Archive for the tag 'Daydream Believer'

Priscilla Ahn’s Dream

Ninja August 18th, 2008

priscilla-ahns-dream

I was listening to Priscilla Ahn’s Dream today (yay for shuffle mode). Childlike reflections with a touch of hope for the future, Dream has a folksy, enchanting melody that makes me smile whenever I hear it. Much thanks to Penguin for introducing me to Priscilla’s music.

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Even though I wasn’t listening to Dream at the time, I think this song really captures how I felt when I was drawing Daydream Believer

This quote from Ms. Ahn also made me smile (because I’ve been there before):

I think I had 2 nervous breakdowns in the past week. Not bad breakdowns though—the fun kind, that last like 5 minutes. You know the kind—the ones where you think you’re having a heart attack, and you feel utterly alone and lost, and then the tears start coming and they don’t stop—but then you spot something random, like the vacuum cleaner in the corner, and you wonder where that extension piece for the hose went because you always put it back in the little clip when you’re done using it—did your boyfriend use it and forget to put it back?—why do I always blame him right away?—oh wait, I think I used it as a cane when I was dancing around pretending to be the Planter’s peanut, and then I find it on the floor in the middle of my office; and now I’ve stopped crying, I wipe away my tears, and move on, feeling a little lighter. So, something fun like that!
– Priscilla Ahn

Related links
+ Priscilla Ahn’s blog
+ Learn Dream’s guitar chords

Dowloading link via Carry You Away
+ Priscilla Ahn’s Dream mp3

Purchasing link ($9.99)
+ Priscilla Ahn’s A Good Day album

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Daydream Believer

Penguin April 24th, 2008


Description
As Spring turns into Summer, the butterflies return from their migration, they fill our imaginations with their beauty and wonder. As daydream believers, we make our dreams our reality.

Details
3-color offset lithography art print
18 inches x 24 inches
Printed on 80 lb cover Accent Opaque White Smooth stock
Limited edition of 300, each individually signed + numbered

$39 USD + Free Shipping

 

Links
+ Daydream Believer—shipping in May
+ Daydream Believer is coming along
+ Our next print
+ “Daydream Believer”—our next print…

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Daydream Believer—shipping in May

Ninja April 14th, 2008

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I got word from our printer that our prints should be delivered at the end of April. Daydream Believer will be ready to ship in May. ^___^

ninja-vs-penguin_daydream-believer.jpg

Daydream Believer

3-color offset lithography art print
18 inches x 24 inches
Printed on 80 lb cover Accent Opaque White Smooth stock
Limited edition of 300, each individually signed + numbered

Buy Daydream Believer

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Daydream Believer is coming along

Ninja March 23rd, 2008

daydream-believer-is-coming-along

I finally got around to marking up changes to my Daydream Believer print. For some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to actually write on the proof, so I used post-it notes instead.

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Pretty minor tweaks, then I’m going to run seps, and hopefully, it’ll all look pretty. But knowing me, there will be more tweaks. ~__^

Buy Daydream Believer

Happy drawing,
Ninja ^___^

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Our next print

Ninja March 14th, 2008

our-next-print

Our next print, really!
The Daydream Believer print was originally slated to release last spring, but life, work, and doubts prevented me from getting it out. My apologies for those of you who requested a print last year, and I truly thank you for your loving patience!

So what made me get off my butt to finally do this? You! You, lovely people, you. I’ve received really encouraging emails from some NvP readers. A few of my friends had commented that this was their favorite out of all my vector illustrations and that they would love to have it hanging in their homes. My coworker Jason recently inquired about the print’s release and gently nudged me to complete it. His wife requested this print for her birthday, and she’s been patiently waiting over a year for me to get this printed. I just can’t refuse that wish. ~__^

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Ready for proofing
I finished tweaking the paths this past weekend and am finally satisfied. I sent this baby out for a color proof so I can really make sure all the bezier points are just-so.

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Process
These are 2 of my printouts (there are piles of them lying around). I will print the vector drawing out at full size, mark up corrections, make the changes to the file, highlight the printout to indicate that they were made, and repeat. I went through about 20 or so rounds of revision. At one point, I realized that butterflies should only have 3 body part segments—head, thorax, and abdomen. In a daze, I had given some 2 or 4. After I noticed this, I carefully inspected each butterfly to make sure they only had 3. @__@

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I get pretty obsessive over the details. This is just the feet. You should see how nuts I went fixing all the little bumps in the butterfly wings.

Now for my doubts…

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Some time after I had made that first post about the Daydream Believer print, I came across this gorgeous illustration by Jillian Tamaki. My heart sank. She’s so unbelievably talented, and I didn’t want people to think I was copying her. I would just forget about my Daydream Believer print, I told myself. Then a bit later, I read this fantastic post by Asaf Hanuka about how different illustrators may have similar ideas and similar results (independent of each other).

Even though Jillian and I share similar subject—a girl in a tire swing hung from a tree, we have obvious differences. For one, the perspective is different. Hers is from below, looking up; mine is straight on. Our styles are VERY different. She has this beautiful, delicate brush work, and I have my vector paths/silhouettes. Our palettes are different, too. Jillian has soft, muted tones, while I opted for bright, vibrant flat colors.

I was minorly freaking out about this a few months ago, but now that I think about it, I’m sure there are other illustrators who have girls playing in tire swings… ~__^

What now?
I’m working on other projects while I wait for my proof to come in. Then more revisions (of course).

Thank you for letting me share my art with you (and for listening to me go on a bit about my worries).

Buy Daydream Believer

Smiles,
Sighs,

Ninja ^_____^

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“Daydream Believer”—our next print…

Ninja April 30th, 2007

daydream-believer%e2%80%94our-next-print

Since Spring is definitely in the air + the flowers are blooming, Penguin + I have decided to put out another print. =) We’ve been receiving a lot of positive feedback, + we’d like to thank you for your enthusiasm!

I still need to do some tweeks before we get it printed, but here is the (Cliff Notes) process for your viewing pleasure.

Daydream Believer

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I started out with a sketch of a tree + scanned it in.

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Using the pen tool, I made a silhouette of the tree.

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I then added in some squiggly lines (still using the pen tool with squiggly lines on the overlapping layer).

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And it’s essentially more of the same (drawing more objects on separate layers, using the pen tool). I thought the squiggly lines on the tree were a lil’ too high contrast, so I changed them to a dull grey. I also reflected the tree horizontally. I then added in the swinging girl, butterflies, and grass (in that order). I didn’t have any pencil sketches for any of the other parts of the illustration; I drew them freehand in Illustrator.
Enjoy! And I’ll keep you posted when we finally get this printed! =)

Buy Daydream Believer

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