I randomly got a call today from an employee at my school. She works in admissions so I’m guessing she looked up my contact information in my file in their system. She asked if she could buy this poster I made for my Typography III class – a faux theater poster for The Big Lebowski: The Musical. Naturally I was flattered and I told her I hadn’t even thought about selling it but I wouldn’t decline for sure, it was done digitally so I have no personal attachment to the print itself. However pricing was something I never really though of, easily I could think about how much it cost for print and mounting, which was $25 (approximately) so a simple 100% increase would suffice really – I could use the money, big time. Then I also though about the fact that I printed it at a place good enough for class projects but the poster itself isn’t even archival. So I’d been trying to look up printing services in the greater Los Angeles area for giclee printing or something equivalent that was archival. For some goddamn reason, most printing service companies have really vague and confusing websites. Plus with giclee, I’d be able to print it on a better surface, like canvas or something. As it is now, it’s printed on photo weight paper mounted on foam core, not very presentable by a professional standpoint. So I think I’ll contact the woman and ask her if she’d want it to be on another surface or archival – part of me thinks it wouldn’t make much sense to ask without a quote, which I don’t have yet. I think a $125-$150 is a good price though and if she’s going to pay that much I might as well get it printed in a manner of which made it last for a very long time.
I’m not really that into horoscopes, but I happen to be reading a monthly for Aquarius and it mentioned something about receiving a bonus or getting extra money through earning it – not like a gift or reward. Naturally I though this was laughable because I don’t have a job. I am very unemployed at the moment. Then literally out of thin air I get this request for purchase of one of my posters. Weird right? I don’t know maybe its just coincidence. But I did work my ass of on that poster, so if this goes through I would say I certainly earned that money. Money, which would be freaking awesome right now obviously due to my severe unemployment status.
It’s these kinds of things that kind of give me a taste of what it feels like to be an independent/low-brow artist I think. Something I’ve always kind of glamorized in my mind. Having gallery shows of my work, people coming up to me showering me with undeserved attention and compliments. Seeing red dots on all the labels of my work on the bare white walls. Essentially attaining rock star status by simply hanging shit on walls that people will buy. I won’t ever know if I could make it to this point if I don’t try but, I would say it is unsafe to just jump ship and risk it. I still plan on finishing my education – that’s more important at the moment.
School is going well, but I often find myself trying less to prove myself to teachers I respect less. I’m not entirely sure why this is. Maybe I feel their aesthetic eye is less important? I’m planning on being a graphic designer, I shouldn’t be insulting my audience by doing half ass work just because I don’t think its worth my time. In reality though, it will become increasingly difficult to put all of myself into my work, but I know if I don’t, someone will come along and just whup my ass and do something insane and they’ll be just as consistent and funnier and all of that shit.
My teacher was having a discussion with the class today and I was kind of tuned out and someone goes: “Are you implying we should drink?” and he replied with a chuckle and “Hey, it works for Tom.” – I don’t exactly know if that’s good advice, but it doesn’t hurt to try I suppose. I’d like to be proud about the kind of time I put into my work and I know some people just can’t afford to do so, but I think I’ve made enough sacrifices to say I’ve earned that time, not simply because I just have it to spend on hours upon hours of design work. Sure, I still manage to balance my play time with work time, but still, part of my life is just being sacrificed so I can do well. I mean, originally I came here to kind of fill in the gaps of my own knowledge about graphic design and working professionally and I had planned on just going through it without bothering to access anything. but I found out my definition about graphic design coming into school was completely naive. Sure, I am tired of graphic design when I started – but it meant something else to me then. So here I am, trying to push myself and to see what I am capable of. But sometimes I feel we can only push ourselves when we’re not content with our work, lately I’ve been pretty happy with my output for the most part – it’s been awhile since I felt really proud of my work. I hope I don’t slip into a coma of contentment.
And oh man, I just discovered Laura Veirs and her new album “July Flame” (apparently she has like seven albums before this) – this track I’m listening to right now its killing it for me:
“Sleeper In The Valley” – Laura Veirs
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The whole album is pretty damn good but this song, is just doing it for me right now.