ALL CAPS Comix now online!

I finally got my webcomic site online and ready for visitors.  Go check it out at http://www.allcapscomix.com.  Bookmark the site!  Check it regularly!  New comics will be posted every Monday.  Feel free to leave comments!  Enjoy

Writing Across Media

I received an official offer today from the head of the Writing Studies program here at U of I to help develop a new class for next fall, entitled “Writing Across Media,” which I will also get to teach! This was very exciting news, as the alternative was for me to teach a section of Business and Technical Writing, which doesn’t quite align as well with my research interests. I’ll be meeting with a team of grad students and professors over the summer to develop the curriculum for the course which will involve composition in various digital and print media (writing, film, design, etc.).

Coupled with my Desktop Publishing course (which the head of the BTW program gave me free reign over for next semester), this means I will be teaching two multimedia composition/design courses in the fall!

Too bad I’ve got papers to write and assignments to grade, otherwise I’d go out and celebrate! Guess that’ll have to wait until after the semester is over

The Best Decisions

The Colors Reverse

God, I am so fucking sick right now… I can handle the hacking cough and phlegm, but violent chills always kinda freak me the fuck out…  Something about not feeling like I’m in control of my body, I guess.

Anyway, this one is the result of feverish hallucinations and mild insomnia.  Enjoy.

Windward

More Deck Designs

So, rather than trying to cram the faces of five writers/philosophers into one design, I decided that each of them deserved their own, personal deck design. Here are the ones I’ve done so far:

Art Is Hard

I saw Cursive tonight. Great show. They totally did not fit the stereotypical “look” of most bands in their genre, which was refreshing. Granted, Cursive has been playing for a lot longer than any of the trendy emo-pop bands you hear these days; in fact, they’re probably somewhat to blame for that whole musical blight! As much as I should hate them for that, I can’t… their music is just too damn good. I can’t deny that I have a soft spot for older emo (i.e. before the clusterfuck) – bands like Cursive, (older) Jimmy Eat World, Sunny Day Real Estate, and Texas Is the Reason.

In other news, I decided this week (on a whim) to try my hand at designing skateboard decks. You would think that I don’t have papers to write, assignments to grade, a film to finish, and plenty of other work to keep me busy… Actually, I think this could be an interesting design exercise, since it will force me to work with a very specific size and format and still be creative. Also, I’ve been wanting to try to do stencil art for quite awhile, and this seemed like an easier (more legitimate) option than vandalism.

Here are the first few I’ve done:

This one is based on my redesigned cover for Magnetic North. I decided to start out using designs I’ve already made just to see how they would translate into this medium.

This one is based on one of the t-shirts I designed for the Pelican Pub in St. Petersburg, FL, at the beginning of last year (which they still haven’t printed…).

This design is primarily based on some of the visuals from Cory Arcangel’s Data Diaries.

…and finally, my favorite one. I know this makes me kind of a pretentious fuck, but I couldn’t help myself! I call it the “existential deck.” Can you name everyone here? I’m still trying to figure out how to fit Dostoevsky in there without his face getting covered up by the trucks

New Cover for Magnetic North

I finally redesigned the cover of Magnetic North today. The old cover was crap. I never liked it. I always considered it a placeholder until I could come up with something better. Here it is: