I added my own flavorings with Big Freedia’s gator shawl and bedazzled Cauze One and Orion’s shirts with real diamonds (couldn’t have a No Limit flyer without tanks, cars, asses and shit blowing up either). But it got me thinking. Although nostalgic and, might I say, awesome, my art work isn’t original in concept by any means. I knew I was replicating the throw back album covers but who was responsible for those covers? I may not be the most ethical of internet users but i felt like i needed to find the culprits responsible for an era of crazy photoshopping and give them props.

Upon researching, I not only learned of the history of this ‘bling-bling’ stlye of artwork but I think I have become enamored as well. Shaun Brauch may be the most influencial man of late 90′s hip hop.

(nevermind the silly british guy)

I hope to catch an interview with him soon. With over 19,000 album covers under his belt for his years as Pixel & Pen (note: Pen & Pixel was sold and is no longer owned by Shawn) and two new ventures (Smart Face Media & Creative Resource Management) the man behind it all admits that it was he and B.G. that coined the term “bling-bling”.

The Pen & Pixel story from what I’ve seen Shawn post on several blogs:

The company was sold in 2003, 911 caused major problems for the entertainment field all around, that combined with napster was the final straw. The company at it’s peak (1998-2001) was billing almost 6 million dollars a year and was producing more that 23 covers per week. Yes, some were cheesy, some were insane and some were amazing…but the main thing to remember was PPG was a business enterprise, it’s function was to please the customers…we had thousands of maverick ideas that would have pushed and developed Hip-hop graphics further and faster…but the clients demand for the “same ol’ Bling Bling, Ho’s and cars kept the monster fed.
There is a company out there now that have taken the Pen and Pixel Graphics name, but they are not PPG! There is no one there that has worked for Pen and Pixel. For more information on this company and it’s history…get it form the person that founded the company back in 1992. -Shawn Brauch

There are a lot of question I have about Pen & Pixel and how it ended. There seems to be some controversy regarding the current owner of pixelandpen.com, a company called AKA Studios and Shawn Brauch himself. I hope to get to the bottom of it with some good old fashion conversation but in the mean time I highly recommend you read an interview Shawn did back in 2009. It will motivate you.

I want to credit the artist and I think it’s David Pope but you can’t go around trusting the web.

This other one was done by Hase for a group from Toronto Magnolius. Sounds like qwel with aesop rock kind of steez if you’re into that sort of thing.

Check out the portfolio at sinceeighty6.com to check out more classic designs.

www.doctormacro1.info

This first site www.jingproject.com is so ingenious. Three very simple steps to get going, and it’s a downloadable application. Simply:
* Snap a picture of your screen.
* Record video of onscreen action.
* Share instantly over the web, IM, email.
As the site says it’s free software that adds visuals to your online conversations. This comes in handy when you want to show your homie how to quantize something using FX Pansion Guru or introduce your friends to your process of making a flyer (hint hint). You can record your video and upload it to your flickr account, upload using an ftp server, save it, or copy it to your clipboard to share some where else.
Here’s a screen shot of the program running on my mac:

That’s right is sits quiet in the top corner of your screen. Very unintrusive, indeed simple is beautiful!

The company that makes this www.techsmith.com also makes other screen capturing tools like SnagIt and Camtasia which offer, for a fee, more editing options for those folks that make a ‘living’ off of posting video tutuorials, thank you so much by the way for that.

This next site i found looking through the hundreds of informative posts on www.readwriteweb.com which itself is very handy and should be added to you RSS feeds. The site is still in Beta meaning you have to be invited to use, so I actually haven’t been able to try it out yet although I’m pretty excited about it. The site: www.rockdex.com. I really can’t explain it better than the actual site does so in quotes:
What is RockDex Pro?

Drill down into your data to discover trends, gauge the effectiveness of your marketing, and find out what your fans are saying–and where they are saying it. RockDex Pro helps you capitalize on a valuable and too often overlooked asset: Your Data. Plug in and sign up now!

Although when you go to sign up it informs you of the very sad fact that it’s in Beta. It does offer a glimpse of hope however, saying it will send you an invite code! This looks like a useful tool for Artists, Labels, Managers, Booking Agents, A&R Reps and Publicists. The folks that made this also made www.musicarsenal.com.
Here are screenshots from the video on their site:


And you can upload a song to their soundcloud account and they’ll let you know if you rock!

Lastly, for today, CargoCollective.com. This is from their site:
Cargo is a web publishing (CMS) and community-building platform currently in development. It powers a variety of creative communities in the fields of Education, Design, Research, and Conceptual Art. To apply for an account contact us here.
Cargo evolved out of the system that runs the SpaceCollective community. We found it remarkably successful and efficient in creating visual content on the web, placing a strong emphasis on design, layout, image quality and typography. Our goal is to dramatically increase the accessibility and exposure of creative individuals on the Internet, while aspiring to build a networked context that will contribute to the culture as a whole.

Like the previous site it is in Beta or as they call it ‘pre-release’ which looks like it means, if we think you’re good enough we might hook you up with an account. I like their taste though so good job.
Let me just hit you with some images then you go scroll the illness!

here is the rsvp link on do512 – http://do512.com/event/2009/08/01/raspberry-criminal-michael-jackson-vs-prince

http://knucklerumbler.com

Lately I’ve been digging on this dude James White.






You can find all his works through his website Signalnoise.com.

You can check a couple of my pieces on my newly started flickr page.

One could either purchase it as a kit or if you wanted, wait longer and buy it made in the shade already (but what’s the fun in that). At about $75 the WTPA is a steal. So Cop Dat!
What I find most compelling however is not the unit by itself but the story and dialogue its’ engineer has provide on his site.

From conception to fruition, the quirky non sequiturs of a Brooklyn geek who stumbled into a successful day job, Narrat1ve pokes and prods at factual non facts and truthy non truths. I’m still wrapping my head around it all. Why? What’s it gonna do for me? Why?

This is the kind of story I love to read, a love story, or rather a story of mistaken love, or is it just chance? Regardless, Narrat1ve is now working for himself albeit, from what I gather, attending to the menial labor intensive duties of packaging all the parts for shipping, but what’s important is that he’s on his own for the time being.

Anyways I digress. Check out the site and read up.
http://narrat1ve.com/
Promise it’s fun.!

Also, my boy franco b ( “_blank”>www.myspace.com/itsfrancob just dropped a bunch of new tracks! Pick them up!

http://www.reverbnation.com/francob