Saturday, December 27, 2008

Sunday, December 14, 2008

sundae

Today,I WAS inspired. From the minute I got my lazy ass out of bed, I knew I needed to put fuel to the fire. So I met Jenny at hi-fi and started drawing. I got one more page complete of my book and that feels good. We tried to make it to the bike swap, but alas it was just getting done as we got there.

So I came home and cleaned the bathroom (nothing like a dirty sink to make me creative) and decided to get rolling on the xmas gifts I had bee putting off! And here are a couple of them.


Yahoo.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

digging deep

I have been working on drawing this kids book for the last couple of months now. It has been fun and stressful at the same time. I have had days where the drawings just come flowing like water, and other days when I cant quite get the proportions correct and I spend more time erasing than I do drawing. And then there are times when i don't want to draw at all, like i doubt my ability. I think I have it inside, but its sometimes really hard to find.

I want to do other stupid shit with my time. Then two weeks have past, and i am still not feeling very creative. I have this wonderful set up in my house to be doing projects and i have not been using it. I told myself i wanted to make all these fun gifts for xmas and i have not made anything and i am leaving for Oregon in less than two weeks...shit.

So what do I do? I need some creative juices flowing. My friend Jenny said that there are girls in Milwaukee getting together under the name wemakeshit - I am very interested in this. Sometimes its hard to find other people that have similar interests as you...here. In Oregon everyone has some project or something going on, but i have been hard pressed to find people here with the drive and creativity. It seems like it gets drowned by the Pabst, sometimes?

I mean don't get me wrong I have some friends that are very creative. My friend Lora always produces the most amazing things, and I have two friends named Jenny H. both of them are amazing artists. And they blow my mind with the work they have put out. I am inspired by these people along with the ones that don't even know they are creative, like the way James makes the most amazing latte art on my coffee in the morning, or the way people people express themselfs through what they wear.

I have to dig deep to find these things and sometimes I can see it everyday- all the time.

thanks, now i am gonna go do something creative.

k

Thursday, November 27, 2008

shortest fun

Wends 11/28/08
This is going to be difficult to write. As I am on my blackberry on the train. We have been traveling now for just over 24 hours. And we are still about 2 hours from NYC. I have a splitting headache from shitty coffee and not enough water. But, its been a great time. The trip from mke to Chicago to DC last night was easy and somewhat painless. Sleeping in coach kinda blows, but we made it work. We brought lots of food and snacks so we spent very little money on food. Except the so-so breakfast this morning. I woke up and we were riding along some river in Pennsylvania. It was so so pretty. Lots of snow on the ground.



James is a super rad companion for travel. Very easy and chill. We were sharing stories and music. Its been very pleasant.



new add: 12/1/08
So I did not finish the blog on the train. My reception was bad and the emails I did send did not come through. I am back at work today and have downloaded some photos.

So we got into NYC at around seven on Thursday. Brian just happened to be coming back from the parents so he met us at Penn Station. And we all took the subway to his house on the upper west side. Super nice neighborhood. And really cute apartment. I guess its big in the New York kind of way. It was super cute and comfortable. He had made us a cute sign and had photos of us cut out and placed inside towels. He was pretty much the best host anyone could ask for. I had told him I really wanted to see the city at night from a boat or something, and go to Chinatown. We did all of that and more.


Friday: We woke early. Got dressed and headed out. Breakfast was yummy. I love that everyone uses Challa bread for the french toast. And we took the subway to Chinatown. The minute we stepped off the train, we were overpowered with people selling knock-off bags. Louie Vitton, which sounded more like ui-vitton, ui-vitton. I was gonna buy some sunglasses, but was afraid of getting angry at people for pushing shit. So i didn't. Instead i bought a shirt for my mom and some Hawaiian candy. Oh and the yummiest bubble tea, ever. lychee. yummmm.
And then we went to this really cute park to wait for RP. The park was great, lots of chinese playing some game with cards and chips...i can only assume they were gambling. And a old grandma taking a nap in her wheelchair. It was sunny and nice out.


And then we decided to walk to Gimme! coffee shop and during that time we walked through little Italy, and some of Soho. And ended up with a yummy latte at Gimme!. And then it was more walking to get some hot dogs and sit in Washington Park


(which is still under construction) and into Chelsea. It was a ton of walking but so fun. We ended up by the meat packing district. And sat by the Hudson river for awhile. My feet were killing me by then. It was so pretty though.



And then to John's pizza and had the best pizza in the city. So good. Across the street there was a place to get pedicures, so me and Brian did that. And James took off to go meet Lizz about a job at Stumptown (more about that later) and we took the train to the meeting. We also had time to stop at the biggest diesel store I had ever seen in my life. Pretty stimulating. And over-priced. All the people that worked there were assholes. And i like a scarf but it was $170 bucks!


The meeting was great. I love going to meetings in different city's. It makes me feel at home.
And then we all decided to go to the Empire States Building. It was a little cold, but so pretty at night. You could see the whole city. It was amazing.

And then to times square...which is something you have to see if you have never been to NY. its pretty amazing. I little over the top, but very cool. And then some more food. And by then we had been out on the town for 12 hours and it was time to hit the hay. I am tired all over again just writing this out. To bed we went.


Up early again, breakfast at a great diner by Brian's house. And off to the train station. By cab this time. And waited a bit and got on our train to DC. Which was an easy ride. And then to our train to Chicago. Not so easy. We just happened to get an old train with no outlets, and small bathrooms. Unlike the train there. And there were two kids behind us, the whole time. And one of them got really sick and was throwing up all night. I felt bad for her. The sound was horrible.

But all in all it was a great trip. super fast, and very very fun.
Thank you Brian for being an amazing host. And RP for making it more fun...And James for being a wonderful travel partner.

kai

Monday, November 24, 2008

colorific.




I started coloring one of my pages in photoshop. That shit is pretty hard. I have a ton of layers and my file is too big to fit anywhere,but I am enjoying the results. When you look at this, please remember this is not at all what its going to look like when its totally done. Just me trying to figure out what I am doing. :)

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

passion fruit


so me and James were at my favorite Hawaiian food place in Chicago on Saturday. And we were drinking passion lilikoi juice. And he said that in the UK the passion fruit are black. I grew up in Hawaii and the passion fruit I have eaten have been yellow. So i did my research. And here is what I have come up with.

Wikipedia told me : The two types of passion fruit have greatly different exterior appearances. The bright yellow variety of passion fruit, which is also known as the Golden Passion fruit, can grow up to the size of a grapefruit, has a smooth, glossy, light and airy rind, and has been used as a rootstock for the purple passion fruit in Australia.[1] The dark purple passion fruit (for example, in Kenya) is smaller than a lemon, with a dry, wrinkled rind at maturity.

and here are the photos.




james


the card i just finished for james. i like it. and he likes it.

roast barista jam

a poster i designed earlier this summer.

Monday, November 17, 2008

nyc!!!!


I am getting excited about the trip that James and I are taking to NY, next week. I am not really sure where we are going to go in the city, but i dont really care. I do know that we are only going to be there for about 30 hours total. And we are on the train for about 46 hours total. So its more about the train trip than the nyc trip. but its gonna be fun!

xk

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

rabbit


from way back. he's cute.


xk

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

wet ink.

well in the last 5 days I have created 3 more pages, of this kids book. I am spending all my weekends doing this. It felt a little funny, on Saturday night at 9pm when i am drawing. Other people are maybe out having fun and I am covered in pencil and erasing like a mad woman.

I sent off the pages to the writer of the book and he had some changes. But nothing major, and nothing that I was totally upset about. He loves the characters I have created and is already talking about another "my littlest..." book. So that means more characters. I am hoping for a little girl and dad story or... who knows. More books mean more $. Which is rad. And he is no hurry. No deadlines can make me procrastinate. And can also stop me from working so hard. So i set up my own deadline of the end of the year for all the pages in ink. And then start after the first of the year on the color. very exciting.

I am also a big supporter of all things local. Especially radio and WMSE is amazing. They are having their pledge drive to fund the station and in our screwed up economy its harder and harder for small independent radio stations to stay alive. I gave a little money, not that I have much. But i am more than willing to go without for a minute so that something as rad as this radio station can stay on the air. good stuff. so if your reading this...call them and give them money or go to the website and give them $ there.

cheers.
k

Friday, November 7, 2008

Punk Rock Auto Mechanics...

I have to give a mini-shout out to my favorite client of the week...
Jake from Riverwest Auto. He is my fave. And here are this silly projects that I made this week. As well as being a rad client, he is a great mechanic. I never feel like I am getting screwed. I am aware I bought an expensive car, and it costs A LOT! to fix it. But he is good to me. And in turn I am good to him...and its nice that he likes my designs. In this day and age its pretty cool to be able to do design for people that have a respect for it.

And on another rant, I guess the job to have is a designer. It seems like everywhere I turn, I am running into another graphic designer. I mean I get why people want to do this...but it sure makes it hard to leave town to find a new job. My point being, if you have a good design job someplace that treats you decent, stay there. And unless some magical door opens someplace else, consider yourself lucky to not be getting someone more ranch or pushing something through a drive-thru window. Be happy that you GET to have the job you have. And don't take it for granted by being on facebook all day, poking people. :)

love u,
kai

Thursday, November 6, 2008

i think i may be in love...with paper.

readymech & nanibird

I have just found the most wonderful gifts.
I love ALL things crafty...and the people that make them.

thank you world.
kai

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

my little dude.



Wow...what just happened last night? Was history just made? It was a big big deal. And as i sat at my drawing table, just around the corner from the TV that was on...I was getting excited. My friend from NY sent me a photo from his phone of being in Times Square and all the people. Pretty freaking amazing...

But as the TV was telling me that history was changing...I was trying to draw another page in this book that is unfolding underneath me. I have a plan now when I sit to draw, I have a system that gets the ball rolling. I was wondering if I could do this...make a couple of characters and stick with them. And every page I do I like more than the last. Which is good because I have a ton of pages to go...and as I am sure I will get stuck, I am still enjoying this very very much.

I like that I can keep a blog and post the pages...as they go. And it will soon tell a story, of how i re-learned to draw. What kind of style grabs my eye. I like retro stuff, but with an old school tattoo system of thicks and thins. I do need to figure out my pen situation. I have been using microns, but they don't go over the blue pencil very smooth. And so i end up erasing A TON! And that is just a waste of time. This is not something that I am confident in so I need to find a new pen. I have been looking for this one pen and i can only seem to find it online. So i guess that's where I am gonna have to buy it from.

Also i finally finished and bound the books for Brad & Lisa. They looked really good. I have not heard from them since I left them in their mailbox. Sure hope they got them. I spent my Saturday night doing that. But in the long run that project was so worth it. Oh and Riverwest Auto ( i re-designed the logo a while back) asked me to do a yellow pages ad and a non-xmas postcard for them. I heart Jake. He said I could put a skull and crossbones on it. And NO Christmas shit. rad. I really could not ask for a better mechanic and client. I will post that when its finished.

things are good. going on the train to NYC for thanksgiving. just to roam around. more before then i am sure.

xk

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

and so it unfolds....

I spent last weekend drawing my heart out...not that this jpeg does it justice, but the overall product came out good. I feel stronger about my two characters and the process is becoming easier. I also am learning stuff about pencil/pen/blue pencil that i did not know. Like how it translates in photoshop and the steps i need to take to get the image ready to be colored.

I am really enjoying it. And the light table i snagged from work is helping too. I like the hard, but porous surface to draw on. Sometimes the table is not enough for the sharp line that i like from my trusty pencil. Me and pencils have a love hate relationship. I want to love and end up changing it all the time once i ink it all in. And inking is a whole other process that is frustrating. I have been using microns for awhile now. They do amazing things on tracing paper over pencil, but the cheap computer paper i have been using (horrible, i know) doesn't want to take the ink. So i end up putting a little ink and erasing the pencil and finishing the inking after. Not the best. I am looking for new pens. I wish i had the balls to use a quill. I know the India ink goes down so much better. But i need more practice with that.

So here is page two. And hopefully there should be a check in the mail soon. I am excited about this book and also excited about the money this book will provide. and getting paid every two pages is going to help, so i can purchase James's computer from him and start the color process at home. So bring on the $$$.

take care
Kai

Friday, October 24, 2008

ever so slightly redundent class....

So i took a screen printing "class" last night. I went into it thinking we were going to be able to make an image on a screen. I was wrong. It was all about how to do this at home. And after being in the screen printing industry for many years, this was a waste of time and money. But i did learn something i had never thought of. You can take your screens off and store them flat to be used again. I guess most of the screens i had delt with were in permanent. And you had to re-claim them to use them with new images. Which becomes more expensive because you have to buy a ton of screen printing cloth. But you can use your images again and again. I like this idea.

So I may invest in some screen printing stuff. But, it may also go to the back burner with my building-a-chair idea, that i was so hyped about last week. My head is so full of great creative things to do. And yet most of them, money is needed to get started. I did figure out that my bookshelf-chair is only gonna cost me about $100 bucks. Which is rad. And to get set up screen printing, its a little more than that. I have also been wanting to make some more stencils. The ones i did make with the fabric spray paint worked pretty good. And to set it all you have to do is dry it. I like that. Maybe i will make gifts for xmas like this. And i was at the goodwill on capital the other day and noticed they have a ton of zip up used hoodies (don't tell) and i can print on those. Most of my friends don't give a shit about used clothes. :)

Also i have been thinking about doing a comic, about people i know. I like the idea of trying to close my eyes and see people that are close to me and try to draw them in a funny way. And then put them all together. Sounds fun. I have been spending what little money i do have on art books to get better at drawing the figure, and i sure with the library had more art books. :(
They tend to be a little more expensive, so i get why they don't have them.

So with the juices flowing, i am off to learn more about how to place ads and design someone's marketing ads. blah.

k

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

drawing & process


I have been up late nights try to get these two characters (son & father) to come to life. Drawing can be very therapeutic. I have this feeling of calmness when i am drawing. and my cat sits on my feet. It feels right. I like to play some music. It chills in the back of my head and makes me feel alive.

Since I started this blog this morning, I have got my first rough sketches approved and the client is excited. And that makes me very happy. I was worried the direction I was going in was going to be wrong. my current work has a retro feel to it and it worried me a little.

but now on to final sketches and COLOR. I am going to re-learn how to color in photo shop. we will see how that goes. I wish i had a fucking computer. this is becoming a problem now. And its time to resolve it. soon. :)

So now i should go back to work and keep doing stupid clipping paths till i cant see anymore. Sometimes work is so just a paycheck. And other times its makes me so happy. I did score a rad chair today. its baby blue and looks like it came from the mental ward.

ciao
k

Friday, October 17, 2008

getting started...again.

hi.

so this is my first blog of my new blog. wtf? I am working on having a site to put up photos of my freelance design work. And getting feedback. I am currently working on two projects and hope for more to come. my job doing production/design for the last 8+ years has been stuffing my creative side...that was patiently waiting for me. I think I have found it. (not that i don't like setting up files and putting boxes with ads in them at .378 from gutter...thanks for TP paying my bills while i can make stuff - i heart you job)

I am going to take care of it. And to start I have set up a good desk for it to be nurtured and caressed. I have moved my music over there and will be investing in some good 'stay at home headphones'. I plan on making all of my Xmas presents this year and now have a spot to do that. As well as paint....something I have been thinking about for awhile now. You know how musicians 'have to play' music to keep their souls alive...well i need to be making stuff. And seeing something accomplished...even if it blows. it feeds my soul and in turn my soul feeds me. so here is the start, of the new Kai. I am going to be writing when i can. I still am on the money trail...and buying a new computer may be in my future. Until then I will be blogging when i can. And i can on my silly blueberry phone, so that may help.

so keep your eyes peeled for new photos and new projects.
here is my short list for now:

new lip gloss recipes
more mini journals for small thoughts
an oil painting
kids books
a comic about alcoholics
light switch covers for everyone


pau.
k