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I’ve been having some fun with Illustrator lately. Mostly just messing around with some different effects. Here’s two pieces that were inspired by some friends.
(it’s an inside joke that I wished I’d thought of)
I owe my partner and her sister for this idea. It was a so much fun and a good excuse to learn some new tools. I also feel indebted to Tina Fey. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to thank her enough for exposing the craziness of Sarah Palin. I know this is late in so many ways, but still, thanks Tina!
The students at Parsons have worked along with the New York Times and several artisans to document artisans in action. The first video is Berluti and the second shows Marc Screiner as he crafts leather handbags. You can also check out some of the other featured artisans.
Berluti from Art of Craftsmanship on Vimeo.
Crush from Art of Craftsmanship on Vimeo.
My partner and I are going to be moving soon. Just across the bay, but as I’m sure you know, any move is a hassle. So I’m taking the opportunity to get rid of anything that doesn’t get plenty of use. Along those lines, I thought it was time to part with a mannequin I used during graduate school to model my boots.
I’d love it to go to a good home where someone can use it to model shoes or skirts. (please don’t make it into a lamp!) So, if you are in the Bay Area and can pick it up, let me know. tom [at] redcoverstudios [dot] com.
About the mannequin:
Very lifelike. The legs have lots of realistic detail.
The feet are decent. Not great. Very small feet, probably a size 5 (but I put women’s size 9 on them)
Comes with a sturdy glass base plate.
Adjustable height (range is about 2-5 inches)
This is a wonderful piece of information graphics and might have some overlap with women’s shoes. Not exactly sure how one would use it, but does it matter?
Perhaps once I’m finished teaching, I’ll design a pair of shoes based on this.
I’ve been so consumed with traveling and an art piece I’m working on that I haven’t had a spare minute for shoes. That said, I’ve been learning a lot as I go through the process of making another large photographic quilt. Once I’m done I’ll write up my thoughts on tool use, creativity and prototyping. In the meantime, here’s some of what I’ve been up to.
Here’s a trick I learned from my partner. She’s interested in doing a career transition. Some of the advice she read suggested that in addition to doing the new thing, you can also learn quite a bit, by, wait for it… reading. I know, who’d of thought. So I recently came across this series of books by Adriana Trigiani. The first, Very Valentine has been out for a couple of years. Apparently it’s a novel about a family with a shoemaking business. I’m guessing readers will have to wade through some family drama, sex and intrigue on their way to shoe-making gems, but since we can’t be cutting leather on the bus or plane, this might be a good way to get some background knowledge. If anyone’s read it, let me know.
Lasts are the DNA of the shoe. You can do all sorts of things to the skin, and you can dress it up however you want, but noting will have more of an impact on your shoe design than the last. So if you want to make your own, it’s great to have guidance. Believe me, I’ve tried doing it on my own and it’s a schlog. But you may have better luck.
I recently heard about the Lastmaking School up in Snohomish, WA. If you are willing to take a trip to a beautiful part of the country, they have a few classes (starting at $595) from Beginning Lastmaking to Advanced, and some other interesting offerings. They have a full list of classes here.
Having struggled so mightily with last making myself, I can certainly see the value in getting taught by folks who seem to know what they are doing.
If anyone has had experience taking a class with them, let me know.
I’m traveling this week, so shoe making is out. I’ve been using the time to create some typefaces for the new art pieces I’m doing. This one won’t fit in the piece, but I couldn’t resist utilizing this Ikea for a typeface. I’m learning that angled signs actually have a nice effect.
One of the "d's" shot for the piece at Stanford. This on is formed by an ambulance stopped at a light on Cortland and Bayshore.
I’m psyched. I’m going to be making an installation piece for the new d.school space at Stanford University. More precisely, the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University. As a result I’ve been shooting photos recently related to the work I did years ago. I love the patterns that emerge when creating an entire alphabet. But for a variety of reasons, that’s not necessary, or possible for the work I’m going to do with the d.school. And it’s resulted in something that should have been obvious, but I never thought to do. That if I prototype an alphabet by just doing variations on one letter, I’ll learn much more in much less time.
You can see a bunch of the “d’s” here. It’s been a great way to develop different methods around something that I’ve been playing with for years. I’ve learned more in two days of shooting in a new way than I did in months. That’s prototyping at it’s best.
The only real downside is that I’m making more “mistakes”. There’s a ton of photos that just aren’t working. But who cares, it’s digital, and it costs me nothing.