At freaking last

I've got the printer. I've got the graphics (some of them, anyway). I have what may pass as a plan.

And apparently I have a dozen or so designs done. This, the design on the left, is one of those dozen. It's not bad, I think. I spent the better part of what free time I've had the last few days working on the designs. They certainly aren't my best work, but considering I haven't done any design in over a year, they're not bad.

There's a strong pre-WWII theme that seems to be influencing what I'm doing. And I have no problem with that. I don't intend to stay in only one era with my designs, but I do like the sleekness of Art Deco/Nouveau, while admiring the complexity of the artwork that came out of Medieval Europe. I'm not a fan of 'newer' design - in fact, I would have to say that almost everything post-1980 seems really contrived to me. Perhaps it's because that's what I've been exposed to most being a member of the illustrious Generation X, but I really do find it boring. And overdone.

So a few designs under my belt and I've got tons more floating around in my head. I'm still fiddling with the printer situation - my inkjet isn't printing in black and white the way I want, while the laserjet is printing beautifully in black and white and does not do colour. And it was probably a good descision on my part to buy the cheaper cardstock rather than the $15-for-25-sheets pack. I've got a nifty stack of 'wasted' cardstock (don't worry, they will be recycled) sitting here, proving that I am a designer and everyone who thinks that I would be better off stuffing envelopes for a living can piss off.

(The design is one of a series of bookplates that I'm working on. I'm not sure I'm happy with the end results and may not offer them up for sale, but if you're interested in them, drop me a line and I'll see what I can do.)