Another day warming up on the tablet before I got to what I needed to be drawing. No idea what the heck this is, I just let the pen do the walking.

Anyone want to write a story line for him/it?

I brought in my tablet today to work on a project, so for a little warm up (it's been awhile since I have used the tablet) I decided to doodle for a bit.

I don't know why, but I drew a carrot, and then his little friends. But the carrot looked scared, it could be because you are making soup tonight or the fact that something was coming after him. What is the villain to a carrot? A nice juicy steak, since if you have steak, why would you want anything else.

I like the potato too, he just has a simpleton kind of face going, and I think if a potato really did come to life he would probably be an idiot.

So that is just the random little story I made up as I doodled today.

Two nights ago I was able to attend the ADDYs for my company and it turned out to be a fantastic evening. I don't want to toot my own horn too much, but we did amazing. I came home with 7 awards for us including a Judge's Choice and the Best in Show (with a sprinkling of some golds and silvers in there too).

A lot of our clients have been giving a lot of freedom lately and it has really been paying off. Since I work mostly for law firms, most of them are set in their stodgy ways and in the end it shows. However, the few choice clients that who let us go off an do what we love, end off better in the end. The work for the client that won both the gold and the Best in Show is an ad campaign that is far from what you would see for most law firms. Clever copywriting, great photographs, use of white space, these isn't the norm in the industry*.

So in the end, sorry for the goofy shot of me. This was my final seventh time up, and I was running out of little things to say at the mic and I am way overdue for a haircut. Plus, thanks to my wife for taking shots of the event and getting a couple of me not looking like an idiot.

*I try to keep from posting images and stuff from work, since I don't know exactly how that works, but if you want to see some of the winning work or my work in general just drop me a message.

To go along with my post yesterday on subscribing to GDUSA, above is a screenshot of their 2009 American Graphic Design Award Winners, and that just happens to be me... This was the first version of the book, basically an overnight job, V2 is a bit better.

You can check out the rest of the winners here , there are a lot.

It's the time of the year, and I wanted to make all of your seasons a little more jolly. I've put together a little Holiday Gift Giveaway. So this is my gift to all of you .

Here is how it works

1. Leave me a comment (comment link is above by the date or below the post!). To make it a little more interesting tell me what your favorite Pantone color is and why (and if you don't know what your favorite is, or what a Pantone color even is, just go with your favorite color and then go research Pantone because it is a good thing to know about)
2. Make sure you leave your e-mail address with the comments, this is how I will contact you, they won't be shared with anyone. No e-mail No Prize
3. Winners will be selected by a Random Number Generator. First winner will get their choice of prize, second gets next choice, etc.
4. I send you out your amazing prizes (magazines will be subscribed to for you)!

Sorry for the weird comment form on this one, it is the only way I can get it to collect your e-mail address so I can actually contact you. I will most likely turn it off since it is making my blog a little less then beautiful.

So good luck, pass the link on to your friends, and have a great holiday season

Contest is Open until Friday December 18th 5:00 PM EST

* One entry per person. Contest is ONLY open in the Continental United States, sorry Hawaii, Alaska & International!

Prize #1
Pantone 388c Coffee Mug

Prize #2
Readymade Magazine 1 Year Subscription (6 Issues)

Prize #3
Wired Magazine 1 Year Subscription (I know this is an old issue, but I like Jenna Fischer, you will get new ones)

Prize #4
A-Frame Blockprint

Prize #5
Yeti Blockprint by Gregory (in Brown/ Terra Cotta NOT Green)

Prize #6
2 French Paper Cat Notebooks (1 Black and 1 Orange Sorry, NO blue)

Prize #7
Moleskine Cahier Kraft Paper Pocket Sized 3 Pack.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable Thanksgiving. I will be MIA for a couple days doing all the traveling, family stuff, etc that comes with this time of the year. I shall be filling myself to the brim with some delecious turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, and so on. Hope everyone has safe travels.

On a side note, does anyone else find it odd that when we are kids we draw turkeys with colorful tail feathers etc? Has anyone seen a turkey? They are dark brown... quite ugly too.

Hey everyone, my new print "My Little Getaway" is now up for sale in my etsy store. Go check our the other photos over there and read a bit about what was in my mind when I made this print.

I really hope you like it, and maybe think about purchasing one, jazz up your walls with some art, or jazz up someone else's, the holiday season will be here in no time.

$12 over at etsy or print society

This is the print that I worked on over the weekend. It's my first block I have carved and the second time printing it (the first time didn't go so hot). But, this printing it went a lot better.

I ended up with a nice edition of 10 and soon I'll have some of them up in my store. They are printed on a white Rives BFK (320gsm if I remember correctly) and I did the torn, deckled edge on them.

I just need to figure out the title for them and sign and number them and they're be ready to go. I plan on printing this again later on some card and such.

Anyone interested in one? I can set it aside for you.

A Year in the Life of.... from The Large Bear on Vimeo.

So this is the surprise I promised a little while back! I figured it would be great to celebrate my 2nd year at my studio and the 100th post on the blog all at once!

I started this video with the very first photo just over 2 years ago, worked on it for a year, and then just kind of got lazy and never finished it.

So a little about the video:

This is a time lapse video of the first year of my life at the design studio I work for.

I got here when there as literally nothing in the room, one of the first things I did with the new computer was take a photo. Somehow I decided to start doing this everyday. I have forgotten days here and there, but still ended up with a good chunk of them.

You can see the office build behind me (I built all of the furniture here), my hair grows and gets cut, beard grows in and out, etc. Sit back and enjoy.

Also, I had planned on putting music along with it. But with the idea that somebody would probably sue me and I couldn't find any good royalty free music that I wanted, that idea went out the window a bit. So if you see this, and you have some of your own music that you would think would go with it (a bit fast paced), send me a message. If it works out, i'll get it on there and hopefully get your name out there a bit too.

Well Poster Week is coming to a close, and I think it went rather well. Maybe next time I won't plan a week with a lot of extra posts on a week where I am traveling, not too smart...

So I thought I would try and end the week with a little bit of a self promotional plug. This is a poster that I created last year. I went up to Chicago to learn how to screenprint (better) from Steve at the Screwnall Press, and this is the end result. I am pretty happy with the outcome. The poster is 3 inks, orange, dark grey, and metallic silver

It is available in my Etsy store and you can click the link over on the right side of the page to get there. There is a bit more of a description of the poster on the Etsy page as well as a couple more photos. The plan is to take the money I make from these posters and put it back into my art. So if I sell a few, it goes towards more supplies and therefore more art.

This is just a taste of some of my work, I am hoping to have a lot more of it up soon. I have some lithographs from school I am going to post on here and on the etsy store and I am currently working on a couple of bllock prints.

Have a great long weekend everyone!