These are pieces done for the Illustrated Objects project at lemasney.com that were made in Inkscape.
Hi, friends! I’m going to make a video each week to explore open-source creative tools like GIMP, Inkscape, Krita, Blender & others. This is the first of those videos. It’s about getting started with Inkscape, an open-source vector illustration tool that works similarly to Adobe Illustrator.
StreetBeefs is a Virginia based fight club, started in 2008.
StreetBeefs is a Virginia based fight club, started in 2008. They invite people with real life (potentially deadly) arguments to come and fight it out in a ring instead, emphasized in their motto: “Guns down, gloves up“. It is a great organization that helps people to solve their problems in a ring, with referees, rounds, and safe oversight. I first learned about the club from a piece by the NYTimes featuring Chris Wilmore, the club’s founder, and began to watch the fights on YouTube, engaged by the idea of peacemaking.
Some of the fights are beef fights, in which combatants are avoiding gunfire. Many of the fights, though, are between fighters who have no external conflict, and who have gained some following due to the popularity of the videos. One very prominent and highly recognizable element, practically a character in itself in StreetBeefs videos is the cage, which contains various names indicating wall-of-fame status, fights won leaderboard, and other various information. The names are legend in the group, famous within that circle, and seen by (potentially) over a million subscribers in every fight. Someone had painted the names on the panels by hand. Bright yellow letters soared on the black plywood panel. It looks raw, street, and dramatic. If anything, I thought, maybe it could be a bit more organized and legible. But it was cool, and honest.
The names are legend in the group, famous within that circle, and seen by (potentially) over a million subscribers in every fight.
I noticed that Chris’ shout-out advertising for sponsors was pretty effective in getting a brand in the eyes and ears of many. With that in mind, I decided to reach out to Chris to see what his advertising rates were. What could it hurt, right? I thought it might be a good way to advertise my services in Virginia, though subscribers to StreetBeefs watch from all over the world.
In mid-June, Chris responded over chat, and we started discussing how advertising might work out. In chatting, I mentioned that I loved the StreetBeefs Cage, but that I had a little dream that maybe I could redesign it for clarity. Chris responded enthusiastically, and asked if maybe we could trade shout outs before fights for work on the Cage, and he’d hang a banner for me during intros. I loved that idea. In addition to graphic work, he also needed some reinforcements for the cage and gates, which would sometimes swing open when large fighters would knock in to them. He added that he wanted to keep the ‘street feel’ to the cage, and not make it too clean/refined/hard-edged, a feeling that many StreetBeefs members reinforced later in prompts online.
We agreed, and we set a done-by date. The deadline was July 4th, for a mixer event that they had planned. I started working on designs, and sending them to Chris and other staff, like SunShine and Lord Esteban, for approvals. After a few designs, we came to an agreement. I also started to prepare a banner for the intros.
So, after agreeing on the design, I took a trip out to visit the cage in Winchester, VA, about 2 hours from my location. I got to meet Wolverine, which was cool given that I had seen him in many of the videos. I measured the panels, investigated reinforcing the cage, and started planning a supply list. Originally, I planned to replace the plywood panels and start fresh. Without a truck, spare cash for the replacement plywood, or electric on site, the panel replacement idea would need help and money to happen. We scrapped rebuilding the cage panels to simplify the project. Due to an unfortunate mutual miscommunication, we had to delay for a week, which cut the lead time dramatically, and the whole StreetBeefs project almost fell apart.
We talked and regrouped and came to an agreement the week before the event. I started to pack for the work trip and anticipated an easy execution.
I arrived on site by 10 am just 2 days before the event. I quickly realized that a few things might eventually get in the way of me finishing in time:
I accomplished a lot in the first of two trips, despite these issues and challenges.
I began by overpainting the existing panels, which felt like a desecration to StreetBeefs. If it wasn’t done, though, the new design couldn’t happen.
I realized that 2 cans was not nearly enough in painting over the panels with the black spraypaint. I figured that the 4 cans of yellow would not be enough either. 1 can covered about two large panels. So, I located the nearest hardware store in Google Maps, a True Value about 20 minutes away, and went to get extra cans of black, yellow, and orange spraypaint as an accent. Upon returning, I covered the rest of the panels with black spraypaint, and I began the process of arranging and scotch taping lines of the 5 inch stencil letters, in the relatively cool comfort of the roofed pavilion. It was also nice that there were a few trash cans and a bucket that served as work tables and chair out in the cage.
I printed out a page with the agreed-upon design to have all of the spell-checked names ready. Using the 5 inch cardboard letter stencils, I’d layout and scotch tape a line at a time, and then carry them over to the cage and use gaffer’s tape to hold them in place. Struggling to gaffe-tape a whole line proved difficult. I learned that it was easier to tape a few words at a time rather than the whole line, even on the small panels to avoid breaking the line apart at the scotch taped seams.
If a name had duplicate letters, or if one line had 5 of one letter, I needed extras. I had to trace and cut out duplicates of the letter or punctuation from scrap cardboard. A name like Ref Rob used up all of the R’s I had to use in that line. At the end of the first day, I felt like it was going slow. I had repainted the entire cage black, and finished just a part of the Staff panel. I decided I would eventually add the orange accent to the Staff panel and titles.
The stars and moon were incredibly bright and clear in the open field far from any traffic. It was deeply quiet.
I camped out on-site in my car to save on costs. I enjoyed exploring the great gas station markets in Winchester, and I enjoyed getting my meals in them. After the sun went down, it was nice to explore the beautiful town. The stars and moon were incredibly bright and clear in the open field far from any traffic. It was deeply quiet. The next day, I awoke early, went and got breakfast and a gallon of cold water. I came back to finish the Staff panel. When I measured out the letters for the first Wall of Fame, I realized I had a brand new challenge.
For every name like ‘Beach’, there were two or three names like ‘Jordanian Nightmare’.
The 5 inch letters I had used for the Staff panel would not work for the Wall of Fame panels. Not all of the required names would fit at that size. Two names in a line wouldn’t work in some cases, because the second name sometimes just would not fit. I measured again and realized that I had made a mistake. Either my scale on my design was wrong or my measurement of the panels was wrong. The 5 inch letters would not work. Fighter names averaged 11 letters each.
For every name like ‘Beach’, there were two or three names like ‘Jordanian Nightmare’. So, I looked at my tools to see how I could solve it. 3 inch stencil letters would work great. I’d need to paint them one letter at a time because the stencils were plastic and four to a sheet. I did not want to cut the plastic stencils or spend the day seeking out cardboard 3″ stencils. The 5″ letters were from Staples. A disappointing trip to Michael’s had every possible letter stencil, but all in wacky fonts. I did not want to take out time to run to Staples, because time was running out.
After thinking through a few solutions, I decided I would try hand painting each letter. I’d trace the stencil with a colored pencil that would show up on the black background, then hand-paint the tracing. Acrylic yellow paint would help, as I had nothing but spraypaint. Spray painting would be hard without masking the letters to the left and right each time. Hand-painting might greatly increase the time it would take to finish the panels. I still had most of the day to finish before the event the next day. I went to the nearby WalMart, picked up some yellow acrylic paint in tubes, and got back to the site. I decided to test it on the cage gate, which just needed the word ‘StreetBeefs’ added. If it took too long, I would possibly still be able to devise another solution before time ran out.
In short, it was a disaster. The tracing took a long time. It did not look remotely clean. The acrylic paint color was not so much yellow as neon green. The single word ‘StreetBeefs’ took nearly an hour, and the heat was really taking its toll. The project would not be finished, because the plan didn’t work, and I needed a new plan and more time. I contacted Chris, told him the cage would most likely not be ready.
The new plan: spraypaint the letters individually using the connected plastic 3 inch letter stencils. This is how I ended up finishing all of the Wall of Fame panels, just not during this first trip. It included gaffe-taping the plastic stencil letters in place. Each individual letter is lined up, then tape is used to block the letters to the right and left. Spraypaint is applied, then tape is removed. Rinse, lather, repeat.
I documented this in the video below where I add Beach to the Wall of Fame. It leaves a messy imprint because of all of the motion around very fresh paint. That added to the imprecise, raw feel. It results in a letter painted every two minutes on average, which means about an hour per line per panel. You can see the hand-traced-and-painted method being replaced in the gate video below.
Chris was very understanding. In the first trip, I completed the gates, the Staff panel, a single line on 3 Walls of Fame, and titles. I traveled home, watched the event that ended up using the new panels unfinished, and was a little discouraged. Despite driving, working and gathering supplies, sunrise to sunset for two days, I had not completed the task.
However, I learned a lot. Using the plastic stencils worked relatively quickly. I’d be able to finish the Cage before the next event. I learned a lot about what was around in terms of resources in a town I hadn’t visited before. When I returned, I decided to bring a tarp and water. I’d eventually go to Staples in Winchester to buy cardboard 3″ letters to finish the Most Wins panels.
The next StreetBeefs event was coming up on July 11th. I drove up late on Wednesday, set up the site, got something to eat, camped out, got up early. With the tarp in place, water on hand, and the power bank charged, work was a lot less stressful. I set up to continue the letters as I had on the Walls of Fame, using the same method. It was slow, but fast enough to do an entire line in an hour. Here is the completed wall of fame, essentially my halfway point on day 3, after about 6 hours.
So, the final part of day 3 was completing the Most Wins panels. I looked at the punch list for the Most Wins panels. I realized it was time to just go into town to Staples and get the 3 inch cardboard letters. It would save time to be able to string them together in the same fashion as the Staff panel. So I did, and I also purchased index cards so that I could easily make duplicate letters. Plenty of daylight remained. I had a great time-saving tool in the smaller cardboard stencils.
With the tarp in place, water on hand, and the power bank charged, work was a lot less stressful.
By using the tarp and staying hydrated, things were comfortable. I was excited. The taped lines of cardboard stencils were a lot quicker to install than the plastic stencils. I used index cards to duplicate letters in the stencil image below.
The panels were finally complete. I took a final panorama video for posterity. Then, I was on my way home, surprisingly, after the first working day of the second trip.
In conclusion, there were a lot of pros and cons in the planning, design, and execution of the project. I did not complete the project on time. It did not turn out exactly like the proposed design. There were a lot of interesting physical and design challenges that took time to overcome. The cage retained its hand-painted, raw street-fight feel. The solutions eventually worked. I’m very happy with the final product. The remaining open panels provide opportunities for extension of the lists and other possibilities. I’d personally like to see graffiti based designs by talented artists in the group on Facebook.
I’m really happy that I was able to work on the project. Chris was pleased. Most exciting for me, StreetBeefs is going to be shouting me out for a while in exchange for the work. I want to thank Chris, SunShine, Corey, Esteban and everyone else at StreetBeefs for helping me to make it work!
If you have a design, logo, branding, or art project, I’d love to talk with you about it. You can talk with me at lemasney@gmail.com. Check out my rates page for an idea of costs. Take a look at my portfolio to see my design work. Let’s do something great together.
Hey, friends! It’s John and this time I’m talking about using Inkscape to illustrate a Zen quote. This quote is “To set up what you like against what you don’t like — this is the disease of the mind ~ Seng-Ts’an” If we can find compassion, especially with those we disagree with, we make progress.
If you like it please thumbs-up or share! If you like my videos, please subscribe for more! I’m always looking for ways to connect with people about tech, design, teaching, and lots of other topics. If you think we should talk, connect with me at https://about.me/lemasney
“The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry. Edited by Stephen Mitchell. Harper and Row, NY. 1989 The Mind of Absolute Trust The great way isn’t difficult for those who are unattached to their preferences. Let go of longing and aversion, and everything will be perfectly clear. When you cling to a hairbreadth of distinction, heaven and earth are set apart. If you want to realize the truth, don’t be for or against. The struggle between good and evil is the primal disease of the mind. Not grasping the deeper meaning, you just trouble your minds serenity. As vast as infinite space, it is perfect and lacks nothing. But because you select and reject, you can’t perceive its true nature. Don’t get entangled in the world; don’t lose yourself in emptiness. Be at peace in the oneness of things, and all errors will disappear by themselves. If you don’t live the Tao, you fall into assertion or denial. Asserting that the world is real, you are blind to its deeper reality; denying that the world is real, you are blind to the selflessness of all things. The more you think about these matters, the farther you are from the truth. Step aside from all thinking, and there is nowhere you can’t go. Returning to the root, you find the meaning; chasing appearances, you lose there source. At the moment of profound insight, you transcend both appearance and emptiness. Don’t keep searching for the truth; just let go of your opinions. For the mind in harmony with the Tao, all selfishness disappears. With not even a trace of self-doubt, you can trust the universe completely. All at once you are free, with nothing left to hold on to. All is empty, brilliant, perfect in its own being. In the world of things as they are, there is no self, no non self. If you want to describe its essence, the best you can say is “Not-two.” In this “Not-two” nothing is separate, and nothing in the world is excluded. The enlightened of all times and places have entered into this truth. In it there is no gain or loss; one instant is ten thousand years. There is no here, no there; infinity is right before your eyes. The tiny is as large as the vast when objective boundaries have vanished; the vast is as small as the tiny when you don’t have external limits. Being is an aspect of non-being; non-being is no different from being. Until you understand this truth, you won’t see anything clearly. One is all; all are one. When you realize this, what reason for holiness or wisdom? The mind of absolute trust is beyond all thought, all striving, is perfectly at peace, for in it there is no yesterday, no today, no tomorrow.”
– Seng-ts’an: The Mind of Absolute Trust from http://www.nonduality.com/seng.htm
Hi, I’m John LeMasney, a father, artist, photographer, and new resident in Charlottesville, Virginia. I have the honor of announcing that Jefferson-Madison Regional Library (JMRL) has agreed to let me speak in a free technology series in their beautiful downtown location. I love technology, and want to share what I love about it, continuing the work I’ve done for 20 years in the Northeastern part of our country. If you have a topic or a venue that you’d like covered, please contact me, and let’s make that happen. Let’s do something great together!
Wednesday January 4th from 6-7pm
In this session, come and learn about how to take your digital photos and transform them into art with Virginia based artist, designer, and photographer John LeMasney. With great free tools for photo manipulation, illustration, and catalog management, you can do what the professionals do without the costs. Come and learn about photo technique, lighting, and more, while growing your toolbox beyond point and shoot.
February 1st from 6-7pm
In this session led by Virginia based artist, designer, and photographer John LeMasney, come and learn about the leading ecosystems that have emerged as AI assistants in the home. We will discuss all the major platforms like Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Apple Siri, but we will focus deeply on the present and future state of Google Home, Google Now, ChromeCast, Chromebook, and related items in the Google Ecosystem in a in-session demonstration. If you are interested in having your lights blink when your partner leaves work, having an always listening all intelligent assistant in your home, or learning automatically that you need to leave a little early due to local traffic, you should join us!
March 1st from 6-7pm
If you have a web site or presence in social media, that’s great! How many people visited it today? How about last week? Where did they live? Were they 15, 30, or 50? How many people saw that Instagram post? What is your most popular pin on Pinterest? What browser were they using? Analytics is any system that gives you insight about the way that your content was used. Let Virginia based artist, designer, and photographer John LeMasney help you answer all of those questions and others when you learn about analytics tools in social media, publishing platforms, and other places. We will discuss many platforms for analytics, including Google, social media, and more.
Saturday April 1st from 1pm-2pm
In this session, come learn about digital visual communication with Virginia based artist, designer, and photographer John LeMasney. You likely did not encounter a lot of visual communication training in school, if you went to school in the US. The problem there is that successful contemporary mass communication is expressed today by artists and designers with specialized skills like visual literacy, software tools, and a sense of brand and audience awareness that graphic design can amplify. Design is important today, and if you are not sure where to start, here is a good place.
This is a speed design of a recent poster illustration of George Orwell’s 1984 theme: Big Brother is Watching. I used an octopus and security cameras to illustrate the idea.
If you like it please thumbs-up or share! If you like them, please subscribe for more! I’m always looking for ways to connect with people about tech, design, teaching, and lots of other topics. If you think we should talk, connect with me at https://about.me/lemasney
“In the essay section of his novel 1985, Anthony Burgess states that Orwell got the idea for the name of Big Brother from advertising billboards for educational correspondence courses from a company called Bennett’s, current during World War II. The original posters showed J. M. Bennett himself: a kindly-looking old man offering guidance and support to would-be students with the phrase “Let me be your father” attached. According to Burgess, after Bennett’s death, his son took over the company, and the posters were replaced with pictures of the son (who looked imposing and stern in contrast to his father’s kindly demeanor) with the text “Let me be your big brother.” Additional speculation from Douglas Kellner of UCLA argued that Big Brother represents Joseph Stalin.[1][2] Another theory is that the inspiration for Big Brother was Brendan Bracken, the Minister of Information until 1945. Orwell worked under Bracken on the BBC’s Indian Service. Bracken was customarily referred to by MOI employees by his initials, B.B., the same initials as the character Big Brother. Orwell also resented the wartime censorship and need to manipulate information which he felt came from the highest levels of the MOI and from Bracken’s office in particular.” curated by lemasney from Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four) – Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Brother_(Nineteen_Eighty-Four)
“In the book The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism, read by Winston Smith and purportedly written by Goldstein, Big Brother is referred to as infallible and all-powerful. No-one has ever seen him and there is a reasonable certainty that he will never die. He is simply “the guise in which the Party chooses to exhibit itself to the world”, since the emotions of love, fear and reverence are more easily focused on an individual (if only a face on the hoardings and a voice on the telescreens), than an organisation. When Winston Smith is later arrested, O’Brien repeats that Big Brother will never die. When Smith asks if Big Brother exists, O’Brien describes him as “the embodiment of the Party” and says that he will exist as long as the Party exists. When Winston asks “Does Big Brother exist the same way I do?” (meaning is Big Brother an actual human being), O’Brien replies “You do not exist” (meaning that Smith is now an unperson; an example of doublethink).” curated by lemasney from Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four) – Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Brother_(Nineteen_Eighty-Four)
“Nakiris are double bevel knives designed specifically for working with vegetables. Nakiris are characterized by their flat profiles and squared off tips. This profile makes these knives ideal for push cutting and chopping but awkward for rock cutting. Nakiris are often ground thin to optimize performance and they benefit from a refined cutting edge. A similar design is the traditional single bevel usuba which is also designed specifically for use on vegetables. Nakiri enthusiasts may also want to consider the Chinese cleaver which performs a similar function with a somewhat similar profile.” – Nakiris from http://www.chefknivestogo.com/nakiri-knives.html
“Nakiri bōchō (菜切り包丁, translation: knife for cutting greens) and usuba bōchō (薄刃包丁, thin knife) are Japanese-style vegetable knives. They differ from the deba bōchō in their shape, as they have a straight blade edge suitable for cutting all the way to the cutting board without the need for a horizontal pull or push.[1] These knives are also much thinner. While the deba bōchō is a heavy blade for easy cutting through thin bones, the blade is not suitable for chopping vegetables, as the thicker blade can break the vegetable slice. The nakiri bōchō and the usuba bōchō have a much thinner blade. This does not help with cutting small bones in fish or meat, but is useful for cutting vegetables. Nakiri bōchō are knives for home use, and usually have a black blade. The shape of the nakiri bōchō differs according to the region of origin, with knives in the Tokyo area being rectangular in shape, whereas the knives in the Osaka area are called kamagata nakiri and have a rounded corner on the far blunt side. There are also kamagata usuba. The cutting edge is angled from both sides, called ryōba in Japanese. This makes it easier to cut straight slices. Usuba bōchō are vegetable knives used by professionals. They differ from the Nakiri bōchō in the shape of the cutting edge. While the nakiri bōchō is sharpened from both sides, the usuba bōchō is sharpened only from one side, a style known as kataba in Japanese. The highest quality kataba blades have a slight depression on the flat side. This kataba style edge gives better cuts and allows for the cutting of thinner slices than the ryōba used for nakiri bōchō, but requires more skill to use. The sharpened side is usually the right side for a right hand use of the knife, but knives sharpened on the left side are available for left hand use. The usuba bōchō is heavier than a nakiri bōchō, although still much lighter than a deba bōchō.[2]” – Nakiri bōchō – Wikipedia from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakiri_b%C5%8Dch%C5%8D
If you like it please thumbs-up or share! If you like them, please subscribe for more! I’m always looking for ways to connect with people about tech, design, teaching, and lots of other topics. If you think we should talk, connect with me at https://about.me/lemasney