Inadvisable product design, provolone spon con, you failed me and more
Holding you accountable for your deplorable inaction
I have a google spreadsheet that I use as a combined diary, bullet journal, and health/mood tracker. I’ve always liked recording things, and this is my way to have a snapshot of each day (I cannot bring myself to journal often) and track if I’m being at consistent at things that I know to be good for my work output, body, and personal wellbeing.
Last year I added a yes/no column for "free draw, 20 min or more.” (Color-coded conditional formatting? Obviously.) This came from my resolution in December to start spending a short, doable amount of time each day on unassigned work. At the time, I was asking myself, “What's holding me back from spending really any time on work that doesn't have some kind of external pressure attached?” As with many things, breaking the goal (consistently investing in my personal body of work) into bite-size tasks (20 minutes a day!) was necessary for me to start making progress. I started and finished a lot of work in the past 6 months that I wouldn’t have otherwise. For example, this digital illustration “Rabbit Don,” which depicts the dramatic true story of the poisoning of a lagomorph mafioso.
My drawing habit started to drop off in late May and really tanked in June: I’m looking at the column on my screen and there’s not a lot of green in there. It’s no surprise given the month we’ve just wrapped up. We moved Travis out to residency, which involved setting up a whole new apartment, plenty of hard work and a pretty fun road trip; then I returned to Medford just in time for my City Council re-election kickoff and to wrap up another difficult budget season.
An action snap from my campaign kickoff, demonstrating what I like to call “resting councilor face.” (Photo cred: Jen!)
With these major events past, I’m eager to rekindle my personal work habit. I’m gradually catching up on everything I didn’t have time for in June, and in the past week, officially brought on a few murals and mural-collabs for August and September. Feeling caught up, topping off the work calendar, and the peace of mind that brings, is good fertilizer for creativity.
I have a couple new projects in the cooker that I’m excited to talk about – but before I get ahead of myself, there’s some new work from the past couple months that I’ve neglected to share in earnest.
Slutty Compost magnets preorder
You know what they say: Every product design “eureka” moment starts with asking your partner to do a chore for you. Here’s a freak show little doodle I drew many moons ago to remind Travis to take out the compost bin.
I am pleased to report that, because I am self-employed and nobody can tell me “no,” this humble doodle has been subjected to a glowup.
To my Patreon subscribers who will be getting these this month whether they like it or not, I’m sorry. To everyone else, I just put a preorder listing up on my Etsy. It’s $9 for the set. Remember, as much as you love composting, so do they.
That’s right: You failed me
Last year I printed a very small run of two stickers, just enough for my Patreon CSAs with some leftovers to give as gifts. I’d never listed them, so I pulled them out last week when I was photographing the magnets. To design them, I pulled from the hundreds of dog and cat drawings that are stored on my computer. One is a flirty cat.
The other is a roller-skating dog, captioned with the iconic Vanessa Carlton line that has been inexplicably stuck in my head since 2011. Or is it?
Would you believe me if I told you the first time I realized this does NOT read “Makin’ my way downtown” was this very Thursday at 5am as I was waiting to board a flight to Michigan, idly looking through photos at my phone, stripped of my usual cognitive autofill capacities due to the early hour?
Here’s the thing. These have been in my possession since last October. In that time I have shown them to my partner; sent them to every Patreon subscriber; sold them, this version, to a stockist; and shared them numerous times on my Instagram. Not one person mentioned the befuddling typo. “Making my town downtown?” Guys, I don’t know if you thought this was intentional or if you were just yes-ing me, but either way I’m disappointed. I have to insist on honesty in our relationship. Calling you in.
Cloudwatching
Here’s one of my favorite things I’ve drawn recently: a digital illustration, “Clouds Observed from Van Ness neighborhood and on I-95 from 7:15am–3:30pm, May 14th 2023.” That was our drive back from a DC trip to see friends and family.
I’d like to do a couple more works along these lines. Like I wrote about in April, I’m intrigued lately by compositions that are ordered/structured with grids and lines; and I like the overall prompt of trying to capture something uncapturable (a day, the sky), grabbing and cataloguing little pieces as souvenirs. What do you think? What day should I try to capture next? Let me know in the comments.
I endorse this sandwich
Like my good friend Joey Tribbiani, my favorite food is famously sandwiches. Here’s a good and fast one I made for a picnic with Alex the other week. Great for summer, very portable, goes well with sitting outside.
2 fluffy multigrain rolls
Provolone
Olive tapenade, any
Pesto, your favorite
Red onion
Arugula
Spread the olive tapenade on one side of your roll and the pesto on the other. Add at least two slices of provolone, top with very thinly sliced red onion and a clump of arugula. Wrap in aluminum foil. Bike to the park. Pairs well with anything cold.
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Until next time,
Kit
