So I took a much needed pause from my blog to focus on work and personal stuff. BUT… I’m back with a vegance. Before I start posting anything I need to thank the people at Phoenix Design Week for chosing me as a featured designer, and Santy for hosting an awesome gallery showing. That place is incredible, I felt honored just stepping foot in the building after looking at all of their Addy awards.

Now it’s all said and done I want to post up a couple photos to recap the event and to thank everyone for coming out AND…… give away some free posters. It was awesome to have friends, family and fellow designers coming out to support me, as well as meeting A BUNCH of new people. Thank you all for taking an interest in my work and taking the time to support me, I love you!

Here are some images from the Santy Gallery, and the poster giveaway is at the bottom of the post.

Poster Giveaway!

There have been people that enjoy my artwork and style, and then there are those that really connect with certain pieces. I’ve spoken to a couple people at the gallery and through e-mail that have been taken back by some of the pieces or that have really connected with one of the quotes I’ve chosen. MSCED was created as an extremely personal project for me to focus on love in my own life and increase my creativity at the same time. All of the quotes chosen are extremely close to my heart and the artwork was created to reflect the quotes.

So, with that being said, I’m giving away my prints from the gallery showing. How do you get a print? Simple, email me why the piece speaks to you, why you want it, why you deserve it more than someone else. The poster will go to the person that appreciates it the best. I’ll even pay for shipping, all you have to do is hang it in your house and freaking love it. I will be putting certain MSCED posters up for sale, these however will not be for sale. Only I and the people selected will own these prints. So… get to typing. Email me at hello(at)dunlapstudios.com, and poor your heart out!

I just posted up a gallery of the MSCED prints that are currently available. Check out the link HERE, or in the side pane, and follow the greedy little directions.

Hey guys, I wanted to do a more in depth post about the gallery exhibition tomorrow. I will be exhibiting at Santy Wed-Fri from 11-6pm, but the reception/wicked awesome get together is tomorrow, Wednesday at 7pm. I’ve been featured in a couple exhibits across the US since I’ve started Dunlap Studios, but this is my first actual exhibit. It’s also huge for me because the work is extremely personal.

The gallery is featuring 5 prints from my Make Something Cool Every Day series. For those of you that don’t know, MSCED was a project I did a couple months back. I created a piece of art every day for 14 days that reflected the feelings and events of each day. Most of them feature music lyrics or quotes from books, but all of them feature me as an artist and as a person, and they are extremely personal. The project was created to help me handle the stresses of life and focus on the positive aspects. The project was a focus on love and what it can do, most of them are meant to be inspiring for me but some are just reflective of the situations that I was dealing with.  I couldn’t have a more personal series to exhibit, so I’m honored and WAY nervous to be a part of it. To learn more about MSCED click here.

With all of that being said, come out and check out the exhibit. I will be there at 7 happy to meet and talk to everyone about the project, me or whatever. I also have miniature limited edition prints of one of my most popular prints for anyone that wants one (or until they’re gone). I will also be showcasing my personal portfolio that was just finished and printed this past week along with the rest of my print collateral, both Dunlap Studios and MSCED. Whether you’re a friend or just frequent the site, come out and have a good time, everyone is welcome and your support is much appreciated!

Along with MSCED, Santy will also be showcasing three other incredible artists: Jon Ashcroft, Daniel Davis and Jeremy Smith (whom if you’re a type nut, you’ll love his exhibit). Along with the personal exhibits, there will also be an exhibit of the PHXDW Poster contest and a showcase of fantastic rejected logo designs, I’m featured in both of these as well.

Santy Integrated

6710 E Camelback Rd Scottsdale, AZ 85251

Wednesday 7pm-9pm

So, here’s my last Make Something Cool Every Day for this 14 day series. I’ve done a couple personal ones, some of which I didn’t post, but this one is by far the most personal. What you’re looking at isn’t actually the piece but, I’ll explain after the jump.

Because this was the last of the series, I really wanted it to be good. I didn’t want to just choose a random thought, quote or song lyric, I wanted to choose something that was really powerful to me. So part of the creativity for this was, I created lists… and lists. I wrote down my favorite quotes, the happiest times in my life, the toughest, and most meaningful lyrics. The text I’ve chosen happens to be at the top of my quote list as well as one of the happiest/touching points in my life.

I’ve spent A LOT of time on this design, but nothing really did the quote justice. I finally found a stopping point and I’m truly happy with it, I really feel like I went out on my best one…. but you won’t see that one. As with the rest of the personal posts, I wasn’t planning on posting this, but I thought it’d be really lame to not post my last one, as this was the goal. So, I dropped out the images and illustrations and what-not and have posted the background and text. I’m not sure if it’s much to look at as is, but I think the text makes it beautiful.

Thank you to everyone who followed me during this series, and I’ll definitely be doing it again. I don’t know if I’ll be doing 14 days again, but I will for sure be doing it again. The time spent on my creativity really made me feel at peace and really helped me push myself and get to know myself. It was worth the time spent, and I’m looking forward to venturing into it again.

Here’s my number #13, only one more day left. Pretty happy to be done with it as I’ve got quite the workload right now. It was a great experience and I’ll definitely be doing it again. Image after the jump….

This piece was inspired by the art of James White, vintage text and blown out colors. Not crazy happy with it, but there are some factors I like. The text is lyrics from the song “The Garden That You Planted” from the band Sea Wolf.

My number 11, only 3 more to go! The quote is from extremely loud and incredibly close.

Here’s my 1oth addition to Make Something Cool Every Day. This is different from all of the other 9, as it’s not a poster or design really at all. My creativity for this piece is actually the end result, doesn’t make much sense now but hopefully it will.

I’m a strong believer in love, and the power that love has. I believe that with enough love you’re able to endure any circumstances. But anyone in any situation can always use a little more inspiration. So my concept for no.10  is to inspire others. I hope to do that with all of my MSCED creations, but this is more of a direct inspiration to people that wouldn’t be on my site or looking for quotes.

The idea is to create business cards with some of my favorite love quotes and lyrics and spread the love. Leave them in tip cups, stores, anywhere where I think they can be used. I want people to be surprised by a business card not trying to sell anything to them that they don’t already have inside them. I would have loved to find some random inspiration when I was going through tough times, hopefully other people will feel the same. If you want the files I’d be happy to send them to you and have you help me spread the love. And… if you want to make your own inspirational cards I’d be happy to post them on my site.

If there are some design goons on the site critiqing the quality of this MSCED… you’re missing the point. The message is the medium.

Hey guys, no new updates for my current MSCED today. I did do a project for today, and posted it in the wee hours of the morning this morning, but I decided to take it down. As I said in the beginning some would be too personal to give a description on or even to post, so with that being said I decided to switch the post to private this morning.

I didn’t want to leave you guys empty handed so I’ve decided to post up my favorite pieces from my last MSCED adventure. Several of these will be printed for the Dunlap Studios store, which I’ll be posting about at a later date.

Here’s my eigth installment of Make Something Cool Every Day. I’m extremely happy with this piece, there’s nothing I want to change about it and I’m definitely getting it printed. I’m still going really strong with MSCED, and if I keep feeling like I’m outdoing the piece from the day before, then my plan is working!

Check out the project description and images after the jump…

Project Description:

So, this is an extremely personal piece, so don’t feel bad if you don’t get it, you’re not really supposed to. The text is from a lyric off of one of my favorite cd’s of all time. I don’t listen to it too much anymore, my music taste has changed over the years, but it was the soundtrack to a period of my life, and that’s why I love it.

Twice in the past week I’ve put the cd on and just laid down and shut my eyes and just thought about where I was in my life when the cd played such a big role. I thought about fights, friends, growing up and being young and in love. Yesterday I was listening to Pandora and a song from the album came on… a song about him sitting in bed all day long and thinking about things.

So, I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone. This piece is not only a personal piece to me, representing me looking back on memories and whatnot, but also a piece dedicated to the song in which he’s doing the same thing. I’m really happy with it,  not sure if it’s because of the personal aspects or because the quality of art… I don’t care either way, it makes me happy.

Hope you guys like it.

Upclose:

Here’s my 7th installment for Make Something Cool Every Day… I already did one for today, but this one is for tommorrow. I’ve got a busy day tomorrow, so I figured I should get it out of the way today. I’m extremely happy with this piece, I think it’s the best I’ve done for the series. I created it off a quote from the book “The Little Prince”, my friends Nathaniel and Justine’s favorite book. So this one’s for you guys!

Check out the images after the break.

Also, prints are available on any of the MSCED pieces, just contact me. And, this took a lot of experimenting so if anyone wants a tutorial let me know.