HapPENings.

Unfortunately, the pun in the title has no real relevance. I have not purchased any new [drawing] pens lately, although I can report that I am in need of new ones. I intend to venture into the <0.1 selection sometime, though my [lack of] accuracy may be against me.

Thought I'd spend the time plugging in a few recent happenings...

(1) This thing I made for the funnies and the punnies. Click through for larger version:

(2) My band had a gig recently at Valve Bar, Tempe. It's a great venue, and supports local acts from all genres. It's also only a 10 minute train ride from Central plus a short walk. We should have a gig in the near future so like our page to stay in the loop. We like the lovez.

We also have presents for you. You can listen to a few of our demo tracks on SoundCloud and Triple J. If you're streaming, I'd suggest SoundCloud. If you're downloading or want to boost our ratings :), use Triple J. Triple J's jukebox works a little bit funky -- you can't hear my guitar in Safe, He Said -- but you can download the tracks and they work fine. Magic.

(3) Fashion.Music.Culture is out and about as usual. Like the page and keep in touch with shenanigans.



(4) ON TOMORROW!!!

Adam Long from the Beehive is going to be at Oxford Design Store tomorrow evening to talk about lasercutting, 3D printing and sustainability. He was one of the masterminds behind the Panda Pad which you have 15 more days to pledge donations to.

Rar,
ursa_ex.machina
Bear from the Machine

Oh, hello there.

I realise it has been a while. I'll be honest -- I'm only here because I found a few things that I thought would be worth sharing.


No Globes by Dorothy

I came across this thanks to Inhabitat.

Needless to say it's quite brilliant -- something normally so whimsical turned into a statement piece. Wish I had come up with it.


David Suhami's Animal pocket 'knife'

I have a slight obsession with animal objects. This design isn't exactly 'practical' but, like the globe, it redefines traditional use/perceptions. I can only imagine being on a hunting/camping trip and pulling out this 'knife'. It isn't mentioned in the blurb, but I thought the concept would be along these lines -- to remind us of the grandeur of animals and their right to survive. I guess that wasn't exactly his intention -- although I haven't scoured the internet for more.

I've added a few new things to my tumblr, so head on over if you like. Changed the layout, which I will make this blog match soon enough.


tumblr sneak peak

I've signed my permanent contract so I won't be looking for a new job for a while. STILL, it will be worth figuring out my identity. Not sure how I feel about it, but there's more drawings in the works so... STAY TUNED.

I may be FINALLY getting to do some crafty things soon, but I won't promise anything at this point. You'll just have to wait and see...

RAR!
ursa_ex.machina
Bear from the Machine

p.s. I went to Semi-Permanent Sydney! I will have to put my few notes on here later, otherwise I will forget what happened...

Resourcefulness

Here's an amusing (and cute) video my good friend, Strigiformes, shared yesterday. It's from Adam Ladd, featuring his 5-year-old daughter, and her take on some of today's well-known logos.



She pointed out some interesting things, don't you think? I particularly enjoyed the likening of the McDonald's 'M' to fries, and the fact that she unintentionally demeaned an event which showcases internationally renowned sportsmen (and women).

The video tells me a few things. Firstly, kids say the darndest things. (Did you ever watch that show? You should.) Secondly, too many companies have mid-leap animal silhouettes as their logos (i.e. cheetahs). Thirdly, sometimes we forget that we have great resources at hand. By this I mean, a kid could be very handy if you are gauging how recognisable your logo is. But what I really mean is our friends, acquaintances and family could be great resources when it comes to critiquing/giving feedback on our designs.

I'm not saying I never thought of it before... In fact, I utilised my nieces and nephews for part of my final research project at uni. What I am saying is, don't forget they are there to use (and not in that negative on-the-prowl sort of way).

Speaking of people... Here are a couple of cool things I saw today.
(1) The licence plate invitation to Jessica Hische.
(2) Kiss Messengers! I like the idea, but I wish the video wasn't so seedy. I couldn't find the exact article I read which featured another creepy invention, but thanks to H for finding this [replacement] article for me! (I think I just proved my 'use your available resources' point.)

That's all for now! Have a good one.

Rar,
ursa_ex.machina
bear from the machine

Hello, 2012.

I haven't blogged in a while. My bad. Here are some quick notes of how 2011 went down:

(1) My band and I had our first paid gig. It was fun. When we have better recordings of our tracks, I will point you in their direction. If you've heard the not-so-great recordings, I trust you will keep them to yourself.
(2) I deleted an old post called 'What they never warned you'. It noted some of my frustrations with my degree. I decided complaining was juvenile. Success is not about complaining, but rather, about recognising pitfalls and working towards 'betterment'. Which brings me to my next point...
(3) I scored a Junior Finished Artist job. This essentially 'fixed' the issues I had with my lack of technical skill with regards to 'print design'. I am now equipped with the prepress skills I did not possess before.

I decided 2012 is going to be my year of awesome. Now it's time for me to start working towards it. What does this mean, you ask?

(1) Budgeting. I finally started a savings account. It's always good to have money for 'rainy days', I hear.
(2) Reading. It's time for me to get out of my little bubble. I've started reading more articles here and there, and I intend to keep it up.
(3) "Extracurricularity". It's also time for me to start doing more work on the side; to learn new things in my spare time (despite my busy schedule) and keep my skills up. Speaking of which...
(4) Time management. I know I have a lot on my plate, but there's always room for more. I am sick of saying I'm too busy. I'd like to be able to say, I'll find time for it, and manage to... Somehow. I should be making a relatively strict schedule to manage this, much like my budget guidelines.

Here's to a new year.

Rar,
ursa_ex.machina
Bear from the Machine

Here's to betterment

Borders had a sale, so I eagerly took a gander with my beloved. He spent most of his time in the music section, while I scoured the stationery section (only to find that others had scoured it already) then set up camp in the Art/Design section. Yes, I am one of those weirdos that sits on the floor and takes up your walking space. In my defence, I was there for a while trying to pick books.

I'd like to first plug-in an awesome book that Tiger bought me. After making the flyer for permaCOFA (see: Where's your v-spot), I received this glorious book as a present:



It's a clever little hardcover picture book that looks at notions of existence in a humourous manner, with characters like trees, dinosaurs, and even this old man:



It provided me with great amusement. I've contemplated making both an online comic and self-published mags- this book is a great midway. Inspiration indeed.

Back to my story about Borders... I snagged a few things that hopefully were wise purchases. I'm only starting my design book collection now that I have money to, so this is what I got:





I'm yet to take a good look at either, but I gather they're both on the drier side of design/art books. Somehow they seemed like a better option in comparison to the logo and layout books I was also considering purchasing. I'll have to let you know later how they end up.

I will disclose a "wonderingment" (Ross Geller, F.R.I.E.N.D.S) of mine. Was the cover for 'Just My Type' badly registered? I can't tell if the seeming misplacement of the white/cream in 'Just' and 'Type' was intentional or not. Feel free to give me your input on this- I've yet to google it.

On a sidenote, I also purchased this poster. It might be wrapping paper. I'm really not sure.



I'm a sucker for sales, anatomy, and creative juice encouragers.

Sidenote: There are a couple of interesting, I guess, articles of sorts. ('Resources' may have been a better word.)

1) How to steal like an artist: A nice read that had some good insights on being an artist. For me, it reminded me- or instilled in me- things I sometimes refuse to realise or do. Thanks to Tiger for sharing.

2) Gradient Mesh tutorials: I should really check this out properly. I'm yet to try this technique. I'm impressed by people that can render well, I'd like to be one of them. Thanks to vixx for sharing.

3) Shortcuts! Glorious shortcuts! I don't remember nearly as many as I should, but here are some handy links:

> Indesign CS5
> Photoshop CS5
> There was another really good one, I'll add it here later if I find it.
EDIT: I think this is it! Photoshop Secret Shortcuts

Cheers to the interweb, design books and my potential learning.


Rar,
ursa_ex.machina
Bear from the Machine

Where's your V-spot?

'V-spot' they say? Ridiculous. Or genius -- your call. This is the name of the design, an initiative of PermaCOFA Gardens- the collaboration project I spoke of in my last post. It is a collaboration between Harry (engineer) and Jan (landscape architect student) looking at encouraging a greener COFA community- providing students with an opportunity to grow/harvest veges on campus. I have been recruited as the Graphic Design/Marketing Coordinator/Collaborator for the project.

The facebook page is up now, Jan and I had it up and running this morning. Early days, but there seems to be some interest in it.

My tasks:
1) Logo Design
2) Flyer Design + Copywriting (I hope you appreciate my tagline)
3) Marketing
4) PermaCOFA Facebook Page

I had ARC@COFA give us a shout out on their page, and also posted the flyer on the Official COFA Page. So far, 6 likes. Not toooo shabby, but I hope there's more interest in the very near future.

Here's the flyer:



I hope to get ARC to include it in the next newsletter, and Jan hopes to get her tutor to send it out also to the COFA undergrad mailing list.

The project is about midway progress-wise. Harry is organising for the "v-spot" bench design to be built this week by a new collaborator/sponsor- Allan Thomson (carpenter). Hopefully the whole initiative will be set by next semester, but, hopefully it won't be set in stone. There's still room for improvement on the design, and there's talk of the design going into production (outside of the COFA campus context). Daunting, perhaps. Exciting, very.

Rar,
ursa_ex.machina
Bear from the Machine

Matchbox Project

Ok, I've been missing for a while. No need for too many details but this is what's been happening:

1) I turned down a print job. Still looking + still working.
2) I started a tumblr.
3) I'm in this band. Still early days. Will be more exciting when we get more songs written.
4) I'm part of this collaboration project, I'll let you know how it goes and post stuff up here later.
5) I've hoarded my mate's tablet, I'm getting somewhere. Very slowly.
6) I'm getting better at HTML/CSS. Most of it is a lot of guess work at the moment, but I've noticed some of the differences between IE + firefox.
7) I never showed you my matchbox!!

There's an interesting, I guess, 'project' run by the Shedlezki twins called Matchbox Project. In late 2010 they asked people to submit 'city portraits', in matchboxes of course. I submitted my Sydney portrait on Oct 23, 2010. Here it is:



This was my description:
My city is a colourful place- city and suburbia, conversation and the interesting creatures within.

Excuse the half grammar- couldn't fit much on the back of a matchbox... Or in it for that matter. You'll notice the matchbox includes animals (including me). I'm the grinning bear.

If you wish to see more, check out process photos and shots of some of the other matchboxes here.

That's all for now.

Rar,
ursa_ex.machina
Bear from the Machine