Bloghttp://www.ehaidle.com/blog/en-US2010-03-14T18:22:53ZSquarespace Site Server v5.9.2 (http://www.squarespace.com/)Creating photoshop images w/ 3D and 2D elements...http://www.ehaidle.com/blog/2010/3/10/creating-photoshop-images-w-3d-and-2d-elements.htmlElizabeth Haidle2010-03-11T05:46:03Zexperimenting on a 3D + 2D look for a graphic novel project...came up with these today: (click on to enlarge)

]]>Customize your car! Spray paint, contact paper, & gutshttp://www.ehaidle.com/blog/2010/3/4/customize-your-car-spray-paint-contact-paper-guts.htmlElizabeth Haidle2010-03-05T00:30:42ZAmateur car customizers unite! I want to hold a series of D.I.Y. workshops here in Taos so eventually, the roads will be covered in personalized vehicles...just driving around will become an event, once again! To hell with resale values...i say, if yer doing it right, the result should send that number upward!

Here's my work-in-progress, on my previously-boring white honda civic:

Steps:

* Buy your favorite color of high-quality 'Rust Stop' spray paint. Buy a roll of contact paper (found it in the 'home section' of the hardware store here...who knows where else it might be lurking though)

* Have lots of masking tape and scrap newspaper, garbage bags, cardboard, whatever. (for masking)

* Thoroughly wash/dry car or at least the area you are working with. Best in sunny conditions, although you only need a good hour for the paint to cure. (That said, I did my first bit in a thunderstorm, holding an umbrella over my working area...so with enough stubbornness...weather be damned)

1. Cut with scissors, or utility knife, the shape out that you want to spray paint. Discard the shape.

2. Place the remaining rectangle of contact paper (with backing peeled off) right on your car. This is a bit awkward, but it's not too sticky & is re-positionable. (be sure to rub down all the edges of the contact paper surrounding the shape, so no paint seeps under...you want that clean edge!)

3. Mask the hell outta the surrounding 2 - 3 feet in every direction (more, if its windy)

4. Shake spray can for one minute...hold about 4 - 5 inches from surface, and spray in little spurts, making strokes from one end of the shape to the other. This first coat will be somewhat transparent.

5. Do another coat after 5 - 10 minutes of drying....repeat several times until desired opacity is achieved.

Nice thing is, if you make a mistake or you spray so densely that color creeps under the contact sticker a bit...take q-tips and acetone and you can dissolve un-intended marks without hurting the original paint coat underneath!

]]>Aerostation...the first hot air balloonshttp://www.ehaidle.com/blog/2010/2/25/aerostationthe-first-hot-air-balloons.htmlElizabeth Haidle2010-02-25T18:48:38ZFirst finished illustration for Encyclopedia of the Exquisite:

]]>Encyclopedia of the Exquisitehttp://www.ehaidle.com/blog/2010/2/16/encyclopedia-of-the-exquisite.htmlElizabeth Haidle2010-02-16T21:46:56ZMockup for cover design....just clipped photos and plopped them around...collaged together the lady with lace mask in the center....(all will be hand-drawn into the border at final and perhaps stamped on a matte cover with red foil. Whoop-de-doo! This is a fun project....more blogging about it in-progress soon)

]]>What the heck. Trying out 'Big Cartel'....the other etsy?http://www.ehaidle.com/blog/2010/2/6/what-the-heck-trying-out-big-cartelthe-other-etsy.htmlElizabeth Haidle2010-02-06T18:20:17ZIt might be lame that I only put 3 items in my product list...but I'm a firm believer in baby-steps. Check out:

]]>Non-fiction comic featuring: Musk Deerhttp://www.ehaidle.com/blog/2010/1/31/non-fiction-comic-featuring-musk-deer.htmlElizabeth Haidle2010-02-01T03:10:28ZThat's right. A nocturnal fanged herbivore. I just finished this comic strip detailing further fascinating facts about this unique species....it'll appear in a book proposal I hope to get in the mail this week.

]]>DIY: How to create Faux-Etching Handwritinghttp://www.ehaidle.com/blog/2010/1/23/diy-how-to-create-faux-etching-handwriting.htmlElizabeth Haidle2010-01-23T17:54:48ZI'm a big fan of the online tutorials these days; I think it's a lovely gesture that flies in the face of education-as-commodity. Also, I like to rant and rail about the limitations of fonts in the design world, so you will probably see several step-by-steps this year about tricks involving taking these matters into your own hands. A simple process...do 50 repetitions of the word you want, as results vary, and it's likely at least 1 will turn out amazing. A good approach to almost anything, really.

(ignore the 'vampire' example...that happened to be in the scan, too lazy to crop) The 'good Dust' wording, used on an album design for my friend Aron Dunlap's band, (top notch folk!), was created w/ this method:

1. skim some gel medium (experiment w/ glue stick or elmer's if u are low-budget) on smooth watercolor paper or matboard, with a wide and somewhat crappy brush. use streaks, circles, etc.

2. When surface is nearly dry but still tacky, lay some architect's chalk paper (comes in colors! red, blue, yellow, white...black does not work well for this process as it's actually graphite)....face down on surface.

3. holding lightly (your fingerprints will often transfer...can be a nice effect tho) use a pencil, your fingernail, or any hard point to draw the desired words.

4. lift up paper - see the results! too smudgy, you didn't let it dry enough...too clean, the surface was too dry.

5. Repeat! Try the white chalk paper on dark surfaces for a negative effect. (chalk paper available on dickblick.com or most art supply/craft stores...comes in a long scroll...you can keep re-using the scraps until all the chalk has transferred, so it lasts a long time. )

* here's another example...the silver lettering was done with hand-stamped letters & gel pen...at the very bottom 'Lucia Joyce Cabaret' is the faux-etching style...in red originally, & changed to black in photoshop:

]]>End of Year Resolves...http://www.ehaidle.com/blog/2009/12/31/end-of-year-resolves.htmlElizabeth Haidle2009-12-31T21:37:40Z

Happy end-of-2009, year of the Ox. The Ox stands for hard, slow work, and that was my experience, anyway. Resolves for the new year: more music-making, hiking, sleeping, soup-making, and soaking in hot springs, which I've decided is my winter sport. More to ponder: 2010 is the year of the white metal tiger - associated with toughness, generosity, and wealth earned by hard work. The hard work aspect also appears in relation to loved ones - expressing love more through actions than words. I like the sound of that - seems to me that it's the myriad of little acts and deeds that make a strong bond of trust between myself & those whom I love...especially in the case of new love :)

]]>If you're in Philly...the Pig Iron Annual Benefit is a must-see!http://www.ehaidle.com/blog/2009/12/28/if-youre-in-phillythe-pig-iron-annual-benefit-is-a-must-see.htmlElizabeth Haidle2009-12-28T18:01:36Za collection of some of the most original acts of human imagination there is....awhile back it became tradition for me to design their annual benefit postcard. I consider it quite an honor, considering the massive accumulation of talent that makes up the Pig Iron Theatre Company. (the theme is a riff off the 'Hands Across America')

]]>Next project: children's book series...http://www.ehaidle.com/blog/2009/12/4/next-project-childrens-book-series.htmlElizabeth Haidle2009-12-04T22:28:01ZNot going into great detail yet, but I hope to disappear somewhere balmy and conducive to uninterrupted focus for half of January....to finish the final workings of the proposal. Rough cover mockup for one of them:

]]>