“Washington Graphics Partners with Creator Jane Marshall for Google Corporate Exhibition”  

What do you get when you combine great talent and ingenuity with precious, child-like stick figure drawings? StickFiggy, of course! READ THE ARTICLE

Posted on August 26, 2011 by Washington Graphics

 

Click here to see images of the StickFiggy’s Reboot in a quick and easy PDF.

Yes, it is true. StickFiggy in wall art form is hanging out on the walls of Google’s building 46 in Mountain View, CA. Getting the show up required a lot of work, and not all done by me. Keep reading to see how individuals and companies really extended themselves to help make this happen.

After, making all the final drawings and doing various adobe tinkerings, I finally sent the drawing off to Redmond’s  Washington Graphics. They are a top of the line print company that regularly does large roll outs for Nordstrom,, REI, Eddie Bauer, PCC and more. WOW!

It was SO kind of them to take on my itty bitty project and give me above and beyond help in the creation and  delivery packaging  of my 10 little prints. The picture above is from their amazing facility where I got to sign my work before they applied the sun-protection coating. Thank you to all the fine folks who helped me- there are about 6 of you!

This is David Berkey- the print expert! He not only helped me find Washington Graphics but helped me navigate the complicated waters of print and display options/materials. Plus, his is just about the friendliest person you could imagine. I’m so glad I went to a few Biznik events a few years ago and happened to meet him!!

Need print advice on how to make your project the highest quality and most reasonable price possible? Check him out: D Berkey Group, www.dberkeygroup.com.

Ok, so this is the cool box that Tim from Washington Graphics actually MADE. My 10 pieces made it safely though the airport hassle. Luckily it was within an inch of the carry-on max! This compact box contained 10 prints on Sintra w/ French Cleats for hanging plus screws neatly taped to the back of each. The prep work was impeccable and made my life so easy when it came time to hang the show.

This is me at the infamous Google Headquarters. I just loved the sharable and very branded bikes they had everywhere. And yes, people actually use them a lot!

This is the building next to 46. It was a little more photogenic with that entry!

 

The people at Google were ready to make it happen!

(Side note on the guy at Enterprise: my rental Ford Fiesta consumed my license when I put it on the passenger seat.   I had a mild freakout at the exit gate. Hey, you can’t fly back without it. A guy from Enterprise tackled it like it was his problem and found it- whoever you are, THANK YOU AGAIN!)

Left to right: Justin, Tory, Malley, me. THANK YOU SO MUCH. We worked like such a team figuring out the best possible arrangement. Justin, you were a super star with the level and the drill. I came prepared with all my own tools but I’m so grateful that your much better skills were there!

Entry wall.

Me pointing to ome of my favorite little details.

See all the pictures in the Picasa album below—–>

StickFiggy’s ReBoot a Gooart show at Google Headquarters

 

ARTIST STATEMENT as posted at the show with purchasing information. 

 

Thanks for checking this out,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Get here from the QR code? New info about the reception and current CL5 1500 Crittenden location is located HERE. 

 

The show runs from 8/18 – December. All pieces are signed and available for purchase.

Thanks for checking it out!

 

 

 

Check out the installation pics on Picasa below or in the StickFiggy.com Gallery.

StickFiggy’s ReBoot a Gooart show at Google Headquarters

 

Simple things look easy, don’t they!? Let me explain this picture:

These are the survivor sketches, meaning those that didn’t actually make it to the trash, that are from the making of 10 pictures for an art show going up next week. The final drawing are not included there. Stay tuned- SO EXCITING!!!  Hint- the show venue rhymes with “oogle.”

As you can see, redrawing is a HUGE part of the process. With that said, let’s talk about getting that good feeling that simplicity gives.

Lately I discovered an amazing blog called Young House Love. Know it?

These people are AMAZING and they make it look so easy to turn a blah room into something that feels like a page out of an interior design magazine. I was looking at their room make-overs really closely and noticed 2 stylistic features that they use EVERY time:

#1- NO CLUTTER

#2- everything is sparkling CLEAN with great lighting/photo editing.

Hey now, this is exactly what I have to do with StickFiggy art. I’ll spare you the details but it is the pursuit of this that causes all these sketches to pile up!  :-)

Tips for Mess-Makers

Confession: I am not a natural at such organization and discipline. In fact, when I’m in a really productive creative state, my desk looks like a mess. Same problem? I let myself get away with it by taking consolation in the the rumor that Einstein was like this too. Yeeeah, that is REALLY good for the ego. Truth is, “organized” mess might work during creative output, but it is a downright inhibitor to getting started. So, if you are like me, this is the strategy that I use- might work for you too.

Mode A

If I’m being productive, I let my creative monster make a stew of papers and materials on the desk. Who am I to say the rumored Einstein approach is wrong? 

Mode B

But otherwise, I force myself to refrain from being a complete toddler who just wanders off at his/her flighty attention’s whim.  Mom simply doesn’t appear anymore to clean up my messes -go figure!?

So, I play a game with myself called, “bet you can’t guess what I just did!” Yep, the idea is to tidy up enough so that if a person were to enter my office, they couldn’t determine whether I’d been cutting cards, writing a story, executing a final drawing, or making toast. If you try it please let me know! I think I may have to make my next StickFiggy story on Memetales be . . .well, you can guess!

Hint: thinly veiled story to motivate kids to clean up from their activities. Help those moms, right!?

 

 

There it is! Among the fantastic cards by Luscious Verde, Night Owl Paper, Three Designing Women, and Pretty Stationery for Beautiful Souls, we’ve got the little stick-figure in boots pulling his romance moves.

My favorite part about this design is the movement of the balcony . . . implying that the girl character just scurried up there and maybe supplied the cliche prop herself!

 

Again I had a fabulous time at the 2011 National Stationery Show. Thanks to everyone involved!

 

 

 

P.S. Going to BlogHer 2011? Get a P.S. card FREE at the PopSalad booth.

This summer, I’ve been reworking a StickFiggy children’s story, unofficially, StickFiggy at Sea.  This has meant not only rewriting several -as in dozens and dozens of times, but also redoing every single image and changing them according to the edits. Here I’ll show you how I make the tiny StickFiggy drawings.

First, I make a sketch -meaning a drawing that has the expectation of imperfection!

To trick the perfectionist within, I use non “art” paper, in this case regular computer paper. I already have the text for this scene, so the goal at this point is to show the most important action and expression. In this case, I wanted the pirates to look kind of like school children- nervous at the front of the line and restless at the back.   The goal was to make the sunflower to look very easy going so I put him on their level.

The second sketch is now made with the guidance of grid paper.

Sometimes it doesn’t matter, but in this scene, there were some technical issues to make it look like they are all on a tilted ship deck. Cool fact: to look “right” an illustrator must think about things like gravity! Even though the deck is tilted, the pirates still need to stand perpendicular to the horizon – even though you can’t see it.

Now I’m just tracing and swapping out the sketches beneath depending upon what is needed.

The paper for the final drawing is super delicate. This is great because I can put my sketches beneath it and see where to draw. This is bad because the paper quickly gets crinkled with too much handling. Even the oils from my hand, or maybe it is nervous sweat, can damage the paper so that the ink and later color will not adhere evenly. So, I use a 3×5 card to protect it.

This is my favorite part: coloring! The black lines have created something that feels like a custom coloring page.

I like to use special Copic markers that are like really potent watercolors without the hassle of clean-up. One of the challenges of an artist is finding (a) the mediums they like, and (b) the mediums that will work together. For me, the fountain pen, thin paper,  and the markers are perfect!

Finally, and this can happen even at the last minute- I try to include something extra fun that isn’t obvious or really part of the action.

See the bunny ears?

 

 

P.S. Ready to try? Coloring pages for kids are here!