Handlettering

I did the lettering, designed, and handdrew all the borders

One of my top interests in life is fonts.  It has been a fixation since I was in high school, and if you want to know my favorite standard Microsoft Office font high school till now is Garamond Italics. Though now I'm starting to love Gills Sans Light a lot also. 

So getting to think about fonts and draw out a bunch of options for the Art Director of this shoot was like a dream come true for me: getting paid to think about and play with fonts and lettering!

I also had a lot of fun buying all the paint pens for the shoot and a behind the scenes rough draft option. 

Control Center War Room

I was the Production Designer* for a silly web series called "Put it On the Table" and one of the scenes was a Control Center/War Room for a guy to sabotage his ex-girlfriend's date with another guy.

It was fun to take a common visual idea seen in serious war or detective dramas and put a juvenile and light-hearted spin on it thinking from the perspective from a young guy still pining for his ex-girlfriend. You can see all the reference photos I used here. 

*I mean I was Production Designer, Set Decorator, Set Dresser, Props, and On-Set....you know for these small things you are basically the whole Art Department.  In this case it was my talented friend Eimi Imanashi and I who were the Art Department for the whole shoot. 

Painting Retro Signs

So the feature film I'm set decorating is set in NYC in 1988.  

The production designer wanted me to handpaint some sign mock-ups. I was using those 99 cent store brushes (that's what was available in the production office) but I thought they came out ok still:

The Art Dept office in the Production Offices were plastered with fun reference photos of NYC Soho in the 1980s. 

Matchstick Art

While prepping for a feature film where I was set decorator, I had to try and create two different images of an equinox flower out of matchsticks, a key dressing in the plot of the movie. 

option 1

option 2

option 3

option 4 (based on a drawing from production designer)

While not the easiest medium, I'm pretty happy with how they each came out.  It took a long time, but it was calming and meditative and I listened to a great episode of On Being while making these. 

In the end though, a much simpler and less complex design was used in the shot.  When the film is released I'll screenshot it. 

fun fact: a classic Japanese film directed by Yasujirō Ozu was filmed in 1958, called Equinox Flower. 

Prop Styling Handmodel

I worked on a prop styling shoot where the client asked the stylists to get manicures according to reference photos so that we could double as hand models.  

the main room for manicures and the entry room where you first enter and look through manicure design styles. 

So I took the opportunity as a chance to experience one of NYC's main nail art temples: Paintbox Nails.  Not only was the whole experience unbelievably luxe, but I was really digging the interiors and the contemporary chic way they expressed luxury with their interior choices. 

the view from my station (I'm in love with that chandelier light piece), the marble counter drying station--if you notice that white box at the end it is the "manicam", close-up of the stone, and my station and the champagne they give you. 

and the final product as taken from their manicam.  

someone once asked me what the most fun thing I did related to set decorating/prop styling and I have to say getting a chance to experience this as part of my prep responsibilities was pretty fun. 

p.s. if you read about the whole investigative reporting series in NYTimes on the New York City nail salon industry, Paintbox had a great discussion of how they are an industry leader for fair wages and employee benefits in the nail salon industry on their blog here. 

Becoming a Pinterest Mom for a Shoot

For an ad campaign, I ended up morphing into a Pinterest mom for a couple of days trying to channel my best crafting game which usually lie very dormant. 

These are some balloons made into ice cream cones that I had to fabricate. It is harder than it seems.

To be honest the whole "pinterest perfect" twee aesthetic that has colonized all of our digitally visual lives is something I'm not a big fan of.  But on this shoot I also realized it was more than just our visual landscape that it has changed, it has also altered the commercial landscape. 

When did paperclips get so designed and cute-sy? When unpacking all the props for the shoot I started to wonder how come the most mundane office supplies are so cute now? Why are there things like perfect circle cutters and so many totally niche and very precise crafting tools?  Apparently the answer is Pinterest. 

Such as hand-crafting these gold stars to make a handmade ever so spontaneously twee background for the shoot.  Yes, something I got paid to do. 

I recently read this article in The Guardian that David Chang (Momofuku) wrote about "How the Internet is Making the World's Food Taste the Same" 

It is pretty good article and I would argue that the same thing is happening with people's aesthetic, design, and decoration preferences because of Pinterest.

 Like how you can totally tell if a bride has been trolling pinterest for too long because all weddings start to conform to the same "pinterest perfect aesthetic" and that is really boring and sort of annoying to me. 

it isn't that exciting.  I'm usually pinning in spurts when I'm doing research for a project. 

Oh yeah, I'm on Pinterest too if you want to follow along (I mostly use it for visual research for work or when I want to file an image away for future reference). 

Finding a Pink Tennis Racquet in Manhattan

the character we were dressing and prop styling for was all about pink that the only pen I could find on set was also pink.  how appropriate

Working on the social media ad campaign for a huge brand at a digital advertising agency, I needed to find a hot pink tennis racquet within Manhattan for pick-up that day. 

Originally the concept was pitched to the client with a reference photo of Chanel's hot pink racquet.  Well we clearly didn't have the budget for a Chanel hot pink racquet or the brand clearance rights, so I had to find an acceptable stand-in stat.  On set, we weren't even clear what the non-Chanel hot pink racquet options were.  

Here is the racquet the advertising art director pitched the concept to the client with.  Had to find something similar but not this.  After devoting some brain power to this, I'm here to tell you if you are looking for a hot pink tennis racquet this is the most hot pink racquet on the market. 

So I do what we often do, hit the phones and call around the usual suspects and try my luck at the unusual suspects.   The paper filled with store names, phone numbers, and options is above. 

I finally did find a winner at the Modell's near Astor Place. 

these were the options.  purple was our back-up color option. 

Angelo Acquista Cookbook Shoot

some cookbook photo behind-the-scenes

I had the great opportunity to help prop style an Angelo Acquista cookbook shoot (publisher Harper Collins) with awesome food photographer Liz Clayman and food stylist Rebekah Peppler. 

It was so much fun: Liz and Rebekah assembled the nicest crew of food-loving people ever, the vibe was so chilled out compared to the usual movie or video shoot circus, and the best part of it all we got to eat all the delicious food the food styling assistants (led by Jade Zimmerman) cooked. 

More behind the scenes with Rebekah working her magic alongside Liz, and Liz's assistant Margarita Garcia. 

One of the most fun parts of it all for me, was getting to play in the Good Light Prophouse.  We shot in Good Light Studios, and got unlimited (!) use of the extensive prop house attached to the studio.  

the colored glass and a portion of the white section. 

I was so obsessed with the visual beauty and aesthetically pleasing nature of this sort of volume of objects organized by color that I took a short 15 second video of the aisle I was going up and down most often throughout the day pulling props.  click on the photo or here to watch. 

some pulled plates and the recipes that were being cooked for the day

Remember how I said the best part of a cookbook shoot is getting to eat the delicious food after it has been shot? We had these wonderful family style sit down meals of the cooked recipes for lunch (left) and also squeezing in some quick bites in between shots as modeled by Liz the photographer (right) who said her mom taught her the key to eating quickly is doing it over the trash can.  YES Mama Clayman for the strategic win. 

And now I will leave you with two gorgeous behind-the-scenes shots from Liz's Instagram (which is a great food centric feed that will brighten up your Instagram life):

photo credit: Liz Clayman from her Instagram feed. 

photo credit: Liz Clayman from her Instagram feed