RC Pop Art

The Lost Weekend: 2010

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:36:00 +0000

Another lost weekend at the Lakeside Inn's House of Eleven Gables. A house full of graphic designers and musicians is always going to spell a good time. Lots of friends, lots of food, lots of drinking, partying, talking, dancing and fun. And this year, no one fell through the ice, so that was good!

WATCH VIDEO

VIEW PHOTOS

Mid Winter Activities

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:55:00 +0000

Winter in Chicago can wear you down. It starts off great. "Look at the snow! It's wonderful! Christmas and New Years are coming! Yay!". However, following the beginning of January to the end of April, this part of the world drags on and on day in and day out with grey skies, occasional snowfall and freezing drizzle, record low temperatures, and of course Chicago wind that will rip your face off in the winter. It's safe to say that often, those months tend to all blur together as we all patiently (or in most cases impatiently) wait for spring.

For those of you who live across the Atlantic that read this blog to find out what Petra and I have been up to, I've put together this entry as more of an overall view of what we've done so far in the year 2010.

Mostly winter activities circle around drinking in warm bars and pubs, talking and listening to music, hoping to keep our spirits up until the sun returns. This year, of course, was no different. In January we saw our friend Katie Todd (who I did the music video for HERE if you haven't already seen it) play at the Double Door. We had a Dinner Party at our place with friends just for the hell of it. We saw our friends play in Mas Trueno at The Dark Room and the same night saw more friends play at Lasalle Power Company downtown. I filmed my second official music video for the band Your Villain My Hero (more on that later when the video is officially unveiled) as well as a photoshoot with a jazz band called Alysheba. My parents, Iron Bob and Lil' Ellie stopped by for a few days before and after their trip to Mexico where we hung out and also went to the Museum of Science and Industry to check out their cool stuff (including an incredible replica of the interior of the entire whitehouse. Which sounds totally lame, but was absolutely amazing! Unfortunately they wouldn't allow photos) and say hello to an old nieghbor / friend who works there. Plus, my Dad and I had to check out the U505 German Submarine, which I believe completely transported him back to his childhood. Our friend Corri had a birthday party that we attended that was great fun as well. We celebrated Valentines day with some friends at the Fireside Grill for Brunch and Bloody Marys, as well as met up with our friends Mike and Janelle and Ethan Biar and his date Colleen for drinks later in the month. We also joined Nick and Eric at The Hideout for some incredible music by Robbie Fulks and his band of jaw dropping musicians. We've been trying to get outside more for exercise (or rather I have, as my wife is always riding her bicycle along the lake to and from work everyday while I sit lazily at home in our warm soon to be old apartment).

Which leads us to the last important thing we've done this year; we have put money down on our first apartment together located on Lake Michigan. You can see it on google maps HERE. Photos of the apartment can be seen HERE.

So far, I guess this dreary winter hasn't been so bad, but we are really ready for the sunshine and warmth to return.

Your Villain My Hero Promo Video

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:58:00 +0000

I was hired by Roger Jansen, one of Chicago's bigger names in band booking and promotion, to film and produce a promotional music video for one of his bands; Your Villain My Hero. This was filmed in what I call "douchebag ground zero" at Cubby Bear in Wrigleyville. Anyone who knows the city, knows what I'm talking about and even though the band pretty much represents everything that bothers me about what some musicians and artists choose to do with their talent, I had to admit they had excellent stage presence and really gave the show all they had, which is not seen nearly enough in todays world of "shoe gazers".

Everything was filmed with my Canon 5D Mark II. Using only the Canon 16-35mm and 85mm lenses. Edited in Final Cut Express and color corrected in After Effects.

VIEW VIDEO IN LARGE FORMAT

If you are having problems with Vimeo, you can view it in not-so-awesome YouTube HERE.

Katie Todd Music Video

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 04:41:00 +0000

When I was considering purchasing my 5D camera and how expensive it was, I told myself that the cost would be worth it if I could figure out a way to make some extra cash with it as an extension of my graphic design work. One of the main things about it that fascinated me was it's ability to film through the high quality lenses that I was hoping to purchase. I considered all the opportunities this camera and subsequent equipment could bring to me. Not only to produce and create photographs that I literally dreamed about all night long, but also high quality videos and the hint of a possibility to even go so far as making music videos and film shorts!

Since then a whole new world of creativity in the realm of visuals has opened up for me. I haven't looked back since the day I shakily held out my credit card, sweating profusely and feeling like I was about to faint, and said "go ahead and charge it". That was back in April. Only 5 months later and I have managed to land a job filming and directing a "no budget" music video for Katie Todd.

I had been a fan of her music for over a year and knew some of her songs well, but didn't know her name. When I realized that I was going to make a video for a musician that I was already a fan of, I felt extra juiced to make something worthy.

"There were many times that Petra would come home to see me disheveled and lost in despair as the days and hours passed by with frustrating results."

This music video is the culmination of countless hours and money spent on learning, purchasing, and practicing all of the many things that need to be in place in order to pull off a legitimate film/video. Like all learning processes this was not without it's trials and fall backs. There were many times that Petra would come home to see me disheveled and lost in despair as the days and hours passed by with frustrating results. The process of using all the software to color treat and convert footage was mindbogglingly complicated and long.

All along the way, I learned how to get certain looks for things, how to shoot, what lenses to use, what lights to use, where to place them. In less than a year, I've gone from knowing barely anything about cameras in general to getting a general understanding of the complex world of cinematography.

Of course I have only scratched the surface of what I don't know and the world of digital media is a constantly changing one where everyday brings more problems and solutions, but at the very least I can say that I set out to do something a year ago with the plan to purchase this camera hoping it would take me into yet another undiscovered corner of the creative world and I succeeded.

A very special thank you to Roger Jansen of KMA Management who gave me the opportunity to do this (as well as providing the incredible assortment of stage lights that I couldn't have acquired without him), Katie Todd who never shot down a single idea I had and pretty much let me dress her up in whatever I felt like, and lastly my wife Petra who never stops supporting me and encouraging me that I can do ANYTHING.

I'm hoping this is the first of many videos I'll be producing for local artists that couldn't otherwise afford a huge hollywood music video costing millions of dollars and maybe someday, I'll actually start to make some money at it.

Thanks for watching. Hope you enjoy it.

CLICK TO WATCH VIDEO

RC POP ART - Featured on Voices.com

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:47:00 +0000

Voices.com is the internet's one stop shopping place for voice over talent. They work with NBC, ABC, The History Channel, PBS, The Discovery Channel, and Nickelodeon just to name a few. RC POP ART uses them constantly for voice over work in online animations, interactive media, and podcasts.

This month RC POP ART was lucky enough to be featured in their "Buzz" blog that highlights all the current goings on with up and coming companies that they are working with.

Check out the article HERE.

A New Camera

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 16:43:00 +0000

There we were; sitting on the grass just south of North Avenue Beach on one of the very first really nice spring days in Chicago in 2009. We had just biked down from our place in Evanston, as I pulled out my old trusty point and shoot Canon A710. I snapped some photos of our friends Bradley and Kristal and then swapped it out for my iphone camera in order to take a 4 sequence montage of images of us. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and the temperature was just right. We rode home and relaxed in our humble abode, when I realized that I had somehow managed to leave my camera bag and all it's contents in the grass. How we all missed it and rode away, I will never know, but the point was that my gear was gone. I felt a sudden surge of sickness and depression upon the realization. It was like losing a friend.

Mere moments after realizing that my camera was gone, I discovered that my big tax return from the government had been deposited into my bank account. It was almost simultaneous to the loss of the camera and I for one was going to take advantage of this sign from the universe. After saving and dreaming about a high end camera for years and packing away as much cash as I could in the last 6 months, I could finally afford the absolute unbelievable camera I had been staring at online for countless nights into morning, while my poor wife begged me to go to sleep.

The very next day I purchased my first professional grade camera and lens. The Canon 5D Mark II coupled with Canon's newest ultrawide angle zoom: The Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L USM I've only had it for a day and already, I'm amazed at the photos it can take. Of course, one of the very first photos taken was of my wife, my GREATEST treasure.

To see the first photos taken with the camera, CLICK HERE Last night I slept like a baby.

23 Amazing Modern Clean Fonts

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:58:00 +0000

Fonts have come a long way, today’s designers are looking more and more for fonts that are full of life, with subtleties of space and shape. Fonts are as much about what’s not there as what is.

This collection celebrates the clean modern fonts, that give a striking elegance to any page, with bold lines, white space and clean curves. What’s better - all these fonts are free

Walkway

Comfortaa

Tin Birdhouse

Often TF

Grutch Grotesk

Tuffy

Street

Folks

Alte Haas Grotesk

Libel Suit

Gauntlet

Tondo

Siple

2 Nelson ShoCard DNA

20th Century

Sansumi

Ambrosia

Delicious

Geo Sans Light

Reding 1969

Duepuntozero

Fertigo Pro

Eurofurence

That’s it for this collection - some wonderful free modern fonts in this collection.

Experimenting with photographs

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:47:00 +0000

Diningroom Panorama
Originally uploaded by RC PoP Art

Currently, I've been experimenting a great deal with my tiny point and shoot Canon A710 that I purchased a few years ago. Along with an adaptor to hold a small fisheye lens, photoshop and an application called Topaz Adjust to try and get the best images possible within the great limitations of such an inexpensive, limited use camera, I've been fairly satisfied with some of the results I've gotten.

It has also taught me a great deal in terms of the connection between Speed and Aperture vs. light, as there is a setting for "manual" use that I almost exclusively use now. My mother has also assisted in filling in some questions I've had recently, as she has been taking semi-professional photographs most of her adult life with film cameras.

I'm looking forward to the day when I can purchase a "full frame" prosumer (professional / consumer) Camera that will allow me to change lenses and shoot much better in low light (a la Canon 5D Mark II).

Since the day I bought my replacement camera (the last point and shoot camera I had was used so much, it literally disintegrated) my craving for clarity and color has increased exponentially. Unfortunately, my income has not.

Stay tuned to find out if I end up selling my body for Canon and try being a drug mule to acquire top lenses, as I don't see my interest in this field waning anytime soon.

The Art of Isaac Abrams

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 05:59:00 +0000

Isaac Abrams was born and raised in the New York area. He is a self-taught artist with an academic background in literature, history, science and psychology. He founded the first gallery of Psychedelic Art in the world in 1965. He began working as a self-taught painter in the beginning of 1966. He began working as a sculptor in the 1970's. He began extensive work as an animation artist in 1981. He has always painted.

(excerpt from Isaac's Website)

http://www.isaacabrams.com/

Amy Bennett - Group Isolation

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:43:00 +0000

Two years ago, Amy Bennett contsructed a 1:87 scale model neighborhood, a fictitious cluster of eleven houses depicted through model railroading miniatures, styrofoam, cardboard, and plastic, complete with string telephone wires and working lights. The process of designing and assembling the setting over several months triggered her imagination to develop characters to populate the place along with a loose timeline of events that would culminate in the neighborhood’s history. The paintings are glimpses of a scene or fragments of a narrative. Some of the images are conceived of sequentially.

The paintings portray both the magical and suffocating potential of snow, the wonder at its stark beauty and the hopelessness that spring might never come.

The first group of the neighborhood series was exhibited in January 2007 at Richard Heller Gallery in LA. The final pieces, consisting primarily of snow scenes, were shown in September, 2007 at Galleri Magnus Karlsson in Stockholm.

(excerpts from About: Amy Bennett at www.amybennett.com)

Amy will be having a show opening January 10th through February 14th, 2009 at the Richard Heller Gallery in Santa Monica, California. More images can be seen on their site: http://www.richardhellergallery.com

Amy's site:
http://www.amybennett.com

Puddle Photography

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 23:45:00 +0000

Robin Soulier photographs puddles in the city. This might not seem like an obvious subject matter at first. However, upon closer examination of these images, it seems almost an obvious choice that has long been overlooked. Robin juxtaposes gloomy gritty concrete, brick and morter with brightly colored reflections of street art, sky, beautiful buildings and the occasional leaf, cigarette or can of spray paint, seemingly hovering in mid air. With so many "prosumer" photographers out there it is becoming increasingly difficult to be noticed in a world full of picture takers.

Robin seems to be jumping into the shallow water with both feet.

http://robinsoulier.com/

Hand Made Fonts

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:46:00 +0000

Tired of the usual 2 dimensional fonts out there? Why not build your websites header with a 3-D look from HandMadeFont? The selection is fairly vast and would definitely take your brochure or website to a whole different level.

Estonia based design company HMF (HandMadeFont). Was founded in 2008 by Vladimir Loginov and Maksim Loginov.

They specializee in developing of unique, untraditional fonts. They take inspiration from everything that surrounds them. On thier website they offer completed fonts that you can buy and use freely.

Photorealistic Illustrator images

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 23:38:00 +0000

Believe it or not all of these images are 100% vector. When we think of vector illustrations "photo-realistic" isn’t usually a word that comes to mind but these artist never let that stop them from creating some of the most realistic illustrations you will ever see. Some of the artist use the gradient mesh tool to create these amazing life like illustrations while some, like Pentoolart use nothing but the pen tool. These fantastic artist force us to reconsider what is possible in the world of vector art and inspire us to new heights of creativity. I’ve rounded up 15 of the most unbelievable photo-realistic vector illustrations to inspire you. Click on the artist name below the images to see more of their amazing vector work.

Highside

Aaron Anderson

Eby Paidrick

Halim Ghodbane

Pisan Kaewma

Yukio Miyamoto

I-evermind

Pentoolart

Oleg Rogoznev

Henke Svensson

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Stunning illustrated typography on dark backgrounds

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 01:48:00 +0000

This showcase is divided in four parts. First up are the typographical illustrations that make good use of the dark background in respect to light and color. Below that are sections for typography made from light, metallic effect typography and typography flavored up through smoke.

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How to: Save Time While Building a Website [10 Tips]

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 04:22:00 +0000

As a freelance web developer, time is money. This article will show you how to use many different tricks to increase your productivity. Please make your own suggestions for other time savers in the comments.

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Top 35 most amazing HDR images you will ever see

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 16:39:00 +0000

Applied carefully, High Dynamic Range-technique (HDR) can create incredibly beautiful pictures which blur our sense of the difference between reality and illusion. In graphics HDR imaging is a set of techniques that allow a far greater dynamic range of exposures than normal digital imaging techniques.

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New Trend Illustrations in Web design

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:25:00 +0000

A list of sites that use illustrated elements in their design. I hope you all enjoy my selection! Cheers.

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Top 10 Graphic Design Office Essentials

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 04:13:00 +0000

RC PoP Art Home Office
Uploaded by RC PoP Art

It's actually pretty nice to be able to get up, get a cup of coffee and then do some conference calls in my underwear, while the rest of the world has to travel to and from work. I've compiled a few images of my place on Flickr. It's a pretty sweet pad if I do say so myself, however someday in the not too distant future, we will be moving on to other places.

I'm going to forego the obvious. A computer and a phone are absolutely a given. If you don't have either of those things, you are either too old or too young to be running a business.

1.}Big ass desk - In the world of imagery and design, square footage and free space are a requirement. Clutter tends to distract as well.

2.}Fax/copy/printer - You'd be surprised at how many people are STILL using fax machines to do business. A copier is helpful as well for invoices, bills, etc. and a printer is great even if you don't have a business, just to get those directions from Google Maps to the strip club. Make sure you're always stocked up on plenty of paper, too.

3.}Scanner - The bigger, the better. being able to scan in photos, magazine images, drawings and other imagery is extremely useful. Especially for illustrators and artists.

4.}Comfortable Chair - You're going to spend over half your waking day in it. You might as well get one that keeps you relaxed and comfortable and doesn't wear out after only a year or so. Treat yourself to a good chair and you will spend more time working and less time squirming or rubbing your aching shoulders.

5.}Art Books - Often inspiration needs a good shove to get the juices flowing. Art, graphic design and illustration books are extremely useful for reference and ideas. Just don't rip off anyone else's work in the process of being "inspired" by them.

6.}Post it notes - These are really helpful when you get a phone call from a client about a quick fix thing that they need you to do in the next few days or possibly a phone number to jott down. Just stick that sucker on your monitor and you don't have to worry about forgetting. For some reason it's a lot easier than using your iPhone or a calender to-do-list application on your computer. Maybe not as organized, but if you take care of it quickly, that crumpling sound it makes when you've finished the task and thrown it in the garbage sure makes a satisfying sound.

7.}Full Spectrum Light - One that can stand the rigors of being twisted around and left on for days at a time, while you work all through the night and early morning meeting that deadline. If it can serve you coffee and give you back massages, all the better.

8.}External Hard drive - Actually, you should probably have a very large hard drive that you keep at home and a portable hard drive to carry with you when you take your laptop out of the office. Use your home drive for backup storage and your portable for your current work and files. Graphic designers and artists often have enormously big files to maintain and save for possible future reference and use. (look on the bright side, atleast you're not doing a lot of video editing...I hope).

9.}Digital Camera - It's hard to work in the visual communications business without a nice digital camera. SLR's would be the way to go if you can afford it, but a small digital camera with atleast 7 mega pixels should get the job done for a lot of tasks (for example photographing textures and backgrounds to be used later with photoshop). Unless of course you're actually going to print a poster or something from the image, in which case, you should leave it up to the professionals or buy stock photography.

10.}Wacom Tablet - I can't stress enough the difference a drawing tablet will have on your productivity, creativity and end result of your work. If you are still working without one, get off your ass right now, grab your car keys and pick one up. You will thank yourself for it later and won't know how you got along without one all this time.

I'm sure there are more things that can really help, but these are my top. If you've got some that you think are essential to this profession or similar forms of self employment, please leave a comment and let us know what YOU use.

Top Transparent Screens

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 17:03:00 +0000

Impress all your friends with your phat, trippy, genius new desktop image. What is it? Why it's an image of your desktop of course! What a cool idea! Mine is the one at the top. The only rule is that you can't fake it. It has to really be a photograph of your desktop with the image being displayed in the screen.

Here's a link to the Tutorial I used:
Transparent Screen Tutorial

Good Luck!

When you've finished yours, you can post it on Flickr with the Transparent Screens Group!
Now you belong! Yes you do!

Flickr Transparent Screens Group

21 Incredibly Creative Flash Websites

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:45:00 +0000

Bad Flash may be annoying, but Great Flash can take your breath away!

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Inspiration from Dark Illustrations

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 05:49:00 +0000

A list of awe inspiring illustrations that play with the relation between light and dark.

read more | digg story

Top 21 Free Vector Resources for Designers

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:20:00 +0000

Below are my top 21 free vector resources for Designers.

1. BittBox (http://www.bittbox.com)

2. Vecteezy (http://www.vecteezy.com/)

3. Go Medias Arsenal (http://www.gomedia.us)

4. Blog.Spoon Graphics (http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/)

5. Outline Maps (http://www.eduplace.com)

6. Free Vectors (http://www.freevectors.net/)

7. CreateSk8 (http://createsk8.com/)

8. Vector Portal (http://www.vectorportal.com/)

9. Open Clipart Library (http://www.openclipart.org/)

10. Vector Vault (http://www.vectorvault.com)

11. Briar Press (http://www.briarpress.org/cuts)

12. Magurno (http://www.magurno.com/)

13. Aiga (http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/symbol-signs)

14. Free Vectors (http://www.freevectors.com/vector_graphic/31)

15. Vectors Workshop (http://www.vectorsworkshop.com)

16. All the flags of the World (http://www.all-the-flags-of-the-world.c.la/)

17. Hydro 74 (http://hydro74.wordpress.com/category/free/)

18. N. Design Studio (http://www.ndesign-studio.com/resources/vector-cliparts/)

19. DaPino Colada (http://www.dapino-colada.nl/)

20. Tutorial Blog (http://tutorialblog.org/free-vector-downloads/)

21. Arcade Art (http://www.localarcade.com/arcade_art/)

Textures and Brushes: Ultimate Grunge Roundup

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 23:15:00 +0000

Grunge style is rough, rugged, torn, worn, and tattered. To most, these adjectives would describe something less than appealing, but in the hands of a talented web designer, elements possessing these qualities can be used to turn a web site into a work of art. So, if you are just getting started in grunge design or if you are already a pro, you should find the grunge freebies in this article to be very useful.

Textures

Vintage Grunge - 2
5 textures
Vintage Grunge Textures
5 textures
High Res Grungy Paper Textures
4 textures
Hardcore Vintage Grunge
6 textures
50 Grunge Icon Textures
50 textures

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Awesome photo manipulation inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 02:10:00 +0000

Blending different elements to form a single convincing image requires a very diverse skill set. Composition, color theory, the need for a solid concept and the technical know how to blend the elements together often come in to play in one piece.

Memorial Day in Hartland, Michigan

noreply@blogger.com (RC Pop Art) — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:28:00 +0000

For those of you that don't know, I grew up in an embarrassingly small town called Hartland, Michigan. Being a young kid there was great. We played Rambo and rode our BMX bikes all over town, made jumps and a million forts and treehouses all over Parshallville (the even smaller village where my parents house was located). One of the "highlights" every year in Hartland was, and still is, the Memorial Day parade where all the "country folk" (not the term I use, but probably less offensive) come out to show their patriotic pride; something small town America has never had a shortage of. Something else they never seem to have a shortage of, apparently, is huge tires, gasoline, and over abundant arrogance. Still this past Memorial Day, I revisited this place and parade after years of being away and saw it somewhat differently through the lens of my camera and the eyes of my foreign born partner. It was both sad and triumphant at the same time. The eternally proud spirit of mankind shining on, no matter how dismal and ineffective it's community might be in the broad scope of the world, is still something to celebrate. That, and making a monster truck out of a Rolls Royce is a noble effort no matter how many people are starving or dying somewhere else in the world.

CLICK HERE:

Memorial Day Pics

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