Monday, August 16, 2010

Nerdfighter Buttons

Back in June, Alan asked a bunch of artists to design some buttons for the new DFTBA button pack, which is still yet to released. I figured I would post mine here before I completely forget I had designed them, which tends to happen with projects that aren't released to the public right away. Let me know which ones you might want as actual buttons in the comments and maybe someday they'll be made!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Steampunk Bubble Gun

I always mean to make blog posts about the videos I post, and then just kind of forget. But this one is happening, even if it's a week late. First, check out the video of me painting a steampunk bubble gun, and then read on for a bit more behind-the-scenes info.



I got the bubble gun from my friend Robyn after the Times Square bubble battle, since she didn't want it anymore. While it was cute as is, I thought it would be even more awesome if it was painted to be steampunk. As you can see from the video, I first sanded the plastic a bit so the paint would stick better and then put on a white base coat. It would probably have looked neater if I had used spray paint instead of acrylic, but I didn't have spray paint and acrylic is a lot easier to do quickly. Then I just kind of went crazy on it with the brown and blue paint, which I then went over with gold to look a bit more aged. I thought the whole thing was looking a bit grimy overall, so then I decided to make the little doodads that I glued on bright white to add a bit of contrast. It was tough getting the cartoon head to not look so cutesy, and I probably should have done what one commenter suggested and used modeling clay to alter the shape of the head to begin with. But I did the best I could for my first time trying this style, especially in the only about five hours it took.

























When it came to making the video, I knew even before I started that I wanted it to be set to Joseph Birdsong's song Hologram, mostly because I've been obsessed with it since I first heard it a few weeks ago. The outfit I wore at the end of the video is one I just kind of put together in about fifteen minutes before I left to film it. The shirt I got from a vintage clothing store in Brooklyn a few weeks ago, and the skirt is actually a dress that I picked up from a free stuff pile at the end of my sophomore year of college. I got the bow headband at Forever 21 and the tights for $2 from Urban Outfitters. I had brought black heels with me to put on, but I thought the grass was long enough that you couldn't tell I was still wearing my Converses, but I was wrong and that ended up being the main thing I wish I could have changed about the video. But I think it came out really nicely overall, and let me know if you agree!