So I opened up the set a little and added some more props to the set. Working on the lighting still but this is a great improvement.

CCN News Set Design

2010-01-02T13:20:00.000-08:00

So I'm working on a virtual news set for Crown City News, a local news station. These are three different angles of the first draft which I did in about 7 hours.

It didn't take too long to model despite the fact that I started over at least five times. I was working straight from my imagination without any reference at all, except the two minutes of news I could bear to watch. I get so depressed and disappointed with the state of journalism when the 10 'o clock news cites TMZ as its source. And who cares about Tiger Woods really? Anyway, aside from being fully agitated by the news, I did get the idea for the overhead lighting unit. I think it came out pretty cool if you ask me.

So all I have to do now is to dirty it up a bit with some tv's and pictures in the background and "ShamWow!" I'm locally famous.

Also if you have any questions, leave a comment or email me at feathersnbullets@yahoo.com.