Advice on creating+completing a senior design thesis.

A simple illustration by me.

Thanks Ben from ///massive 

MORE ADVICE

GOOD: 25 Hours in a Day

Imagine if you had one more hour a day. This was my submission to GOOD magazine's latest doodle project. 

SUBMIT YOURS HERE

I drew a line contour of the Seattle skyline.

SHE DRAWS BUILDINGS TOO

New dishes, old memories. 

IT'S KIND OF LIKE THIS GUY

KITCHEN COUNTER MORNINGS

Chats over coffee that last all morning, the dishes napping by the sink.

My mom and sister in our family kitchen.

Me, sketching at the table.

It might have something to do with this. 

PEOPLE FOR BIKES

Rubylith doesn't die

VOODOO CATBOX

In Portland there is an interesting studio, tucked away somewhere in a peculiarly empty building. Oriental rugs cover the floor, tools of the trade scattered on every surface, posters adorning the walls - a space so full that sound has no bounce, it falls gently on the eclectic interior's belongings. Gary Houston is the curator of this curious space. An artist whose twinkling eyes match the silver hoops in his ears. He is an original. A signature edgy line lends itself to each hand pulled screen-printed piece. In the age of computers, his work emanates a personality that is unhindered by technology. Imagery aside, I'm in love with how he handles type. Thanks for the studio tour and inspiration.

"Enjoy Being." - Gary Houston

PHOTO © AUDREY LEE

Paper to Pixels to Paper.

PRINTS FOR A PLAY

PRINTS FOR A SHOW

BOOK COVER INSPIRATION

A home in the city.

My personal interactions/observations of these three homeless (?) men.

Good Stores.

An eight year old girl's (almost nine!) take on marketing. Toys are key.

THE INSPIRATION

Bobbin Bicycles

A delightful British bike shop of self-proclaimed beauty has delightful illustrations to further debunk any doubt.

Cheeky bunch, the whole lot of them.

RED OR BLUE?

Birthday Card

Happy Birthday to my wonderful Mother - 55 years today.

I made this card using cut out bits from magazines and copies from a vintage ad book. 

Growing up my sister and I were nicknamed kittens.

Saturday morning's were spent snuggled in Mom's bed

with coffee, the cat, and us girls. 

Sophie the dog

My graphic design professor brought her dog into class one day. A quick sketch in the margins and this is what I found months later going through my sketchbook. As we all sat around listening to our guest speaker, Michael Newhouse, Sophie sat listening just as intently as we were. A graphic design dog at heart.

I really was listening to the speaker I might add. My margins are always filled to the brim with doodles and whatnot. It's always inspiring to see people who do what you want to do and see how they've made it work. 

I guess the take-away message from that day in class would be the quote I also jotted down by Franz Kafka. Very true, very inspiring, and I like it.

"Don't bend, don't water it down, don't try to make it logical, don't edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsession mercilessly."

- Franz Kafka

Chairs.

My sister, Hanna, gave a chair a makeover. As did I, only digitally. I also created a portrait of her, in the style of her husband featured in the previous post as to not leave anyone out. They are a creative duo, making old things new and updating older styles to a modern cool. Hanna has a blog called "hannamades." You should check it out. (I designed the header.)

The finished, remodeled chair:

 

Moustache May

Copyright 2010 Mary Meccage

Yes indeed. The above portrait is the man my lovely sister is married to.

More portraits soon to come, but the moustache portrait is probably just going to be an annual thing. You know, during May. I started out with an urge to do a graphic sketch of someone, initially searching for a picture of my parent's 3-legged dog to make a design out of. Then Nick's picture caught my eye, and I knew. This is what I must do. 

The cheeky fellows who celebrate Moustache May deserve a bronzed medal of some sort, or at the very least, a rhubarb pie. Why, you may ask? When attempting a feat such as this, that person will undergo much ridicule and scrutiny, especially in the "Mexi-stache" phase of growth. Now, I'm no expert on moustaches, nor do I ever hope to be, but I do believe what you're seeing here is the "Painter's Brush" style. Either that or a chevron, I can't decide. For a diagrammed look at the different styles visit the American Mustache Institute. 

http://lemonadestand.posterous.com/

Essential Sunshine

Another chapter in my life is finished, another year of school complete. The last project for Illustration was to write our life story and create a handmade book. I chose to show my trip to Australia. This trip was a turning point if you will, a junction in the road where I chose between following the norm or following what my heart wanted to do. 

Shown below is the cover, a quote from the 1st page, the first spread showing a map of Australia, another spread from the same hostel where the man told me about his love of Glacier Park, and the last spread is a short "about me" section featuring the ever-classy, all-time favorite, classic red 1972 Schwinn that I cruise around town on.

(Books have always, always held some sort of magic for me. They're addicting and enthralling and at this point in my career, a definite direction I could see myself going with graphic design.)

      

         

 “Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.”

 – Cesare Pavese

A man once told me that Glacier Park in Montana was his favorite place in the entire world. This was as I lay sick and drooling with strep throat in the top bunk of a dimly lit hostel room in Australia. Being in the state I was in, I smiled weakly and nodded. That moment has never struck me as profound until now. 

Think about it. Choosing a place to mark as your favorite in the entire WORLD. There I was, on my dream vacation, and a man was basically telling me that I needed to go no further than my backdoor to experience something beautiful and stunning. But it's in the act of leaving that you return and appreciate home for all new reasons and love it even more. When that urge to go, to see, to travel surges through your veins - listen to it. You can always come back home.

I hiked to the top left serif of the "M" today and sat contemplating the city of Bozeman. The view that I've seen so many times before didn't have the same draw. I saw my town, cradled safely in the mountains and realized I needed to get out. Soon...one more year of school left here and then I'm off, to places yet to explore. 

Another cup

"A morning without coffee is like something without ...
 something else."

Instant coffee is all they drink in Australia, I swear. 
It's actually pretty good, as long as your ratios are right.
I'm not a coffee snob, and most days any kind will do.
Except anything that ends with "chino" "appe" or "ocha."
Why is this post about coffee?

Well, it's finals week. I feel like I'm missing something....
Like there's some huge project I haven't
worked on yet...oh wait. That's right now. 
The 40 paged book I thought would be so easy
to "throw" together with some words is
turning out not so easy. 

Yes, you can say "I told you so."

Furthermore, I showed up to a Philosophy of Animals
final yesterday...an hour and a half late. 
The funny thing was, I thought I was there early. 

Always, always, double check final exam times. 
Always. 

That, and maybe I do need another cup of coffee. 

Illustrated Books

Ah, the Illustrated book. The lovely images seduced my imagination as a child with stories such as "Katy No-Pocket," "Say Hello, Vanessa," and much more. Now, as a much older child, I am still entranced by the innocent simplicity of their stories. A morning spent sipping an Americano while wandering through the children's section of the Country Bookshelf in downtown Bozeman found myself delighted at the treasures I found. Among them, "Forever Friends" by Carin Berger was exceptionally delightful. Consisitng of cut-paper collage and lovely graphic shapes it is an inspiration indeed. I am working on my second book, an illustrated story of an overseas trip. Images are sure to come soon. In the mean time, you simply must visit Carin's website. It is quite charming indeed.

http://www.carinberger.com/index.html

Change

Copyright 2009: Mary Meccage

Freedom on two wheels. 

As spring softly tip-toes across the melting snow, the tires of change spin madly on.

Change brings new ideas and fresh starts. Here's to a fresh start, spring 2010.

"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square hole. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do." 
— Apple Computer Inc.

c o l o r : G R E E N

Delicious Cucumber Martini at Montana Aleworks

tags: advertising, apple, change, commercial, computers, different, bicycle, 

Sans Coffee

It was an accident really, me giving up coffee. This wasn’t something I premeditated, planned, or spoke about, it just happened. It started on a calm, snowy, Saturday morning. I arose, gravitated like a magnet directly to the coffee grinder like always, and then...I paused. The thought of the terribly noisy blades whirring the coffee beans to a powder, shattering the crisp silence of the morning was obnoxious and disturbing. So I didn’t do it. I walked away. No beautiful silence should be destroyed for something I could live without. Five days. I’ve survived five days.

While coffee may come from kitchens or cafes, spatulas on the other hand, do not. They come from Spatula City. Now if you've never heard of Spatula City you simply must visit. I created a series of postcards using stamps carved out of polymer clay and an exacto blade. No fingers were lost in the creation of the following images.