Lunch Bag Art addiction

Like most nerds, I grew up doodling all kinds of stuff, pretty much everywhere.  Comics, squiggles, geometric designs, and optical illusions.  I was smart enough it didn't hurt me at all during high school, and actually helped me focus.  (Much to the chagrin of my teachers.)

College came along, and engineering and calculus took way too much focus.  I still doodled here and there, but it's hard to keep ahead when your professor is constantly erasing mistakes in his own work and jumping all over the place.  Or in some cases, speaks a mangled English that makes Jar Jar Binks seem like a phenomenal speaker.  You have to really focus, or you end up flunking out.

Enter the business world, and they really look down on you not "scribing" properly.  One little Incredible Hulk smashing the company logo, and everyone gets all cranky.  :)

Eventually, I basically put away the pencil and colored markers, and got Serious!

And was promptly miserable.  It was harder for me to focus, and I was easily distracted.



Then I came across Lunch Bag Art a while back.  For those of you who haven't seen his work,CLICK ME!

Back yet? No, it's OK, I'll wait.  His stuff is jaw dropping.

As you can see, he does AMAZING artwork during his lunch breaks for his kids.  Everything from My Little Pony, to Harry Potter, Calvin & Hobbes, and whatever strikes his fancy. 

So I started doodling again.  First on scraps of paper, and then on a whiteboard.  The whiteboard was interesting, as you REALLY have to plan out what you are doing, and how the colors will blend, overlap and such.  More importantly, it is very temporary, so I find it sort of freeing as well.

And then, I was introduced to WhichWich.  Great food, and they encouraged you to draw on the bags and post them on the wall.  I was hooked! 

What is interesting, is that the wall is like a harsh art gallery.  But instead of being panned by the critics, your work gets canned.  So I posted some of my stuff, and it didn't immediately get the dumpster.  :)

After a few weeks, my stuff is still there, and is actually not covered up and stuffed at the back.  No doubt there is better stuff, but mine is at least hanging in there.

So, I borrow my daughter's Crayola's, and go to town for a lunch bag art for her.  She loves it, so I send a tweet to @LunchBagArt with the picture, and thanking him for getting me drawing again.

Imagine my surprise when I get a reply back complimenting me.  He even offers to post it, and link to my page! <.<   >.>

Um, what page?  So, from now on I will be posting new stuff here, as well as some of my older stuff.  Thanks again to @LunchBagArt for getting the creative ink flowing.

Look what I got! (Echo vs. Pulse)

So, I wrote a little bit about my Livescribe Pulse pen the other day.  I have been using it like crazy, and have really been enjoying it.  Started poking around on www.livescribe.com, and they happened to just do a major relaunch of their site.  I happened to come across a contest they were doing to win a limited edition translucent Echo.  I entered, and kept checking back every now and then to see some of the other things they were rolling out.  Then I get the email everyone loves- "You've won!"

Needless to say, I was going crazy waiting for the Echo to arrive.  I get home the other day, and my little girl brings me a "present".  (Amazingly unopened!)  So I open it up, and look to see what is inside.  A little different from the contents of my Pulse, but overall, I like it.

They got rid of several things, and tweaked the design, training lit, and added a cap(x2).  Plus, I won the super limited edition clear version.  Which makes me want to show it off even more. :)

I liked the metal Pulse of course, but the biggest difference is they tweaked the profile of the pen, so that it no longer goes rolling any time you set it down.  Trust me, the first time you have a $100+ highly advanced, delicately calibrated pen go rolling off your desk onto the cold, cruel, hard floor, you'll wince and pucker.  And not in the good spiked lemonade sense.

It's also a little bit longer, and seems a better balance in your hands.  Much like a good chef's knife, you don't notice it until you feel an unbalanced one.  The display seems cleaner and brighter, and they also stripped out some of the more extraneous "gimmicky" stuff like the videos.

Notice the lack of a connector port on the new Echo.  Major relief for me, since I was always worried about gumming up the port with my big sweaty hands.  You can tell the difference in the wider, flattened profile as well, which is what keeps the pen from rolling away.

No major differences at the front, other than they did away with the stylus insert.  Not sure if I like this or not.  With the new upgraded software, one of the apps you can use allows you to use the Echo as a pen interface.  Which sounds great, but I wonder if I would rather use the stylus, or a dried out ball pen to avoid leaving my interface page looking like my 2 year old got ahold of it.

Back view, and you can really see the other main physical changes.  They changed the microphone/headphone port on the Echo to a more standard 3.5 mm size.  Which means I need to get a new set of the amazing Echo 3D binaural recording headset/microphone to fit, but that I can also use a standard set of headphones to listen in.  The other change I was pleased with ties in with the removal of the docking station. I liked the magnet connect of the old Pulse docking station, but it was rather bulky to carry around, and somewhat cumbersome.  The new interface uses a micro USB connection, which also allows you to use the pen while connected.  This opens up all sorts of possibilites for the Echo, such as a computer interface, or using it to touch up photos and such.

The standard Echo also has a rubber grip, to prevent slipping, but the limited edition clear Echo doesn't.  Let's face it, it's much cooler to show off my super smartpen's insides than having a good grip at all times.  Besides...

Virtual Cookies to anyone who knows where that particular shirt came from. :)

Carvewright conference

So I went to the recent Carvewright conference and met some amazing folks. The stuff these guys are doing is mindboggling. The Carvewright is an intriguing little mini CNC machine that allows you to design something easily on the graphic based software, and then crank it out. Some stuff is pretty basic, while others are simply out of this world.

I showed the designer of the rocketship my Livescribe pen, and he saw the same potential as me. Being able to take his designs from the sketchbook to the finished project even quicker would be huge for him. Not to mention the fact that he is a self admitted nerd like me, and loves the potential of the technology. Being able to record the audio at the conference while he took notes would have been huge for him, because so much of it is very technical data.

Now I just need to figure out how to budget the money for a Carvewright machine so I can take what is in my head and put it into the real world too. :)

First Shot with the Pulse

So I sometimes want to say a bit more than what twitter will allow, hence blogapalooza here.
What I am really digging right now is this Livescribe Pulse pen. I got one as a prize, so started playing around with it. I am so mad I didn't have this growing up, and especially in College. Why oh why, couldn't I have had this during engineering lectures. It's bad enough understanding what the heck is going on, but when the prof rambles, and you are trying to draw vectors, force diagrams, and other stuff, you miss a TON of valuable info.

Heaven forbid you have ADD and like to doodle.

But with my Pulse, I can record the audio, and actually be able to take notes, then come back later and actually listen to the recorded audio, and add more in.

Miraculous!

Now if I could just find some unlined journals, so my doodles don't look like I am back in middle school on wide ruled paper...