Rad Tad

I received one of the coolest Christmas presents this season from a guy I have met in person only once, but whose work I have been enthralled with for quite awhile. His name is Tad Carpenter and he is an outstanding illustrator from KC. Also Tad is 1/2 of the amazingly awesome Vallhalla Studios.

Almost every Tuesday on his twitter, Tad does a giveaway of some of his design work. I am a sucker for freebies (especially awesome freebies) and had been trying and trying to win one of his giveaways - but to no avail.

One day in December after Mr Tad had posted an awesome campaign he did for Macy's I noticed my name (3rd on the list) in one of his illustrations




I tweeted about it



He messaged back





In the end, I emailed him my address and he very graciously provided me with the following:





Now we are BFFs!



Big thanks to Tad for being so gracious and taking the time to mail me such an awesome gift!

Irish Music - LIVE

While in Kansas City this past weekend, I got the luxury of hearing the band "Flannigan's Right Hook" perform at the Raglan Road in the Power & Lights district. What an awesome show! They did some original music as well as quite a few awesome covers.
Here is some video I took to highlight their music:

Hammerpress

In November, I had the sweet privilege of going with the K-State AIGA to the world famous design studio Hammerpress, started in 1994 by Brady Vest.

I love this place. They still do the old fashioned type set printing on well-oiled old printing machines from the turn-of-the-century (the OLD one, not the most recent t-o-t-c). If you have ever seen any of my design work, you will know that I love the unique look that old-fashioned type setting brings to a very modern, computerized world.

I have such a respect for the fact that it takes so much longer, so much more concentration, a better game plan of the 'big picture' when setting the type and determining colors, size variations, distribution, etc. Each piece of everything that is printed is uniquely different from the next since it may contain just a little less ink, be just slightly in a different area of the paper, display a nick in the type a bit more predominantly than the previous pieces.

They do posters for bands and tours, cds, books, cards, invitations, and stationary. Its this raw, unique, individualism that so intently draws me in to places like Hammerpress and Hatch Show Print. Man I love this stuff, just can't get enough!