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