Real Updates

So its about time for a real change around here. For those of you who know me well, you're aware that illustration was never my real passion. From about my second year at OCAD I knew that it wasn't really the right program for me, but that I should stick it out and finish the degree. My hope was that somewhere along the way I'd figure out what exactly I was really interested in doing.

I feel like I may have found that now, to some extent. About a month ago I finally managed to pull myself away from the fine art world of galleries, which was all well and good but again not where I wanted to be working, I found myself with the label of Graphic Artist.

Now, I can tell that it'll be easy for me to be derailed from my train of thought here, so bear with me. My goal for months was to get a job in graphic design. I felt like there was a set of rules there I could understand, and a technical aspect I could really get in to. So after applying to who knows how many graphic design positions, I found my current employer.

This is a company who specializes in printing on fabric. During the World Wars they produced items like life jackets and flags and were quite prosperous. But as time went on they sort of fell out of the loop, their print process is messy and time consuming, it uses all sorts of nasty chemicals which reek of health hazards.

But they want to change. They are aware enough to know that they are falling behind the times, and while they might not fully understand why that is, they have realized that digital is where things are heading.

And that is what I really like. I find people to be very turned off by digital art and design but it just makes so much sense to me. I always fall back on my thesis year when I try to explain this to people; one of my friends at OCAD, and many of my classmates were enamoured with silk screening. Our instructors thought it was just the coolest ever and wanted us all to try it. But it is expensive, dirty, and takes a long long time. I was often helping my friend wash his screens out, or buying new colours of ink.

I realized very quickly that I knew how to produce the exact same effects but on the computer. And my photoshop versions of the silk screening process were so convincing that people still have a hard time believing its "faked." They want to touch the page as though it has more texture than it does. Which was exactly my goal, that and staying clean, healthy, and under budget.

So now I have found a really excellent niche for myself in digital print production that I think is not only very important to this company, but also to the way in which we create goods generally. With digital technology we can save a lot of resources, we can make a smaller carbon footprint, we are free to make mistakes without waste (aside from the electricity used, for the most part). And while it is by no means a perfect system - it is moving forward in ways that will be truly beneficial to us if people can step away from their distaste of what is new to appreciate what is happening.

I have a fair amount to say on this topic still, but I think this has been a good introduction. I'll return with more shortly, and probably this blog will begin to reflect this evolution from traditional methods to digital in a more serious way. Or at least a more direct one.