Origami USA Artist Trading Cards 2014

Liner notes for origami convention artist trading cards swap

I fell in love with this sunflower model at a weekly origami meeting. In subsequent meetings, I kept folding them with different types of paper. The possibilities were endless. The colorful index cards were left over from studying for an exam. The background piece of paper is a random shape cut from a square or hexagon. The card can also be used as a mini-note book, mini-guest book, or a simple display stand! Fill it with a witty quote or a favorite convention memory! 

The model

Kazuo Kobayashi sunflower from Origami Flowers. Or read my friend Linda's book review on OUSA)

Brainstorming 

Some of the features below show up in my "draft notes and pics" but are not actually used.

• Funky color combo (used)
• Spirograph as background (not used)
• Magazine centers (some used)
• Poems/quotes inside card (not used)
• Potential pop up card (not used)
• Maps as backgrounds (not used, pictured below)

The prototype 

White part is cut from hexagon memo paper. 

The paper

Memo cube, duo foil, single side and duo sided patterned kami, magazine pattern cutout, etc

The card

Colored index card folded in half. Can be used to take notes and also used as a stand. 

These are a few of my favorite cards

(Picked and photographed the night after finishing cards)

(Picked and photographed the night after finishing labels) strangely enough I had only two repeats: the orange/red foil and the cheetah print with arc.

Fun facts

• Patterns include strawberry and cheetah print!
• Not all sunflowers had center piece (duo foil looked better without). This model is a two piece model. 
• White cut out pieces were unplanned. Random cut and shape and twists. All cutting, gluing, and positioning on cards were done in one night. 

Links to shuttlefly gallery: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0CYsmLRw1bMWca

Click here to view these pictures larger

Links to other ATCs: http://azuleteats.blogspot.com/search/label/ATC

Link to countdown pics (or separate blog) - placeholder

ATC things that fly

My friend VA is an avid artist trading card (ATC) designer/creator and had participated in various ATC trades. As a result, she has an impressive collection of cards and several extras from sets for trading. I liked this card below themed "things that fly". In return, I needed to make one that fit the same theme.

I came up with my card idea below while I was browsing my origami books for the convention countdown. It fits the flying theme and is also seasonal. The hummingbird is created by Robert Neale and folded from harmony paper. The color change hydrangea (creator Fujimoto?) is folded from small rose patterned paper.

more process descriptions after the jump...

Moccafest 2014

I had a great time at Moccafest last year [previous blog] so decided to return for another weekend. 

Charlie Brown balloon from Macy's parade. It looks like it belongs in the Armory all year round.

Particular pic I liked from the gallery area. Title: Star Wars From Memory. Artist: John Hendrix.

Goodies bought. Dragon A-Z. by http://www.ztoical.com/

History of aviation. High Times by Golden Cosmos http://www.nobrow.net/9008

highly stylized alternative ending to the Little Red Riding Hood. by Ada Price.

Other Artists not pictured:

Animals Wearing Hats A-Z http://danblaushild.com/

Connie comics http://www.conniewonnie.com/

Two talks I attended were Robert Williams' Q&A session and Comics & Design. The first one made me appreciate how artists/illustrators/painters view themselves and how they view art. I also would love to see his documentary. The second one made me appreciate art/print choice and how publishers/marketing considers presentation and design of the finished works. 

Check out the mocca youtube channel for event videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/SocietyIllustrators/videos

IndieCadeEast 2013–Games and Creativity

While I’ve played my share of video games growing up, I didn’t know much about independent games or game development before I attended IndieCadeEast 2013. Thanks to Diana, we made our way to the Museum of Moving Image in Queens this past weekend to the first IndieCade on the east coast. After two and a half days of intense convention activities, I learned a thing or two about games, crowd energy, creative design, and play testing. Warning: this entry has a lot of media. Proceed with caution.

fancy logo. Link to Indiecade East site

just a shot of the museum entrance.

Five Memorable Convention Moments (more details after the jump)

1. Renga AI: "Your fourth harvester looks really useful now”
2. Game Design Workshop: Post-It Pirates playtest sessions
3. Hokra Play-by-Play Sports Commentary during Sports Friends Session
4. Super Shove Shove Ending Screen during CAPY keynote by Kris.
5. Three way tie for the three “Well-Played” sessions I attended. All the presenters gave engaging presentations and shed some light onto games that I had not otherwise known about.

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1. Renga Rant

http://wallfour.co.uk/
When D. and I first lined up on Sat. night for this game in the main theater (bigger of the two theaters), we didn’t know what to expect. The volunteer who was handing out the laser pointers instructed every row to pass down the laser pointers (1 per 3 people only). Since we sat on the aisle, I decided to skip it and let my neighbor participate while we observed. Later on in the show, he was nice enough to let us try as well.

Game premise: Team space shooter
The Execution: 100-players (total strangers) + laser pointers (aka annoying red things) = crowd ecstasy and/or complete chaos.
The Twist: We are all dependent on each other to build a ship, fight off enemies, and survive!
Side effect: Continuous blabbering about how cool this game is and seeing “quads” and “radial” shapes every where.

The context for the AI comment "Your fourth harvester looks really useful now” came after we opted to built yet another harvester despite being blown to bits by enemies. The ship can build different parts after each round of attacks. A “launch” engine is said to be the primary goal because the ship needs to build four launch engines in order to go home. Then there are “silo” ship units to hold supplies and “harvesters” which are little ships that can grab supplies to bring back to the silos. Harvesters have no offense so they get destroyed easily during attack.