Octitan

Today's nap time doodle session. Pen on cardboard with color added digitally.

Excavators

Doodling on a Friday night may lead to odd and quirky excavations. I often think of my doodling as excavating the designs hidden beneath the surface of the paper, or in this case cardboard. At least I use that as a starting point and then things take on a direction of their own.

This was pen on a piece of cardboard packaging, color added digitally.

Pollenation

Here's a new drawing I just finished up. Going through my old sketchbooks made me pick up a ball point pen which used to be my pen of choice. Now I prefer rollerball tips which behave a little more consistently. I used a pen my father in law made on his lathe which is good for writing but feels a little weird to draw with. But having a few small obstacles like that forces an element of unpredictability into the process which is nice. As has been my usual practice of late, all color was done digitally so the original is black and white only and can be viewed on our flickr page if you click on the image.

Old School #5 - The Beast with Yoda

This is yet another whacked out drawing from my old high school sketch book. I was definitely into the abstract surreal stream of consciousness doodling at the time. Can you find the hidden Yoda?

Ols School #4 - Shaman

Continuing this theme of old sketches pulled my sketchbook from high school, circa 1993.

Old School #3 - Oculous

Another little sketch from my old high school sketch book circa 1993.

Old School #3 - Mesa Verde's Mad

Here is another drawing from my old high school sketch book circa 1993. If you click on the picture you can see a larger version on flickr as a lot of the detail get's lost at this small blog size.

Old School #2 - Cuvicle

Another one from my old sketchbook circa 1993, my senior year in high school.

Old School #1 - Note to Self

I pulled out some old sketchbooks from high school when my friend Ian told me about a call for submissions for an art show he thought I was up my alley. So I started scanning in old drawings to archive them as the books are getting old and paper is yellowing.

This is one of my favorites from this book. I'll be posting a bunch more over the next couple weeks too so stay tuned.

Site Survey Project #25 - Tire Tape

So this is the last one of these for a while. I had done 35 of them originally but I've gotten bored with them and felt like doing all 35 was beating a dead horse to death. So this is it for now. I may do more next year or so if I feel like a performing an equine resurrection so I can beat it to death some more.

Source Photo - Pretty obvious, a tire. When surveying a vehicle for applying graphics I'll often take a close up of the tire or some other part with a tape measure to use to scale everything up.

Now it's time to drive this series off into the sunset.

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The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company. For more details about this project see my original post about it here.

Site Survey Project #24 - Investors Unite

Source Photos - Doubled up two photos on this one, each of the support structure that was part of a large sign / awning structure that cantilevered off the front of a building. Often times the lines between a sign and other architecture can get pretty blurry.

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The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company. For more details about this project see my original post about it here.

Site Survey Project #23 - Harborside

Source Photo - A new apartment complex that was under construction. We were proposing a new sign to go on this entrance tower. At the moment this shot was taken the building was in a partially skeletal phase.

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The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company. For more details about this project see my original post about it here.

Site Survey Project #22 - Pink Grill

Source Photo - A roof mount channel letter set. Not much else to say except this is one of my favorites in this series.

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The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company. For more details about this project see my original post about it here.

Site Survey Project #21 - Fickle Picket

Source Photo - This was a revisit to a sign we had built and installed a few years prior. There was some maintenance required and this shot was noting the condition of the paint and wood. Nothing a fresh coat of paint won't fix.

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The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company. For more details about this project see my original post about it here.

Site Survey Project - #20 Open City

Source Photo - The corner of a parking lot where it was being considered to place a more prominent and detailed parking sign.
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The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company. For more details about this project see my original post about it here.

Site Survey Project - #19 Door Mon

Happy Monday! Here's another image from this series.

Source Photo - Noting the lettering style on a door that we would need to replace some numerals on as the hours of operation changed.
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The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company. For more details about this project see my original post about it here.

Site Survey Project - #18 American

Source Photo - An old sign at a veterans' hall. Hence the all American KFC color scheme. Everyone wants to update to a fancy new LED display until they find out how much they cost and that county code cracking down on animation or scrolling text makes them not so alluring anymore.

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The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company. For more details about this project see my original post about it here.

Site Survey Project - #17 Dulaney Blue

Source Photo - This is one of my favorites in this series. This was an existing sign that had a pipe bungee corded to the base of it. I presume they had some sort of flag or other sign they would stick in the pipe from time to time. This sign was pretty beat up. Located on a median at an entrance to a facility, I imagine it had multiple encounters with vehicles.

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The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company. For more details about this project see my original post about it here.

Site Survey Project - #16 Capital

Source Photos - Two shots of an ATM machine that we were producing graphics for. One of the outside and one of the "guts". Not only was this a money machine but for a financial client so this one has money written all over it. I'll start the bidding at 1 million dollars *insert maniacal laughter ala super-villain here*.

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The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company. For more details about this project see my original post about it here.

Site Survey Project - #15 Oliver Pratt

Source Photo - An ale house in town we do a lot of work for. This is a corner of the building they were considering placing a sign. This was my way of noting an existing light that could potentially be utilized to highlight a new sign.

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The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company. For more details about this project see my original post about it here.

Site Survey Project - #14 Brothers Fall

Source Photo - This was the side of a building where the client had already built a support frame for a banner that was destroyed by wind. We provided a more rigid and lasting solution for their billboard. I remember that it was autumn when I shot this and somehow the textures of this wall reflect that seasonal sense to me.

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The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company. For more details about this project see my original post about it here.

Squirrel!!!

Squirrel!!!, originally uploaded by Mr & Mrs Speeed.

We interrupt this regularly scheduled site survey project stream to bring you this important photo of my boy being blessed by the squirrel equivalent of Totoro.

Site Survey Project - #13 Bed Red Sky

Source Photo - Another cabinet silhouetted against a sky with power running to it in the air. The face had fallen out of this one and the client confided in me the person who installed it was a crack head.

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The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company. For more details about this project see my original post about it here.

Site Survey Project - #12 Caribbean

Source Photo - A Caribbean style restaurant where we were looking at placing a set of channel letters. Hence the use of Caribbean colors on this one.

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The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company. For more details about this project see my original post about it here.

Site Survey Project - #11 Bonded Sky

This week most of these will be looking up a bit skyward.

Source Photo - An old exiting cabinet that had power run to it up in the air. Always wary of these old beasts. Wires silhouetted across a sky are always nice to look at though they make me a little nervous.

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The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company. For more details about this project see my original post about it here.

Site Survey Project - #10 Ruxton Nation

Source Photo - An existing sign cornice that we may have needed to match for another sign to go in the same neighborhood. Don't remember what exactly Obama was doing on the front page of the newspaper that day, but this was shortly after the election. There was snow on the ground and layered on top of everything.

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The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company. For more details about this project see my original post about it here.

Site Survey Project - #9 Saint Paca

Source Photo - A semi exterior stone wall where the client, a historic church site, wished to place a system of dedication plaques.

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The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company. For more details about this project see my original post about it here.

Site Survey Project - #8 SOM POV

Source Photo - A certain well known medical school in town needed to have a lot of sidelights at the entrance to rooms frosted out so people could not see in but light could still pass through. The rooms also had a lot of windows on one wall that directly faced an apartment complex. They wanted to have those windows also treated so that the students could see out but the residents of the apartments would not be unnerved to look across the way and see the students working on cadavers. We treated the sidelights but I don't know what they ended up doing for those windows.

Looking through multiple portals at once: This was looking through the sidelight, which had the dot pattern on part of the glass, through the room and out the window to the windows of the apartment across the way.

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The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company. For more details about this project see my original post about it here.

Site Survey Project - #7 Sutton

Been out of town for a few days in Tulsa with family, hence the lack of posts. We're back after a long day of traveling through airports so here is the next in the series.

Source Photo - This is on the roof of a high rise apartment building. They were considering placing their logo on the side of this mechanical systems structure. It would be visible from miles around. Ownership in the property changed and interest waned.

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The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company. For more details about this project see my original post about it here.

Site Survey Project - #6 Tavern

Source Photo - One of the taverns in town that was looking to update their old existing sign.

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The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company. For more details about this project see my original post about it here.

Site Survey Project - #5 Aliceanna

Source Photo - This is part of a custom sign we provided. I had to go back and resurvey it as the client had changed their logo and wanted to see about modifying or replacing this sign to reflect the new brand. This was one of the rare cases where the intent of the original sign was to be rough and worn rather than shiny and new.

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The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company. For more details about this project see my original post about it here.

Site Survey Project - #4 Tic Tan

Source Photo - A big interior illuminated cabinet that the client was considering retrofitting with LEDs. A costly proposition that was never implemented.

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The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company. For more details about this project see my original post about it here.

Site Survey Project - #3 Washington

Source Photo - Some vandals made off with the sign that was supported by this post (and it's mate not shown.) The posts had become loose over time making it easy to yank the sign out and make off with it. I imagine it's decor in some teenagers room right now. The purpose of this photo was to note the nature and location of the routs on the post so a new panel could be made to fit.

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The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company. For more details about this project see my original post about it here.

The Site Survey Project #2 - Wyndhurst

Here is no. 2 in the SSP series. This image was of a roof where we were contemplating placing a sign on a custom fabricated bracket to fit the pitch of the roof and hold the sign vertically. In the end the signs ended up being placed where the old existing signs were, elsewhere on the building. As is often the case this original idea was a bit of a dead end. But I don't consider such things a waste of time, rather a valuable step in figuring out the final solution. Often dead ends contain hidden doors to a more desirable route.

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The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company. For more details about this project see my original post about it here.

Introducing the Site Survey Project - #1 Alterwood

SSP - Alterwood, originally uploaded by Mr & Mrs Speeed.

The Site Survey Project is a series of graphic images created from photographs I took during site surveys for my work at Chesapeake Sign Company.

Original photos were purely utilitarian photos to record some detail of an existing sign or site to be repaired or replaced. No thought was given to artistic composition at the time. I came up with this idea and went back through old site survey photos and picked ones that seemed to have some compositional interest. I then vectorized them through a color trace process using only 3 or 4 colors. Made some tweaks to color sometimes adding a couple more colors by using different stroke and fill colors on an object.

Something about taking a non artistic photo of an object designed for graphic communication that is in decay, then reducing that photo to a few colors and turning it into it's own graphic and then presenting it as a piece of art says something about the cyclic and transient nature of communication and design. Though I'm not sure what.

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This image is from a section of an sandblasted sign that was falling apart due to poor construction. A delivery person had hit the previous sign and offered to replace it. He did a very poor job making the replacement and it was not long before we were called in to replace it properly.

sea witch

sea witch, originally uploaded by Mr & Mrs Speeed.

I worked this Cecaelia up over the weekend. We recently got a membership to the aquarium so perhaps that influenced this marine based monstrosity. As is typical with a lot of my drawings I did not start out with a plan, or rather I did and then quickly diverted from it as soon as I began. It reminds me of a blend of Mayan, Greek mosaic and modern pop styles.

paperwork

I had a meeting with a client this week at one of the cafe's downtown. He was running a bit late so I sketched the man sitting at the table across from me. The man was working away on a bunch of paperwork. Despite my trying not to be obviously staring at him I think he picked up on me looking over at him periodically and eventually he got up and left. I can't help but wonder what he was working on so intently.

autumn eyes

It's so hot today I'm longing for cooler climbs and autumn days where the air is crisp and the leaves are falling from the trees and starring at you. Ok so that last part may be a bit strange, but that is what I scribbled up a while back when I stumbled onto this site: http://www.zefrank.com/scribbler/scribblertoo/
It's a fun little tool that I expect to back and play with some more from time to time. So here's looking at you zefrank!

Emerson's Mural

We decided to paint a mural on Emerson's wall. Hanging on his wall has been a painting my aunt Sarah did of the volcano Conception on the island of Ometepe in Nicaragua which is where we conceived Emerson. So we decided to base the mural around that painting adding in the rest of the island and the second mother volcano Madera. Since that was high up on the wall we figured we add a bunch of fun vegetation to the foreground and the base of the wall. But first we had to paint it blue.



Then I sketched out the basic shapes and Anilia blocked in the color for the plants. You can see Sarah's painting hanging on the wall for inspiration.



Then I started adding in detail on the plants. Also hanging on the wall for inspiration is an original Kent Angert masterpiece. You can see by the age of two he was already exploring his abstract expressionist side.



Next I decided some curly cue growth emerging from the shadows was in order. Little A loves curly cues and I think their pretty fun too. Started laying the foundation for the island and some waves here too.



Now it was time to take Sarah's painting down so I could paint the area behind it. in case the painting ever is not there the mural still makes sense without it. I did not include the Volacan Conception though. Don't ask me why or I'll be forced to make up some metaphysical symbolic reason to justify it as art. Also colored in the lone flower in foreground in a nice bright red which Emerson immediately honed in on.



Some detail shots:





With some of the other preexisting decorations back in place. We had bought this light switch cover quite a while back before we lived here and finally decided it should go here now.



And Sarah's painting back in place. Thanks Sarah for the wonderful painting that inspired this whole thing.

Band Posters

It's been a while since I've posted anything. Been so busy with the little one and all. Here is a poster I just finished up for my band Deep Tree Mantra's upcoming performance at the Johns Hopkins Outdoor Summer Film Series. For those of you in the area, come check it out. It's free, family friendly and following our performance will be a screening of the stop motion action film The Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Also eating up my time as of late was a recent reunion show for my old band The Penny Regime at the Ottobar. It was a heck of a lot of fun to get back together with the boys and rock out our old songs again. Here is the poster I designed for that little shindig.