Digitally Speaking

Creating graphics the size of a building can be an intimidating prospect for some people. I deal with the issues of proper files set up all day. Questions like “should the art be vector or raster, what resolution do I need to provide and so on come up every day. I’ve found, over the last few months, that if you provide your artwork as a .tif file with an end resolution of at least 75 ppi, you should be golden. Most artwork doesn’t need more than that. If you are doing something complex in Illustrator, I find that it’s the file rips and works better if you rasterize your art before you send it to us. In other words, give us a .tif file. For the most part, a .tif is the least complex of digital files from a data standpoint and the simplicity rips and prints much easier. You can call me if you are in doubt but for the most part, this is the case.

Teaching Opportunities

You may remember that, a couple of years ago, I posted about the Metal Mesh drapes that we made for The Decemberists.  Through the brilliance of lighting designer Anne Militello, the metal mesh took on the appearance of any amazing Impressionistic oil painting.  Well, Anne is also Head of the Lighting Design Program at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), so when Anne approached Megan to be a guest speaker to a Lighting Lab class, Megan was excited to participate.

Though the focus of the class is on theatrical lighting, it is important that lighting designers be familiar with the many types of stage drapes, as the style and fabric of drapery can impact and be impacted by the lighting design.  Megan began the session by explaining the various types of stage curtains, from Grand Drapes to Backdrops, from Austrians to Tab Curtains, utilizing a Power Point presentation to show the students specific examples of each type of drape.  Here’s one of the slides that was included in the presentation:

But the session was more than just a lecture.  After the Power Point presentation, the session became even more interactive.  Megan brought large samples of a number of different theatrical fabrics, including Cambio, Glimmerine, Poly Silk, Sharkstooth Scrim, and Metal Mesh.  Using the lighting lab equipment, students were able to able to try out a variety of lighting designs and techniques on the various fabrics, to get hands-on experience on how each fabric is transformed by lighting.

All in all, it was a great evening – Megan really enjoyed teaching and interacting with all the talented and creative students.

Tis The Season.

t’s been am incredible year of creating artwork for some amazing clients. Im proud as can be to have worked with them all and look forward to what the new year holds. This is a big “Thank you” for the opportunities. I wish you, your families, extended families a sincere time of peace and joy during the holidays. Can’t wait to ROCK creatively what comes next year.

Sharkstooth Scrim with a twist.

Sharkstooth Scrim is one of those fabrics that is so versatile and fun to work with from a creative stand point. When properly lit from the front, Sharstooth appears to be opaque and when the front lighting is turned off and it is back lit properly, you can create stunning lighting affects that can be viewed right through the material. One thing you might want to consider is combining custom cut pieces of digitally printed opaque material with the sharkstooth. This will in effect give your design an incredible dimensional quality creating eye catching shapes, shadows that add to the wow factor of your show.

Encouraging Entrepreneurship

Recently, Megan was approached by Nadia Shahin, Volunteer Coordinator for NFTE Greater Los Angeles. If you aren’t familiar with NFTE, it stands for “Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship.” Started in New York City in 1987, the organization’s mission is to “provide programs that inspire young people from low-income communities to stay in school, to recognize business opportunities and to plan for successful futures.” The organization now has more than ten program offices throughout the United States, as well as additional partner programs throughout the U.S. and the world.

Megan was asked to speak to a class of approximately 25 students, grades 6th to 8th, in the NFTE class of Elizabeth Clayton-Bennett at Davis Middle School in Compton, CA, right here in our neighborhood, about Megan’s experiences as an entrepreneur. Megan began the presentation by telling the students about how she got started as an entrepreneur at the age of 19, sewing at her kitchen table, and then over the years grew the business to the Sew What? Inc. that it is today (and added a second company, Rent What? Inc.). She also brought in Kimberly Lee, Sew What? Account Manager, to speak briefly about her own experiences as an entrepreneur graphic artist and web designer.

Following the presentations, Megan made the session interactive by encouraging the students to brainstorm ways to turn everyday objects into business opportunities. Using Sew What? tee shirts as props, she asked the students to think of ways that the shirts could be modified into a sellable item (other than a tee shirt). The students came up with some terrific ideas, including a purse, dog clothes, and a book cover, and for each student who came up with an idea, the student received a tee shirt to keep.

Megan really enjoyed meeting and speaking with the students – it means a lot to her to encourage the next generation of entrepreneurs!

Austrian Drapery Series (Part 3): How Lighting and Material Can Affect The Austrian’s Look

Austrian drapes tend to reflect the light in the most unbelievable way, creating unique and dramatic effects on the drape based just on the placement, color and intensity of the light against the beautiful swags in the Austrian drape. Anything that has any sort of translucence will want to have a strong front AND back light in order to utilize the best look of the drape, whereas those with no translucence will still have a very powerful effect with strategic front lighting only.  This specific lighting can be especially effective on glossy, shimmery, and iridescent materials. Drapes of this style can be made from all different types of materials and in all different shades. However, the most popular materials tend to be silks, satins, synthetic velours, silky charmeuse, irridescent, super vel, and anything with a gorgeous, polished finish which will really help capture the light very dramatically. Used in combination with some of our gorgeous giant swag drapes can completely finish the look! These photos show clearly how different lighting completely changes the look and “feel” of the exact same drape based on their intensity and colors.

One of Rent What?’s most popular Austrian drape styles is definitely from our Silver Satin series. These have been so popular because they are the ultimate in diversity when it comes to creating new and exciting looks for our client’s stages, tv shows, concerts, and productions. As you can see, with a slight change in the angle of the lights, lighting color, and stage design, we can help create a unique and exciting look for any event. Some of our satisfied clients have been the Jennifer Hudson/Robin Thicke Tour,  Maxwell, Foo Fighters, the Glee Live Tour,  and an Amfar Benefit starring Lady Gaga, the queen of fresh and innovative style herself. Each Austrian Drape has such a wonderfully rich and special look to them, that you can use them for practically any event you can think of where you may need to add a little touch of “wow-factor”.

All in all, we are very proud to be able to offer a wide variety of Austrian Drapes for our clients, and we know that adding one to your special event will make it that much more memorable.

Important color

Sometimes getting a particular color is very important. Most people who deal with printing on a regular basis or that are in control of their corporate logo I.D. are familiar with the PMS or Pantone Matching System. What some of you might not know is that Pantone has several books in what I call its ”Bible” to help you dial in just the color you are looking for. The one book I go to on a regular basis is the Pantone to CMYK conversion book.

Some people think just because you assign a Pantone color in Photoshop it will automatically print that Pantone color on press. Actually, if you want to give your logo the best chance of printing correctly, get a conversion book, look up your desired pantone color and dial it in by the numbers based on what pantone conversion book tells you.

Architecturally speaking (Creative Juice)

Something that is often overlooked today when in the throws of the creative process is the use and/or influence of architecture. I am lucky enough to have lived near Detroit for the last twenty plus years. I know to the rest of the world Detroit has a less than desirable status but I can tell you the people are great and the old architecture is second to none from a creative standpoint.

My point here is to take a look around you at the architecture near you. It’s often overlooked or taken for granted yet it standsthere in all its glory and history, either grand and opulent or rundown, burned out and beaten down, you can find beauty and creative juice right in front of you if you look.

Take a look at the backdrop we did for Flogging Molly for example. A grand old building in Detroit with busted windows makes an awesome digitally printed backdrop. (http://www.sewwhatinc.com/graphic_design.php)

Austrian Drapery Series (Part 2): Unquestionable Popularity of the Austrian Drape

The Austrian Drape has had a very special history with production houses around the world for many years, in which Austrians are used to shape and add unique drapery outlines to staging areas in a very dramatic and effective way.  This beautiful style of “front curtain” was originally created centuries ago to help production houses keep the gorgeous and elegant look of a grand drape when their space didn’t have the width to travel the drapes off to the left and right of the stage, called “wing space”. Another great thing about the Austrian Drape is that in situations where there might not be space in the rafters to “fly the drape out”, then the motor in the lift system can raise this drape up and basically just fold it onto itself, making it a very compact system that will still hide the drape when opened, but also won’t take up any additional fly space, either.

One of the main reasons Austrian Drape rentals are so popular for Rent What? is that our expertise in this field has allowed our clients to obtain a designer look for their special event or production, which is now an affordable possibility for them. Because of the massive amounts of man-hours it takes to build, and the vast amounts of material it takes to make one of these gorgeous drapes, they can be expensive to purchase. Ever since we’ve started offering them for rent through Rent What?, they have been extremely popular items for everything from concerts to cabarets, as well as stage productions that want to add a real touch of class to the overall feel to their show.

We started out with a few Silver Satin Austrians, and have expanded to fit our ever-growing clientele’s requests. So now we have Silver, Red, Ivory, Gold, and White in satin and silk varieties, and because of its popularity and demand, our rental base is growing all the time!