Moving to Tumblr...

It's only natural, but I find myself and my work more relevant/interactive in the tumblrverse. So I have moved my blog here-> danniwudoodles.tumblr.com. Enjoy the new location, and if you have a tumblr, add me! :)

some recent doodles from the summer

Hey, I just started my senior year at CCS this past week and I realized that I haven't done a real blog update in awhile. My apologizes, but here are two sketches I did as of late. Stay tuned for some really cool projects going into the following weeks (movie, promo related), and more updates (freelance work).

I'm not dead. I'm just outside, biking.

and working... currently in the office weekdays and studio/outside weekends. painting, sketching, biking..... and cooking up a storm too.*

something I am currently painting in memory of Ray Bradbury. RIP, I will love books forever.

 

I have been biking almost everyday now, as the weather gets hot and the riverfront is the only thing cool besides the pubs and etc. I bought this rare art book about Andrew Wyeth's 15 year portrayal of his neighbor, Helga, in paintings and drawings. My new House Industries Font Catalog came in the mail... I am working on some letterpress designing and etc at the moment. I also got a cool old tobacco tin as a business card holder. Until I can get/make a fabric/leather one for myself, this will do. 

 *this is creepier when people outside your family tell you you're going to make a man happy because you can cook and clean and bike. 

Letterpress Promo Stickers

So my last project in my intro letterpress class was to make whatever I wanted. I decided to make sticker sheets after looking at my vintage labels book for inspiration. My sketches have been mostly just icon/logo/comics based while I was in class and my professor Bryan was very helpful with critique and suggestions.
Here are the plates from the wonderfully local photoengravers and diemakers at Owosso Graphic Arts:

 To be honest, the offset crazy prints were much more interesting to me. mis-registered things can be really neat. I plan to make more of these sticker sheets in the future and hopefully I can do more designs with more funny awkward themes.
 This weekend, I'm going to the Logan Center at the University of Chicago for the Comics: Philosophy & Practice Conference. Three days of amazing things and I'm definitely going to be scripting/sketching things for future comics/books. Hopefully I'll get to meet some of my idols at this event and even more so, meet fellow cartoonists/artists/illustrators/writers/publishers/etc- all the creative people who make up the industry from what it was to what it is to what it will become.

 I'll be updating more often since the summer has started, so bear with me and the slow updates since I've been working around the Student Exhibition at CCS (Illustration is on the 10th floor and it's open to the public until May 25th). Also a lot of life happened.

If my 3G works in Chicago, I'll be making tweets about my trip and more info about this blog, my art, and the people I meet. Please follow @wudanni if you want.

Always, Forever & Other Lies

I spent forever trying to figure out a title for my book, and came up with this. Still fixing some things to design a cover layout for the book, but these posts keep me motivated to finish this project! :D

More to come!

Thank You/Hugh letterpress project

My "Thank Hugh" cards are done! :)

HUGH is a housewares shop inspired by mid-century design and classic bachelor pad living that brings some old fashioned sophistication to contemporary spaces, a reference to Detroit's heyday and style (the architecture in the D alone is worth a trip!).

Since the success of its pop-up store inception in 2009 and 2010, HUGH has won the Hatch Detroit Competition ($50k 1st place prize!) to become a permanent retail venture right in my Midtown neighborhood, located at the new in-construction Auburn building down in the Cass Corridor area. Currently, HUGH plans to open in the fall after construction completes in August.

For the 3rd project in Letterpress, the goal was to produce something that would require multiple, consistent editions for someone/some place (like a real client job, falling under designing stationary, letterheads, business cards, labels, etc). As a student that now considers Detroit a second home, I wanted to promote HUGH because it represents one of the many positive additions to the development of the city and community.

The editions are done and trimmed, but I want to take this assignment even further in the future. In the process, I learned a lot about proofing. and proofing. and more proofing.

Here are some thumbnails and process shots of my printing. :)

Self-portraits are weird.

For my first real digital painting in Tradigital, we had to do a self portrait that reflected an aspect of us (public or private). As a fan of parody and genre-based work, mine is about Star Trek cosplay and digital work spaces (I wish I had a cintiq).

TIME Magazine cover

For Tradigital , we were given a mock TIME cover job that had to cover the SOPA/PIPA controversy and legislation.

I wanted to explore a deeper symbolism in this piece using ancient mythology, but don't know if this reads as well as it could have (Cerberus's 3 heads have tags labeled the RIAA, MPAA, and GOV*). On the technical side, doing more inking and then applying digital color is a relatively new process for me, but I like the effects of it, and would probably make more edits to this with applied textures.

*alright, the "GOV" one seems too generic, but I'm considering other options.

Letterpress! :D

I'm super excited to say that I've been working in letterpress and I really like the look of linocuts- something to consider in future projects and designs.

My first broadside was based on the theme of space, and I chose to focus on the personal space of relationships. The linocut image is a true love knot, which is acts in the same way as a chinese fingertrap, composed of 2 overhand knots that tighten when pulled in opposite directions, inseparable yet flexible.

The 2nd project was for "impossible" ephemera, so I created posters for a "Pirate Craft Fair" event (not that I discriminate against pirates who are into crafts and knitting, but it is highly unlikely to happen). The knit bootie shape was made with xerox transfers.

Spot Illustration from my book

I'm currently working on a semester long book, and it's been a long process figuring out how to do pages in it...

here's a teaser spread from my book about relationships:

Looking at it, I think I'll go back and make some edits again.

doodling

I'm a little behind on updating this blog, but here's recent ink doodle for fun, based on some photos from this book I got on Florence and Tuscany.

NYCC part 1

So this is one of three posts related to my experience at NYCC back in October. I just haven't really been able to update my blog about anything since I got back to school....

First off, I did some artist doodles (apparently nobody does doodles of the artists as they doodle... I was so META):

It was a great chance to practice getting a quick likeness down (these were roughly 5-10 mins each). Also sorry about writing "bearsex" next to Craig's face... I had to take some important notes for future illustrations.

Let's get down to the cool stuff... SWAG:

I bought a copy of Robbi's webcomic, Frankie Get Your Gun while I was smoozing in artist alley. :] Check out his work on his deviantart and the blog on his webcomic.

Had to get an issue of American Vampire signed by SGM himself. The guy is too cool and you can check out his deviantart. If I had the money, I'd buy an original spread from Joe the Barbarian or Hellblazer.

Awwwww I got to meet Yuko and Ananth of Johnny Wander! :3 Webcomics are amazing.

Did I mention I got this sweet Wolverine sketch from Guillermo Ortega? SO WORTH $30.

And much more stuff will be covered in the next NYCC-related post. I have to write a review for this graphic novel and etc.

motion graphics are hard

After Effectssssss whattttt.

so I had a 10-15 min overview of AfterEffects when I started this little motion graphic comic thing for my Fashion & Lifestyle Illustration class. It's not the best since I need to take a class to really know how to do this stuff, but I'm interested in taking an elective if I can.

Here is some process work, and I'll post the video later this weekend. :D

Sketches to loosen up

Thumbnails (I somehow lost some more that lead to the final one)

Final lineart


Light studies

Color studies

Screenshot

Basically I learned that I should draw the lineart in separate sections to animate... but this was a 2 part assignment in which I had already made the lineart all on one spread. With time constraints, I had to just work around it. Lessons learned indeed.

It was a 10 sec loop, but after my experience, I really appreciate people who work in this medium.

doodle during finals

so I should be work on finals stuff but I wanted to doodle.

Not dead, just into finals time and I haven't complied any in progress stuff on here.

Not to mention I have still yet to review some things from NYCC since my trip was amazingly inspiring.

For now, I did a little doodle for the new and improved Jerk n' Draw, now named J+D Just Draw (much more professional sounding, I might add).

More, more, more... books and things I enjoy

So I hit the ground running (quite literally running around) a bit this Sept. But I'm glad it happened this way. I could have been QWOPing my way instead.

Currently I'm working on a few things for Noel Night and more books have entered my library... I think I have a spending problem (or rather, I was stressed out/ill and I socialized and materialized my efforts).

Syd Mead was at the Taubman Center Campus Bookstore a bit over a week ago and I got to get my book signed for this special occasion. He's back on book tour for 2012 and apparently designed some concept restaurant in New York... I want to go there.

I bought Yoshitaka Amano's Final Fantasy Art Book while at Detroit Fanfare and dug up my old japanese art book of his to compare. Both cover an extensive amount of creative energy and wide range of efforts.

The IDEA magazines are just breathtaking beautiful publications from Japan on typography and graphic design. Somehow, the approach is much more whimsical over the Pacific. Mildly 80s and very avant-garde.

This came in during the week of Syd Mead's visit and I read it in about one sitting. Habibi invokes the old times of Arabian Nights and long form epics of more European comic artists. This felt like I was reading something monumental, in the same vein as watching The English Patient in some ways.

And this is more research/personal swag that I had to get recently to calm the beast within. Seriously. That Blade Runner Soundtrack is worth a lot more in the market and it's out of print.

I must go and write a paper now and return items to people.

More personal branding and artwork in future posts, as I prepare my upcoming trip to NY Comic Con and meet up with friends, old and new.