Lindsay Small is small

Happy!

2011-10-17T17:35:00.001-07:00

A doodle! The Japanese symbol on her chest means "fun!"

Star Power!

2011-08-07T14:12:00.000-07:00

So I think it's been long enough that I can post these here without any trouble. When I graduated college in 09 I got scooped up pretty quickly by Converse (The shoe people) to work for them as a designer on the Chuck Taylor women's team. I worked there for almost two years before leaving to work in animation (My twue wuv), but not before making a literal mountain of shoes for ladies and children. Believe me, I have my samples from China I rescued all shoved into a huge storage box.
Anyway, the best, longest project I got to work on was an initiative for girls that was character based. I worked on it for a whole year all by myself, from concept, character design, color, patterns, promotion, to branding, Chuck Taylor pretty much left me giddily alone in a cubical to do whatever I want. I even created a custom font for the project, which has long been a salivating want of mine. I named the project "Star Power", a line of customizable shoe's for girls. I am really tickled to death that it took off and did super well in market, and even got an awesome write up in seventeen magazine, which is hilarious to my inner awkward teenager in huge baggy hoodie. Here is the write up if you're interested. The image I've posted above are the original colors, which were modified a bit to fit specific pantone colors for fabrics. Please check out the whole project at the Converse site here! Below two of the many promo things from the web.

There was even early on supposed to be an exclusive poster print that comes with each, but it got vetoed for problematic shipping reasons. I designed the posters myself, and each girl had a spotlighted edition with special colors and an embarrassingly cutesy poem I wrote myself that was read out loud in a room full of global marketing while I contemplating jumping out the window screaming.

I am very proud that I can finally post all this here after having had to keep it wrapped up for a couple years. I made a big effort to create each character with positive traits and design elements, as well as subtley making them of diverse ethnicities without being it being overt. Something I often do in my own work that I wanted to bring here (other then the obvious vinyl toy love, haha) was to make all of their skin bright, fun, intense colors. I didn't want any particular girl not to be able to identify with a Star Power character on a purely racial basis. I hope I was able to achieve this in a positive way.

And they are EMBROIDERED. Titter titter.

Hopefully I'll be able to post some more of my Converse work soon. Cheers!

Damask Lady

2011-07-29T13:03:00.000-07:00

Two hours in photoshop. Texture and Damask pattern are internet freebies!

Egg-citing Post! (haha)

2011-06-01T14:03:00.000-07:00

Listen to the egg, the egg has wisdom beyond it's years.

3 hours in photoshop.

Baman Piderman - Dis is Season 2 Opener

2011-03-09T09:20:00.000-08:00

Alex and myself are officially kicking off the second season of our series, hosted by our pals MondoMedia. This is the most animation we've ever violently stuffed into a singular episode, though it's a bit shorter.

When we were talking about how to get back into the show after such a long absence, a regular episode didn't sit quite right with me. I feel like we needed to prove to people we mean business about making good stuff. I tried to construct it in such a way that you see all of our little friends again, and laugh again at the running gags that permeated the first 12 episodes. A reminder of sorts. Here it is, I hope everyone enjoys it. It was a flipping doozy to animate and color.

Tufts Magazine Spot Illustrations

2011-01-28T07:01:00.000-08:00

Here are a set from a recent editorial illustration freelance gig I did for Tuft's Magazine. It was sort of a rush job because of the holidays, but I'm pleased with the colors. It is very tough to go back to doing whimsical backgrounds when I've been designing patterns for over a year for Converse now. A little out of practice! I'm working on getting back to my fighting weight though. Haha! Most of the freelance I get is character design related, so it was nice to go back to the balmy old song and dance of editorial.

I'm also going to post the initial sketches, before client changes here, simply because I think they're kind of fun. I am particularly mournful of the loss of the "Treasure Trunk" mass of magical dudes and sparkles, because come on.

Listen; When it's time to draw robots you better get on board.

2011-01-05T17:06:00.001-08:00

Made for something specific that didn't end up getting used. Posting here because robots in underpants.

In other news; Gosh I am pretty sick of Illustrator right now. I need some more Photoshop in my life.

Afternoon doodle

2010-11-12T09:48:00.000-08:00

I usually don't post many of my sketches here, but I really liked this one I doodled up of Veronica and I having fun.

I've been caught up in freelancing and being a new little wife. I'm back to Converse this coming Wednesday, so I expect to be shoes on the brain again fairly quickly.

Cheers!

Wishin' on a Comission

2010-10-06T09:17:00.000-07:00

Just a little piece a (business) lady commissioned from me for her resume. She is a business super hero. A Stapler queen. The pride of the office brigade. Protecting us all from toner outages and such.

Er.. here.

Hello Little Friends

2010-09-23T07:50:00.000-07:00

Here's a recent piece Alex and I worked on together for our friends Andy and Veronica. I'm really glad we can finally show everyone!
Andy and Miss V are getting hitched next month, and Alex and I worked on an animated invite for them. Their request was them dancing together on a beach.

When I designed the layout I was thinking about how a postcard style thing would be fitting, considering it's a destination wedding of sorts to Cape Cod. I also thought breaking it up into some smaller, subtle animations would make it feel rich, and be kind of unique in an animation. I wanted to include details that would speak to Veronica's personal aesthetic and wedding vision (Cupcakes and fun hand-made things), as well as the location. Hence good ole Sagamore Bridge, the ocean, and a soft Cape sunrise. Animating the waves proved to be surprisingly one of the more challenging things. I did a few different versions of it that looked absolutely insane, and totally distracting. There was also going to be a jumping fish but then I was like, "NO NO ABORT." Alex came up with a good solution for us, however, to tone it down and it ended up looking pretty nice.

Here's the original designs I did for them based off of Veronica's mood board she made (pictured above) and color palette she provided us. I definetly went a little hog-wild on the whole "IT'S A BEACH PARTY CRAZY BEACH WEAR!! AAAAHHHHHHGHGHG!!!" and ended up toning it down a bit for some more traditional wedding attire.

Total production time was around three weeks I think. Alex and I both enjoyed ourselves on the project, and wouldn't mind working on wedding type art for people in the future.

Mazel tov, Andy and Veronica!

Red Head Bed Head.

2010-07-06T12:03:00.000-07:00

Illustrator stinks to doodle in, Photoshop containing my superior vector sketchbook. But here's one from the ole illustrator files. Ten mins and a sleepy head. It's.. a green kid. I love red heads. Maybe he's a pixie? Let's ask him.

Throw da Party

2010-06-11T12:51:00.000-07:00

The new episode of Baman Piderman is out:

We worked super hard on this one, so I thought I'd post it. Thanks for watching!

Lindsay

Street Fighter

2010-05-20T13:54:00.000-07:00

I wanted to draw some Street Fighter 4 characters for Alex, since he and I have been spending a fair (large) amount of time going through the arcade mode of Super since it just came out. I wanted to make these really simple, but visually descriptive of their personalities. Then it kind of made sense to do them as character stamps. Why? A MYSTERY. I think I'll finish out the cast, but here's everyone's favorite go-to dudes.

The best thing about Street Fighter is it makes no sense, and it's hokey to the point of hilarity.

PS: Stupid Ken= Best Ken.

Caroline

2010-05-03T14:03:00.000-07:00

Caroline drew a picture of me, so I drew her one too. Done hastily in the ten free minutes I managed to squeeze out of today.

I had to look up the name on the google. MATRYOSHKA.

2010-04-29T13:01:00.000-07:00

It's hard to find time to do anything as of late, but here are some quick Russian nesting dolls I doodled up in illustrator. You see these things everywhere now! They're pretty cute.

Sketchin'.

2010-02-20T09:23:00.000-08:00

I used to watch a lot of anime when I was wee. Though there is nothing as frustrating as thinking something is so cool in your head, then realizing in the midst of explaining it out loud just how ridiculous Ronin Warriors sounds to your mom.

I think about Ukiyoe prints a lot and how to modernize them, which I was kind of toying with while doodling this here, albeit barely, haha. Alex and I used to Go to the MFA Boston weekly to look at their collection of them. I miss having free time..

Oh hello. Salutations. How are you and so forth.

2010-02-15T19:00:00.000-08:00

These past few months have been bone shatteringly intense, bringing forth the biggest changes in my life since I stopped eating play doh and learned to ride a two-wheeler.

"SO LAST WEEK THEN, HAW HAW" you say to me chidingly, your saucer sized pupils glazing over with a vacant look as you elbow me suggestively in the solar plexus. I offer a withering look that suggests long suffering.

Glad we could get that out of the way. Anyway. Why I haven't been around.

Number 1: I got a job! Since August I've been working at Converse full time as a designer for Chuck Taylor, which has been an amazing experience so far. It's tons of work, which is why I'm rather scarce, but rewarding and I'm learning intense amounts of stuff to cram into my already swollen skull. To sum up: I make-a the shoes.

Number 2: Baman Piderman. Baman Piderman eats up large, LARGE quantities of my time. Time that normal people spend eating and regularly visiting the restroom. The latest episode took about 784 years due to various factors (namely Christmas, work, moving, being sick, being away on business, etc), the main factor being that we finished the episode initially and then scrapped it entirely. There's a whole separate fully animated, 3 minute BP episode that we sealed away in the archives never to be seen by humans, then simply started again. We luckily have the best, most patient fans who sat tight. Each episode takes so long to make, especially with just two people doing every single thing. We love making them so much and sharing them, it just takes a while.

Number 3: Moving. Alex and I moved into a new apartment this month, and are still trying our best to juggle unpacking with our full time jobs. It's a nice place even though SMOKING LADY NEXT DOOR I HATE YOU STOP SMOKING WITH YOUR DOOR OPEN SO THAT IT LEAKS YOUR STINK INTO MY HALLWAY I WILL EAT YOUR CERAMIC FIGURINES I SWEAR IT I WILL. Our living room is purple.

Number 4: As most people who know us in the real world are aware.. Alex and I got engaged and will be married this coming August, making my name even sillier when hyphenated to Small-Butera. Planning a wedding is a lot of happy work, and we're not even nearly there yet. We're very happy, and I'm even more happy to share this news with everyone.

I'm going to make an effort to post here frequently, since I miss making art for myself. I'm going to start by posting doodles from my sketch file. I never draw on paper, only directly into photoshop. I find sometimes just drawing directly with shapes and color really warms up my hand and mind for working on projects. I get paranoid about only sharing super finished long-term pieces on here, but I'd like to break that habit. Here's a quick warm up I did today:

Cheers!
Lindsay

Post POST gallery things.

2009-07-23T10:13:00.000-07:00

The gallery talk was lot's of fun. Here are the four caballeros, Andy saying something meaningful about Dr. Grood.
On a whole it went really well, barring the fact that I can't really articulate why I have a fascination with robots. I just do! YOU WANT TO FIGHT ABOUT IT.

Anyways. It was extremely flattering and wonderful to be coupled with three other amazing artists. The show comes down Saturday morning, making room for the next one featuring the wonderful Fish McGill, fellow robot enthusiast and all around cool guy. Recommended!

So lately I'm freelancing a bit here and there, eating some yogurt, and staring at the walls. What more could you want out of life? I'm waiting to hear back from some potential jobs, so in the meantime I've been inspired by miss Alycia Garcia and have taken up embroidery. I have some tea towels and some ideas and you better watch out man, because I'm going to sew some stuff.

Also: I've taken part in a blog meme, which is pretty cool. I already received a gorgeous little piece from Veronica, so now it's my turn to post this:

I will make something for the first 5 people who comment "I'm IN!" and who commit to do the same on their blog. Just read below and if you feel up to the task, and copy the following...

Whatcha get is whatcha get.
What I create will be just for you, with love.
It’ll be done this year (2009).
I will not give you any clue what it’s going to be. It will be something made in the real world, not something cyber. It may be weird or beautiful.
In return, all you need to do is post this text on your blog and make 5 things for the first 5 to respond to your blog post.
Send me your mailing address after I contact you.

Good times and fun!
-Lindsay

Space 242: Artist's Talk

2009-07-20T10:56:00.001-07:00

Just a heads up for anyone in the area that's interested, the artist's talk for the "Atomic Hearts and the Electrical Brain" gallery showing at Space242 came up quick. So quick, in fact, that it seems to be tomorrow (Tuesday)
Giving short lectures and answering Q&A from 7-8pm will be Andy, Veronica, Allison, and myself. I am very nervous. I knew I would have to do this as soon as I agreed to be a part of the event, and it's been sitting on the back of my brain. I've never really had to talk about my work outside of a classroom setting where it's pretty much just technical mumbo jumbo and "I like blue, do you like blue? I think I'll use blue".
So I'm nervous! But I'm very excited too. I'm very privileged to be alongside such talented folks. If you're there, and I start slowly rolling towards the exit during the talk, please roll me back towards the table.
More info about the event is available here. If you plan on going, please make sure you RSVP! There is going to be some sweet limited run silk screens available at the talk, featuring all our work is a mashup piece. It's pretty awesome.

A big thank you to everyone who came to the opening, and a preemptive thank you to anyone planning to go to the talk. It means a lot to me.

The lack of regular posting continues as I work on a few freelance projects. Stay tuned for our next episode: Gee I should probably finish my website. Be there!

Post Gallery Round up.

2009-06-29T09:49:00.000-07:00

So the Space 242 opening came and went this past Friday, and it was a pretty intense experience. I've never had so much work shown at once and to such a large crowd. I was nervous but had a ton of fun. I'm very grateful to all those that came out to support me. My dearest friends and comrades.

The show will be up till the end of July, so go check it out! The fine works of Allison, Veronica, Andy, and myself.
Now that the opening is over though, I'm going to talk about a couple of the new things I made for the show.

The first one I struggled with for quite some time, but ended up being fun and cathartic in the end. I've decided if I really want to break into vinyl toys and the pop scene, I should start showing my style in that vein.

This piece, titled "Ardent Love" was a huge exercise in pretty much.. doing whatever the heck I want. It felt awesome to finally allow my imagination to be uncontained and just design the heck out of something with no rules and stipulations. I suppose that's what it's like being out of school and doing art for yourself. It was fun, but also a huge self struggle. In the end we wind up with more bubble clouds and lotus's. Awwww yeeaaaah.
I have a fixation on religious iconography and Indian miniatures, and of course long vertical pieces. It's different. What do you think?

This one, "Hell Yeah Robots!", was a surprising throw back to when I used to spend hours at my desk with tiny tiny scissors, cutting paper into the wee hours of the morning as I questioned my sanity and life choices. I guess I just felt like working with my hands again, something tangible. Cut paper takes way too long, is horrifically frustrating, and probably the most annoying aggrivating thing you can do. But it looks so neat.
Anyways, this one is pretty tiny, 7" x 7", making it the smallest piece I've ever made for show. It was rather funny, bringing all my three foot tall framed pieces into the gallery space.. and then this little teeny precious frame.
Anyway. The whole thing is a big throw back to my old way of working, stylisticly and media...ly. I was actually sore to part with it. Unlike digital work, it's hard to say goodbye to something you physically made and can't reproduce by calling the printers.

So yeah, some new stuff. Now I'm deciding what to do next. I'm assisting Alex with some of his animation projects, but I need a new project of my own. It's very strange, not having homework dictating my schedule.

This came up fast.

2009-06-25T10:12:00.000-07:00

The show is tomorrow! Featuring lot's of never before blogged work by Andy, Veronica, Allison, and myself. Come out with us and have fancy drinks while talking about fancy art in a fancy gallery. Forecast is predicting a large amount of fancy in the vicinity.

Make sure to rsvp!

Aye Aye Aye, Your Eyes hypnotize

2009-06-14T15:33:00.000-07:00

Snip snip. Preview of things to come.

This is image heavy and I have no remorse for your connection.

2009-06-10T20:07:00.000-07:00

So I've been asked to make a silk screen for a limited edition print run for the upcoming gallery show I'm in at Space242. The theme was space and astronauts!

It's my first time making one, and I realize now I should have added more red parts. Somehow I got it into my head to make it very simplistic and easy to read. You don't have to make silk screens that way apparently! Dohohoho. Hohoho.

Anyways. My sister got the married (of which I was the maid of honor), so I've been scarce due to ridiculousitude. Which is now a word henceforth.

Here is the bride and I, looking as unrelated to each other as possible. We are like grape juice and white grape juice... which is a simile I've only just come up with now on this thirsty, thirsty evening.
Speaking of my sister's wedding, I might as well post these now seeing as how it's finally concluded. I did some art here and there, due to me loving her and all. The first was originally the invitation for her wedding shower, later converted instead to a poster due to print problems.

Her wedding had a Cinderella theme if you were wondering. It was placed on an easel at the entrance of the hall for people walking in, as thus:

I also designed the tee shirts for the bachelorette party, which as a must have if you want every one yelling at you while you're eating at restaurants. It's supposed to be a companion to the above Cinderella poster. Cindy gets Sinful I suppose.

The names of the girls were also on the back for maximum cat-calling and harrasment. Modeled here by the lovely Barbara and Stephie.

Senior reviews, senior gallery, and senior portfolio night came and went. I also won this cake:

The "You take the cake!" award for massart illustration. It was both delicious and an honor.

Oh, Also:

I KNOW RIGHT.
I graduated college after two majors and six years. There is not much I can say about it until I reconcille my feelings and all this free time to play playstation.

The Last at Last.

2009-04-27T02:50:00.001-07:00

Here is the final piece in my senior thesis at Massart.

A year of work and research, five solid pieces of Degree Project. The show is tonight, FYI.

I was chosen to be featured on the poster art. A little tweaking to one of the earlier pieces and viola. Slathered all over the school. All are welcome to come be fancy with the senior illustration class.

Thank you to everyone for the support I was given during this semester from hell. Special thanks of course to Alex, who's tireless efforts to buy me snacks and drive me to places while I spaz out in the passenger seat were very appreciated.

You are a stand up gentleman, mister Butera.

Quiet Goals

2009-04-15T00:33:00.000-07:00

I haven't told a ton of people, because I feel as through saying it outloud will make it more real somehow.. but I've finished my tailored portfolio to apply to the Pixar Summer internship. My mouth is literally open in a silent scream right now even typing that. I repeat. I sent my PORTFOLIO and RESUME and COVER LETTER to

PIXAR

. It is a long shot, and I'm trying not to get my hope of hopes all riled up, but how does one resolve staring their life's dream right in the face and showing it robots in casual wear?

Here are some pics before I send it off with love and magic kisses.

Very, VERY special thanks to Jamie for all her support and help. We can do this! Dooohhhh!

Senior Thesis: Piece Four

2009-04-13T03:57:00.000-07:00

This one was slightly more tricky than the others, as anyone who had the privilege to watch me curl into a fetal position under my desk this week could tell you.

This is the home stretch folks. Join me in the rapidly deteriorating health Olympics, of which I am apparently running triathlon.

2009-04-06T06:56:00.000-07:00

The next piece in my thesis series. I wanted to go really different color-wise with this one, so I referenced the same color scheme I used for my personal branding stuff.

Up all night again. I took the oddest nap at about 9-10:30 pm. I listened to the soundtrack to LocoRoco all night and it kept me peppy. I love you, yellow ones!

I have eaten six popsicles and don't care who knows it.

2009-04-01T04:50:00.001-07:00

I love pink. There, I said it.

Q: How do you make Degree Project fun again?

2009-03-30T02:09:00.001-07:00

A: Playing again.

The characters from my next piece sanz the background. For some reason uploading this stuff to blogger washes it out a bit. Its a very slight change, but my OCD brain starts slamming against the front of my skull in protest. I wonder if it's a Firefox thing. Meanwhile, I'm probably going to finish this one this evening. I'll post the finish in the wee hours of tomorrow morning I'm guessing.

In other, unrelated news, I had my wisdom teeth out. I just want to eat a sandwich, is that so much to ask.

And once again, with feeling.

2009-03-25T21:49:00.000-07:00

Just a couple tweaks to fix this up a bit. Mainly her sweater, making the window more readable, and a bit of a fix to the shop sign. EDIT: Also a bit of a pink tinge to the upper windows from the sky.

OKAY I AM GOING TO STOP WORKING THIS ONE TO DEATH NOW.

I'm a good halfway through the next one, which is slightly more challenging. And by slightly I mean AGJKSGJGSLKHSFFFF

I would like to use the title to point out to Allison and Andy how many times I've posted this week. AHEM AHEM.

2009-03-17T22:48:00.000-07:00

Promotional postcards! For the ladies. I mean jobs.
.....
.......
Hire me.

I love you, AllBusinessCards.com

2009-03-17T16:28:00.000-07:00

So I just received my business cards hot off the presses and I have to tell you, they look absolutely beautiful. I was contacted by AllBusinessCards.com, asking me if they could print mine because they really liked the design. Hmmm...

A: Yes.
and
B: YES PLEASE.

I was obviously really flattered and after a bit of getting flushed and shuffling my feet about, I gave permission and submitted my cards. I was worried, because I've had trouble tackling the constraints on bleed room on a lot of the business card printing sites I've looked at, but the template they sent me was so easy and helpful. I opened it up in Photoshop and the guides were literally already on it. When I saw that, I am confident enough as a lady to admit I almost wept with utter, unabashed relief.
I was pretty surprised how quickly the cards came, and upon opening them there might as well have been a stereotypical angelic choir gathered behind me as I took a peek.

They really look that good.

I chose a gloss finish, and had later worried that would make them too flashy. It is sooo nice though. I give the guys extra props because as anyone who's seen my card design knows, I went HEAVY on the little teeny, tiny, hard to print details. Even so small, all the details are crisp and beautiful, the color absolutely spot on as well. I really am rolling around with glee at how lovely they are. The rounded corners give it a real kick as well.

I know a lot of my friends are getting their cards together as well right now, and I definitely, definitely recommend the site. They were great, friendly people to deal with and the printing really is outstanding. This coming from me who literally is the scourge of print shops everywhere, striking fear into the hearts of the employees with my quality demands and outspoken complaining about having PERFECTLY correct color.

Lindsay stamp of approval, for sure.

First Completed Degree Project Piece

2009-03-16T08:36:00.001-07:00

Um. I did I 180. DON'T YOU JUDGE ME.

I decided to do detailed line art but simplistic coloring. Tons of lines but not really any shading, sanz extreme light. I'm rather pleased with that moon.

My faaaavorite part, and the part I enjoyed doing the most, was of course designing the robot stained glass window. Initially I wanted my whole dp just to be like that, poster and package design. I got a bit railroaded into a different direction, but I am pleased with this so far.

Here's a detail of the poster:

Just one more month and I will perhaps return to sleeping, eating, and getting to pee on an acceptable schedule.

Drawin' Some Dames

2009-03-04T02:18:00.000-08:00

Having some fun, drawing some broads, eating some snacks. Things are stressful but I'm trying to admire the dandelions in the process.

I can't believe it's snowing.

2009-03-02T00:57:00.000-08:00

Another sketchy test. (I KNOW RIGHT)
This time I may be on to something, however.

Maybe?

For Jorbs.

2009-02-24T22:19:00.000-08:00

So this is my resume template. It's meant to match my business cards in a paradise of self branding wonderment. I'm sort of partial to the robot smoke.

I've been having a massive amount of font-related-fun as of late. Come join me in my world of kerning and joy.

So the Society of Illustrators competition I was accepted into is quite a big deal, making me shuffle my mary-janes awkwardly and quietly mumble some semblance of humble words pretty frequently over the past couple weeks. A school wide email was sent out, and now people in the elevator are patting me on the back or yelling across lecture halls. I'm very, very surprised still, and am working to take in the gravity of it still. Especially after reading THIS.

That's.. um... whew. I need to sit down. I don't think I realized how big it was upon entry suggested by my professors. I'm beyond grateful to be invited to such a thing, and just happy in general to be enjoyed in some way. I'm really glad people are having a positive experience with my work, which is all I've ever wanted. So high fives for everyone, like, right now. Seriously.

Degree Project is in progress with gusto, finally. I'm figuring some stuff out about backgrounds that are FRUSTRATING. It's mostly morphing style into them, and not just drawing a technically accurate building and such.

Oh well! At least Watchmen is coming out soon! I love you, tiny Rorschach.

I was told I should post more.

2009-02-19T22:21:00.000-08:00

Thank you to everyone that came out to support me and the other Massart animators tonight at the Museum of Fine Arts animation retrospective. I felt awkward during the Q and A, but it was very nice otherwise. It's weird, being put into the category of "best of".. very flattering, but weighty too. Animation seems like another lifetime at this point, and I'm not sure if the rumblings of melancholy and wistful feelings the show left me with attests to how very deeply I miss it.

I drew this picture for Alex, since he enjoyed how fancy I was dolled up this evening. Please share with me this milestone, my first pair of high heels ladies and gentlemen, at age 23.

You say you want some more.. well, I'm not surprised.

2009-02-17T22:32:00.000-08:00

How many Flight of the Conchords references about business can one blog take? Will we ever know for sure?

The front and back sides. I tweaked the front a bit and made the dots and stripes a bit bigger since I was concerned they would get all muddled in teeny tiny adorable business card sizes.

Q: HEY LINDSAY WHY ALL THE UNDERPANTS.
A: I DON'T KNOW JEEZE, GET OFF MY BACK.

In other news, I am honored to have won a place in the Society of Illustrators student section of their yearly contest. My work will be showing this coming May in the Society gallery in New York City.
See:
http://www.societyillustrators.org
and also
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_Illustrators
for more information. I am very happy, humbled and other positive H related words used to describe fortunate turn of events.

In other news, Tea: and the drinking there of! All this and more on the very not boring, interesting this blog.

You know when I post my business card it's time for business yeah cause it's business time! OOH

2009-02-11T00:47:00.000-08:00

Hey kids. Sorry I haven't updated much as of late, but I've been working on art that I can't post publicly just yet. It's going well, but it's the most demanding thing I've ever done.
Here's something I might make into a business card. Done in Photoshop.

I was trying something sort of different than usual. What do you think?

(Bonus points for anyone who knows what the title of this entry references)

Merry Chremweh.

2008-12-24T22:36:00.000-08:00

Alex and I whipped this up in about four seconds for the holidays. It's much cuter than the original storyboards I gave to Alex. Yes, yes, I know it was for family so we had to tone it down a bit!
I saved this page of quick boards for the hilarity factor though. We have a vendetta against Santa for some reason! Also: proof my storyboards and thumbnails are disturbingly terrible and mostly make sense just to me.

Cupcakes!

2008-12-09T02:31:00.000-08:00

An Illustration assignment where we had to create an add for tee-shirt company Johnny Cupcakes.

All photoshop with no under sketch. I think I just wanted to make the most "Lindsay" thing ever. It's one of the most self descriptive things I've ever made for school. I'm very happy with it. Plus? Scarf cat with nub legs. Yeaaaaah!

Cheers.

Because I know Alex will be checking this before work to see what I did.

2008-12-08T04:08:00.000-08:00

Actually working on my degree project. Finally.

They're going to be on the subway.
I switched my degree project back to my original idea, thankfully, after much back and forth. Standing up for yourself is difficult. I'm happy though, which is an understatement really. It also helps that I know Mister Roosh likes these robot arts! Hi Mark!
So one down, two more finals to go (after I add the background to this). OH BOY.

Cheers cheers cheers.
Lindsay

PS: jpeg really kills the saturation on these... just pretend it's ever so slightly more bright and you've got the actual product.

You're all thinking this.

2008-12-05T22:15:00.001-08:00

I just had the courage to come out and say it.

YOU KNOW THIS TO BE TRUE.

...okay, back to finals.

I GOT A NEW COMPUTER

2008-11-26T22:09:00.000-08:00

Hells bells guys! Guess who has a IMac with a 24" screen!

It has a silly photo booth camera! I took this for you internet!

Buying this thing was the scariest thing I've ever done. I can't believe it's mine. Graduation gift came early thanks to my folks and the esteemed Alex Butera. To think this very morning I was rolling around on my floor as my laptop took ten minutes to thumb through a single frame, and now I am quite literally basking in the eerie glow of this gorgeous monstrosity. Look at this mofo:

No more slowly forming a hump from craning my neck over my tiny mactop, and no more having to play numerous games of Tetris while Photoshop took quarter hours to save things. The monitor is so gorgeous I can't get over how much it will help me in the coloring process. I am beside myself with glee.

I also promise not to eat sticky things near it like I did with my laptop. Or crumbly cookies.

Lincoln, Stop being so Magical.

2008-11-18T08:24:00.000-08:00

IT IS DONE.

Whew. Many.. MANY hours in photoshop. Inked in Flash, then imported as lineart through Adobe Illustrator.

Colors!

Ronch Ronch Ronch

2008-11-16T23:32:00.000-08:00

Digital inking with attention to lineweight extremely difficult. Must investigate further.

Almost done with this piece, finally. Getting this drawing right and inking it was the part I was most nervous about, so naturally I left it as almost the last part, and the hardest. Eeep. I was worried about losing the looseness and fun of the original sketch, which was something I could never do before. It was partly why I abandoned my love of ink for pure color forms. But um.. here we are, a few years wiser and the drawing didn't get stiff. I'm pretty happy with it.
Finishing up the background tomorrow!

Cheers.

Butt Fix.

2008-11-12T20:09:00.000-08:00

I fixed his butt to be more Picasso-ey, hurr dee hurr. I still like this one somehow. Someone suggested I do a book of nothing but robots and girls and sell it for 100 dollars. I'm sure that someone would pay that much when I give em out for free!

I'm having a lot of trouble lately with school, and feel like I've fallen a bit behind. Between the processor on my computer slowing to the point of me plunging into Photoshop load time induced madness, the uncertainty about what an important upcoming contract will bring, and not being able to sleep next to Alex for the first time in three years.. I've been building up a foreign anxiety that has been pretty detrimental to my work process. I spend a lot of time sitting on my bed hugging Wall-E and being cold, and I dare you to construct a more pathetic sentence than that! Here, I'll wait.

....
...
....

Anywhosadoodle. I've got to do this. I'm going to get two degrees! I need to start punching down the jerks in my way. But I'm the jerk so I need to punch myself down! OH NO HOW CAN I DO THAT.
If anyone has any ideas how I can afford a new mac computer in the next few days or where it might be raining money down from a magic cloud, ring me up dudes. I'd be all over that.

AGH.

2008-11-11T14:09:00.001-08:00

How I feel about school right now:

Flash, about four seconds.

So My Teacher Hates my Degree Project.

2008-11-10T00:51:00.000-08:00

That doesn't seem to be stopping me from doing these kinds of drawings.

I don't know what to do, really. I'm at square one, starting from scratch. In mid-November no less. Oh boy!

Global (warming) Guts.

2008-11-04T14:58:00.000-08:00

I wanted to try something really different.

So I did. It's about global warming. I don't know how I feel about it. I just sort of wanted to.. design something without thinking about finishes. Graphics graphics graphics.
Done in flash, oddly.

Test!

2008-10-27T00:17:00.000-07:00

Just a little test piece for my forthcoming thesis.

In the actual pieces there will be backgrounds! Probably!
Photoshop over a pencil drawing. I need a new computer desperately. Every time I wanted to save, it took almost ten minutes. That's like, four gatrillion hours in ADD computer time, guys. I played tetris on my Nintendo DS each time I had to wait for it. I learned that people in France with DS's are much better at stacking blocks than I am..

Cheers,
Lindsay

Harder, Better, Faster, Cuter

2008-10-22T19:17:00.000-07:00

Don't view this in firefox if you can help it, it gets washed out for some reason.

I decided to color him and test how I might color my Illustration thesis. I like it, he's the cutest little French House icon ever.

Er.

2008-10-14T21:16:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling a bit frustrated, so I made a head that embodies my feelings. FACT: I haven't animated in over a year due to persuing my illustration career. I'm a bit rusty! A teeny exercise:

I wish this poster was true.

2008-09-30T06:44:00.000-07:00

Well er.. I did it completely different then I originally had planned. Stroke of genius or poor decision, you choose your own adventure!

I went retro. Dream Illustration Job assignment for illustration 4. Heavily inspired by the sweet retro poster art of http://chowderheadbazoo.typepad.com/ and also from old spumco retro stuff. Hand drawn and hand inked, then taken into Photoshop for adjustment and tinting. Awesome fonts from http://www.dafont.com
I'm linking that because if you're one of my art buddies that reads this and don't know about dafont, you need it. Neeeeeeed.

I.. rather like it I think. It's very different from what I was originally going for but it was a nice surprise. I've been trying out different ways of drawing, considering the color over the actual act of drawing even. It's an interesting little trip to say the least. I also didn't even USE gradients in this one! Unheard of.

Cheers.

Our work is never over.

2008-09-28T22:41:00.000-07:00

EDIT: Forgot the earrings, added a blush because darnit, ladies are still apple cheeked and lovely in the perpetual 1950's of my brain.

Progress.

One more time!

2008-09-23T09:41:00.000-07:00

Celebrate, don't wait too late..

Just fooling around. Color test for a larger project.
I'M FINALLY WORKING DAFT PUNK INTO HOMEWORK YESSS.
Daft Punk. Homework. I made a little joke to myself there.. Tee.

Cheers.

A little Obama for your Momma.

2008-08-05T07:50:00.000-07:00

I have found time to sneak-draw at work. It mainly involves the back of my Reward Zone Card Tally sheet and a ballpoint pen.

Ballpoint pen faces are hard! You can't fix your mistakes. It's true though, I want to believe in his lilting promises of change and can-do mantras. I think we all are scraping for that light in the proverbial dark of the tunnel we're in at this point.

Not Much

2008-07-27T22:23:00.000-07:00

I have stagnated to a halt which is scary. I don't like anything I do anymore..

...but I got a job at Best Buy! Hooray!

For Content's Sake

2008-07-09T07:36:00.000-07:00

This animation shames me. I made it three years ago when I was the most burned out I've ever been.. on tracing paper! It has the least animation possible USING CLEVER UNDETECTABLE TRICKS. It also has gotten into several animation screenings, DVD compilations, and a fancy Boston gallery scene showing.
What. The. Hell.

This short is my scarlet letter, but everyone seems to like it. So whilst I am in a slump, enjoy!

Paper cuts paper paper paper

2008-06-20T10:09:00.000-07:00

Where have I been? Well, it's been a rocky past few months to say the very least. A good friend of mine passed away due to cancer, and he will be greatly missed. Following that I fell very ill. Keep in mind that while all this fun was in effect, I also was working on finals for four separate studio classes, helping finish up Alex's senior thesis film, moving stuff out of the apartment, etc etc.
OH BOY. GOOD TIMES.

Needless to say, I've been spread very thin, like butter over too many pieces of bread, Samwise.
I'm feeling a great deal better now, and have settled into summer projects and jobs. I have some fun stuff to post from the school year though, SO LET'S GO AND DO JUST THAT.

One thing I never posted on the blog was the work I had been producing in my independent study. The reasoning for that was the fact that my home scanner quality is about the equivilent of me trying to push the art through the disk drive on my laptop to get it onto the screen. Plus, many of the pieces were of a larger format that a scanner couldn't accomidate anyhow. Recently Benn was gracious enough to take some photographs of the work for me. I hope someday to have them professionally scanned, but since it's cut paper and isn't completely flat, the rolling scanners at places like Kinko's can't do jack peanuts for me.
Oh yeah! Everything is cut paper, the most maddening of mediums. Nothing says labor of love like sitting at your drafting table for 15 hours straight, cutting the tiniest shapes you can out of glorified construction paper. I'll just post them chronilogically. Since a lot of them were "sketches" the quality varies. Each took a very long time, and was mostly experimenting what I could do with the medium. That's what was really fun about an independent study. It's exploration, rather then "JESUS CHRISTMAS MUST MAKE PORTFOLIO QUALITY WORK".

I feel kind of stagnant right now in my drawing. Cut paper is fun, but I want to push to a new place. I'm not sure where that is yet though. OH HO!
I'm considering starting to post personal pieces and sketch-work up here as well as my finished school work so anyone who happens to look here get's a better sense of how I can draw. Assignments tend to show a limited side of a person. I'll think on it.

Wotcher

2008-04-23T00:43:00.000-07:00

OH HAY GUYS IT'S DANTE.
Sometimes he wears a television on his head. I'm not lying.

We had to do a full length portrait of a friend in illustrator, then tile something that described them in the background. Totoro makes a reappearance on the blogosphere.
The pants took me the longest. It's pretty tough to look at organic color fields and break them down into simple shapes.

Contact Info

2008-04-17T10:07:00.000-07:00

Because it was asked of me:

Yes, I am available for custom and freelancing. I will be finishing classes up for the summer within a month, and then will be especially, ESPECIALLY available, if you know what I mean.

Email me at TheLizzyIzzyBoink@verizon.net

Or, if that email displeases you:

Lindsay.Small@massart.edu

I check my email with OCD-like frequency. Because it seems apt, I'll list programs I am proficient with real quick:

-Photoshop
-Illustrator
-Flash
-After Effects (mostly..)
-Final Cut Pro

I'm also all for real media too. I love cut paper, ink, colored pencils, markers, and gauche. I'm also inclined on occasion to suffer through acrylic. ON OCCASION.

Animation. Illustration. Graphic Design.
Jack of all trades, master of AWESOME.

Cheers!

I think it's okay to post these now.

2008-04-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

I got the cover to the Weekly Dig! Hooray!
I also got no sleep this week. Booh.

http://www.weeklydig.com

Thank you Weekly Dig! I will continue reading you on my morning commute and to kill time while Alex is playing PSP. I even forgive you for that one time when Daft Punk's Electroma was playing at the Brattle and you didn't inform me months in advance and I missed it and wheneverIthinkaboutitIsobquietlyonmybed*.

*It was my fault for not reading that issue on time.

I've always coveted getting to do the cover for the Dig. I've basically been rolling around the streets of Boston in a haze of glee. Unfortunately the downside of this haze is that my homework isn't getting done, because it's so hazy that all I can see is the warm, soothing glow of the internet. I have no idea when it comes out though. It might be tomorrow! Oh boy!

The theme was "ecco". Here's the first one I submitted:

I was asked for a slight revision on the left arm by Tak (The editor), which I did. Shark teeth were added as I channeled James and the Giant Peach via his suggestion:

I can't wait to see it in print. I'm so excited! I never win anything.
Oh! But that's a lie now because last week in other news I also won the animation portion of the Massart All school Show for Jamaphone! I celebrated by buying the first Appleseed graphic novel. Briareos is love. Especially in the new movie out. You can't see me, but I'm raising my eyebrows up and down in a suggestive manner.

Cheers!

My Neighbor This Guy

2008-04-02T17:31:00.000-07:00

I'm learning how to use Adobe Illustrator. This is also the first time I've drawn my buddy here.

He's fairly simple, and fairly creepy. That's why I love 'im.

Robot Rock

2008-03-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

Done in Photoshop using only paths and the ellipse tool. It took a long time, but I like it. I didn't have enough sexy, sexy robot drawings up in here.
So here's another for fun:

Crocadilly

2008-03-27T15:48:00.000-07:00

We had to do a piece based off of the sentence, "For sale: baby shoes, never used."

There was a lot of miscarriage themed pieces. ...yeaaaaaaaah I didn't go that route.
See cause.. he has flippers and can't.. fit.. the shoes..

Trying some new things in photoshop. Successful? Not sure yet.

This Post is Awesome

2008-03-26T21:24:00.001-07:00

I raise my fists to the heavens, dropping to my knees as I scream my existential bane into the black of the night.

"SCRATCHBOOOOARD!"

My first ever attempt at scratch board. This took exactly one weeks time, thursday to thursday. A RIDICULOUS amount of hours. My scratch knife is duller than.. actually doing a scratch board piece.
The medium isn't for people like me who are OCD for crisp, clean lines and forms.
It says "This Picture is Awesome", in hopes that no one will be able to argue that when I hang it up in critique tomorrow. OI! Hand lettering is rough man. The font is based off of that old hippie font on 60's posters. I've homaged it previously as well in my cut paper John Lennon piece.

Long time no post. Many things happened. I got unhappy. Recently, I got happier. HOORAY INTERNET.
I have a backlog of things to post, but I'll space them out so it will seem like I'm posting more often. It's all a farce though, as I just revealed to you.

Despite having quit my job at the comic book store gleefully, I worked for them this past weekend at the Anime Boston convention. Alex dressed up along with Dante and Max. What a trio.
I love my speaker head.

Cheers!

UPDATE!

2008-02-20T22:42:00.000-08:00

Aaaaaand, the finished one:

I have all the Daft Punk videos on dvd now and it makes me squeal in delight.

2008-02-20T19:29:00.000-08:00

Almost finished. I'm going to kill this one when I barf a background onto it.
I'm sort of figuring out how to make digital art feel more robust and less... digital. Plus, I'm kind of working my cut paper love into my other art.
Speaking of cut paper; This semester I have an independent study. What that means is I get course credits for a class I totally make up myself. Sound fun, right? RIGHT! I've decided to spend the whole time playing with cut paper. It's going well so far. I'm working in patterned and textured paper this time. I'll scan the tests tommorrow.

Cest un Pear.

2008-02-07T11:18:00.001-08:00

I drew this pear, ANGRILY. My first time using photoshop to paint like this.
I've been down since sometime over Christmas break, and I won't get into why, but thus the lack of much posting. I have stuff to share, I've just been sort of hiding under my bed/Alex's bed for the past few months.
Regardless, I'm back at school in a new semester working hard and napping hard. I have very early classes this time around. I'm back to regular posting.
In other news: CHERRIES! and how delicious they are. More at eleven.

NumbleTebby

2007-12-21T17:14:00.000-08:00

My first end of semester review as an illustration major has come and gone. Despite sweating it out, It was apparently unessesary perspiration. I got all my checks in "excellent" and "good" which seems to be pretty rare. I am floored at the enthusiasm and glee by which I have been welcomed into this department by the faculty. I feel on top of the world, sitting at the North Pole near that steriotypical candy cane pole thing.
The deal is pretty much hang up all your best work for the whole semester, have the rest on your table along with process work sketchbooks, anything else you want to show, etc. Then... you leave, and come back in about three hours. That was the nerve wracking part for me. During all my animation reviews, I was present and able to respond to critisism and questions. The idea of people I haven't met looking at my stupid monster drawings without me in the general vicinity to be like, "..He's slapping that guy's butt because of (insert shoddy artsy reasoning here)." is stomach turning.

I don't really claim artistic reasoning for my strange sense of humor. There isn't an excuse that would work convincingly that I can think of. If you can, email it to me. I'll use it, really.

Sooo I came back after the reviewers had come and gone to take down my stuff, took some pictures like a big nerd, and then went and read my sheets. Three reviewers, three very positive essays about my work. The only really negative thing said was that some of my work was "dirivutive." I look to the parody of 40's cartoons piece I did and shake my head. No duh. Haha. Maybe she means other stuff I did, I dunno. I suppose it's something I have to think more in depth about. SELF REFLECTION YEAH. She gave me all good marks though.
Well, here are some photos of it anyways:

The big set up.

An assignment on adapting a book into a play, then designing the sets and costumes. I chose "Holidays on Ice" By Dave Sedaris. It's about working as a Macy's department store elf. I did it all digitally.

I made those actual size costume elf hats from my designs for the play design project, plus that finished dog piece from what feels like a bahillion eons ago. This semester felt so exhaustingly long.

A big self portrait piece that made me angry while I was doing it, but ended up being a labor of love. I got aggrivated with paint so I ended up sewing my face.

A detail shot of the emboridery. The ear was the toughest.

I mean duh. For real.

D'aww. My first technical drawing assignment. Note the homage to Mucha. What else would you stick in a portico?

I still can't look at this one, It just makes me remember that awful night when i did it. I've never raged so much about an assignment. We had to copy a work of an existing master artist from a list my professor handed out. I chose The New Yorker's darling Saul Steinberg because of the whimsy in his stuff. I had more trouble doing this then anything else I have done. It's simplicity hides it's true secrets. The secret of AGHHHHHBHBHHHH.

Done robots!

Aaaaand, me looking exhausted and professional in my Transformers shirt. I needed robot pride that day dude.

Just the day before my review, some of my music I wrote and animation I did premiered at a club in Central Square Boston, which was also the day of my anniversary with my boyfriend. It's been a long few weeks. Christmas this week as well, which is..... annoying at best. I'm a big old broke Scrooge. Christmas makes me sad. Watching "White Christmas" makes it feel a little better though.
Happy Holiday of your choice. I will be placing the laurels of Robonikka respectfully.

Technical Drawing: The antithisis of Winsay

2007-12-08T17:19:00.000-08:00

The last technical drawing assignment, and it was actually quite enjoyable.

Ink and Prisma markers on tracing paper.
We had to go to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, which is a two minute walk from campus, pick a room and draw it. We couldn't grid it out and plot it perfectly with rulers like our other assignments in the class. Essentially he wanted it to feel like a sketch more than a technical drawing. A final that showed we understood all the concepts he taught us this semester and could apply them to a fun drawing with personal style and flair. It was sort of hard for me at first. I didn't have a cultivated "style" for architectural backdrops. I really only started doing them for this class. So my first couple drawings were really... boring, and technical. I was using a museum map as a straight edge which was a no-no. Soooooo, I went back a few days later, stayed loose, then came home and cleaned it up and inked it. I threw in a little doodle of myself looking uneasy about being in the museum by myself (which coincidentaly is extremely creepy and stomach pitting) for some flair and size reference, which was well received. I like it sort of.
An update of sorts: I got an A+ on the last tech assignment (the dream studio piece a few posts below). I AM PLEASED. I didn't think they gave out A+'s, hahaha. It made me feel really good.

What doesn't make me feel good is the fact that reviews are coming up and I'm not allowed to be there. I set up all my work on a wall, then I leave and come back six hours later to pick up three written reviews of my semesters body of work by three random faculty I might not even know. It's a bit upsetting for me. I'm used to being there during my Animation reviews to ask questions and interact with whoever is reviewing my stuff. It's a little impersonal this way.. I love to get feedback and ask questions about this and that. Things that might not get touched on, otherwise, you know? Plus It might be teachers I've never even laid eyes on doing the reviewing. There are some teachers I hear that hate anything that's not realism. That would be vaguely unfortunate for me. I know it's more like the 'real world' this way... but this is school still and I want personal feedback and attention. I pay them for that! It seems cold this way.
I know all the reviews will be subjective depending upon who it is, so I should be toting around a boulder sized grain of salt to take.. but I am still nervous.
It's on the 18th. The day after my two year anniversary with Alex! D'awwwww. We're going to the aquarim, then to sushi.
It is only now at this instant I realize the irony of that. Uh oh.

Finally.

2007-12-05T22:16:00.000-08:00

Can you believe it took this long for some quality robots to appear on this blog? I shame my metallic brethren.

I wish you could actually see the hatching. Ink, marker, and acrylic paint.
Not quite done, but it is in fact quite large. 40" by 13" or something goofy like that. It's a dinner party scene assignment. The constraints were that someone is giving a toast and spilling the wine, causing a woman to throw salt over her shoulder superstitiously. The salt goes into the eyes of the waiter, causing him to spill his tray of chicken and vegetables. The monkey then attacks the chicken (hah!). The child tries to get the chicken away from the monkey and it ends up chewing off his finger. TRAGEDY. Fin.
It also had to be on cheapo brown roll paper, using black, white, and one other color of choice.

The visual content beyond that was left completely to our digression. So, naturally, robots. I had actually originally made it famous robots, but I was uncomfortable with the drawings I had done for it. It was really lovingly rendered... fan-art essentially. For a school project it bummed me out. It didn't really have much of myself in it, though I found out I can draw a damn good Bender.
I openly admit I was, yet again, just trying to work my love affair with Daft Punk into a project.
Side note: THEIR NEW ALBUM CAME OUT THIS WEEK AHHHHH SO AWESOME.

It will be finished for tuesday. I still have to throw a fireplace in towards the extreme left and tone the background.

Hey, I got sought out and contacted for a paid internship doing work as a colorist and all around "helpful super duper lady" for over the winter break. I'm... humbled. AND SO I END THIS ENTRY.

Too many all-nighters..

2007-12-04T18:48:00.000-08:00

I've never been this mentally exhausted in my whole life, so here's a happy duck.

I'm working on another animation with Alex. We're dangerously hilarious together. It's called "Eat Your Peas" and it's about ghosts. Yes please.

Give me my Submarine

2007-12-01T18:27:00.000-08:00

I'm embarressed about how long projects in my technical drawing class take me. The latest took me a good 25 hours to figure out, draw, ink, etc. The assignment was to draw what your dream art studio would look like in mostly one-point perspective, but have one prominent object in two-point. Everything had to be super technically accurate, including the size ratios. We had to use real furniture from catalogs and their actual measurements. So everything is super proportional to the defined fake size of the fake room that I worked on for fake 15 hours straight on fake thursday. That's a lie, I had an oatmeal break where I watched some funny youtube videos of cats. BUT THEN OH THE WORKING.

Micron Ink on plain vellum. Prisma markers colored on the back.
Included is the b/w inks. I almost didn't color it because it looked sort of cool graphic novelly. The photo is terrible. Keep in mind that anything white here would be stark white and imagine how the coloring job really looks accordingly. I won't tell you how many times I redrew the rocking chair and stomped around my room hurling insults at various stuffed animals in frustration. I didn't mean it guys, I didn't.

It's finals time and I wish I were hiding in a submarine 1000 million feet below sea level.

Two Radio Stations have been playing Christmas Music for Two Weeks 24/7 Already

2007-11-20T20:24:00.001-08:00

And I'm going to have multiple seizures if I have to hear 'Jingle Bell Rock' before the appropriately designated month. I made the mistake of going to the mall a few days ago on a whim. It's so overwhelming, this holiday of excess. It put a bit of a pit feeling in my tummy for a few days, cured only by hugging and eating a whole box of saltines.

So much bad on this Earth! And yet, there is also John Lennon:

I am terribly ashamed at my ability to take passable digital photos of my larger work. This is another dabble in the exciting (and maddening) world of cutting colored paper into tiny, intricate shapes. The assignment was to do a portrait of a celebrity in any media, but to be inspired by the artist Archimboldo. To save you from googling the cake out of it, he was a fine arts painter that did incredibly intricate oil painting portraits of people constructed out of objects (fruit, books, etc). We didn't need to copy his style, and it could in fact be minimalistic.
SO. After wailing and rolling around on the floor for two weeks in what could only be described as an "illustration fit", I picked John Lennon and made his glasses out of records. I wracked my brain forever to come up with a celebrity. I don't watch television aside from the very rare Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network, so I felt kind of unsuited. But then I remembered it didn't have to be a current celebrity and I was better off.
I'm a hardcore Beatles fan since about fetus-age, so you'd think it would have come to me sooner. It's because I spent too much time desperately trying to figure out how to work my ultra secret boyfriends', Daft Punk, into it. You can make robots out of fruit too, dammit.

Anyhoo.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of all time. I'm eight kinds of "YAY" for Thursday. Oh, I also cut my hair short. The shortest its been since I was a tubby high school puberty mass. AT LEAST I WAS SELF AWARE GUYS.
I like it. I'm going to post photos of it now despite this being an art blog.
PREPARE TO BE MYSPACEDED:

First; a timeline.
The before, a few months ago:

The itch to go a little shorter this past September:

BEHOLD: I HAVE A LIGHT AND ALSO SLIGHTLY BLURRY HEAD:

God, I can't think of any way to properly end this entry.
...
.......
..

Egh.

2007-11-07T19:23:00.000-08:00

Oh my god, youtube made this look terrible. It's the completed animation. Keep in mind in its true glory it's frighteningly crisp and the motion is smooth. Geh.

Even the color looks like yuck. GEHHH. I have no idea how to upload videos to my webspace, however, so I shouldn't complain but instead remedy my stupid.

Home Again Home Again

2007-11-05T22:20:00.000-08:00

Working on an animation collaborating with Alex. We had to make a music video for our electronic music class (Yeah I know, right!) and we both really wanted to animate, but there wasn't nearly enough time to make an animated music video if we were working separately. So! We forged an alliance out of lightening and rock and Odwalla bars.
We co-wrote the music, I did all the designs and the background. He did roughs, then I did clean up and colored. We're currently compositing. It's due wednesday, and I'm kind of super jazzed. I want to put it on youtube because it's so hilarious. Hey Yo Gabba Gabba people! Hire me next year!

And how exploding the color looks in motion. CLICK IT:

Old Time Hooray

2007-10-25T18:49:00.000-07:00

I've been pulling a ridiculous amount of all-nighters lately. Adjusting to the extra course load has been rough. I press on though! It's been hard, but I've been getting a lot of positive reinforcment throughout it all from teachers. I feel peaceful.

I got this assignment all done in one day! We had to create a storyboard for the bible story Cain and Abel. Naturally, I made them hose-style cartoons of olde. You may recall the idea from my very first post on this blog. Is it weird getting inspired by your old ideas? I just really dig the design of the round headed broad. I love old black and white Max Fleisher (I don't have time to look up spelling currently) toons. Old Boops and Popeyes' are pretty random and hysterical. Anyways, I won't post all the drawings, just a couple. They looked totally sweet printed out nice and big on glossy photo paper.

Like Hallmark with less ECHH.

2007-10-17T15:45:00.000-07:00

I made greeting cards! An assignment in one of my illustration classes; make some dadgummed greeting cards. I had to think really hard about it in order not to make anything too cliche, as my first instincts were all ho-hum. So I delved deep, DEEP into my seedy past, and thought about what I would have wanted a card for. That, of course, would be one to tell someone I liked them that wasn't mushy, funny enough to diffuse potential embarressment, and to have a distinct tinge of humanity. In the halcyon days of my youth (I am now an old maid of 22) I have had only about three real crushes, but each was a huge secret I kept from everyone. So I would make moon pie eyes from afar for literal years until the inevitable "them finding out" would occur, and that's all I will discuss here. The rest is best penned into a teenage diary with unicorn Lisa Frank stickers on the cover.
SO ANYWAYS:

And the inside:

You pull the tomato tab out of the sandwich and it says, "Because I think you're cute.":

When you open the little door and it says: "I like you.":

Made out of cut paper and just a couple micron lines.
I've been pulling all nighters like it's going out of style, and I've entered that state of tiredness that is "Ludicrous ~~Speed~~ Tiredness". That magical time where everything is just so funny. I'd like to do an animation about that kind of feeling sometime.

Some self portraits

2007-10-11T20:14:00.000-07:00

I color pencilled for about 47 years

2007-10-08T20:38:00.000-07:00

About 95% done.... probably.

Not so good digital photo.

Zorro!

2007-09-17T23:51:00.000-07:00

I was having such trouble starting my first real illustration homework out of paralyzing fear. After seemingly endless dawdling I've discovered what I already knew from animation. If I'm laughing while I'm doing it, I'll work on it relentlessly. I guess I had it in my head that, "I AM ILLUSTRATOR NOW. SERIOUS BUSINESS." and it was rendering me useless and terrified.
On that note, here's a quick mock up sketch for a project I'm working on:

Hahahahahahahaha, I spent an hour just googling dogs in costumes and rolling around on my bed giggling. It ended up being a toss up between Lobster Collie and Zorro Pug.
Quickie in flash. Model is the boyfriend, of course.

Montage and whatnotage

2007-09-11T16:13:00.001-07:00

I'm back in school, starting my first year of my second major. Illustration is so much different than animation. I miss the ani department so much.. I've been a little down about it. Illustration is much less like a big happy family. No one even laughs or looks at eachother or smiles. I'm convinced they're pod-people and this is all an elaborate dream sequence.

So in the spirit of remembering animation and keeping myself involved, here is the montage I made last year of my ani work. It's restrained down to being a minute, thus lot's of my work is left out (I made almost an hours worth of cartoons in my school career! Yowza!) but I still think it's pretty good. I have another cut of it to a different song that actually extends to two minutes, but my old teacher seemed to like this more concise one better.

I'm finally putting stuff on youtube. Is this a good idea?
I have more to post, will be doing a dump soon. Most likely before I head off to the Ottawa Internation Animation festival in a week. I'm so excited.. My birthday also falls sunday, just a few days before. I'm convinced this is not a coincidence.

My first Gallery

2007-07-18T20:32:00.000-07:00

Our Massart animation squad was asked by a gallery if they could have us at their... well.. gallery. WE SAID YES.
They're throwing us a reception party tommorrow evenink, and I feel all a flutter.

http://www.samsonprojects.com/exhibitions.htm#

I'm so proud! I have to remember to bring my business cards tommorrow.
Also, I'm working on some new drawings to post soon. For those wondering, I've been teaching an animation summer class at Massart to high schoolers for the past few weeks. Friday is the last day and I am looking forward to the free time for art and animation. I'll also be working on my much neglected website! Ho ho! ...sigh.

In which I seem to have started an art blog.

2007-07-01T10:35:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to work up the courage to put an art blog on the internet for people to see for months. I had a really good bowl of cereal this morning so it seemed like a really good time to explode onto the scene. Sharing my short comings and progress is very scary, but I know it will help me to push forward.
I just this year finished a BFA in animation at the Massachusetts college of Art in Boston, and am going into my junior year completing a second BFA in illustration. I need a kick start to get me moving and praticing more. I feel so on the cusp of doing really good work, but not quite there yet. Ruts are yucky business. So here I am, exposing myself to the masses in hopes I will grow as an artist and become proud of myself.

My name is Lindsay Small. I'm 21 years old and I love breakfast, bubble tea, my boyfriend, and carbohydrates. Animation means more to me than anything else. I'm going to try my best.

Here's something I did recently to start things off. I took a pretty easy going, short animation design course over the summer. I'll share some of the things I ended up making.
First off was the background assignment, where we had to make a background, then create a character we felt could reside in it believably. The scan of the background is pretty bad. The colors are actually more vivid and lively. The character is pretty generic but I like her anyway. Cuteness can be appealing.

Water color, gouche, and mircon pen.

Prisma markers, colored pencil, mircon

The other assignment I admit I rushed through, because it's summer and summer homework is much less appealing then say.. the internet. But I like a few elements in it. It was a style assignment.

Prima marker, micron pen, tweaked color in photoshop.

That's all for now. .... .... Yes!