Red Right Hand Studios

Hey all I thought I would just tell everyone that my commercial website http://www.redrighthand.com.au has been updated and is now live. Go there and let me know what you think!

Mmm productivity...

Historically I'm the type of person to not tell people what I'm planning to do in case, like always I don't follow through with my plans. I associate this with a lack of maturity and an unwillingness to live up to my responsibilities. That all ends here.

As most of you who read this know I have been obsessed with comics from an early age and have always endeavoured to make one. Well I would like to announce that as of this november my as yet untitled comic book will be published and will go on sale.

With the help of my scribe Mattias Allard we have created what I hope to be a successful series of books.

More details as they come to hand!

tout ce que

Recently, as of Friday the 13th of June, EllieKat and I put together an art show called "tout ce que" for a unit we are both doing in our Third Year called Arts Management. The abstract of the brief was to design, organise and host an arts event. The key aspect of this brief was to actually follow through with planning, and produce something outside of our studio space. In short, it was to have a public outcome.

Being the ambitious duo we are, we decided to elaborate on a concept developed by EK and Ging that concerned the language and 'isms' that we adopt and give to each other as friends. Once we had decided on the theme, it was integral to come up with a medium with which to show our work.

Fed up with making publications, EK and I decided to convert my single bedroom unit into a gallery space for a week and decorate the walls with images shared or adopted that signified our friendship.

PREPARING THE SPACE

Now that we had decided on a location, it meant that we would need to empty and clean my abode. A tough task with an unlimited amount of time, but nigh-impossible with only the 5 weeks we had left (we only had 6 weeks to begin with). We were able to rent self storage for a month and JUST cram my largest belongings in there (read: I have a lot of crap) which meant that the hardest task was out of the way. Or so we thought.


After this came the artwork. I had planned an entire wall early on in the piece, but had put it on the back-burner while I worked on other assignments that were more pressing due to the lack of work I had, up until then, put into them. With only 3 weeks to go until deadline, EK and I worked feverishly to finish art to have the vinyl cut out that we had planned to stick to laminated B-Flute cardboard sheets that we had acquired from my dad. The plan was to stick coloured vinyl up onto panels of cardboard so it would form a tiled effect on the walls and would therefore protect the paint. I had lined up a former workmate of mine, Alex to cut said vinyl at his work while he wasn't busy. So, armed with most of the finished files, I toodled off to his office in Dandenong.

When I arrived, it was almost as though the Earth had collapsed from under me. The method for putting up the art, on the scale that we had imagined was near-impossible to achieve.

A Day in the Life of the Designer: Anecdotal Observations of a Design Dude SPREADS

Here are the final spreads associated with my previous post. The images are links and will open the fullsize spreads in a popup window.

A Day in the Life of the Designer: Anecdotal Observations of a Design Dude

What type of person is the modern graphic designer?

Are they artists that have sold their souls to The Machine or are they social engineers ever striving to change the very lifestyles that the rest of us take for granted? Or are they just simply regular Joes (and Jos) just trying to make a crust doing what they love?

As part of an exhibition organised by the Australian Graphic Design Association, A Day in the Life of the Designer: Anecdotal Observations of a Design Dude (or ADITLOTD:AOOADD for short) was commissioned to address this very question.

The following pages provide a raw, intimate account of my day to day activities and what I believe to be the driving forces behind my work and how ‘downtime’ (if it ever truly exists) is an essential part of the working process.

Hopefully at the end you will come out with no clearer idea of what it means to be a modern graphic designer, for that would be telling.

MORNING GLORY

As I wake in a start from a cheese-induced nightmare, I realise that the sirens that I thought indicated that my house was burning down was really only my alarm clock indicating to me to get out of bed as there is something I need to accomplish today. But what was it?

After snoozing for three or four nine-minute cycles, I slowly creep out of my bed and stumble towards the bathroom. It’s in here that the horrors of reality start flooding back to me accompanied by the grim realisation that I have to work today. Again.

Okay, so maybe I’m being a little dramatic here, but who honestly enjoys work? I guess it really depends on your definition of work, doesn’t it? Well, I’m currently a student at the Australian Academy of Design and I work at a yacht club as a bartender.

You’re probably thinking “I thought this was meant to be about the modern designer and all that, so why am I reading about a bartender?” and I don’t blame you. But there is a simple explanation for that, and that is because I see myself to be a designer first and foremost; that is what defines me as a person. I like to create and fix things that don’t work properly. I am merely a bartender to pay the bills while I study. Think of it as being a little like my secret identity.

The rest of my morning consists of making lists and putting into order things that are of higher importance. I may write two or three until I get the formatting and order right. That and coffee. Coffee makes the world (and my brain) go ‘round and I honestly think it is an essential part of being creative… must be something about the excessive amount of caffeine.

I find that while buzzing from my coffee, my mind races and I come up with 101 ways of saving the world from its issues, and more often than not they don’t involve pain. Theory is generally harder than practice, but at least I’m thinking about it.

Before I know it, the morning has gone and I am staring down the barrel of the afternoon with a full list of things to do that probably should be completed sooner rather than later.

In short: mornings aren’t very productive around here.

SHADOW OF THE DAY

After addressing the issue of starvation, usually with something that will end up doing me more harm than good, I get cracking on my list. At this stage in my life the most pertinent thing on my list is probably an assignment that I have left to the last minute or paying a bill that I have let go for far too long hoping that the company that I owe money to doesn’t notice.

As far as I can see, being adult means worrying about everything all the time; getting and keeping your head above water is simply an indication of your maturity. Or something like that. This is based purely on my own observations of… myself, so I’m assuming it is entirely inaccurate.

So in between eating and stressing about things, I manage to get some work done. Upon looking up from my paper, I’m surprised at my ability to surprise myself with my own talent. Please ignore my hubris, the preceding sentence didn’t sound nearly as arrogant in my head as it does when one reads it on the page. To omit it would be to lie, so remain it shall, however I think it needs annotation.

When saying I surprise myself with my talent, I mean that when I am wrapped up in my work and my face is consistently 6 inches (mmm imperial measure) from the page or screen, I am in the fantasy world that is contained in my brain. I don’t see anything but the image in my head of what I am working on. This can be bad if I happen to be working while driving.

Anyway, after completing this random act of skill I find my worldview brightening and with it my mood and suddenly the idea of leaving things to the last minute seems justified.

Instinctively, my iPod shuffles to something more upbeat and I find myself thinking “what problems?”

After another couple of hours catching public transport and leeching free wireless internet from cafes the sun starts going down and my attention starts turning to the activities of the coming evening.

A decision has been reached about the evening’s transpirings, making the day a successful exercise in productive planning; the night most likely be fun and debauchery will probably ensue.

WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN

After a brief respite in the comfort of my shoebox of an apartment I’m ready for further study in a more social space.

The last thing to go in my pack for going out is my pocket sketchbook; I take this little baby with me everywhere. It’s funny though, when I take my sketchbook with me, I never find anything suitable to add to it, whereas if I didn’t take it, I would think of the greatest thing ever without the means of committing it to paper. I like to err on the side of caution in this circumstance and have my book handy.

Once out, four things does a good night make:

1. Good company: Friends that one can goof off with and bounce ideas off is essential to a productive night.

2. Good tunes: A rockin’ cover band or an interesting, groovy, original group helps get the creative juices flowing. In this case, I live by this quote: GRIT is IT.

3. Cheap juice: In times where the price of fuel continues to rise, a venue that offers cheap drinks if preferable over others that may produce a better atmosphere. The price of drink often reflects the atmosphere as people that have to pay more for said drink are often in pooier moods than those that don’t have to hand over as much of their hard earned. There is more of a sense of urgency about people that pay $15 to get into a venue and then $10 per drink opposed to those that pay a third of that for a drink and nothing to get in.

4. Good scenery: The last and most inspiring point of this list; if there is nothing appealing to look at, it can feel as though there is nobody to impress. This can leave one in a state of distress and depression.

A good night can come in stages, so therefore only one of the above is necessary at any given time. An awesome night (and one with the most amount of creative influence of course) requires that all of these points be checked off, but finding such a night is an art within itself.

As another good night of campaigning comes to a close and the gathered parties slowly disperse into the wee small hours of the night I suddenly feel inspired to create. And create I do – out comes the sketchbook and everything floods onto the page of the nights happenings. Whilst slowly chewing at my post midnight cheese sandwich I’m unable took up from the mindscapes pouring onto the sketchbook pages long enough to realise that I shouldn’t be eating it and that I will be paying for it in the morning.

I guess I should probably remember to put that on my list tomorrow morning.

Questions relating to you (that's me!) as a designer

This was an 'interview' that was conducted by my friend EllieKat for an assignment exploring the question "Who are you as a designer". This was my reply.

EllieKat: Define graphic design.

Darkris: Well, for me, the term graphic design is so ambiguous that I think that there is a different definition depending on one's past and present. For example, I was chatting to a friend of mine who is a games engineer (read: programmer) and for him, a graphic designer is someone that designs the way a computer games level looks and interacts with the game artist to bring these rich environments to life. Whereas at my old job as a packaging designer, the term graphic designer meant that I was able to take someone else's designed packaging and prepare it for print at the manufacturing plant. I think management confused graphic design with graphic art somewhere along the way.

Anyway, this question asked for my definition of graphic design, so in my experience I would say that being a graphic designer means that you are a visual problem solver; being able to recognise that something can be done better to make a system more efficient, while still looking good, that's the key.

E: Define art.

D: Man, I didn't see this question. I think I blew all my steam on the first answer. *chuckles* Okay, art. What is there to say about art? Are you talking high art or just plain art? Because I made some 'art' in prep with my fingers and paint (it was quite good) but for some reason I don't think you're referring to this as art. Now that I have stalled for a little bit, I might be able to give you a real answer. Art for me is something that looks good and that evokes an emotion or provokes thought about a topic. I think all art falls into this definition. I'm so glad you didn't ask me what I thought good art is.

E: In the bigger picture, according to your skill and interest, would you consider yourself an artist or a designer?

D: Hmmm... I guess I would have to say... illustrator. *chuckles* I have a bit of industry training as a finished artist, and I am self taught as a comic artist, not that I am very good at the latter, but it gets me by. So when it really comes down to it, I'm a designer. I can see problems or things that can be done better and I know how to fix them. This doesn't necessarily mean that I can fix them myself, but I will probably know someone who can.

E: How does procrastination affect your creative flow?

D: *guffaws* I'm meant to have a creative flow?! I think procrastination is integral to my process. I like to surf the internet with random searches, read comics and sleep; this is where 80% of my ideas come from. I love to talk to people (if this interview is any indication) and I will more often than not, bounce my ideas off other people. This involves hours of chatting, or waiting to chat to people on the internet or hanging out in bars or even talking at work. Being a pressure-based performer, I would say that procrastination is the fuel for my creative fire. I doubt that this argument would have got me out of trouble in high school, but it's nice to know that I can justify my actions if the need arises.

E: What employment, mentoring or life experiences have you had that contributed in shaping your creativity and made you believe in your creative ability?

D: I still don't fully believe in my creative ability. Is anyone ever really happy with what they do? When I was a kid, my nextdoor neighbour was in high school and he wanted to be a graphic designer. He would show me all of his drawings and I would be all like "Wow! I wanna do that!" So I started drawing with a purpose: I wanted to make drawings that made people remark in the same way I did. My dad had a lot of comics lying around - I'm not sure why, he doesn't really strike me as the comic book type. But yeah, I studied these comics over and over and continued sketching away. Somewhere along the line Lego happened (perhaps it was always a constant) and my drawing fell by the wayside for about 3 or 4 years. When I finally started getting back into it, I knew (it's funny how when you're a kid, you KNOW what you want to be, even if you aren't aware of everything involved) that I wanted to be a comic book artist. All through high school I had this ambition; I even did work experience with one of the foremost comic book artists in the Australian comics industry. It was here that I learned that if I wanted to be a comic artist that I would need to choose between that and food. He was a freelance graphic designer (and I think his wife was a lawyer, which probably helped his cause) and he used this work to supplement his passion for comics.

Leaving high school I had no direction, so I got a job at my dad's packaging plant as a packaging designer and sample maker. I had had no experience in this field before, but I was able to pick up the CAD application fairly quickly and I was there for 6 years. In that time I produced my own webcomic and was able to influence management to allow me to design some packaging art. I ended up designing most of the Tasmanian cherry industry packaging and decided that perhaps graphic design was more the direction for me. I don't know if this essay answers your question *chuckles*

E: How do you feel about idea compromise when working with clients?

D: I'm used to it. I now go in with what I think should be the solution and expect the rebuff. But then it's a working process and you combine what you think with what the client thinks. Every job, no matter how much I may hate it, is a collaborative project.

E: How do you overcome designer's block?

D: Look at what other people have done, emulate it, get savvy with the skill and then use it to my advantage. Chat to people. Man, I'm often better at coming up with ideas for other people than I am at coming up with ideas for myself. So I rely alot on other people helping me out in that respect.

E: What turns you off creatively?

D: I like to think that it is still possible to come up with something that someone else hasn't done before. I don't like to replicate. Designing something that is against my design principles because "that's what the client wants". Also, having no clear direction: HATE that.

E: What turns you on creatively?

D: Working with someone I get along with. I love this. Being able to muck around and come up with wacky and sometimes awesome ideas with someone that thinks similarly to me is terrific. Seeing cool things on the internet and being able to nut out how they are done just by looking at them is good too.

E: What is your favourite word?

D: Expunge. Repugnant. Yeah I can't think of any others that you would actually print.

E: What font are you crushing on right now?

D: *giggles* Crushing. I'm using Futura alot at the moment. Extra Bold. Kerned. I also like Cooper Bold, but it definitely has it's place and can't be used in every circumstance. Helvetica Neue Light Condensed has been a friend of mine for a long time.

Decidedly cold...

It's strange; you don't really notice cold as much as you do when you haven't experienced cold in a while. Right now, it's cold. I'm sitting in my 'reading room' on the PC typing this whilst fighting the early stages of hypothermia. The cold aches my bones, from my toes to my boneless nose and I LURVE it.

A lot of people I know hate the cold. I don't understand this because when the weather is cold you can always make yourself warmer. Not that I'm choosing to do so at the moment due to motivation issues, mind. Anyway, I think what it comes down to is people that like the warm weather are those that like to wear less than those that like the cold. Take me for example: I am not a fat or unfit man, but I tend to break into sweat upon walking up stairs or even lowering myself into a chair. This is because I am built with my own matching set of thermal underwears. This natural style of undergarment is not the most attractive sight on the beach, but hey, it sure as hell (no pun intended) keeps me relatively warm in the colder months.

Here is a little random equation that I came up with to prove my point:

Beer = Good
Cold Beer = Great
Good + Good = Great

Therefore
Cold = Good

Please comment and tell me how much I rock and how much my math sucks.