During my senior year of high school, the local library was holding a library card design contest. This was my submission. I still like the concept, but I think it could have been better executed. I had sketched out the layout in advance and did the drawing for it (at the time, I only had Photoshop Elements so I scanned in a drawing and tweaked it rather than using Illustrator). I remember staying up late to finish it one day because I was so busy with school and extracurriculars.

I was going for a tree of knowledge sort of thing and each leaf would have a word representing something the library stands for. Looking back now, I think there were words that would be more appropriate (I definitely think I should have used “humanities” rather than “politics”.

As you can see, I was going through a layer styles phase, and I was really into the font “Popsies”. I still very much love Popsies, though, and the similar font “Mumsies”. This was also pre-design classes so there is no kerning on “Glendale Public Library” although it desperately needs it. Ah well. You live, you design, you learn.

Last Christmas, being as broke as I was/am, I decided to make everyone’s presents. For my family, I made name type studies. I sketched out basic layouts and scoured my font library. I picked each font face for each letter to match that particular family member’s personality. I then laid them out in InDesign.

When I finished with all the layouts, I printed them onto canvas and painted over the letters in acrylic. I chose a different combination of colors to match each personality.

This is an art project from my AP Art History class during my senior year of high school. It seems like decades ago, but it’s only been four years. In AP classes, you generally cover all the content by May for the exams so the rest of the month through June is pretty open in terms of the curriculum. Our teacher had us do paper mache objects of some sort. Only really graded for effort, we were allowed to do whatever we wanted. My friend Nghi and I chose David & Goliath’s “Boys are stupid. Throw rocks at them.” cartoon.

The project took lots of work and we were one of the last to finish. Lots of newspaper and getting the thing to stay up. Inside his leg actually is a pencil. The hair and foot are pipecleaners. The rocks are on wires held in the base. I think it really came out great. It was put on display with some of the others in the administrative offices. We got lots of comments, mostly amused, some poo-pooing the message. But it’s a joke, you know? Then again, David & Goliath products were banned at some middle and high schools.

Anyway, I still have it. Sits on top of my bookcase and surprisingly, is still standing. It never fails to make me smile. And not just at the thought of throwing rocks at boys (haha!), but at the thought of all the fun Nghi and I had working on it, seeing the poor, scared boy come to life in 3-D.

Here are a few photos of a stuffed toy I made– it’s the Pigeon from the Mo Willems books. He worked on that cartoon Sheep in the Big City that used to be on Cartoon Network. My little cousin Gabriela turned five on Saturday and we bought Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!, and The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog. We thought it would be nice to get a Pigeon stuffed toy, but it’s only available at one store online and it talks.

So I bought some “pigeon blue” fleece, white and golden yellow felt, and used black fleece I had on hand. I drew up a pattern, which was tough since I usually do more flat stuffed toys. The head was definitely the biggest challenge since I didn’t want it to be perfectly round. Lots of saddle-stitching and stuffing. To keep the neck up, I used pipecleaners inside the neck and body (and the beak) and sewed everything up real well. I also used pipecleaners in the toes, but not the legs or wings since I wanted them to be floppy. I went around the eyes and strip of white on the neck with black embroidery floss to give it that pencil-drawn look. I think it came out okay, all in all. Especially considering I did it all in five days.

My final film project. And before you ask, that cornbread is Play-doh. The arms and feet are from Mr. Potatohead. I drilled holes into the Bush’s Baked Beans can to put them in. Took the photos in my kitchen. Assembled the photos in Keynote. The fonts for the openers and end shot are Herald, Santa Fe LET, and Abadi MT Condensed Extra Bold. The real food shots are not all from Creative Commons because, well, you get desperate trying to find a photo of chitlins and potato salad.

Lyrics:

Beans and Cornbread had a fight
Beans knocked Cornbread out of sight
Cornbread said, “Now that’s alright.
Meet me on the corner tomorrow night.

“I’ll be ready, I’ll be ready tomorrow night. (2x)
I’ll be ready, I’ll be ready to have a fight.”
That’s what Beans said to Cornbread.
“I’ll be ready tomorrow night.”

Beans told Cornbread, “You ain’t straight.
You better wake up or I’ll gash your gate.
Been in this pot since half past two,
swelling and puffing and almost due.”

“I’ll be ready, I’ll be ready tomorrow night.”
That’s what Beans told Cornbread.
“Always getting mad at me.
I ain’t mad at you.
I’ll be ready tomorrow night.
I’ll be ready, mmmmm.”

Beans grabbed Cornbread by the toe.
“Beans,” said Cornbread, “let me go.”
Cornbread said, “I’ll lay you low.
I’m gonna fight you, you so-and-so.”

“Meet me on the corner.
Meet me on the corner tomorrow night.”
That’s what Beans said to Cornbread.
“You’re so bad, you always wanna fight.
Meet me on the corner tomorrow night,
and I’m gonna beat the hell out’ya.
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh.
Meet me on the corner tomorrow night.”

Beans hit Cornbread on the head.
Cornbread said, “I’m almost dead.”
Beans told Cornbread, “Get up, man.
You know that we go hand-in-hand.”

“Beans and Cornbread,
Beans and Cornbread, hand-in-hand.”
That’s what Beans said to Cornbread,
“We should stick together hand-in-hand.
We should hang out together like weiners and sauerkraut.
We should stick together like hot dogs and mustard.
We should get up every morning,
and hang out together like sisters and brothers.
["Yeah!"]
Every Saturday night, we should hang out like chitlins and potato salad.
["Yeah!"]
Like strawberries and shortcake.
["Yeah!"]
Like cornbeef and cabbage.
["Yeah!"]
Like liver and onions.
["Yeah!"]
Like red beans and rice.
["Yeah!"]
Like bagel and lox.
["Yeah!"]
Like sour cream and biscuits.
["Yeah!"]
Like bread and butter.
["Yeah!"]
Like hot cakes and molasses.”
["Yeah!"]

Beans told Cornbread,
["Yeah!"]
“It makes no difference what you think about me,
["Yeah!"]
but it makes a whole lotta difference what I think about you.
["Yeah!"]
We should hang out together like hot cakes and molasses.”
["Yeah!"]
That’s what Beans said to Cornbread.

‘Cause Beans and Cornbread,
they go hand-in-hand.