no Art Sale without the SB!

Every November is the MCAD Art Sale and we print a TON of signage for the event.

All of this year's signage was printed on our new Epson 9900.

This was the longest single print we've ever done - 23 FEET!

Digital Coloring Tutorial

Anthony "Nedroid" Clark gives a great overview of his digital coloring techniques.

Here's another post of Anthony's on coloring that also gets into lighting/effects techniques.

In addition to his own amazing Nedroid Picture Diary comics, Anthony is also the colorist for the popular Dr. McNinja webcomic. Check out his work!

Sonja Rostad's "Personal History vs. World History"

Sonja created a booklet for each year of her life, comparing her personal history to the events of world history.

Personal History vs. World History 24 booklets- 4"x11" folded

"This project involves a booklet for every year of my life. I wanted to look at the events that were happening during the year and juxtapose it to events that were happening in my life. As you unfold the booklet completely, there is a Nasdaq chart for the year with the different events plotted in a timeline on the graph, using symbols that I assigned from the previous page. This was meant to show how world events affect the economy, and how these things also impact personal life. All of the symbols used for each year is on the cover. They are then put on the back cover in a circle. Each year's circle gets added to the next years booklet.

The photos used are all from documented non-personal photos like drivers licenses, school ids, and baby pictures. I wanted to make it less personal by using these photos that society expects from us. It also enforces my idea of using these booklets, which are normally something handed out to many people, to showcase my life."

Also check out this group project Sonja contributed to, the 2012 Book.

Dylan Lathrop and Colin Trechter's "What Do the Twins Mean to Minnesota?"

Dylan and Colin made great use of our versatile perfect binding machine in the making of this book - utilizing such elements as different sized page inserts/tabs.

In their words:

"This book was a collaboration between myself and my classmate Colin Trechter. We attended an event (in this case, a Minnesota Twins game) and gathered imagery and content from that time. We then sent out a brief survey to the fans of the Minnesota Twins and were floored by the honesty and beauty of what they had to say. The book uses those quotes and inserted information about the team—from the players to the stadiums to the Dome Dogs. The book resides for both novice and the die hard, with local charm which we both love about this city."

Both gentlemen do great work - do yourself a favor and check out the rest of their work HERE and HERE.

New Epson 9900 Banner Printer

It's been five years (!) since we got our Epson 9800 and despite professional service, it was time to replace it. With the wide variety of media we run through it, it was just getting too difficult to get the best prints from the 9800. So we got a new Epson 9900!

It arrived on Wednesday in its giant box and we proceeded to drool as we unpacked the beast. One staffer who helped with some of the heavy lifting said it looked like a piano in a box!

First print!

Aside from simply being new, the 9900 has many advantages over the 9800. It's rated at being at least twice as fast, does automatic nozzle checks and cleanings, has an ink repellent coating on the print head for fewer clogged nozzles, the ability to switch between Photo and Matte Black inks, and the addition of Green and Orange inks for a wider color gamut.

The auto black switching will be great. On the 9800 we could only run Photo Black ink which meant that if you printed on Matte papers your blacks looked very flat and dusty. Not so anymore! Anyone who's printed on the 4880 running Matte Black knows the difference and it's quite spectacular.

There's a new color LCD control panel that allows you to pilot the printer in style - specific paper settings, manual ink switching, and unlocking of the electronic ink hatches! Totally sci-fi!

The addition of the Orange and Green colors as well as the dual black support means a total of ELEVEN inks. The 700ml ink carts feel like bricks!

 

The color gamut of the 9900 inkset (the range of colors it is able to produce) is larger than the standard on screen Adobe RGB 1998 profile so your prints will look more spectacular than ever!

(the grey area are the colors the 9900 is able to reproduce outside the standard Adobe RGB gamut.)

And finally, the fancy new print head with all of its bells and whistles.

Our old 9800 doesn't get to completely retire yet though. We're going to hang onto it for fabric printing and other experimental media use (so we don't mess up the new one!).

(here we are throwing a semi-retirement party for the 9800)

PRINT AWAY!

Tuesday Bassen's "Studio Sweet Studio" zine

Tuesday put together this nifty little zine about artists and their studios. Printed on the SB's Konica Bizhub c650 on Hammermill Fore MP Colors Grey paper.

A Day in the Life of the MCAD SB

A day at the SB - 8am to Midnight.