Archive for the ‘Artists’ Category

I was just going through my bookmarks for some daily design motivation and felt that it was necessary to share the site of Casey Burns; an inspiration for music-related illustration and design.  I wanted to post an example and link to his site in case anyone is interested in discovering more about this outstanding artist. I aspire to be able to work with similar bands and create the material that he has for posters and record covers over the years.

Enjoy.

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Casey Burns

Another post I made recently on creativebits.org made me want to quickly share my thoughts on my longtime addiction to the Wacom Intuos3 tablet. I must say, that when I first got it, I was convinced that it was a bit frivolous and that it was something I would use strictly for retouching and Adobe Illustrator. Let me say this bluntly: I was wrong. Very, very wrong.

The Wacom tablet (I have the 6″x11″, which is essential for my dual monitor setup) has become a complete replacement for the standard mouse. In fact, I’ve removed myself so far from the mouse, that it’s become awkward to use at this point—like trying to draw with my fingers taped together.  I don’t mean to make this too much of a sales pitch for Wacom, since I’m getting nothing for this, but I want to share my thoughts with other designers that may begin to read this blog.  There seems to be some wonder and apprehension associated with using a tablet as the main form of manipulation for just photoshop, let alone the rest of everyday activities on your computer, but let me tell you that after a day or two of using the tablet strictly, you will realize that it has become an extension of your hand. It’s astonishing how fluid and organic all my processes become on my machine—everything from using exposé to writing code becomes quicker, easier, and generally more natural of a process. Anything that brings more of a human touch to a generally restricting computer architecture is OK in my book.

Give it a shot, and if you decide you don’t like it, I think you’re doing something wrong.

Now that I’ve got your attention—maybe because you’re actually interested in vinyl, or maybe because you think I’m a total hipster for writing about this—let me make a prediction: The CD is slowly going the way of the buffalo, moving over for the ultimate takeover of the digital download, and our friendliest audiophile format is quickly experiencing a rebirth and a lifespan that will likely continue for longer than once thought. Designers should be rejoicing — This affords us the opportunity to once again look at the music layout as it was originally born: a 12”x12” canvas (ok, the cut dimensions are slightly different, just let me get away with that one), rather than the confined limits of a 4.75” x 4.75” (see, I got more specific) CD booklet.  The digipac offered us some expansion into the pseudo-vinyl packaging when it first appeared (i.e. Pearl Jam’s Vs. and Vitalogy), but as I’ve experienced – it’s nothing like designing for an LP release, which (un)fortunately is even a new format for my work. Continue Reading »

I’ve done it. I’ve made a blog. About design. About art. About…me? This is my first post. It’s not supposed to be excited, engaging, inquisitive, or even fun to read. I’m planning on making everything after this actually have some redeeming value, but for now, this is all I’ve got. Hope you had a blast!