movies that grow with you

Movies are an interesting thing. For example, I can go watch a Harry Potter movie and be happy....but I really feel like I only need to see it once or twice. The movies that I really love are the ones that you can watch time and time again, but are always different depending on where you are in your life. I thought I would make a quick list of some of my favorite movies like this....

1. ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND



This has to be one of my favorite all time movies...very weird and different, and a movie you pretty much have to watch a second time to fully understand. Even though the movie is based in fantasy, the themes and the relationships between the characters seem so real that you can always find a little bit of yourself in the film.

2. GARDEN STATE



This is one of my favorite scenes from Garden State. I really believe it is the climax of the film and where it all starts to come together for Large.

3. THE DARJEELING LIMITED



My favorite Wes Anderson. I love the three personalities of the brothers...really makes me want to go on a soul searching trip to India!

4. AWAY WE GO



I can't wait to watch this movie when I am looking for a place to settle myself. The characters, though outrageous and a little out there at times, have qualities that are totally recognizable and common...and I think that a lot of the emotions that the main characters are going through are universal even if you aren't having a baby or moving....plus who doesn't love John Krasnski!


Any other movies that fit in this category?

full scale model chair design

We had our crit today for full scale chair models. Here's what mine looks like!

more passion pit

because I love them so much and the video is sweet, here's another passion pit video.

final chair direction....and 100th post!

For my 100th post, I thought I would share my refined chair direction!

connections: life drawing and ID drawing

One of my favorite parts of life drawing is gesture drawings. Gesture drawings are very quick drawings that quickly capture the essence of a pose. The best life drawings are drawn quickly and with a lot of energy, which is usually evident in the markmaking.

As I was gesture drawing in class today, I was thinking that a good way to teach ID'ers to sketch quickly is to have them draw "gesture" drawings of products: a series of 1 minute "poses" of a product to quicky capture the idea. Sketches that are drawn quickly and with energy are much more interesting than "drawings" and better exude confidence and productivity. I think the life drawing classes I took in high school helped me tremendously in developing my ID sketching skills in college.

Check out this comparison...

Some nice gesture drawings by Ryan Savas


Carl Liu's sketches...

As you can see from the above sketches, both sets of sketches are energetic, dynamic, and still show a lot of information while remaining "sketchy." I bet Carl Liu has done some figure drawing in his time!

Figure Drawing

In addition to the chair studio and des comm, I am taking a fine arts figure drawing class where we get to draw nude models. I have always loved figure drawing, so it feels good to be doing it again (although 8 hours a week of figure drawing is really exhausting on top of my other classes). Here are a few drawings from my last class...

Chair Minis

For our chair studio, we made miniature models of our concepts to get a better feeling of form and materials. Here are my mini chairs:

Chair studio progress

I don't have any of my sketches scanned yet for my chair studio, but I believe I have a direction which I thought I would share....


The form is inspired by inchworms and how they move. The chair can be sit on three ways: one way as a stool, and two ways as a rocker. It is made of bent plywood, acrylic, and felt.

I have more refining to do on the concept, but I believe it is my chosen direction.

Designing men's beauty products

In our DesComm class this quarter, we are doing a group project centered around designing a brand and a line of product. Our group (me, Tracy Subisak, and Michael Kandel) are focusing on a line of beauty products for men including an eye cream, moisturizer/toner, and razor/facial hair trimmer.

Yesterday we presented our first phase of research and concepts. Here is the image board that I was responsible for...



Here are a few of my preliminary sketches...



I will update with more progress as the quarter continues.....

Cleverness

While browsing The Dieline today for some packaging inspiration, I came across this whiskey bottle concept that I thought was pretty clever....


The brand, titled Mr. Burgular, features a thermosensitive graphic that reveals fingerprints when the consumer touches the bottle. The experience surrounding the bottle is very compelling, and would make me want to buy the product even though I don't really like whiskey.

I think packaging is a good area to produce some clever results, especially involving materials.

happy friday, and pre-fourth of july!

The Sweetly Diabolic Art of Jim Flora - preview page
Originally uploaded by fantagraphics

I love the colors and contrast in this piece. Hope everyone has a good holiday!