Photo-Kiosk Designers - An Epidemic (But there's a cure!)

I've noticed a new type of graphic designer emerging from the depths of the internet the last two years. They're hard to spot at first, since they talk-the-talk, but when you see their files, you immediately know what they are... they're a Photo-Kiosk designer.

Etsy is FILLED with them. The Photo-Kiosk designer is someone with a computer and access to an image editing program (usually Photoshop), who decided to strike out and make a little side business for themselves designing invitations and party favors for people online. (It's ALWAYS invitations and party favors.)

As a graphic designer and digital printer who also sells on Etsy, I appreciate their work ethic and their effort to pull in extra income, and I'm all for people pursuing art and design, but...to put it simply...YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!

So I made this post to help and educate Photo-Kiosk printers on why commercial printers (like me) hate your files and how you can fix them.

1" Button Press Demo & Review

Not as in-depth as I wanted it to be, but I'll be doing more follow-up videos on my machines very soon. (Plus people always complain that I talk too much so I guess shorter might be better.) 

All of my machines and parts came from Button Boy Inc. 

-1.25" Machine: https://goo.gl/o9V81B
-1" Machine: https://goo.gl/B97bW5
-Pendants: https://goo.gl/v0Y68Z

They have an Etsy shop too, but their main website has lower prices.

CamdenJam 2016 - Button Making Event

I partnered up with Connect The Lots in Camden again this weekend, this time instead of painting, I brought my trusty pinback button press to the city to teach kids how to make their own buttons at Camden Jam! It was a HUGE hit. 

First the children colored their designs, then we punched them out,
and they used the press (supervised) to create their finished button!

Since the event was at city hall, which is a Poke-stop, my contact requested that I make some Pokemon-themed designs. I took my Pokemon Go team buttons and turned them into simple black and white outlines, this way kids could color them in, as well as a generic Pokeball and a Pikachu design. (You can't leave out Pikachu!) Surprisingly, the biggest hit of the day was the paper I left blank! 

How I Package My Pinback Buttons

New art-related video is up!

This is how I've been packaging my button order lately,
both in person in the Artist Alleys and online for my Etsy shop.

It's been a while since I've made one of these,
but I'm figuring things out filming-wise so that I should be able to make one or two videos a month.

♥ etsy ♥ storenvy ♥ facebook ♥ sometimes foodie ♥ Society6 ♥ redbubble ♥

Last Minute Paint Party SUCCESS - & PAINT PARTY TIPS

Not your average paint party fodder. This isn't a wine glass, or high heel, it's city hall!

It was a last minute event, with about 48 hours notice to gather supplies and make a painting with Camden City Hall theme, but I pulled it off! We had 14 painters create their own masterpieces and even with a few hiccups, like no running water, wind, and sun...it turned out great!  

We had a really good turnout and all of the participants were very serious and invested in their paintings. My example piece was a bit more challenging than your usual paint party example, but they all did a fantastic job without missing a beat!

Tip #1 : Add a Decoupage Element for added interest 

Custom Sticker Order (300 Stickers!)

Images © Kastraz of Deviant Art

Just finished up a custom vinyl sticker order (300 stickers total) for the awesome Kastraz of Deviant Art and YouTube.

They’re printed on durable white vinyl so they’re waterproof, weather proof, and tear resistant! I even included an extra fabulous holographic-finish Mettaton. I honestly know next to nothing about Undertale, but I think these stickers are awesome! (I'm totally not biased at all.)

I included a special Holo sticker as a gift to Kastraz for placing the order. See it under the cut!

Selfie - My First Self Portrait (WIP)

All these years and I've never done a self portrait. That's like skipping How to Be An Artist 101!

To be honest, figure work isn't one of my strong points. I have a very poor sense of anatomy, and even though my college was great conceptually, they didn't teach the fundamentals of drawing, portraiture, or figure work in any medium. I just drew what I saw, which has worked for me until now, but I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and do something kind of therapeutic and self-exploring.

All About Holographic Goodies (where I got it and how it's working out)

Moon Crystal Power Make-Up!

I'm a cautious over thinker. It takes me FOREVER to pull the trigger on something when it comes to expanding my little online shop and artist alley offerings, even when I really think it's a good idea.

I come up with an idea, research it like crazy, leave 20+ tabs open in my browser about it for weeks, read reviews, and mull it over for months, sometimes even YEARS before I do it. If I do it at all.

For example, with my button maker. I've wanted one since I was in high school, which was 10 YEARS AGO, and I only bought it 3 years ago. It took me 7 years of research and what made me finally pull the trigger was seeing other artists with theirs in the alley at Otakon. That's insane! Sometimes this over cautiousness works in my favor and prevents me from wasting money of fads and trends, but it also hinders me from expanding my side business like I should. With my button maker I wish I had bought one sooner, but with this holographic film I'm glad I waited.

Holographic Buttons & Stickers!!!

Buttons featuring designs from Old Skool Junk

That's right, I now offer HOLOGRAPHIC buttons! Yesterday the holographic paper I ordered came in the mail and I was dying to test it out. This weekend I got an order for buttons from the awesome Old Skool Junk, and what better design to test this holographic paper out on than a freaking unicorn?!

I gave it a shot and it turned out freaking awesome! I'm so excited! I'm currently working on listings for holographic sailor moon buttons and custom buttons in my shop. It should be up later this week! I'll post an announcement when they're up!

♥ etsy ♥ storenvy ♥ facebook ♥ sometimes foodie ♥ Society6 ♥ redbubble ♥

5 AWESOME Resources for Digital/Graphic Designers that I use EVERYDAY!

What The Font!

An AWESOME resource for designers. Several times a week I have clients give me a physical copy of a flyer or business card that was designed years ago and they want me to recreate it in the digital age. Trouble is they want an EXACT copy, fonts and all, and they have no idea what the original typeface was. What do you do?

You take a photo of it and upload it to What The Font! and they help you narrow things down. They aren't always 100% spot on, but it always helps me figure things out and it removes you looking through the hundreds and thousands of fonts on your computer to find the perfect typeface-prince charming. Seriously, this site is a lifesaver and not enough people know about it. Add it to your design arsenal and stop ripping your hair out. 

Pixabay

FREE. STOCK. IMAGES. Need I say more? 

Client on a budget? This is the site for you! Admittedly this is the B or C-team when it comes to stock images, but you can't beat FREE! They have a decent selection that's always growing, and they even offer some .EPS files and other vectored imagery.

Identifont

Similar to What The Font!, but this one doesn't require a scan of the font itself. This is a series of questions designed to help you narrow down possible typefaces.

It starts out basic, "Is it Serif? Italicized?" etc, but progresses into different characteristics of certain letters, like the center lines of the letter "M" or the subtle differences in a lowercase "i." If What The Font! fails you, Identifont is a great back up.

DaFont.com

Speaking of fonts... this site is the BEST for free fonts. I've been using this site since I was a teenager! They have...I don't even know how many fonts, and they're all broken up into great categories. Like handwritten, serif, script, old school, etc. This is a great resource when you're first starting out and can't afford to buy expensive font families. (Lucidity is one of my favorites! I've been using it for YEARS!) Some of the fonts are licensed for personal use only, so be sure to check the licensing for each one before you use it for any commercial work, but when I was making designs for my college courses this resource was the BEST! It gave my designs variety without having to eat cup-ramen the rest of the week to afford it.

Gumroad

Gumroad isn't free like the others, but it's just as valuable. It's kind of like etsy. Artists have their own little shops where they sell their goods, but instead of physical items, it's downloadable artist materials made by artists for other artists. Music, texture packs, brushes, stock images, etc.

I've bought several brush packs for Photoshop and Illustrator through shops on GumRoad and I used them all the time! The pricing is reasonable, and you can put them on as many devices as you like! I have the same brush packs on my laptop, my desktop PC, and my Mac mini at work, so I get a lot of use out of them. If you're making your own brushes, textures, and resources, you might want to check this out and even open a shop of your own to make a little money on the side.  

 etsy ♥ storenvy ♥ facebook ♥ sometimes foodie ♥ Society6 ♥ redbubble ♥ instagram

Designer Tip Tuesday: Borders & Commercial Printing- Don't Do It!

I've been working in commercial design and print for a few years, so I thought it'd be fun to do something like a #tiptuesday where I can share a bit of graphic design advice and kind of vent about the frustrations of my day job.

A lot of colleges and art programs will reward you for pushing print capabilities to their limits, which is awesome, but when you send that file off to print, it might not come back looking like you had expected.

For my first ever topic, something simple, borders!

The long awaited return of ORIGINAL CONTENT!

My day job and all my side jobs have been running me ragged. I haven’t gotten to do anything create for myself, outside of @sometimesfoodie, in ages! 

For Camden Comic Con last week I made a few new items, mostly buttons, and I finally hooked up my cintiq! So (hopefully) I can start updating this with more of my own stuff. Here’s a booth-photo in the meantime and some photos of the two new button packs I made and donated to the Comic Con Costume Contest as prizes. 

If you want to grab a pin pack of your own be sure to visit my etsy shop!

♥ etsy ♥ storenvy ♥ facebook ♥ sometimes foodie ♥ Society6 ♥ redbubble ♥

Saturday AM Figure Drawing Session

Two 20 min long pose sessions

I went to a figure drawing session on Saturday and boy am I rusty, I’m suffering from what my drawing professor used to call “the outlines,” but it was a lot of fun to draw again. This was the last drawing in the session and I tried to go a lot softer than I had been in earlier sketches that day. See my other doodles and figure drawings under the cut!

FREE SHIPPING on Society6 - EXPIRES 1/10/16

FREE SHIPPING on Society 6 products until 1/10/16

Click the text above or THIS LINK to visit my shop and save on shipping!

Promotion expires January 10, 2016 at Midnight Pacific Time. *Free Shipping offer excludes Framed Prints and Canvas Prints

Sorry for the shop spam, as some of you know my car got totaled 12/23/15 by a driver who hydroplaned on the highway and I’ve been dealing with a lot of the legal issues from that. Until his insurance pays out, I’m out of pocket, so things are kind of tight at the moment. Even if you can’t  afford to buy anything from any of my online shops, reblogging and sharing really helps.

Thank you all so much, and new original content will be posted soon.

♥ etsy ♥ storenvy ♥ facebook ♥ sometimes foodie ♥ Society6 ♥ redbubble ♥

ETSY SALE from now until 12/7/15 - Get 15% off

HOLIDAY SALE: CYBERSALE15to save 15% off all purchases over $25

 Use the code CYBERSALE15 and save on your holiday gifts and orders! 

expires: 12/7/15

♥ etsy ♥ storenvy ♥ facebook ♥ sometimes foodie ♥ Society6 ♥ redbubble ♥

Day 187: I Ain't 'Fraid of no GHOSTS (Slimer)

I am hosting a (very) last minute Halloween Party this weekend, because I'm insane and I don't already have enough on my plate, and I decided to surprise my friends by trying to recreate the classic 90's beverage Ecto-Cooler! I got a fancy glass drink dispenser from the store that I'm going to fill it up using a recipe I found online, and to decorate it I made my own Slimers!

Starburst Messenger Bag - A Crafting Throw Back

I was writing up a food review over on my other blog, Sometimes Foodie, and I referenced this bag I made when I was in high school. I figured I'd link to it so that if anyone was curious they could see what it looked like, but I can't seem to find it anywhere on the internet.

Maybe I never posted it? Or maybe whatever site I used in high school is no longer around, anyway... I still had it in my closet, and I have been neglecting this blog, so I figured I'd post this crafty throwback here. This way I can link to it while still posting something "new" over here. (Which is long overdue!)

Day 186: Comfy Cozy

This one was a lot of fun to start, but I have no idea where I'm going with it.

♥ etsy ♥ storenvy ♥ facebook ♥ sometimes foodie ♥ Society6 ♥ redbubble ♥

Day 185: Hocus Pocus

Okay, I'm going to attempt to jump back into this! We're back to a doodle every night starting tonight! I swear.

Ideally I would have loved to do Inktober, but I already missed the first 10 days, so it is what it is.

Here are some doodles I did while watching Hocus Pocus with my sister tonight. I tried to play around with some different styles and levels of detail while keeping things cartoon-y. It was a lot of fun doodling again.

♥ etsy ♥ storenvy ♥ facebook ♥ sometimes foodie ♥ Society6 ♥ redbubble ♥

Day 184: I'm being a Very Bad Art Blogger

So I've been a really bad art blogger and this site has been neglected for too long, so here are some doodles I did while watching Hackers on Netflix. I've always loved this movie, and even though the technology seems so outdated when compared to what we have today, the art direction and styling of this film is freaking amazing.

I'm obsessed.

Also, I don't know who I want to marry more, Matthew Lillard's character (Cereal Killer) or Angelina Jolie's (Acid Burn). (Okay, it's really no contest. Angelina wins.) I might even make a Hackers themed button pack for my etsy...I think that would be a lot of fun.

♥ etsy ♥ storenvy ♥ facebook ♥ sometimes foodie ♥ Society6 ♥ redbubble ♥