Saturday, June 18, 2011

Not a student anymore.

Believe it or not I'm not a hobo like we all thought I would be. Two days after I graduated from MICA I got a call from a former teacher with a lead on a job opening. Before the week was over I had the strongest recommendation I could ever ask for waltzing me through an interview and on Monday I started work bright and early at my new (and first) full-time job.

I'm now one of two designers comprising the art department at Captain Jerry's--a screenprinting business started 35 years ago by the Captain himself: Gerald Millman. Now run by the younger Millmans.

I mostly take napkin-sketches from clients and turn their scribbled machinations into beautiful press-ready designs and then replace all the copy with Cooper Black or Hobo when the client thinks my type-setting isn't "fun" enough.

Sometimes I get to skip the napkin sketches and design from scratch for those very awesome clients who are happy to leave the designing to the designers.

Here's a walkthrough of one such project for the Army at Fort George G. Meade.

My workstation (with a current-generation imac all to myself) with the output-ready design onscreen.

The key layer on this three-color print being expertly squeegeed by one of our Gauntlet automatic presses.

The finished shirts coming out of the oven, ready for boxing.

And the design itself, created by yours truly.