OPEN SOURCE MONSTER 03

Good morning. How are you? I hope ou’ve had a great week. Judging by the brilliant Open Source Monsters that came in this week, you’ve all been having way too much fun! Excellent! Please take a look at all the great creatures:

Berkes_blot03
Inanna_03
Rauschmonster4_inkblot3
Saylor_3_2
Schluutter_03a
Schluutter_03b
Sousa_03
Weitzelblot3
West_inkmonster_gvw_003_2

Nice work! These are getting good, guys! I’m totally blown away!
It so much fun to see all the variety that’s coming out of one simple ink shape.
Kevin Carroll at katalystatlarge.com loves all your submissions, too.

Thank you so much for sending in your creations. I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ll make of OPEN SOURCE BLOT 04.

In the meantime, here’s my own version of OSM Number 3,
sporting a stylish V neck sweater. Very preppy.
Maybe he’s a member of Skull & Bones.

Osm03

Eric at FWIS is putting the finishing touches on the 344 online store. I finally got both my seller’s permit and my Pasadena business license earlier this week, so we finally have Whitey’s blessing to go live. Expect the launch next week. I can’t tell you how excited I am to begin this new experiment.

Last week, the amazing Christoph Niemann came to visit Art Center and told us a little bit about his practice back in New York. That man has it wired. He makes funny drawings at an almost alarming rate and gets them published in all the cool places. But I’m actually not jealous (for once. :^) Christoph is a smart and charming man and I’m happy that good things are happening for him. How can you not love a guy who comes up with a story about a cloud that wants to join the NYPD? We could also be stunt doubles for each other. Same height, same build, same glasses. It was a little bit eerie, actually. Perhaps there is potential for Clone Wars : Clash of the Krauts.

Right now I am writing to you at the end of a 38-hour day. The new STEP column for the May/June issue was (over)due and I had to muscle through it at long last. Somehow it’s still scary to start projects like that. As per usual, I ended up pacing around the office for hours before I finally managed to sit down and do the work. From that point on it takes about 12 to 15 hours of straight labor for each column. In other words, it’s pretty much the exact opposite of making the monsters. But somehow the end result still feels closely related to the creatures, and I love how the pages come out. Here’s a teaser:

Inkcircumstance_03_07_04

After all these years of making things for publication I had hoped that it would get a little bit easier to get past my anxieties and sit down to start work, but hey… I’ll take it how it comes. Nice to know that there’s still all kinds of sanity left to claim in the years to come. :^)

In other news, work continues on the David Hockney catalog. I can’t wait to show you that finished product. It’ll be simple, but spectacular. When you get to work with such amazing paintings, all you have to do as a designer is get out of the way. You can check out the show online at the L.A. Louver site

Later today I get to illustrate the High Priority section header for next week’s issue of New York Magazine, which should be pretty cool! I’m getting the copy today and I have until Monday to deliver the piece. It’s a very cool challenge and I’m raring to go! I’ll post the results next week, before I head off to San Diego to give a workshop at the 12th annual AIGA Y Conference.

The Y team always puts on an amazing event and I can’t wait to see this year’s speakers. They’ve got another great bill lined up. In this or any other year, the Y is probably the single best value for your conference dollar. It looks like they still have a few tickets left on their site. If you’re in the area, I hope you’ll come by and say Hello.

For now, I hope that you’re going to have a fabulous first spring weekend.
If you can find a daisy where you are, start plucking.
You can forget the I Love You Not’s.
Every petal means that 344 LOVES YOU

5 Comments

  • 23 March 2007 8:34 am

    holy cow! you are back in fine form…i’ve hardly had time to look at open source 3 yet! welcome back!

  • 23 March 2007 1:14 pm

    Georg von Westphalen’s Ink Blot #3 x 9 ‘Eternal Beauty’ is amazing. I want to learn German so I can read his comics.

  • paula
    23 March 2007 1:46 pm

    Help!!!! where and how do i send in my monster?????

  • Maleen
    23 March 2007 1:47 pm

    hehe.. not maleen AND cheyenne, it was me who did them all alone ( without the help of my sister who is eight years younger than me! i am proud! ;))
    anyway, i adore all of the monsters! they are awesome! it’s so interesting to see how so many different creatures can be developed from one ink blot! great!

  • 24 March 2007 5:13 am

    I have a bad feeling that I’m going to leave a lot of money in that store 😉

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