Artist, graphic designer, & tech consultant in Nelson County, VA
Author:lemsy
John LeMasney (lemsy) is an artist, graphic designer, and technology creative. He is located in beautiful Nelson County, VA, but works remotely with ease. Contact him at: lemasney@gmail.com to discuss your next creative project.
I got an email today that asked me if my work could be used as an album cover, and I am delighted.
To Mr Lemasney
My name is Guy Joynson. I’m a UK based musician and photographer. I hope you’re well. I’m currently recording my first EP which is a covers EP featuring four songs which are: Jolene- Dolly Parton, Used To Love You- John Legend, Only Love- Ben Howard and Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show. I love your stormtrooper print and was wondering if I would be able to use it on the front cover of my EP? It’s only to give out as a demo and will make no profit. I have also attached a copyright notice to the back cover of the EP. I have attached a layout of the EP to this email. I hope you like it. I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards
Guy Joynson
Web: www.guyjoynson.com
Tel: redacted
E-mail: redacted
Twitter: @GJ_Photography
: @Guy_Joynson
The album cover, including attribution to me is here:
Album cover, Guy Joynson
The original work is on 365sketches.org, here.
Decorative classic stormtrooper mask by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #cc #design #art
There’s of course the issue of the use of an item from the Star Wars universe, and the fact that Lucas et al. have always strongly protected their work, but I doubt that anyone sees either Guy or I as any kind of monetary threat. Also, I highly doubt that anyone thinks that I was the designer of the original classic stormtrooper design.
My response was as follows:
I’d be honored. I use a creative commons – attribution license, and not copyright, which asks only that you mention me as the artist (preferred: “Stormtrooper helmet by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org (cc-a)”), but you have more than met the requirements of the license.
Congrats on the release, and I really appreciate that you asked!
Pods and Sods logo by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
My very good long time friend Craig Smith recently reached out to get some visual branding work for his new podcasting venture, Pods & Sods, which focuses on a love for music. Craig has always enjoyed vinyl, a Gen X sense of retro style, and sensitive, thoughtful conversation, so I think this venture will be a hit. Craig generously asked for my help. We started, as always in this kind of work, with font choice and color palettes. I wanted to meet his needs for vinyl centricity, funkiness, and urbanity.
I submitted this:
pods and sods font and color study by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
I had my personal favorites in this batch, but Craig responded quickly that he loved the upper right font, and the top most palette. I took this information and played with the font and color to show the ways in which the branding might be expressed.
pods and sods logo set 1 by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
In this set, I wanted to play with that retro style, emphasize or de-emphasize certain colors in the palette, and speak to the conversation and love for music. There are more and less elaborate solutions, but I like to give a range of possibilities. Craig responded that he really loved the upper right solution, and we began to talk about formats for Facebook, iTunes, and other uses.
pods and sods final branding set by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
In the final set, I played with a blue linear element, duplicated the groovy record image to balance the overall weight, and created solutions for a square, rectilinear, and profile image. I really enjoyed this process, it only took a few hours, and it resulted in a very fun portfolio piece. Special thanks to my dear friend Craig for the opportunity and willingness to share. I can’t wait to subscribe. If you love good conversations about good music, make sure to like https://www.facebook.com/groups/podsandsods/ on Facebook! If you’d like to have visual branding development for your business or venture, I’d love to help you! I’m always at lemasney@gmail.com and 609 553 9498.
A client and friend asked me how one can use templates in Google Docs/Drive.
When I want to use a starting template in Google Drive, I usually create or import a document into drive, then title it “some topic template” like “invoice template” or “essay template“, then I have a folder for those in drive called “templates”. I often start these kinds of documents by right clicking (or two-finger clicking) and choosing “make a copy” to make a copy of the template, which I rename to whatever the document is.
If you want to use a document someone shares with you as a template, for instance, you want to add it to your Drive, then rename it to “something template” and use it as a starting point by copying it to a new document. You preserve your original (template), and your new document (copy) allows for free range.
You don’t have to do all of this to use templates in Google Drive though. https://drive.google.com/templates?view=public is an official repository for Google Drive templates which you can use to find lots of good starting points for documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.
I had a friend once that I had a 7-part handshake with. It was a kind of language. A beautiful shorthand. We would start with a traditional hand-in-hand, and move quickly through the sequence. In the second part we would hook fingers. The third part was an arm wrestling grip. Part four was a thumb wrestling starter. Part five was a pull-off snap. Part six was a fist-bump and part seven was a tip-off bump. We did it every time we met, and it was a tiny reminder of something that was purely ours, a moment of us.
I had an interesting discussion today on choice and fate.
A friend asked me if I thought my book was already written and I was living it out, or if I felt like I had a say in what happened. I think that we are entirely choice based beings, and that the decisions that we make lead to the outcomes we enjoy or despise. We often don’t predict the outcome effectively, and are surprised by the result, unless we have experienced success or failure in that situation before. We might not even learn from our previous experiences, but as we experience more, we can at least expect a certain outcome.
How do you read a book, listen to music, or choose movies?
English: Photograph of Roku XDS player with remote. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
For instance, when you open Netflix, and look at the recommended movies, called “Top Ten for John”, the suggestor is an algorithm based on your previous choices. Because of the many people in the system who have made choices either more similar or more different than yours, the system can more effectively predict what it is that you will enjoy. Recently, on my Roku instance of Netflix a new line started showing up with random picks. I sometimes stumble upon something interesting there, and am happy for the option, but I am far more likely to find something interesting in my “top 10 for John” list.
Do you believe in an invisible hand of fate?
There is a theory in decision-making called the invisible hand, the idea that people can be categorized in two ways: Those who believe that there is an invisible force at work that influences outcomes, and those who feel that they have most of the control in their outcomes. I firmly land in the latter group. There is a certain satisfaction, even in disaster, in knowing that it was my choices that led me there, because it allows me to make other choices to remedy or counteract it.
Are you lucky? Are you fortunate?
Good Fortune (Photo credit: lucianvenutian)
I have often said that I am fortunate, reluctantly, because I don;t really believe in fortune. Luck, to me, does not exist. I believe rather that you work to set yourself up strategically for the best possible outcome, and when and if it comes, it’s because you were in the best possible situation for that to happen. I have found money on the sidewalk, and someone might say “That’s so lucky!” I would say rather that it was a good decision to get out and take a walk today. The two points of view are very different.
How does the I Ching work?
I once had a long argument with a pseudo-Buddhist about the idea of embracing chaos as a means of decision-making. I asked them how they decided what to eat that day, how they chose to get from one place to another, and how they came to the realization that they wanted to go there. They explained that those decisions were not so much chaotic as influenced by sources like the I Ching (yee-jing), a book of prophecy and fortunes based on randomness from the tossing of coins or pulling of yarrow stalks. I studied the I Ching as a part of my understandings of decision-making, but in the end I found it to be more about screaming into the night and expecting a valid response than any kind of assistant to my questions. This is with all due respect to the idea, which is a beautiful one.
How do you come to truth?
Fact_001 (Photo credit: dgray_xplane)
In getting to know someone, I often ask some key philosophical questions, key among them this: How do you come to truth? I want to know where someone finds a way to recognize what’s true. I want to know if it’s because they researched it, because they heard it from a friend, or because they just feel that way. I want to know how they begin to make decisions, how they come to a well-rounded philosophy about life, and how they live. It’s a powerful question. For me the answer lies in nature, in research, in fact, and my experience. I may not have the final truth, but I have a comfortably close facsimile.
There are a few phrases, rules, really, that I say to my boys more than once. I have thought about what they all mean, and wanted to share.
Stay to the right.
30 07 11 Road rules (Photo credit: Kikishua)
As you might imagine, my boys and I spend a lot of time walking. Sometimes on a sidewalk, often in the mall, from time to time in a store. I spend a great deal of time reminding the boys to step to the right, in this culture recognized as the key rule of the road. Recently, my oldest said that when you walk on the road, you walk against traffic, and I agreed. I reminded him that that the rest of the time, we walk to the right. It seems to relate to my belief that politeness is mostly nonverbal. When we walk to the right, we show a certain kind of respect for others.
Not a contest.
My boys want me to be impressed by, proud of, and delighted with them. They know very well that I am enthralled with their behavior. Their want to impress me is always present. Very often this comes in the form of being the first to open the door for others, which I love and reward. Sometimes, though, it comes in the form of the statement “I can drink milk the fastest.” I say “not a contest” to remind them that some things are not worth mastering.
No unnecessary arguments.
The Argument Sketch (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
My 5-year-old will often cite corrections to my 9-year-old because his beliefs, now, do not always align with reality. My 9 yo is a born teacher, and always moves to correct. Sometimes the back and forth goes on for some time. I find myself letting the conversation go until the point of simple correction, and try to shut down longer arguments of philosophy and ideology when they concern whether, for instance, trees or flowers are more alive than one another, or whether a clock says 4:15 or 4:16. I feel like this is one of my key lessons from my boys to me: Sometimes we are inexplicably dedicated to one idea or another, and sometimes they just don’t matter.
Please eat with your mouth closed.
My boys have the best table manners. I really adore the way they eat, sit, and thank servers, myself included. Every once in a while, a chewing sound emerges, and I squash it. I once worked in a cubicle where the guy next door would eat all day. Candy, noodles, coffee, or licorice, all of it came with a snap, crackle, gurgle, slurp. I wanted to quit. It was so rude, so overwhelmingly invasive, that I was ready to leave. I don’t want my boys to ever be the source of that kind of inconvenience.
Please sit in your seat.
Sit down, please. (Photo credit: Natalia Romay)
Sometimes, as we drive, the boys get kind of restless. As you might imagine, they start to move from their designated space in the car, straining the limits of their seat-belts. I think for a moment what might happen in the event of a sudden stop, and ask them to sit in their seats. There are certain rules, borne of the infinite impossible intrusion of fate, and I’ll do my best to prepare them for it.
Why are we screaming?/Can we have some quiet time?
I believe that there is a need for quiet in one’s life. I am addicted to a certain quiet. Sometimes, especially when my oldest is excited, he’ll raise his voice as he talks. I can always tell when he’s excited about something, because his voice increases in volume, and he begins to present, like he’s seen me do so many times. I love that he is adopting a skill of presentation, but I always they to remind him that there is a time for volume, and a time for quiet. He’s just as good as describing what he’s excited about in a normal voice.
I think that my fathering can be described as preparatory, safety-oriented, and kindness-heavy. I think that these rules give my boys the opportunity to be prepared, safe, polite and human. I don’t know that I can do any better than this.
Telephone
Totally Awesome Halloween Costumes for Boys #WishCraft