And The Doobie Doobie Pothead Stoner of the Year Award Goes To...

......half of the people at the X96 Big Ass Show 2011. Seriously, half the people there were smoking. Ok maybe just a fourth were smoking and the rest were drunk. I don't know what it is about outdoor concerts that attracts the grungiest, dirtiest people. Clean people like music too, right? Here are some pics I tried to take without being obvious. I'm not so great at the stalker-type photo taking.

Let's start with a game of "Where's Waldo?"

Can you find him?

Oh, look! Here he is.

Silly Waldo. 

And then there was this girl:

She kept looking at me so I couldn't get a very good picture. That girl in the middle is in an old fashioned school girl uniform or something and she was holding a stuffed animal. Yeah.....weird. And I know what you guys are thinking: Where can you get an awesome vomit jacket like the guy on the right? Answer: nowhere. It's one of a kind. His grandpappy made it for him. 

But no worries, you can purchase creepy school girl's friend's fedora at most upscale retail shops. Day: made. I know. 

Here is our crappy view of the stage when Anberlin was playing. This was after we had moved. We were closer before but pot smoke kept wafting into our faces so we decided not to get a secondhand high and moved next to the people who were smoking cigarettes instead. Lesser of two evils I guess lol. 

This picture is just awesome. It looks nothing like how the building and sky actually looked but for some reason, this is the image that came out when I took the picture. I like it better this way. 

And here is the awesome T-shirt I got. You HAVE to buy a shirt for every concert you go to. It's a rule I choose to live by. 

It was kinda sad but kinda cool cause Brendon Urie, the lead singer for Panic! At the Disco somehow got malaria and was in the hospital. So they improvised and had the lead singers from some of the other bands get up with the rest of Panic! and sing their songs. It was.....interesting. The lead singer for Neon Trees actually did a pretty good job, I was impressed. Brogan Kelby, however, needs to just stick to his own music. 

Luckily, I got to see Panic! At the Disco in Oregon in June and they were awesome. Hopefully Brendon recovers soon. 

All in all it was a good day. I rode the trax for the first time and I also ate at The Cheesecake Factory for the first time. Their cheesecake was amazing but their salad tasted like shiz-ola. You would think that a restaurant that is fancy enough to have cloth napkins would have a salad that wouldn't make you vomit. I literally gagged and had to down my coke to get rid of the disgusting taste. Britt can testify to this. 

All I can say is, if you're looking for a good salad, go to Cafe Rio. Other people will say go to Costa Vida, but at Cafe Rio you get yelled at in Spanish and get huge portions, which is way more exciting than white teenage boys quietly handing you your normal, human sized salad. 

I'm rambling cause I'm sick and losing my mind, so peace out. 

Enjoy my ramblings. 

Sam Weber: Strangely Awesome in all His Gore

Today in Illustration we had a demo from Sam Weber. His content choice is mainly creepy things like skulls, creepy girls, death, etc. He is extremely talented. Click HERE for his website. Just warning you, there is creepier, darker work on his site than the images below.

 It was really interesting to watch him in his process, even though I could hardly see since there were so many people crowded around him. Here is some of his less creepy stuff.

Look at this! He did a cover for National Geographic! That's when you know you've made it. He has also worked for the New York Times and he did some work for Vanity Fair, among other really prestigious work. I would put the picture up from Vanity Fair but it is a little disturbing. If you wanna see it just go to his website using the link at the top and click on 'editorial'. 

Anyways, enjoy.

Wherefore art thou Romeo?

Don't worry people, this isn't a post about longing for a husband or any crap like that. This post is about my latest Illustration project.

For our second assignment, we were supposed to make a picture that represented a famous couple. We had to choose from a list of five couples so I chose Romeo and Juliet. 

Here is my picture:

I know it's a little morbid, but I liked the idea so I ran with it. It ended up really simple since this was only my second time using photo shop and I didn't really know what I was doing. My teacher actually liked it which was refreshing. The only thing he wants me to change is the little black pieces of mosaic around the lines. Easy enough to fix.

One of my friends posted this quote on their Facebook page and I really liked it:

"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners. I wish someone had told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it's just not that good. It's trying to be good, it has potential, but it's not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase; they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn't have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know that it's normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you finish one piece. It's only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and our work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I've ever met. It's gonna take a while. It's normal to take a while. You just gotta fight your way through."

 

-Ira Glass

It's the most encouraging thing I've heard in a while. Everyone needs a little encouragement every now and then.

Anyways, enjoy.

I Know My ABC's

So back in high school I took a bunch of photo classes. Our teacher didn't really teach us anything. He was more into catering to the every whim of all the popular, blonde girls who wanted life-size pictures of themselves. We had one assignment where we were supposed to take pictures of things that looked like the letters of the alphabet. So here are my pictures. 

 

 I realize some of these are pushing it, but I did my best. I definitely think if I did this project again it would be way better. 

Anyways, enjoy.

Murray Fredericks is a Photo Genius

I recently subscribed to National Geographic because I think it is amazing. The articles are always fascinating and the pictures are the best I have ever seen. I was going through the September 2011 issue and there is a photo journal done by Murray Fredericks that is absolutely amazing. For his website, click HERE.

He camped out at Lake Eyre in Australia to take these pictures. It is basically like the Great Salt Lake. Here are some of the pictures.

For a video version of the whole series, click HERE.

I am in awe of his photos, especially the ones on his website. 

Check him out. You won't regret it.

A Trip to Saudi Arabia and India

So before you get all excited for me, I have not and will not be going to Saudi Arabia or India any time soon. The title of this post simply describes my latest art project. 

I'm in an Illustration class and our first assignment was to take a nursery rhyme and give it our own twist. After brainstorming a ton of different ideas, I eventually settled on Jack Be Nimble as an Aladdin-type character. 

The colors are weird cause of the lighting and everything looks smaller but you get the idea.

We had to only use black and white shapes, not lines, so it was kinda difficult figuring out how to get everything across.

I made it with India ink and bristol paper. Voila. Enjoy.

The Awesomeness of Things I Have Stumbled Across

Recently I have stumbled across some pretty cool things. 

Awesome thing number one:

Imagine Dragons

I found them when my friend invited me to the rooftop concert in Provo. I couldn't go cause I didn't feel well, but I looked them up online and they are AMAZING. I love them. I downloaded their more recent CD. It only has eight tracks but is still awesome. Check them out here. 

Awesome thing number two:

This watch

It is an iPod Nano that clips onto a watch band. I think this one deserves a FREAKING AWESOME!

And thirdly awesome is:

Iveta Abolina

Click on her name to check her out.

She is an amazing artist and I'm probably going to get her artwork as my new laptop skin. This one to be specific. 

But there are so many other cool ones I can't decide. But I really like that one. This is the kind of stuff I want to make when I am actually a graphic designer. 

Anyways, have fun looking at all this awesome stuff. More to come later.