Arsenic & Old Lace

A new poster design on my site! :) A mixture of whimsical typography and clean illustration, which make up much of my personal style are used to create this poster for the play Arsenic & Old Lace. Arsenic & Old Lace is a play by American playwright Joseph Kesselring, written in 1939. This is not a client project but is my interpretation of how it could be done and was developed for a series of samples I'll be sending to art directors.

Exit Through The Gift Shop

Do you know Banksy? If not you should. An innovator in guerrilla art Banksy has made his mark on the world and all the while no one has known what he even looks like. From stencil works done on city walls around the world to even personally hanging his work in major museums (without them even knowing it). This film looks Awesome!

HA HA HA Happy Holidays!

My 2009 Holiday card and series of desktop wallpapers to celebrate the season. Enjoy!
1024 x 768, 1280 x 1024, 1600 x 1200, 1680 x 1050, 1920 x 1080, 2560 x 1440.

Pareidoodle

The above is just a doodle I did with Pareidoodle. Pareidoodle-Drawing Conclusions, is part of my master thesis Play and The Discovery of New Ideas. Pareidoodle is a new way of drawing ideas in a digital world. Based on the psychological phenomena known as Pareidolia, where a vague or random stimulus is perceived as significant. This phenomena is seen in common examples such as seeing images or faces in clouds, the Virgin Mary on a tortilla or even hearing hidden messages on music albums played in reverse. By using random marks and colors the user’s mind begins to make new connections to what they are drawing on and alongside in the seemingly meaningless and instill them with a sense of meaning through their own hand.

You can try Pareidoodle for yourself or even download a desktop version for Mac or Windows, here. Enjoy!

There's Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself

My version of The Scarecrow from Batman Begins. From sketch, to stitch to execution. It is not true to the movie, because well let's face it if you do true to the movie it falls flat. Why? Because you do not have a film crew, lighting crew, fx artists, make-up... That is why I don't go for making it look real. I go for making it look sexy. The mask also glows-in-the-dark, a direction I got from the party theme and the Scarecrow LEGO minifig.

You can see some photos of my process and the result here.

Xmas

Since I was away for the holidays and came back straight into grad classes I figure I would take this opportunity to share a few treasures from the xmas. First what I gave out from my exhaustive "Santa's Workshop" enterprise. I began last year by trying to make all my gifts by hand and did so as well this year.

First up is the "Ping: The Drinking" mini-bar mirror I made for my "brother from a different mother" Ping.


Next is the "Bar Sweet Bar" bar mirror I made for Rob. (Sweet custom letter).


And lastly is the grand finale. A 14 in. Geisha softie I created for my girlfriend.

My 48-Hour T-Shirt

The second 48-Hour T-shirt is now available. That’s the design, above: Two colors on a brown American Apparel 4.3-ounce fine cotton athletic fit T.
A summary of the research inspiring the design, below, is also available in PDF form, here.

A psychological study offers an interesting lesson in “false consensus.”
The research involved dividing into two groups; members of each were asked to read an essay about Rasputin, and then asked to evaluate their feelings about him. One group was given an essay that noted Rasputin’s correct birthday. The other was given the identical essay, but the date of his birthday was changed — to be the same day as that of the reader.

The latter (same birthday) group evaluated Rasputin notably more favorably than the control group did.
Mark R. Leary cites this research in The Curse of The Self, noting that if our opinions can be affected by such a “minor, egocentric matter,” it should be no surprise that “factors even more intimately related to our views of ourselves also influence our judgments of other people.”

So: Perhaps if you wear this T-shirt, you will make a good impression.
Design by Greg Eckler (www.theviciouscircus.com), MFA student in the graphic design department of Savannah College of Art and Design.

The T-shirt “I Show How You Feel” is available until 10 a.m. (Eastern) Wednesday, for $18 plus shipping. (We DO NOT guarantee delivery by Xmas. I think there’s a good chance you could get it by then, but we can’t promise. Please read the details related to delivery timing and other matters, here.) Order below

The aim of The 48-Hour T-shirt Project is to prod consumers to think more about our own behavior, about how we can be manipulated, and about how we manipulate ourselves. Yes, doing this by way of products may be seen as either ironic, clever, or hypocritical. That’s (part of) the point.

You can order the shirt here

48-Hour T-Shirt #1

The first 48-Hour T-Shirt is now available. That’s the design, above: Three colors (metalic silver ink, black, flourescent green) on a gray American Apparel 4.3-ounce fine cotton athletic fit T. A summary of the research inspiring the design, below, is also available in PDF form, here.

This phrase was quoted in a recent paper by scholars researching the subject of mimicry and its role in the day-to-day marketplace.

One study, for instance, found that a waitress received larger tips when she “mimicked” customers by repeating orders verbatim, than when she paraphrased their orders. According to the researchers, being subtly mimicked “creates feelings of rapport, affiliation, and closeness toward the mimicker.”

The research was summarized in the April 2008 issue of The Journal of Consumer Research, in an article titled “Of Chameleons and Consumption,” which noted that prior studies suggested “that mimicry serves as an important communication tool, communicating to the person being mimicked that ‘I show how you feel.’” This newer research specifically explored “the effect of mimicry on consumption,” and how it might be used in, for instance, sales techniques.

Design by Derek Black, MFA candidate in the graphic design department of Savannah College of Art and Design (www.redneckillustrator.com).

PLACE YOUR ORDER NOW! While you still have time!

4 Months In The Making

So what have I been up to? A little of this and a little of that. I finished finals last week with all As, passed my 45-hour review, and have been working on my thesis (working title: Play and the Discovery of New Ideas). So I'm doing well. But my current venture is a bit out of left field and at the same time perfectly me.

Four months ago I was contacted by a gentleman by the name of Rob Walker who wanted me to be part of an experiment of sorts. Rob is the author of Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy And Who We Are



and is the New York Times Magazine "Consumed" columnist.

The project is called The 48-Hour T-Shirt (link for the pdf flyer), it is designed to prod consumers to think more about their own behavior, about how their are manipulated, and about how they manipulate themselves. (He does state that doing this by way of selling products is ironic and part of the point).

3 statements where created based on research Rob had done (found) the first is inspired by research regarding mimicry and the shirt is "I Show How You Feel." The design of this shirt is done by my friend and fellow Graphic Design MFA student Derek Black. The second is "We Have The Same Birthday," based on research relating to false consensus and designed by yours truly. The last is a fake placebo"Veladone-Rx, It's Worth The Extra Money. Really." based on research of placebos and pricing of drugs and designed by Advertising Design MFA student, Angie Smith.

The kicker is each shirt is released for the first 3 mondays in December and is ONLY for sale for the first 48-hours, after which it will not be made available again. Only the artist are making money in this venture [so show some love :) ], Rob is doing this as research for a future book that will include the three of us and this experiment. I've seen the work but can't tell you about it other than I think all of them are awesome (and mine is actually really cute). The shirts will sell through the Murketing.com site

It has already shown up in the online magazine Core77 (note: the days were listed wrong here).

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!