Current Project - Attack of the Remake (Infographic)

I debated back and forth about whether or not to share this piece. This is the semester-long project I mentioned that I completed half of the night before it was due. I'm not one to usually publicly bash my work (since I believe half a designer's job is selling their work even if they don't love it themselves) but I'm sharing it because it was a great learning experience and I hope my readers can glean something useful from it even if I'm not personally thrilled about it.

I tackled the issue of horror movie remakes, focusing particularly on the spike between 1998 and 2010. I extensively researched horror movie remakes released in US theaters, when they were made, how many were made, and what horror sub-genre they fell under. The most prominent remakes – 65% to be exact – were slasher films and paranormal thrillers (ghosts, demons, evil spirits, etc). Why? Because they're cheap and easy to make and have a built-in cult following guaranteed to turn up at the box office. B-movie slasher remakes have some of the smallest production budgets, yet end up busting the block with teens and nostalgic horror fans. The 2003 remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre worked on a measly $9.5 million budget, and raked in over $100 million. Maybe a financial success, but no surprise critics hated it (rating a 36% on RottenTomatoes). In fact, critics hate most remakes; the average rating for remakes being 36% vs 70% in favor of the original.

So if the mere mention of a remakes causes most critics and audiences to cringe, why do filmmakers keep making them? Well duh. Because despite our disgust and the awful reviews, we as moviegoers keep handing over our money to see them. So long as fans keep paying to see bad remakes, filmmakers will continue to butcher every classic horror movie we horror fans hold dear. As George A Romero once said, "Horror is the genre that never dies." But over the years, the lack of creativity and prominence of money-hungry, ego-driven filmmakers has spawned a terrible monster of a trend that needs to be killed.

My initial system for this project was hand-drawn elements, to reference old horror movie posters that payed a certain attention to detail and quality of craftsmanship, unlike the cookie-cutter remakes today. This is where I think my project fell short. My research was fully developed, but my visual concept was not. I was too fixated on creating an old horror movie poster with a hand-illustrated classic monster and I don't feel it really works for enhancing my message. If I were to redo this project (which I likely plan on doing), I'd like to hand-draw a classic slasher icon like Leatherface to better align with my information. It really just goes to show how important lesson #2 is. Develop strong concepts first! Then make graphics.

All in all, I'm not entirely disappointed with this project. I finally learned the valuable lesson that being a designer is much more than just making good-looking graphics. A weak concept can bring a well-designed project down. With that said, I'm definitely up for the challenge of making this a visually and conceptually successful infographic.

What lessons have you learned from unsuccessful projects?

I've Moved! Update Your Bookmarks

Just a housekeeping update to let you guys know I've switched my url from blogspot to my own domain name. Not sure why I didn't do this much earlier since I already had a website for my portfolio. But now that this little blog of mine is slowly but surely starting to grow, I wanted to make sure everyone is linking to the same place. You can now find me at blog.stuckwithpins.com

If you already follow me on Bloglovin, you should be automatically switched over to my new link shortly. If you're not keeping up to date with me on Bloglovin, get on it! Bloglovin is my favorite blog browsing platform that keeps me up to date with all my daily reads. Also, clicking that little blue follow button will greatly help me out as I try to move up the ranks in the Art category and push Stuck with Pins to a bigger audience.

As always, thanks for all your support and readership! :) Let me know what you've thought of the latest posts and if there's anything you'd like to see me write about next!

Midweek Muse - Julien Salaud

Julien Salaud is a French visual and sculptural artist who adorns taxidermy animals in elaborate webs of nails, thread, and beads, creating mythical creatures entangled in constellations of geometric shapes. This ongoing series is called "Animaux Stellaires" (Stellar Animals).

View more on Julien's work at julien-salaud.info

Wednesday Wardrobe - Chocolate & Grey

Have I talked about how cheap I am before? I am the queen of cheap. So much so, that I scoff at most anything with a price tag above $22. My latest thrifty acquisition is this super soft button up from Urban Outfitters I got for $10 during their additional 50% off sale items sale. If you haven't yet been to one of these sales, you need to sign up for their newsletter right now and make sure you don't miss another one. Each time they come around, Dave, my sister, and I hit up every Urban in San Diego County and scrounge the sale racks like vultures.

Also, I've just discovered the miracle of putting coconut oil in your hair. I have a really crazy naturally wavy and usually frizzy dry mane. I used to hate my hair so much when I was growing up, and either pulled it back into a tight ponytail or straightened the life out of it. I've finally come to love my luscious locks and usually just let them do their thing. I often avoid brushing my hair (seriously only once a week) because that's when the frizz attack happens. But the other day I decided to try brushing it out and rubbing some coconut oil directly in. MAGIC! I don't think my hair has ever looked so shiny and tamed. Despite having natural waves, I typically have to use a curling wand just to make the curls look smoother. But the coconut oil took my natural curls and gave them life. Next I tried washing my hair with some apple cider vinegar, which is supposed to make it shiny and smooth. Well, you be the judge! These photos above are of my hair freshly washed the night before with apple cider vinegar, naturally dried, then moisturized with coconut oil, no styling what-so-ever. I've officially become the crazy person who swears by putting food on your head. But seriously, stop wasting money on expensive styling products like Biosilk and just buy yourself a big jar of coconut oil at the grocery store.

Copy Cat: 1// Ecote Night Hawk Knit Surplus Shirt (Grey Button Up) - Urban Outfitters 2// Charcoal Grey Denim Shorts - Forever 21 3// Madden Girl Banterr Tan Braided Sandals - Steve Madden 4// Wool Chain Fedora - Forever 21 5// Perforated Leather Belt Round Buckle - thrifted

Design Student Diary - Lessons I Learned This Semester

My fourth year at university is officially over! This has been one crazy semester, jam-packed with learning, growth, and definitely a lot of stress. At the start of the semester, I made a few goals for myself, and if I'm being honest, I only met 1 and a half of them. But mistakes are lessons in disguise, as they say. I've definitely learned A LOT this semester – about things I want to improve and things I want to avoid doing again. Here are just a few:

1 // Stay on Top of Projects.

And exercise better time management. I set out to keep one step ahead on everything because I knew stressing to the last minute handicapped my workflow and creativity. But sure enough, I got lazy and fell behind on my largest semester project. I ended up finishing half a semester's amount of work the night before the project was due. While I still got an A, I wasn't happy with the end result and it's not something I'm proud to show off. In such a competitive industry where every project you work on should have the potential to be portfolio-worthy, you have no time to be wasting and creating mediocre projects that don't showcase your best efforts.

2 // Develop Concepts.

Spend more time building a strong theme first before any initial design or layout takes place. My instructors kept telling us, "You can be a skilled designer, but if you don't have a strong concept in mind, you're just pushing pixels around."

3 // Process Makes Perfect.

I wrote about this once before, and I'll say it again. Process is incredibly important, not only in the development of the project, but also when later displaying the work in a portfolio. Potential employers or clients want to see how you work, how you get from point A to point B, and what goes on in your head when you're creating. Sketch A LOT, try out multiple solutions, and document everything. While browsing through the senior portfolio gallery, I was most impressed by the books that showed off great preliminary work over the ones that simply had nice-looking final designs.

4 // Spend Less Time Searching for Inspiration and More Time Creating.

This is a big lesson that I'm still working on. It's safe to say I'm addicted to browsing design inspiration sites. While there's nothing wrong with seeking a little creative stimulation, how much time are you spending looking at other people's work versus creating your own? Be intentional about your search for resources and then make a conscious decision to sign off and start sketching what's in your own head.

5 // Make Time for Personal Projects.

This was one of my goals I made at the beginning of the semester that I really failed hard at. And my creative sanity definitely suffered as a result. Most of the top designers today know the importance of making time for yourself apart from your client work. My packaging design instructor went to the TYPO conference in San Francisco last month and came back super inspired by designer Erik Kessels' keynote talk. If you have an hour to spare, I highly, highly recommend watching it here on typotalks.com. His self-initiated projects were full of passion, experimentation, and creative freedom, and in turn they fueled his commissioned work.

-----

I'm already putting these lessons into action now so I can make the most of my final semesters. Only one more year of school to go!

What have been the biggest lessons you've learned this semester? Did you stick to any of your goals?

Current Project - Olivia Bernardy Website

Just launched this website I designed and developed for artist, Olivia Bernardy. This is the project I created the "clean hippy" moodboard for. While I didn't stick entirely to that theme, we worked with a very simple palette with some hand-drawn elements and watercolor textures. My goal with this design was to create something that embodied her style through just a few elements, while leaving everything as minimal as possible in order to let her artwork be the main focus. It's probably one of the simpler sites I've developed, but I love all the subtle little details that pull the whole thing together.

LAUNCH THIS SITE ▸

My Work Inked - Lion & Lamb Skulls

One of the biggest honors as an artist is to have someone like your work enough that she wants it on her body for the rest of her life. There’s nothing cooler than seeing your artwork worn on someone's skin. Drawing tattoos for people is probably my favorite aspect of all the design work I do. I get really passionate about perfecting every detail, making sure it flows with the body, and ensuring my client is 100% happy with the final product.

This particular lion and lamb skull piece was created for fellow photog and long-time Flickr friend, Kaarin. She pretty much gave me complete creative freedom to do whatever I wanted with the idea of these two skulls. Since I knew they'd be located on the backs of her legs, I wanted to make sure they fit her body perfectly and flowed vertically so they wouldn't widen her thighs. I see a lot of girls botch the beautiful proportions of their bodies with poorly designed tattoos that don't take the natural artistry of a woman's body into consideration. I don't view skin as a blank canvas for tattoos; I view bodies as existing works of art that need careful attention when redecorating them. Since Kaarin and I live in different parts of the country and I couldn't exactly get a hands-on estimate of the size needed, I had her photograph the backs of her legs and take precise measurements of the placement before beginning any designing. By tilting the skulls downward and adding floral elements that pointed up and down, the designs flow with the length of her legs instead of creating an illusion of added width.

Here are the original sketches I did:

Jeremy Corns of Anchored Tattoo in Spokane did an absolutely awesome job transferring these to skin! I couldn't be happier with the results! Kaarin told me, "He loved it because it's hard to hit the line of being detailed while keeping it simple and thought you nailed it." I take that as a huge compliment! I try my hardest to make my work as clean as possible so the tattoo artist has an easy time replicating it without having to make many changes to the original lineart. So glad to know it's acknowledged! :)

If you're interested in having me design a tattoo for you, shoot me an email with your ideas!