The Exploding Psychology.

Just a quickie. Some time ago a friend told me that she'd never seen me draw people before — you know me so not well. So I thought I'd share a couple old illustrations from "back in the day," 2000 or 2001, I think. These were some of my first attempts with the whole vector illustration thing... I sketched them on paper based on either real life or some random Asian cinema magazine (take a guess which is which), then scanned them, brought them into Adobe Illustrator, and tried to recreate the pen-and-ink look on the computer. You needed to know that. They're both in a fairly realistic style, and by no means reflect how badly I draw now. And in saying that, I could probably pull off a very successful web-based indie comic, and sell lots of stamp-sized hand-made booklets about my feelings to hapless comic con attendees, if I were so inclined. Looking at these now, one might get the impression I was mad at the world back then. I'm not going to validate or dismiss that statement. Let's just say I had a lot on my mind. Enjoy.

"One hand will wash the other..."

So here's something new. Well not entirely — more thrash and bubbles, and another idea I've had for a while now. To the point where it was just annoying to think about, and I had to bust out the Micron pens and finally draw it out and make some space in my head for more weirdness. It's a flyer for these dudes, and the final artwork reminds me of Pettibon's stuff for some reason - to the point that I wanted to slip in the "one hand will wash the other" quote somewhere. But then I decided that would be a bit much, and "WASH DC" was plenty. I like the enigmatic open-ended artistic/political ideas more than the obvious ones, obviously.

Postscript: James apparently likes the reversed version better. So do I honestly. But I gave the two options to the band, and they picked the version above to post online and I'm cool with that. Below is the alternate version. I think it's less legible but the soap bubbles look a lot cooler. And likely it would photocopy better. Reminds me of manga for some reason. There's nothing wrong with that, I used to be into that stuff. There's nothing wrong with manga. Unless you're in your early 30s, still living with your parents, and have never experienced the touch of a woman. Because then, there's something very very wrong with manga.

5ive: Hesperus (part 2)

Project Title:
5ive - Hesperus T-Shirt

Project Type:
T-Shirt, Illustration

Cliend Name:
Tortuga Recordings / Hydra Head Records

Year of Completion:
2008

Rationale Behind Project's Execution:
I was approached to design a shirt for the experimental stoner-metal band 5ive (not to be confused with the British boy band of the same name), to accompany their 2008 album Hesperus. The inspiration and themes for Hesperus were drawn from the band's time spent in Cape Cod, MA, represented by the stark nautical photography and Art Nouveau type used throughout the album artwork. For this t-shirt design I decided to take the concept in a different direction; with Hesperus being the name of a sunken ship immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's famous 1842 poem, I imagined the album title dredged up from the bottom of the ocean, warped and eroded by years of neglect and exposure to salt water, and host to a colony of barnacles.

Production Method, Material or Process of Development:
Unsatisfied with the original typeface utilized on the album, I recreated my own version from scratch in Adobe Illustrator to allow for better manipulation. Each letter was distorted and overlapped in an intentionally asymmetrical fashion, creating a haphazard and unconventional visual rhythm. Texture in the form of barnacles and seaweed were added in Photoshop, using online photography and encyclopedia sources as reference. Additional art and print production was assisted by James O'Mara of Hydra Head Records.

Artist/Designer(s) Involved:
Benjamin White, James O'Mara

So I'm attempting to get published in a book called TYPOMOFO, showcasing experimental and unconventional typography from around the world. I submitted these photos as part of the entry, and personally I don't think they came out that great - or at least as good as I'd hoped. I borrowed a 'step-up' digital camera and tripod from my good friend and roommate Ryan (that's Joseph to you), and the quality turned out just barely adequate. Maybe I just suck at photography. Anyways, I think I want to drop a wad on a professional-quality SLR digital camera - any suggestions? Nothing too expensive, but I'd like to be able to swap out lenses at least, and take pictures that don't require a crap load of Photoshop retouching.

Postscript: How awesome is it that these photos look like something out of an LL Bean catalog? I won't be satisfied with this t-shirt until my grandparents buy one.

"So, like, what's the deal with that font? I mean, is it, like, available?"

If you haven't caught on by now, I'm kind of a typography nerd. I think it started when I was a kid, from randomly flipping through this book my parents had on handwriting analysis. The idea that every stroke of a letter is imbued with personality and meaning - that so much of who you are is in there, if you know how and where to find it - it was wild, it sort of blew my mind, and it's always stuck with me. I decided to "borrow" that book from my parents a couple years ago to re-read and never gave it back. Most likely they don't even miss it.

Then around the age of 17 I started getting into graffiti. I blame the friends. A lot of them were into it at the time, and a few of them were really good, and even still write today. I only went writing a handfull of times, but never got too into that whole thing. I loved the artistic side of it and sketched a lot, but when it came down to the reality - the vandalism, the paint fumes, the snot dripping out of your nose while you froze your ass off and lost feeling in your hands, all the while hoping some variety of authority figure wouldn't catch you in the act - I didn't get off on that rush. More power to those that do, it's kind of a thankless art form in a way. So with all that, eventually the graffiti interest stopped being something separate, and started working its way into my other projects.


I came up with this font in late 2001, and I called it "Polluted." The idea I was going for was to turn an entire page of text into a graffiti piece, to mutate the letters, to turn it into visual pollution. The general style was inspired by some techno-ish font I'd seen with the ends rounded off, I can't even remember who's it was, all I do remember is that the dude was from somewhere in South America. And obviously by the POP magazine logo. And then by keeping everything aligned to an isometric grid, and making the letters as tight and bold and cartoonish as I could while still keeping it semi-legible, well it pretty much made itself. But there's no uppercase letters? you say. Good catch. I made a few and they just looked retarded. So no uppercase for you. And I'm showing it here on a black background because it looks a lot better that way - there's limits to making an actual font and I had to give up on having both an outline and fill. I think it loses a lot of the 3d effect when it's black-on-white.


It was also supposed to look kind of like worms, or snakes really. There was this computer game I always played as a kid, where you steer a snake around eating up apples, I think that was another influence. And I wanted to do a version of the font with little faces on the ends of the letters, like the image above or this other page from my sketchbook. And I thought it would be funny if it looked like the snakes were actually saying the letter that they were spelling out. Yes, I was definitely taking the whole idea way too fucking far, I must've been delusional. Because in reality I was simply not able to pull it off. I know because I tried. It's one thing to get an idea, but knowing the difference between a good idea and a realistic one, and then having the skill to make that idea work in real life, that's something else entirely. It was simply not happening. I think I could pull it off now, but I'm not even interested in going back there again.


Anyways, after all that hard work I decided it looked kind of rigid and already dated, and wanted to try out the idea with more fluid and natural letter shapes, something hand-drawn-like but subtly geometric. So I started on this version that copied the proportions of Futura Extra Bold, mostly because when it came to actual real proper typography I was not so well-educated. Probably shouldn't have dropped out of college. Or at least finished Typography I. And also because I wanted it to have a really classic/timeless/safe feel like Futura. But I didn't get that far into making it, I decided it looked waaay too phallic, and by this point I was pretty much over the idea. And pretty much burned out on graphic design altogether, and getting sucked more into the music production thing. Wish I had a happy ending for you to all this, but I don't. Well, maybe I'll knock out the other letters one of these days, and then sell it off and make a shit ton of money. And then it'll become the next Futura - or even the next Helvetica - when Obama finally legalizes marijuana, and maybe hopefully even LSD. And love will be free-for-all, colorful graffiti will cover every surface, and the whole world will be super-chill and truly empathetic and awash in enlightenment, and we'll all sing together in beautiful pitch-perfect harmonies. Can an ending be any happier than that?

The Experts Agree... (part 2)

I didn't forget about Shane's blog, GuitarBassman; simply put, he never told me he had one, I ended up hearing about it through James. Maybe it's only meant for his Best Coast friends. Maybe he's shy about it. Too late. Anyways, it's very awesome, and very Shane. He has a lot of opinions on everything related to instruments, audio gear, records, gigs, and the intricacies of living in LA. And he can always back those opinions up with a pretty massive knowledge base. No, Shane does not fuck around about that. So don't fuck around either, go look at his blog.

Speaking of said conversation with James: when I made a sarcastic remark about how all our friends have blogs now, he claimed it was all my fault. That I started it. I had to remind him that it all goes back to Chris. Chris has a blog. I've unofficially linked to it before, but this time it's official. Chris' blog is called BidHardcore. Scouring Ebay for rare and obscure hardcore, punk, metal, etc, it's so very Chris. If you don't know of, or get the type of bands he posts about, just imagine the aural equivalent of someone puking square in your face. There you go.

I need to point out that both of these individuals have, at one time or another, had very long stoner haircuts.

The Experts Agree: My Blog = Slam Dunk!

Yet I haven't posted anything in a week or so. Whoops. Totally dropped the ball. I'll spare the excuses, just know I am alive and well, just a little sleep-deprived. Nonetheless this will be a cheater post, because aside from the obligatory orc-playing-basketball image I have no real "content" of my own to share at the moment.

I'm not-so-secretly jealous of two of my friends' blogs right now:

The first one, I'm In Paradise, I've linked to before, yes. But since then James has started taking this blogging business seriously. He's started over from scratch, reinventing the blog in his own burly, bearded image as a photo journal. Rarely do I feel nostalgic for trips I never actually took, but that is indeed the case when I scroll through these images. Paradise. It's not some place you can look for, because it's not where you go. It's how you feel for a moment in your life when you're a part of something. And if you find that moment, it lasts forever. (I am so sorry for quoting from The Beach, I couldn't resist)

The second one, In My Mind, is short on posts but I can already tell will grow into something special. Not special as in Special Ed. Special as in Magical. Because Don is Magical. He gets weird interesting ideas, I don't know anyone else who thinks about things quite like he does. And with some encouragement and a magical kick in the ass, he will finally share a little bit of his Magic with everyone else.

It's nice not being completely self-absorbed, for once.