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.

Business cards.

I made some business cards for myself. Letterpressed on flourescent white cover.

Crows, detail.

I continue to adjust and revise my murder of crows poster; the latest addition is tiny little crows hidden throughout. These guys are very small--about a quarter-inch across. I currently have over 50 placed, and most people still don't notice them. My goal of a subtle third read is currently too subtle. Working on it. Detail.

Crows. Everywhere, crows. STATE II

Trying out some different text. Next step: create a custom halftone using little black crows as the halftone dot. That's three layers deep. DUN DUN.

Also, this one has 'MURDER' in Helvetica regular, and the first state was Helvetica bold. Debating which is better. Leaning towards bold--the 'U' gets a little thin here.

Crows. Everywhere, crows.

I make this post with some trepidation. I've been working on an experimental side project whenever I run out of steam on my thesis work and need a change of direction. The work in progress below is typographic and is far outside my comfort zone. However, inexperience has not stopped me from mangling some letter-forms.

The experimental hypothesis has been: can a laser printer make prints bigger than the maximum printable area? The answer has been a definitive yes. By folding paper two and four times, I have been able to produce eight and sixteen sided prints from letter and tabloid sized laser printers. In numbers, that is a 34inch by 44inch print from an 11x17 printer.

Below is a 'full-sized sketch.' Some ideas just have to be seen at scale, but this piece is far from finished. Think of it as the 'first state' of a poster. It is 22 by 34 inch laser-print on newsprint. Very grungy materials for a very grungy design. For state two I will be spacing the 'MURDER' letters by hand to avoid the seams and maximize readability. I will also try a version with graphite-rubbing 'CAW's' from metal type. Laser-printers don't like flat areas, so the more texture I can bring into the print the better.