Axial Arts

2011-12-08T19:32:00.000-08:00

I started out by drawing. I drew everything. At MassArt I did not stray too far from drawing,
-- the reason I got into the school and what I hoped would lead to a career in illustration. I saw the
graphic design majors hogging the copiers, cutting and pasting endless comps for their very picky
professors. I couldn't imagine being so uptight. When I graduated from Mass College of Art in 1988,
I had a portfolio of excellent illustrations and paintings. I admit I had a lot of fun in college but it soon
dawned on me that full-time illustration jobs were scarcer than hens teeth. After about a year of carrying my portfolio
around town, getting published in several newspapers and doing illustrations for the
Museum of Science education department. I realized that I would never be able to quit my security job
doing this--let alone find someone to marry me! This is when I first learned about the Apple MacIntosh
Computer. Almost overnight all my friends who did freelance paste-up for Boston area newspapers and
stores were hanging out with me not making money. Through a friendly businessman, I exchanged the service of
designing several flyers advertising his business with lessons in Adobe Photoshop 1.3 and
Adobe Illustrator 1.1! Then this guy introduced me to the owner of a graphic design firm called
Ruby Shoes Studio and I was hired as a graphic designer right away because I knew how to use an
Apple! That was 22 years ago and I worked through 8 companies up to CD (Creative Director) and
was eventually laid off in 2010 because of the economy and the nasty outsourcing trend. Personally I think it has become a
young person's career. It is difficult now to find a design job that can support a family and I
feel very sorry I don't have one but I am going back to school to become a high school art teacher.
I created a new illustration portfolio and I finally got an agent who thinks highly of my work. After 22 years of corporate design staff involvement, I want a fresh start.
My website www.greglambdesign.com shows basically where my interest lies.

Sign this petition--She is innocent!

2011-11-30T07:31:00.000-08:00

Change.org|Start an Online Petition »

Acrylic paint

2011-10-07T07:52:00.000-07:00

I spent the summer painting. I painted my house, two coats. When I needed a break, I took some pictures with my Nikon and printed them out big at Staples. I found that these big print-outs make good reference as I put them down where I can see them and just mix the colors I see. I like John Singer Sargent's paintings at the MFA in Boston. His brush strokes are so deftly applied and full of abstraction and life. He is my artistic hero.

June 3rd for Illustration Friday--"Shadow"

2011-06-03T13:05:00.001-07:00

Illustration Friday for 4/15--"Journey"

2011-04-17T09:18:00.001-07:00

This used to be a sure way for a middle class worker to support his/her family. Not anymore.

Illustration Friday for Friday 4/8--"Bottled"

2011-04-10T06:43:00.000-07:00

An excerpt from an image that will appear in the book 100 Illustrations.

Illustration Friday--4/01/11--Duet

2011-04-01T09:12:00.000-07:00

Illustration Friday-3/25-"Toy"

2011-03-27T13:30:00.000-07:00

Won a contest!

2011-03-22T19:13:00.001-07:00

Illustration Friday Entry for Today: Dusty-1/23/11

2011-01-23T11:31:00.001-08:00

I saw a dust storm or was it just smog.

Illustration Friday---1/14/11--Chicken Coop

2011-01-14T13:12:00.000-08:00

"Regard it as just as desirable to build a chicken house as to build a cathedral." ~ Frank Lloyd Wright

Illustration Friday Entry for Today: Deja Vu-1/9/11

2011-01-09T09:01:00.000-08:00

A sad feeling that I have seen this before. Arizona has some healing to do.

2011-01-06T18:59:00.000-08:00

The Rise of the New Global Elite: February Atlantic Magazine "But if the plutocrats’ opposition to increases in their taxes and tighter regulation of their economic activities is understandable, it is also a mistake. The real threat facing the super-elite, at home and abroad, isn’t modestly higher taxes, but rather the possibility that inchoate public rage could cohere into a more concrete populist agenda—that, for instance, middle-class Americans could conclude that the world economy isn’t working for them and decide that protectionism or truly punitive taxation is preferable to incremental measures such as the eventual repeal of the upper-bracket Bush tax cuts."

Illustration Friday entry for Friday Dec.31 --Resolution

2011-01-02T17:30:00.000-08:00

Maybe this year...

I see animated gifs don't work in posts.

2010-12-26T09:56:00.000-08:00

2010-12-18T20:38:00.000-08:00

Too distracted to draw: Reading this is helping-- 10 questions for GOP members of financial crisis inquiry.

Ifriday--submission for the week--"Sneaky"--November 21

2010-11-21T19:13:00.000-08:00

Follow the bouncing ball!

Ifriday--illustrationfriday.com--entry for Today: Afterwards

2010-11-05T13:55:00.001-07:00

Sometimes these subjects just leave me with one arresting image in my mind and I cannot resist drawing it. Lets hope wars some day cease to exist.

Ifriday--illustrationfriday.com--entry for Today: Spent

2010-10-29T12:22:00.001-07:00

The money is going, going, gone!

Disgraceful

2010-10-27T15:02:00.000-07:00

Rand Paul supporters are out of control. Fascism started this way. Do you get it people? I do not support Tea Party thugs or people who associate with them. This woman did not deserve this treatment. Rand Paul ought to be ashamed of himself.

Ifriday--illustrationfriday.com--entry for Today: Spooky

2010-10-16T09:39:00.001-07:00

Spooky isn't it? This is a couple hours work and I had time to do it this morning.

Ifriday--illustrationfriday.com--entry for Today: Beneath

2010-10-01T14:04:00.000-07:00

These people sadly are about to be beneath the ground!

Ifriday--illustrationfriday.com--entry for Today: Acrobat

2010-09-18T08:28:00.001-07:00

Ifriday--illustrationfriday.com--entry for Today: Proverb

2010-09-11T14:23:00.000-07:00

No good deed shall go unpunished.

Ifriday--illustrationfriday.com--entry for Today: Dessert

2010-09-03T19:22:00.000-07:00

Ifriday--illustrationfriday.com--entry for Today: Immovable

2010-08-27T12:42:00.000-07:00

Johnny reached the crest of the hill only to find that his way was blocked by an utterly immovable stone wall that went on in all directions.

Ifriday--illustrationfriday.com--entry for Friday: Atmosphere

2010-08-22T10:37:00.000-07:00

Impression of sun drenched people on a beach. Summer days!

Ifriday--illustrationfriday.com--entry for Friday: Star Gazing

2010-08-17T09:30:00.001-07:00

It all starts with the eye.

Ifriday--illustrationfriday.com--entry for today: Artificial

2010-07-30T08:51:00.001-07:00

Ifriday--illustrationfriday.com--entry for today: Double

2010-07-24T08:06:00.001-07:00

They should have a Tour De France for tandem bikes.

Ifriday--illustrationfriday.com--entry for today: Breakfast

2010-07-16T09:14:00.001-07:00

Ifriday--illustrationfriday.com--entry for today: Diary

2010-07-09T09:05:00.000-07:00

Hypothetical diary of the daily emotional state changes of my teenage daughter.

Ifriday--illustrationfriday.com--entry for today: Giant

2010-07-06T11:00:00.001-07:00

Giant heat wave over eastern U.S.

Ifriday--illustrationfriday.com--entry for today: Satellite

2010-06-25T14:21:00.000-07:00

There's a moon in the sky and it looks so much bigger on cold nights!

Ifriday--illustrationfriday.com--entry for today:Paisley

2010-06-18T09:26:00.001-07:00

Paisley feathers came to mind. This took about two hours this morning.

Ifriday--illustrationfriday.com--entry for today: "Ripples"

2010-06-11T10:38:00.000-07:00

Dedicated to the unfortunate animals in the Gulf and to those who will work so hard to deal with the aftermath.

2010-06-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

Meiko's remake of "Fever" in a Honda TV ad!

MEIKO SUPER FANS | MySpace Video

I want to illustrate in this style.

Boring design

2010-06-10T07:37:00.000-07:00

I don't want to design stuff like this anymore. I just want to mess around with pastels and cameras. really that is the truth.

Ifriday--illustrationfriday.com--entry for today: "Trail"

2010-06-04T08:38:00.001-07:00

“The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast and you miss all you are traveling for.” ~unknown

IFriday- illustrationfriday.com entry for today "Slither"

2010-05-28T08:18:00.000-07:00

Ifriday--illustrationfriday.com--entry for today: "Early"

2010-05-21T14:05:00.000-07:00

Unusual company site I designed

2010-05-14T11:04:00.000-07:00

This is a site I designed. I thought it was interesting that it operates as a shell for the companies main sites. You never leave the site but easily move from one to the others. On the front page the inset iframe shows an updated list of content from all of the companies editorial items.

2010-05-12T13:28:00.000-07:00

I was laid off on New Years Eve, 12/31/09, I am still feeling very strongly that it was unjust. In many ways I was an asset to that company. In moving on I wonder if the nature of the in-house design departments has changed forever. Is every company outsourcing their web design needs? As they continued to downsize through 2009 the burden of print and web design fell increasingly on my shoulders. How does a designer support their family when the jobs are going to the lowest bidders? When their jobs are going to "hosting companies" that throw their "designs" in for free?

2010-05-03T14:36:00.000-07:00

I understand that it is important to separate sponsored content from editorial content but couldn't the web guys at the Washington Post have gone live with something a little more elegant?

New York Times--Article widget is bewitching

2010-04-29T14:41:00.001-07:00

I was reading an article on Nytimes.com and as I scrolled down almost to the bottom, a pop up with a link to the next recommended article blinked into existence. This has really gotten my attention. I hope all content heavy sites become users of this type of impromptu navigation in highly rated articles. I know I will.

Web 2.0 Logo Creator http://creatr.cc/creatr/

2010-04-28T09:06:00.000-07:00

I went to Web 2.0 Logo Creator and very quickly made this awesome logo for my next client. That was so easy and the results are fantastic. It even has one of those Star Flashes that are going out of fashion as we speak--(see previous post)

Star flashes, Web 2.0?

2010-04-27T12:39:00.000-07:00

I found this at www.webdesignfromscratch.com. I agree the use of star flashes is not going to make your site look cool for much longer.

"Star flashes"

These are the star-shaped labels that you see stuck on web pages, alerting you to something important.

They work by evoking price stickers in low-cost stores. For this reason, they suit the start-up ethic of many 2.0 sites, but for the same reason may cheapen other sites.

They can really work well, but of course should only be used to draw attention to something important.

I'd recommend only using one on a page (at most!).

Another style that's seeming over-used, and will probably run its course over the next y