Sincerely Ink Press

Wow! So it seems that the Sincerely Ink app has been getting a lot of press. Here's a few links-

Tech Tuesday on BFG
That's the first time I've seen one of the designs printed, it looks pretty good! I'm so glad the guys at Sincerely have taken time to make sure the prints come out well. That's the hardest part when designing things digitally- you can put all the time you want into it but if it prints out badly then it's all for nothing.

Article on FastCompany.com
The article writer met with Matt from Sincerely to discuss the app. My name is in there too I just noticed. Thanks for the shout out Matt!

It seems the app will also be featured tomorrow morning on The Early Show on CBS. I'll be sure to post a clip if I see it!

Sincerely Ink App Now Available!

Sincerely Ink, the Holiday card app I did some designs for is now available for free download on your smartphone!

The top two rows are designs I did!

Here are some other examples of the pieces I did:

The Curative - Target Exhibition

On Friday, The Burnet Gallery in downtown Minneapolis held an exhibition for Target employees with artistic works outside of the office. I included a series of four pieces titled "Wendigo".

Here is my artist statement:

How does the mind react when it's presented with the unknown? What does it conjure when faced with nothingness? Is it comforted or threatened? What lies in the mist and what is possible in the abyss? How can one connect with that that is soulless? Does it paralyze or satisfy? Is one transformed from the other and when does the transformation begin?

In light of halloween, I wanted to touch on something with an edge of spookiness. When I was a kid I loved horror stories (I still do) and I especially loved a story about a Wendigo. It's a creature from the Algonquian people that has many different interpretations. One in particular stuck out to me– it described Wendigos as an invisible creature in the wind. Set in the far north, it would sweep men into the sky and kill them. It was also said to make them run until their feet burned away. What struck me most about this tale was the lack of information. It left you with no explanation of what the creature looked like, what it was, where it came from or how it was made. It came from nothing and disappeared afterward. The thrill that not knowing left me was fascinating. With these pieces I wanted to explore the line between nothingness and the feeling of threat. I wanted to see if I could get the viewer to see a subtle threat in my pieces, or feel that something was amiss. Whether or not I achieved that is up for debate, nonetheless I enjoyed the process and I'm happy with the result.

You can read an article written on the exhibition here.

Happy Holidays!

I recently worked with a company called Sincerely, an app company that specializes in greeting cards. They recently announced their new app, Sincerely Ink: Christmas & Holiday Cards, for which I did a few designs. I think it's cool because you can customize the cards with photos you take with your phone, then the company will print real postcards of your design which you can send out as holiday cards. Pretty cool!

The app is available soon and once it's out I'll post some of the designs I did! Stay tuned!

ABC Monday Night Movie

I totally forgot to post this forever ago. So in my last semester, while doing my independent study with Dan Krall, he had me and his Lifestyle class design three faces/hairstyles/make-up ideas based off special themes. Mine was the best! And it was the Monday Night Movie theme from ABC.

It's amazing. Check it out:

Trees and Sun collection

I developed this collection as a bedding set, trying to make sure I'm practicing my own designs outside work. I didn't do a bed mock up because I'm getting sick of using the same photos over and over. I'll have to figure out a better way to display them.

Mad Men - Don Draper

I haven't done portraits in so long it's upsetting. I'm trying to take 10-30 minutes everyday to draw and hopefully update. Here is a representation of the beautiful Don Draper from Mad Men. He's nice to look at. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Mom

The 8th was my mother's birthday, happy birthday mom!! A good excuse to practice florals.

Gah

Nothing is more discouraging than when you go to hit update on your first entry in months and an error pops up, deleting the whole thing.

Here is what I can recap

I'm giving a go at stationary, something I've never expressed much interest in. It must be my recent visits to papersource and the influence of companies like rifle co. The beautiful Rachel Beckman has recently written me some letters that have inspired me to write again. I used to keep a regular journal freshman year of college, and a pretty regular one sophomore year, two gems that I find hilarious now.

I've been trying to get the new etsy shop going, but deciding on the name along with the look and feel have held me back. However, Pinterest has been a great tool in helping me nail down what exactly I'm interested in. I highly recommend it to everyone. It's also a great place to store your recipes!

Whoa! Holy update!

I was talking to a few co-workers and realized how neglected my poor blog has been! Last semester went very well but was hectic as hell (cool sentence). One of the reasons I never posted progress photos was because it never really came together until the very end. Also, I couldn't get very good pictures. Anyway, before I could upload the good ones it was time to pack up my stuff in Baltimore and move to Minneapolis to start my new job at Target! I've been working as Assistant Designer in the adult bedding department and it's been great. The company is so amazing. Anyway, I don't want to talk too much about it but keep your eyes peeled for new updates! Now that I'm all settled in the new apartment there should lots of fun projects to come. Especially decorating ones!

Second Window Display : Zara

Here's the second window display I designed in my Independent Study for Zara.

Thesis pictures soon to come, I promise! Everything's coming together I just have one last piece to finish. I've taken some pictures already but their on Colin's camera so I keep forgetting to import them.

Hopefully I'll have commencement pictures up soon too but I'll be moving not too long afterward so it might take me a little longer. Starting June 6th, I'll be working for Target in their bedding department! Very exciting! I'm flying out this weekend to find an apartment, then the week after is graduation so I'm a very busy bee!!

J.Crew Window Display

For my last assignment in my independent study with Dan Krall, I've been designing these window displays for clothing companies I like. Here's the finished J.Crew one. It's pretty simple but I wanted to keep things clean. J.Crew is really sharp after all!

East of the Sun, West of the Moon

Things are actually starting to wind down! Thesis is almost done, I just have to write a few papers and BAM! I'm graduated. In the meantime, I've somehow found some room for a little extra project. Colin is working on a new comic this semester, East of the Sun, West of the Moon and I love all the stuff he's doing. It looks amazing. He let me do an realistic illustrator mock up of his main character and we're trying to figure out something we can do with it like an animation. We've come up with some ideas so check back to see what we got.

Here's the reference I used from Colin's comic

letter eggs

How cute are these!?!?! Please excuse my junior high punctuation just then. I've been loving all the egg design I've seen this year and I'm dying to try this. Not sure how to do it exactly or if I'll have time but somehow I'd like to fit in into my thesis. Lay them on my plates or something. I'm sure I'll never get around to it but maybe if some miracle happens and Norbert Leo Butz comes and sings to me and sets my clock back 4 years I'll have time.

New flower pillow design

Second Semester Thesis has proven to be a stressful and chaotic process. I've redone just about everything a million times but I finally finalized this pillow design.

Final Bowl Design

Oh man, everything for Thesis has gone through so many changes but I think I finally settled on a bowl design. Everything's finally coming together. (I hope!)

Another Website Revamp

Check it out!

Keds

I've really been wanting to paint my own shoes lately. I love Keds and I've been needing a new pair for a while now so I played around with this design after doing the bowls(below).

They remind me a little bit of Care-A-Lot. Hah. But I still like them.

Bowl Mock-Ups

Finally I got these done! I think for some reason I thought I should wait so I kept putting them off, but here are the mock up designs for the bowls that will be matched with the tablecloth.

Tablecloth In Progress #2

The vines didn't work out. I loved them and I loved the girls but not together. Here's my second attempt. My roommate thinks the flowers need to look a little more 3D. 3D however has never been my strong suit. I think I'm headed in the right direction I just wish it wasn't taking so long. In the mean time, I've been watching Craig's List like a hawk trying to get just the right kitchen table to display my work on for commencement. I had one and it was perfect and for some reason they gave it away before I could pick it up. I was not happy.

I've been doing some tests to see how the transfer to fabric can be done and so far I like the middle one. Unfortunately though it's not machine washable because I used Micron.

Thesis : Tablecloth in progress

Maybe not progress...maybe more like preliminary stage. I'm having a rough time with this one but I want to make it count so I'm being a perfectionist. My biggest problem is I don't know how I want to actually make it. Digitally print? paint? screenprint? micron? I'm not too sure. I've been doing a lot of samples and so far I think I'm liking the micron best for the linework, I just have to be careful not to let it bleed, however, then I'm unsure how to get the vinework looking good. This is rough!

Here's a sample of the digital version:

Embroidery : Scandinavian Houses

I was doing some research and I came upon these beautiful pictures of a Scandinavian village.

I wanted to do something with them and then I remembered that I had been wanting to play around with embroidery again so I did a little experimenting. I didn't have as many colors as I would've liked because I used a lot of my embroidery floss when I made my Marni doll. But I managed well I think.

I'd forgotten how relaxing embroidery was. I'm trying to figure out how I can incorporate it into my thesis. I'm thinking of just doing a bunch of "embroidery paintings".

Valentine's Day Cards

This semester I'm doing an Independent Study with Daniel Krall and for my first assignment I had to do two Valentine's Day illustrations based on Valentine's Dos and Don'ts. My girl is "Don't wear hearts unless it's your underwear" and my boy is "Do right her a love song". I've made them both into cards and I'm definitely going to pass them out on the 14th! Happy Valentine's Day!

Wood Grain pattern

As part of my dinnerware collection I created this wood grain pattern to be used for the napkins. This picture is just a photoshopped example but once the fabric comes in I'll have pictures of the real things including the napkin rings.

Thesis patterns yay!

Some patterns I'll be using for thesis...

The russian doll is an image I've always wanted to attempt. Despite their current popularity in surface design, they always remind me of a certain Russian Doll my mother kept on her bureau while I was growing up. I remember it was brown, had a red mouth, and this beautiful red flower pattern along the bottom.

I've been doing these triangle patterns for a while now and I just can't seem to get enough of them. There's something about them that my psyche goes crazy for. I think they're deeply rooted somewhere in my childhood. I think it might've been those really old cartoons I used to watch as a kid.
Very much like this Chuck Jones cartoon, The Dot and the Line : A Romance in Lower Mathematics

Thesis - Take Two!

It's that time again...The second semester is here and I am already swamped with new projects! I'm very excited though and I can only apologize for not updating sooner.

First things first:
I knew I wanted to continue to design patterns and make products but I wanted to take things just a little further and explore the sale aspect. I assumed early on that I would just use my Etsy account, but then as things progressed I realized that wasn't personal enough, so ridiculous me, I decided to make my own online store.

The name is temporary. I'm still trying to find that perfect fit. Damn being a perfectionist. To me, having a store in progress requires good record keeping of inspiration and production. You'll be seeing a lot of that here and probably a layout revamp.

I want the store to be a mix of naturey rustic and retro patterns. It makes a little more sense looking at my palette and sketches

As for the actual products, one thing I plan to make are books in collaboration with Eleni Giorgos, an amazingly talented artist. In addition, pillows, plates, napkins, clothing, bags, and more.

That's all for now! More to come!