recently

Lady bugs invaded. They were terrifying.

I've been working in the studio

I've been working in the studio

The harbor over flowed.

I went to the POSTTYPOGRAPHY Lettering and Type Book release party.
And tasted the fondant from Charm City Cakes.

Batly!

acrylic ritual

Recently I've been thinking a lot about ownership of personal identity and body image in relation to popular culture.
I think that this is been inadvertently expressed within my work.
Actually not inadvertently, but directly.

My most recent flash animation is an at home tutorial for applying acrylic tips to your fingernails.
I have to figure out how to upload flash to the internet, but here is the opening frame.



(keep in mind that the text is animated - it changes colors and hovers up and down, and that her nails also flash colors at very quick impulses)


It was really interesting to watch people interact with the game today in it's half finished state.
I was surprised at the amount of people who had absolutely no idea what this acrylic ritual entailed, or that it even existed.

I still have a lot of work to do on it, but I'm confident it's going to be pretty excellent when it's finished.

meow

I'm drinking lemon tea, finish my photo imaging homework and online window shopping.

This top is fabulous.

Is it the weekend yet? Can I get my paycheck?

Minnie, those are so you.

Robert Clergerie 'Douz' Platform Pump

"never trust a man who looks like Omar Sharif"

It's about 42 degrees in Baltimore, and the middle of October? What is this?!
I'm completely unprepared- my coats are in Jersey. All I've got is this stylish fashion-cape, but it's warm so we good.

Fall break starts today, I'm staying around instead of heading back up north. Gotta get some work done and embark on some entrepreneurial ventures which will remain hush hush for the time being.

But anyway I had a (surprisingly) good crit in experimental type for my final cyrillic hang tags. Ken was really into them. I was unsure of the final product just because they felt a little too playful and a little too naive, you know? But Ken said that it worked and it was kind of reminiscent of J. Otto; which I could get down with- I liked Olive the Other Reindeer.

Here are jpgs of the tags before I printed and cut them out on fawn stonehenge. They fold down the middle. There is a string that ties around the folded center and then around the tag on the other end.


Plush - Holiday


Plush - Valentine


Plush- Spring

I presented the hang tags in three different colorways, with the intention for the boutique to change them with the season, look for that month; making the tags themselves feel like more of a covetable item than just an indicator

In other news: the Duck Sauce video for aNYway finally came out.
I AM OBSESSED. So amazing.
I'm so happy for the Fool's Gold Fam. Enjoy!

Duck Sauce "aNYway" (Surface To Air version) from A-Trak on Vimeo.

on my grind, you know?

Per usual- this has been a busy week!

Matt McNary from Hammerpress came to Baltimore for the first time. Jenna graciously agreed to drive/accompany me to BWI to pick him up Monday afternoon. The only airport I'm familiar with is EWR otherwise known as Newark International; so it was fun to go explore. It was a pretty surreal experience, everything was very clean, shiny, and surprisingly quiet minus the sudden bombast of the airport's version the "if you see something say something" announcements.

Went to Soup's On for lunch and Brewer's Art for dinner on Monday- two Mt. Vernon staples I'd never experienced, but thoroughly enjoyed! Had interesting design/production discussion over dinner with the chair of my department , the shop tech for our printmaking facility, Matt, a graphic design grad student, and two other undergrad friends. Also had a celebratory Domo slurpee (see photo above) after a real successful AIGA membership drive.

I'm actually excited for my upcoming photo imaging / flash projects - will keep you posted as they further develop.

VH1 Hip Hop Honors are on right now - y'all should tune in, it's mad good.
(LOVE RUSSELL SIMMONS & RICK RUBIN)



I gotta go find a blanket or something- it's freezing in this historic (drafty) apartment.

xo
mel

in my head all day 'ery day

best ever

thnx brother catchdubs

smang over sunday

I needa make some chicken noodle soup asap.
Do you have gatorade for me?
My electrolytes need replenishing.

Finished my duotone print- very pleased- will post photos after crit.

I should probably get a bike. I'd rather get a car.
I need 20 more jobs. You need something designed?
Want a dope print? Someone to manage your life on the internet?
A personal reference to 90s popular culture?


my phone has good internet - i should get a twitter

sunday morning thoughts, yoi.

time to roll out of bed and do some homework.

needa learn how to make things that move that aren't related to flash

Today Nathan showed me his little brother Graham's videos. Dude is 16 years old, making these gnarly shorts and putting them on the internet. That's pretty dope. That's more than some people at my art college do.

If you got a minute watch a couple; I'm into this springsteen/jonasbro/singleladies video; it's mind blowing



I just found out Max is making some ill videos too

Redman Complex from bonerevolution on Vimeo.

Can't wait to see what he does next with this media; that was so so so dope.

In related news:
Screenprinting was good today - my professor talked to me about Lil Wayne and I got a lot of work done.
Experimental Lettering class also went well - good feedback on my cyREALic project.

exciting!

I'm currently enjoying the afternoon at my parents house in New Jersey.
I came back up north for a minute to get a new phone (because mine broke in two; thanks for nothing LG) and spend some time with my family.
My mom just told me my post about Parra from February was reblogged by Sarah at Oatmeal and Cinnamon who was a guest blogger at Design*Sponge. This of course happened in April and I didn't find out stil now, but that's still rad.

I have to write a paper for my Film Theory class at some point this weekend. We started to watch Italian Neorealist films last week, I'm looking forward to French New Wave. So I should probably go get a start on that instead of marveling in the internet. Also I'm so excited about my next project for hand lettering class, it's in cyrillic! I was kind of intimidated by it before, but now I'm just happy to step out of my comfort zone a little bit and make something I'd never thought to make before.

I'll leave you with these cool Apple accessories by .Incase curated by Arktip Steven Harrington & Krink- I'm in love.

bundle up

this is going to be a must for winter

kind of late on this

but I really like what David Ellis is saying in the first video, the second video is from the opening