Sealeskin's Blog

Pineapple Express.

sealeskin — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:03:10 +0000

I’d like to first point out that I am in NO way a fan of Seth Rogan. The fact that I even know his name is quite amazing. (Amazing in a way similar to when you discover that you know most of the words of a country song that you heard once. So bad that it stick in your head.)

I had the opportunity to sit down to watch the recent DVD “Pineapple Express”. I can’t really give this clip a complete review since I couldn’t finish watching it. Quite possible the worst movie I have ever seen. (Yes, it just topped “The Crow II” on my worst movie list.) If you have the opportunity to see this movie, I’d recommend burning all the hair off your body instead. At least you’d have a story to tell.

I really have no more to say about this subject. If you have to choose a film to watch that was written by Judd Apatow, I’d recommend the following:

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

That’s it. That’s my rant for the day. Avoid all Judd Apatow written films, especially the ones that star, are co-written, or produced by Seth Rogan.

Es Em El Designs

sealeskin — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:13:37 +0000

I would like to introduce you to Es Em El Designs this morning. My wife, Shannon, created Es Em El Designs this past year after leaving her job of 5 years as a sign maker. She has always had a passion and talent for hand-made art and decided that producing these one of a kind items was something she is interested in enough to do full-time. She currently makes very unique handbags, clutches, aprons, and coin-purses. I’m very proud of the work she has done to make this business venture a successful one and the response she has received from retailers who sell her items (and the consumers who purchase them) has been great. You can find Es Em El Designs items at The Getup in Ann Arbor, MI as well as The Handmade Life and Paper Dreams in Bellingham, WA. You can also purchase items directly from Shannon. Just visit her website and click on the ETSY logo.

If you would like to learn more about Es Em El Designs, please visit the Es Em El website at www.esemeldesigns.com

Studio 3 Design was happy to help Shannon with the logo and website design.

Barack Obama is now the President of the United States of America.

sealeskin — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:33:47 +0000

I feel that, on this historical day, I should say that I am very optimistic about the next 4 years. Barack Obama is now Commander in Chief and I feel like I can raise my head high again as a proud American. I have always been grateful to be born and raised in the United States, but at the same time ashamed at our political reputation in the world (at least for the past 5-7 years). I’m hopeful that our new administration will regain some respect from the citizens of foreign nations. I am also hopeful that conservative republicans can let go of the last 8 years and look to the future (I’m talking to YOU, FOX News). You had your 8 year bender, now let’s get back to work.

Huron Valley Properties

sealeskin — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:42:49 +0000

The logo above was designed by Studio 3 Design for a Real Estate Investment Company in Detroit, MI. The clients were very clear about the basics of what they wanted, but gave us full artistic license. We normally go three rounds of revisions before a client chooses a logo design, but this project only took two. Noah Hayden, the business owner had this to say about the second round of logos we submitted to them.

“I would like to start out by saying that it was very difficult to choose which design we liked the most, and we are a little sad to part with so many great logos. We were really not prepared for how nice all of the options turned out. In the end, we decided that logo 7 was perfect for us. It’s exactly what we wanted. I don’t think we even need to see color variations. It’s just a perfect fit for us. You obviously put a lot of time into these, and we would like to thank you for a fantastic job so far.”

Studio 3 Design also created a website for Huron Valley Properties that included 5 pages of online forms for perspective buyers, sellers, and investors. Visit the site here.

It was a pleasure to work with Huron Valley Properties and we hope for their continued success.

Event Poster – Wheels of Life School

sealeskin — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 00:04:24 +0000

A friend of mine contacted me recently about the possibility of creating a poster for the Wheels of Life School Fundraiser. I was happy to help and sent the above poster design to him the following day. Event posters can be tricky. You want the information on the poster to be prominent and understandable, but you still only have that brief moment of time to grab the attention of your audience. In this situation it made sense to use the hand-drawn images that were created by the student in the school to help grab the eye of mothers and fathers who can identify with this type of artwork.

Without the drawings on the poster to engage the target audience, the poster would get lost in a sea of text and converting the drawings from the hand drawn style to a more technical style would defeat the child-like qualities that represent what the fundraiser is promoting. The client was very happy with the finished design and we were happy to help out. Now…. we’ll see everyone there on the 31st, right?

The First Course – Sealeskin 101

sealeskin — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:10:18 +0000

My name is Brian Seales.

I am a Graphic Designer living in Bellingham, WA with my wife, Shannon, and our two dogs, Moose and Sushi. I am not originally from Bellingham, WA and in fact only moved to the west coast a short 8 years ago. I was born in a small town outside of Detroit, Mi on November 24th, 1976. I am the Second child of my mother and fourth of my father.

My immediate family includes my brother Scott, my sister Elizabeth, and my half-brother David whom I have considered my full-blood brother since I was very young probably due of the fact that I have never met his mother. I also have a half sister , Debra. I know very little about Debra as I rarely have the opportunity to visit with her. I can tell you that she is married and has 3 children.

Scott is 25 years old and lives in Las Vegas, NV. He moved there recently to encourage his own independence from my parents, Detroit, and unfortunate relationships. He aspires to be a cook, or a policeman, or a musician, or a screen-printer, or…..; you get what I’m saying. The truth is, he is a talented musician and the fact that he is on his own now, free from the shelter of my parents, able to experience life through his own eyes and ears, provides confidence to me that he’ll find his calling. Hopefully he can translate these experiences through his fingertips.

Elizabeth is 33 years old and lives in Tryon, NC. She is married and owns a local pizzeria with her husband, Tyler. Because of our close age, Elizabeth (Lizard-breath) and I fought regularly as kids and subsequently passed a black-eye back and forth between each other throughout most of our adolescence. The fighting slowed to a halt once we reached high school, but we still find ourselves occasionally engaged in verbal fist-a-cuffs regarding politics. Elizabeth is a strong conservative. She is a fan of Anne Coulter and invited George W. Bush to her wedding. I am none of those things, but because I’m not very educated when it comes to the political debate scene, I find that I’m fighting from my own corner and receiving more black-eyes than I’m delivering. I haven’t visited Elizabeth at her house in Tryon. I’ve considered it, but I haven’t been granted the time to follow through. Maybe next year.

David is 44 years old, or will be.. (I can’t remember.) and lives in Kansas City, MO. Throughout most of my childhood at least until I was 7 or 8, Dave lived at our house in Armada. At the time I’m sure I didn’t know the relationship that he had with our family and simple considered him to be my brother. In my mind, I remember him being considerably rough on me. He had a very close relationship with my sister and I remember feeling a bit left out by their happiness as brother and sister. Dave and Elizabeth are still very close and we all get along very well now.

My mother, Donna suffers from Multiple Sclerosis. I suppose I don’t have to identify her in that way since she is so much more than a neurological disorder, but the fact that the disease consumes a hefty portion of our phone conversations leads me to think that she has accepted it to be her dominant feature. I do enjoy our conversations and email exchanges as I’ve only recently learned to appreciate her creativity.

My Father, Thomas is due to retire this summer. He is 68 years old and currently works as the Director of Buildings and Grounds in Plymouth-Canton, MI. Dad has always done his best to provide for our family. I remember him working 2 or 3 jobs at one time while I was very young and it would be nice to have his work ethic. That being said, his retirement concerns me. He doesn’t seem the type of person who would want to retire and I hope that he finds a hobby to keep him occupied.

I feel it’s important for you to know the person behind the blog, and I hope this brief glimpse into my immediate family history will offer you an appropriate seg-way into future blogs. It’s also a nice warm up for me. I haven’t written in a while.

Next Chapter – How I met my wife (it’s an interesting story)