Spring 2012
Thanks for checking in! The winter has been pretty busy for me. I've had a few side projects that occupied a good part of these cooler months. Most notable of them was a DVD layout for my band The Pink Snowflakes. I'd never formally done a full DVD package layout before, but I got through it and thought it came out pretty darn good, if I do say so. You can see some images from the project in my "Album Layouts" section.
I finally broke down and purchased a decent tablet (the Bamboo Create), to assist with my design work. While I haven't quite grasped the full potential of drawing directly into Photoshop or whatnot (I'm still a pen-and-paper man at heart), it's been a huge help with image editing. Being left-handed, using a mouse has never quite felt natural, even when using the mouse on the left side of the desk. I'm starting to wish I hadn't been holding out for so long before going this route. My wrist is thanking me. The biggest challenge is doing keyboard commands and shortcuts with my right hand now, though. A little re-training of the brain shouldn't be too hard, I hope...
Also, I uploaded a few images from some other recent projects on the "For Bands" and "Logos" pages. I have a few album art cover projects coming down the pipes for some people, which is always a fun endeavour. I always have a great time in assisting with bridging the gap between the music and its imagery. It's a challenge in trying to take a subjective approach and make it appear as objective as possible. But I spend my days and nights alternating between the music and art worlds, so I enjoy it.
I think I may incorporate a blog into the main page of this site with my next update - it'd help me post more frequent updates than my seasonal adjustments.
Cheers!
MJ
FALL/WINTER 2011
Howdy all!
Whew, it was a wild summertime! I hope everyone got some time to go see something new during the past season. It was short, but sweet. Now arrives the upcoming hibernation....and rains.
But the last blast of foliage colours definitely inspired me an upcoming project. My season project has come to mind for the cooler months, currently titled "The Electric Zoo". It'll be a collection of framed, 8x10 inch pen-and-ink hand-drawings of cryptically designed creatures. I'll be posting finished examples here in the next update, and will offer prints and/or originals of the finished pieces. They won't be done in time for the holidays, but will be in early 2012. That was my fault.
I'm currently working with filmmaker Stephen Kane to help write the soundtrack for his short film "Rose". About 2/3rds of the music has been recorded and is placed in the film. I should be done with the music by the end of January 2011, and the film should be viewable shortly thereafter. Being my first real project where I write specifically to the finished film, it was a great learning experience and I really can't wait to do it again!
With some hesitation, I do plan to re-enter the world of social media again. Heads up for some upcoming Twitter and Facebook info!
As per usual, if you could use my style artwork for an upcoming record cover project or logo design, please feel free to email me at: mjwoodis [at] yahoo dot com with some information regarding deadlines, plans and rough budget.
Cheers!
MJ
