Wood Grain

We are once again pursuing a viable woodgrain look. At one point we had screen printed a burl walnut pattern for the interior trim pieces of simi trucks. Our process resulted in about a 20% success rate. 80% scrap meant that this was not a profitable business. The new goal is to produce the parts using digital printing. I have created the pattern and printed a sample. Every thing looks good. There is so much movement in the pattern, that stitching it together seamlessly was not difficult, just a little time consuming. Now if we can come up with a topcoat that passes customer specification, we might be able to sell the product.

New Begining

Once again I am attempting to start a blog. This is for school purposes, so maybe I'll stick with it. The goal is to discuss my current position at work as it relates to an internship. Because I am working in RD&D I will not be able to post all information due to it's proprietary nature, but I will discuss everything I can.

For a brief overview, I am working on a digital printing-direct to substrate system. The printer I am using was purchased with accompanying RIP software. It was installed and then handed to me to see what I can do with it. I must learn all I can about the hardware, software and file formatting on my own. The object being to possibly use this equipment for rapid prototyping and/or small order order production. I will eventually be instructing another group on how to use this, and then handing over the equipment.

The second part of my job is with the "Finish Development Group". I will be creating original designs to help promote our company within developing markets such as automotive interiors and consumer electronics. I will also be working with design samples from existing customers.

These two responsibilities can possibly overlap into creating original designs and then determining the best printing process and actually producing samples.

Hopefully my future posts will be a little shorter and a bit more interesting.

Self Portrait

I'm behind on my blog, and it is partially because of the self portrait assignment. I had never attempted a self portrait before, and I hated the idea of it. I had a grand idea combining many techniques and several styles. I probably worked 10 to 12 hours on my first design, and I liked various aspects of it, but in the I just was not happy with it. I started anew, and in about 2 1/2 hours, I had a finished design I didn't mind showing others. This goes to show that sometimes the simpler designs just work better.

I'm still a rookie

It's apparent that I'm still a rookie, because I made a rookie mistake. A friend I hadn't seen in about 12 years emailed me about working on his logo. He is getting married and wanted a couple swing dancing. I asked all the typical questions, and received vague or no answers. Instead of pushing for better answers, I figured I know what he'll like. I came up with a design I thought was perfect. Instead of sending him a copy of the sketch, I just ran with it and did a final version. I sent the finished file to him, a got the reply "It's a great start, but...". After 4 or 5 hours of work, he wanted me to enlarge the hat, add a suit jacket, and completely redesign the pose to have the male throwing the female into the air. I've learned my reason. This time he's getting a pencil sketch.

Passion vs obsession

When does passion become obsession? I've always been interested in art. I used to envision working for Disney. I used to strive towards becoming a cartoonist, but I never had the overwhelming desire to excel at anything until I found computer graphics. The more I learn, the more I develop my skills, the stronger my desire to learn and develop becomes. This may be passion, this may be on the brink of obsession. But last night I was dreaming Of a current project, and actually made progress in my dream that I used in the waking world. Now I don't know if this qualifies as obsession, but I do know I need to lay of the pepperoni and swiss before bed.