We had ourselves a little getaway last week. Taking to the road was not quite the memory I had as a kid. Somehow the time in the car goes by in a lulling numbness while the time at the destination collapses and zips by. There were, however, some punctuated moments along the way like the breath-taking mountains in Kentucky, the luscious foliage in Georgia and the expansive blue sky in Florida. It did us a lot of good.
We’re really excited about the launch of our prints and photos being offered at June Moon Furniture in Berkley, Michigan. Maureen Popkin offers a variety of homewares, furniture and found objects (she specializes in antique globes – how cool is that!?) If you’re in the area, please stop in to introduce yourself! See you there.
The Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan (known as Ross) is an impressive institution for many reasons. In 2004, a $100 million contribution was made by Mr. Ross and included with the new building came the promise of an expansive art collection. Over 250 works line the halls including two larger-than-life metal horse sculptures by Deborah Butterfield in the lobby. We had walked by and peeked at the Butterfields many times but we finally made a concerted effort with our great friend, Chris Johnson, owner of Johnsonese Brokerage a couple weeks ago. We were engaged by the breadth of mediums from photography to sculpture to prints. Here are some highlights.*
Reserve at least two hours to find treasures on every floor. If you love visiting the UM Museum of Art, you’ll certainly appreciate the contemporary collection at Ross.
*These were taken with a point + shoot.
-Y-
A lot of people have asked me how I create my drawings digitally so today I’m going to give you a quick tour of how it’s done. I have to preface this by saying that I love drawing with pencil and paper (nothing compares to it) especially when you’re doing life drawings of nudes and still life. That said, the mouse has become a great tool for illustrating the concepts I have in my mind in a hyper-realist way that prints in rich, saturated colors, lending a quality of manufactured perfection that I adore in fashion magazines. But it’s a process like everything else and while changes are a “click of a mouse” away, sometimes it’s more laborious than traditional drawing. For most projects I use Adobe Illustrator and sometimes Adobe Photoshop. Both are integral to our company’s success and everyday function.
My latest project sparked from our obsession with mid-century furniture and objects. We’re heavily into everyday objects of that era and earlier. I couldn’t get over my need to illustrate the shapes and lines of some of my favorite pieces so I started drawing the Diamond chair by Harry Bertoia (1915-1978), an icon of Modern era pieces. With its curved chrome rods contouring to the body and guiding the eyes back and forth, it’s the perfect marriage of form and function. The idea of illustrating struck immediately as I saw the finished chair (second from the top left, in place of the “B”).
Here you see the process in picking colors and infinite possibilities, even digitally-speaking.
Once a piece or designer comes to mind that I want to recreate, I bring in a digital photo to help me shape the outline.
I literally use the mouse and “draw” with it on the mousepad.
With a computer, instead of using an eraser (although there’s one of those too), I click to straighten, curve or reposition each line segment individually. Above, I’m fixing the angle of a line that I drew previously. (I think this takes longer than drawing with a pencil)!
I’m making final adjustments so that all letters and furniture pieces are balanced using the graph and ruler tools. I think this project took me about twenty hours to create.
The final poster is printed on heavyweight archival photographic paper with professional grade inks. It’s 18 x 12 inches and I’m incredibly proud of this limited edition run of 50. I can’t wait to get one framed and hang it in our home too! If you’re in the area, we’ll be offering the poster (A Modern Alphabet, $65) along with other custom works at our opening at June Moon Furniture on May 3rd. I’ll be on hand signing prints and giving advice on framing, hanging, collecting and more!
-Y-
We’ll be on vacation this week so we won’t be posting or responding to emails while we’re away. Thanks for your patience. We’ll be back in the studio on April 24th.
We’ve gotten a few photo shoots under our belt since the start of the company and we have to say, we’re pretty happy with the results. From food to portraits, we’ve been able to offer a variety of takes on what the client wants while injecting our own flavor into things. Thing is, there’s still some apprehension from time to time about what it is we do, why we do it and if it’s truly that different than just picking up a camera and taking a point and shoot photo. The answer is “yes!” We don’t strive for just good enough, we want exceptional. See for yourself.
People may not always be able to voice what it is about the photo that doesn’t seem quite right until they see a proper example of how it should be done. You’re probably wondering what we shot with and why there’s such a drastic difference. The shot on the left was taken with our trusty Nikon Coolpix S4100. It’s a great camera for fun, social gatherings. But if you’re a business owner wondering why your mailers aren’t getting response or why you can’t achieve the results as we did on the right, it’s because we pack and bring an entire studio with us.
Although a point and shoot camera is good for documentation it only offers one light source from a fixed point. For the professional shots, items were lit from the side with the assistance of white bounce cards to fill and highlight, making the item more robust. Every aspect of the shoot is in a controlled environment, much like the food campaign we shot a couple weeks ago. If you’ve ever wondered about professional photography, we’re happy to answer your questions.
We look forward to working with you.
chinazzaro 