Didja miss me? I missed you! Regular posting to return on Monday the 3rd! <3
Printable May 2010 downloadable calendar

Printable May 2010 downloadable calendar

From me to you! Download it.

May 2010 Desktop Wallpaper, 1680×1050

May 2010 Desktop Wallpaper, 1680×1050

From me to you! Download the desktop version!

Happy Mayl! <3

Tonal Tuesday: electric blue curve

Electricity. Sizzle, curve and acid.

Hi Loves! I will be taking a bit of a break from rottencupcakes as my husband & me (& our two cats) make our way across the country to relocate from Chicago to lovely, sunny Southern California. Tonal Tuesday will continue to be posted weekly but all other posting will be on hold until May 1st. Then I shall return joyful, triumphant and bursting with new content for you.

Loads of love! Wish us luck!
-julie

the ice storm.

Chilled. Shaken. Stirred.

4x6: victory

So, let’s get started on that Transparency of why I do the things I do things RIGHT NOW.

For the 4×6 series, I tend to work on a bunch at one time and then dole them out week by week. Today’s is actually from a batch I posted awhile ago (Rotary, 4w350m3 & Keyhole). It all started with the font— VTKS Dear Love! I have collected many fonts over the years but my favorite free font site is definitely DaFont.com. Sometimes, I go wandering around there to get inspired & VTKS Dear Love definitely inspired me. I love the letterforms and have been really interested in using them in the abstract lately. Type is such a beautiful element that often goes unnoticed because, well, you’re reading the words and not looking at the type!

I’ve been playing with abstracted letters with this particular font and was selecting the individual letterforms that I found pleasing and started playing with them—size, placement, angle, cropping etc. Now, obviously, this V is not at all abstract and certainly reads not only as type but also as text. Having just the letter V floating around didn’t make much sense to me so I started thinking about words that start with the letter v & that’s how the phrase came about (I must have also been feeling a little victorious at the time!). The phrase “is for victory” is set in a different font because VTKS Dear Love—as lovely as it is— really is too busy to set a sentence in. It probably works best as a single word or a drop cap or initial(as I’ve done here).

I’ve been on a stripe kick sartorially and a bumblebee color scheme design-wise. Yellow is such a lovely, vibrant color that I have a hard time wearing so I might use it a little too frequently in my designs. It just makes me happy!

That’s my first explanation/why I do the things I do for you. I hope you enjoyed it & it didn’t bore you to tears! Let me know what you think—both of the explanation and the design! Constructive discussion and critical questions are welcome.

Friday5: week 43

Friday5: week 43
Rubberface attack! & a tiny dance for Friday. Hooray Friday! <3

Marc Johns: watercolors=swoon.

This week’s lovelist:

• Marc Johns.Swoongasm & giggleworthy watercolors. Love!
• So many ideas that are swirling around in my head just waiting for a chance to be deployed. Yargh!
• Frank Chimero’s blog. I’ve long loved this man’s illustrations—such style, such technique! But goodness gracious, I love a man with a mouth and opinions that come out of it. Passion! Intelligence! And he’s right: it’s all good & well to show the work you do but it’s important to talk about it. One of my favorite things about school was critique. Granted, I was totally that annoying girl in class that had something to say about everything but discourse is a good thing! I’m not saying to rip everything to shreds but actual CRITIQUE (constructive) is such an important tool as a designer. Almost anyone can design something pleasing to the eye but why? What for? & how!? I am going to try to write more along with the imagery I post; why I’ve drawn/designed/photographed/made something. Everything has a reason and I should share those reasons and force those thoughts. Casual design and plopping of elements is all good and well but dangit: it’s the heart of design that makes it beat. I started the rottencupcakes blog in an effort to connect with my personal creative force despite working as a designer from 9-5 and no longer being a student where I can follow my whims with a trail of bullshit. I suppose this is the next step in the evolution. I’ve got consistent content but it’s pretty surface. Now’s the time to add the next layer of the (cup)cake. Cheers, darlin’.
• Unintended rants!
• Being brave.
• Our One Year Anniversary is Sunday. Holy moly! I can’t believe 365 days have passed already!

What’s on your love list this week?