About two weeks ago I started getting emails about my portfolio domain needing renewing. The year is almost up! (Here was my first post about it back in December.)
I spoke to my friend about some advice about what to do as I did consider transferring to Squarespace. These days I don't have enough time to code a new website, especially having to keep in mind making something mobile friendly and simple, I ain't got time for that. He directed me to Fatcow and helped me with what steps to take.

Transfering the domain was frustrating, mostly in the sense that it took a lot longer than I hoped it would. I was just anxious to get the new layout up.
Finally the transfer went through and I downloaded Wordpress as my main editing tool. I found a theme and tweaked it. I was able to get it all done in one day (yesterday!). Didn't think to take a screenshot of the before layout because I rushed straight into the revamp, but this is my new website layout!

I read a bunch of articles about what makes successful portfolio websites.
One thing to keep in mind is to have your artwork available right away. There is a few second attention span for potential employers. Your art has to be immediately viewable because people don't want to be clicking through your site searching for content. That was my mistake; my first site had too many pages to have to click through to find my art. I found this grid theme that is organized perfectly for what I wanted. Bam, the art is immediately there.
The second is that sometimes you need to really filter through what you share. I have a problem letting go some old work, as I'm sure a lot of other people do too. When I reuploaded my artwork, I had to really pick and choose. Some work didn't live up to other ones and I just had to let it go. When you feeling a little 'eh' about something even though it holds a special place in your heart, it's probably a sign you should move on. After filtering I feel like I picked a solid selection. It's a satisfying feeling.

I also tried the strawberry Pocky and I really found heaven. They're delicious and a nice treat to eat during coding time. If you haven't tried the strawberry Pocky, go find it now.

We really didn't have much of a summer it feels like. Here in NY, between the high humidity and temperatures, summers can be brutal. Compared to past summers, this one has been super mild. Instead of shorts I've been wearing pants everyday. That says something for sure. Global warming.

Two summers ago I experimented with making shorts. I'm gonna be honest, when it comes to sewing, I just wing it. I never do anything technically correct. I'm pretty much completely self taught and nothing scares me because I love to experiment. So yea, that's my back story.

I just traced shorts that fit me well and completely winged it with this woven leaf fabric.
If I recall correctly I didn't get it right the first time around. So I tried it again. I added a side zipper for a perfect fit and back pockets too as shown in the photos. I love athletic shorts and loose fit shorts, so I think I was successful with making just what I wanted. They're totally silly and I would really consider making more shorts like these.

I just wish it was hot enough for me to wear these this summer.

The next few weeks may be slow around here.
I just seem to be working way too much lately to be able to work on projects and post about them afterwards. Although that will be changing soon for sure. So many changes are to come, life changes. Changes to life, my life. Yeah.
Not so much that I can share in the meantime as so much is still in the works.

One thing I'm excited about will be so cool if it actually does happen. So many 'maybes' and 'almosts'. I bought these two graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley as research and inspiration for this one project that's in the works.
I've been also sewing like crazy on a few things that I plan on posting in my shop hopefully soon.
Just so much is in the works. This post even doesn't have much to it. Just a filler until I find some time to actually post.
That's pretty much it for now.

Can't believe how fast this week went.

01. Went to the movies with my brother this week. One of the movie theaters near me just got completely revamped. They took out normal seats and replaced them with recliners. Most comfortable theater I've ever been in.
02. Been working on some shirts with this fabric I got printed.
03. Will be making some more shirts with this other fabric I got printed. Been having fun with my Spoonflower fabrics.
04. Just the other day, I also signed up for Pippit, the iPhone app. It seems that it's still in its early stages as an app, but it seems like it could become real cool. If you have the app, you can find me as marsenroute.

Song of the moment is by Young Galaxies. This has been my go to song for a while. And the video is just as fun.

I started craving a little bit of change. I've had this layout for quite a while now, not even sure how long. But I actually still love it; it's still exactly how I like my blog to be, setup-wise. I don't want to go through the motions to change it up completely again. So I figured let me work on baby steps.
I was getting a little tired of my previous banner. The banner is the first thing you see when you visit any site. So it has to make a big impact on your visitors.

While browsing through Amazon, I came across the book Find & Keep by Beci Orphin. I love how simple the cover is with objects placed on a white background. Even though the background is a solid color and it could look like it was done digitally, the shadows really make everything pop which makes it so fun.

Beci Orphin's blog even continues that which I love.
I gathered some of my crafty supplies and decided to make my own version of it.

I laid down an orangey sheet for my background. I did a quick little marker sketch of my logo, did some chevron things with some yarn in which I pinned down. I organized my stork scissor, spool of thread, measuring tape, seam ripper, and brayer. I threw in some other supplies and experimented but decided to keep it simple and not busy.
I brought my images into Photoshop and fixed it up. I wanted to keep my color scheme the same so I used my main colors and changed things up. I think it says a lot about the things I do and post about.

Minor changes are coming. They'll probably be super subtle but it's about the little things.

This summer has been an interesting one in a creative sense. I've been experimenting with a lot of materials and methods, and I've been buying so many art supplies. Like a crazy amount. I'm not going to go into that, but here and there I did splurge on other fun stuff.

Last month I finally got a new phone. I got the iPhone 5, which made me want to go phone case shopping. I browsed through Etsy. I really wanted a case with a cover to slip in cards and whatnot. I really wanted to have my train tickets and cards accessible and this cute pineapple case is perfect for that. It really was the exact size I was looking for.

I've taken a mini break from any kind of music buying since I've spent so much on art supplies. But when the new Raveonettes album was unexpectedly dropped, I saw they had a limited edition vinyl and I hardcore splurged. It's the strangest vinyl case but definitely real cool. Fits the album theme pretty well.

I also put in another order into Spoonflower and got more fabric printed. I tried a different fabric this time around. It's a more stretchy jersey kind of feel. I prefer it so much more than the cotton voile as its use is more for what I want in fabric. I love it.

Have you heard new Raveonettes music? They're music always has hints of dark themes, but this album is their darkest for sure. I love it. They never fail me. Check it out for sure!

Lately I've been managing my spare time pretty well in which I've been working on my own personal things. The past two weeks I've started a lot of projects I've been meaning to get on. It's exciting to finally find some time.

01. For the first time in weeks, I finally found a free moment to give myself a manicure. I've discovered a color I love by OPI named Cajun Shrimp. It's my new favorite nail polish color.
02. I've been playing with some decoupage prints. Still in the early stage. It's been a while since I've sat down and completely winged a project which is still in the experimentation phase. These days I usually let things stew until I have a chance to do it. And it usually works out well. I've been spoiled like that, so I kind of feel good having a project not work out as planned right away. It sounds weird when I try to explain it.
03. My spaceman design will soon be available on shirts! I got around to printing some shirts which look really cool. I can't wait to post the final products.
04. Yes, those decoupage prints and this Twin Peaks linocut are related. I'm working on making some fun dancing man linocuts, but as I shared, it's still being worked on. There were some execution flaws from some art supplies used that changed how I would like to print them. I'm hoping to make it work soon.

There are a bunch of other projects that are in progress currently. I'm hoping to get a nice flow of posts about them as I finish them one by one. I'm anxious to share them.

My song of the moment which I really have been playing non stop this week is Interpol's new song. So good.

Working in a screenprinting shop has changed my view on graphic shirts and garments in general.
I was walking through H&M recently with my friend/coworker and he even pointed out to me how he can't look at shirts the same way. Simple prints with simple one color text is so easy to make, why should we dish out over $20 for that, you know?
It's been somewhat hard to shop lately.

For me to buy a shirt with graphics and images, they need to be extravagant.
Beloved Shirts has some straight up cool shirts. As much as I can easily make shirts like these at work, I would buy these.
Here are five great shirts that I'm diggin':

01. Wave Tee 02. Flamingo Tee 03. Lick Me Tee 04. Donuts Tee 05. Chevron Tee

I have really developed a love for t-shirts. They're just great and just work with everything. Converse and t-shirts. Classics.

It's crazy to look back at how much I progressed in the arts, especially comparing art supplies I used then and what I use now.
Once upon a time I used to draw on t-shirts. I had first started using fabric markers to do so. I collected a whole lot of colors. Eventually I eased off the markers and started using fabric paint, which is what I occasionally use now with screenprinting paint.
After buying plain white socks, I thought to pull out those old fabric markers and see if they still have juice.

Turns out I still have a whole bunch of colors that are still good.
I set up a work spot and folded up paper in the socks just in case the markers bled through.

I also am finding that I'm going through a tropical/Hawaiian art phase. I had luaus in the back of my mind when planning what to draw. So I projected that on top of both pairs.

They need some drying time. But when they're all ready, I'll be wearing them asap!

Here's an easy-peasy DIY with washi tape.
I've been obsessing over washi tape lately, just like the rest of the world. They're so fun.
I've also been trying to use clothespins more, for decorative purposes. I found a little batch of them in my basement and thought why not decorate them with my washi tape. I've seen this a few other places and I wanted to try it for myself.

All you need is the clothespins, washi tape, and scissors or an X-acto knife. A cutting mat is optional.

Just line up the tape on the clothespin and cut off the excess.

It's as simple as that.

Afterwards, what you do with them is all up to you. They look precious holding up art prints.

Bam.

I think I've shown my love for bookbinding enough so far, right? Being a self taught binder, I gave in and took a book binding class my last semester of college. It was the best decision I've made in a while.
I learned quite a number of different binding methods and the right way of binding. My self taught binding was a little rough and I fudged things to make them things work, in which they did some of the time. But those fudged ways can only get me so far.

We were taught Japanese stab bindings.

Plus paperback sort of bindings. I love the envelope one.

And hardcovers as well. These are a bit more tricky but I LOVE the end results. The middle one is my favorite.

For our final project we had to create a book (obviously) and fill it with content that is personal to us. I had taken a book illustration class the same year; my friend and I wrote the story together and I created the illustrations for the main project. I decided to carry that into book binding and take my drawings and turn the book into a coloring book.
I had brought my drawings into Photoshop to trace over and thicken up the lines, and then figured out how to print the pages. Was a little tough to get that part down, but I eventually figured out how to print them.
Yea it may be a little unconventional to make a hardcover coloring book, but I think it's fun.

I have a few projects in mind in which I will be using this newly learned knowledge of book binding. I really can't wait to get them rolling!