Art & Design

The Face of Winter

2012-01-30T23:44:00.000+02:00

A drawing! Finally. After months of artless life it feels so good to be back on track. But I kinda got rusted, so I needed something plain and simple to re-crank my engine. What can be simpler than a winter landscape in graphite? So here it goes -- The Face of Winter.

Actually, there are two faces in there, but I'm sure you've already noticed them both. If you haven't, here's a hint: sometimes clouds are just clouds, but not in this case.

I know, it looks a little depressive. But this kind of winter, dull and sunless, can be really depressing sometimes. But it also can be almost erotic -- all that untouched, curvy snow...

And here's the real life inspiration for this drawing: our snowy backyard with that weird apple tree.

Goldfish Rebranding

2012-01-24T21:25:00.000+02:00

Long time, no see. I seems I'm back to blogging, finally. I know most people expect art-related posts from this blog, but I'm still not quite back on track in that department after the exceptionally busy end of the last year. Hopefully, my "art block" will be over soon. Meanwhile, here's my report on a big design (or, rather, redesign) project, started last year and still going on.

Okros Tevzi is one of my oldest "foodstuff clients." Contrary to the name, which is Georgian for "goldfish," the fish-related products make up only a tiny part of their assortment -- they are more into semi-prepared foods and meat products. So last year they approached me with this idea of total rebranding, starting with the logo. Their old logo represented a goldfish placed on (or, in some versions, inside) a circle. My task was to retain the symbolism, but make it more simple and modern.

Usually, making a logo is a time-consuming and laborious work for me. Most of the time I end up with dozens of different versions, painfully searching for forms, colors, visual ideas. But, sometimes, the very first draft turns out to be exactly the thing, making me not to look any further. Fortunately for everyone, this was the case here.

For those who may not not know: in many countries touched by Russian culture (Georgia is certainly among them) a goldfish represents something more than just a fish variety -- it's a symbol of fulfilling wishes. This fairytale theme, originated by the Brothers Grimm and hugely popularized in Russia by Alexander Pushkin with his Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish, is very well known to Georgians. Fully utilizing this awareness, Okros Tevzi always used slogans related to fulfilling wishes. But I went a bit beyond that, expanding a simple "Make a wish" slogan into a whole logo concept.

The "general" version of the logo, intended for publicity, business cards, documents, websites and other general usage, resembles an empty box, and comes with the aforementioned slogan, implying the readiness to be filled with the wishes come true. The "specific" versions of the logo, intended to be used on actual products, represent the same box, but filled with different colors: green for semi-prepared foods, red for meat products and blue for fish products.

Georgian khinkali and Russian pelmeni represent the "flagship" products for many Georgian companies specialized in semi-prepared foods, and Okros Tevzi makes no exception. So, naturally, when it came to trying out the new logo on actual product packaging, they were the first in line.

After probing various directions, we stopped on a concept derived from the logo idea: a table (sort of) placed in a natural environment, with a white box, showing the product, on top of it. In this case, since the packaging is transparent, the actual product could be visible through the non-printed area inside the box (in the design samples this area is filled with product images for better visualization).

We made two variations of khinkali -- Traditional and Chopped (hence the big knife), and two of pelmeni -- Siberian (hence the frost) and Italian (hence the Venetian scenery). You probably noticed a cute goldfish chef holding a white fork -- I came up with this mascot somewhere in the process of making the package design demos. It was just a designer's whim, but the client liked it so much that the little guy got himself a permanent job.

This is only the beginning, as there are loads of Okros Tevzi products waiting in line to be rebranded and redesigned. So, until next!

Stars and Music

2011-11-11T21:20:00.001+02:00

Yesterday Diana and I went to the "release party" of Colors of the Desert -- the latest album by Lithuanian progressive rock band The Skys, whose frontman, Jonas Čiurlionis, happens to be Diana's colleague in his "daytime" life -- he's an associate professor of philosophy at Vilnius University.

The event was held at the Vilnius Planetarium, and that wasn't by accident. The first part -- the presentation of the album -- took place right inside the Planetarium dome. We were sitting there, lights out, stars shining above our heads, some intense prog rock ringing in our ears... Epic! I just wish my neck didn't hurt so much, but hey -- it's really a small price for such a wonderful treat.

The second part was the buffet party just outside the dome entrance (still inside the building, in case you shrugged at the thought of an open-air buffet in the midst of cold Lithuanian November). I, personally, had a very good time. Eating, drinking, but, most importantly, meeting a bunch of interesting people (who subsequently turned into a bunch of new Facebook friends). It was a crazy mix of English, Lithuanian, Russian and even some Georgian. So much fun for a linguistic junkie like me!

Well, all this fun and stars and everything seriously backfired the next morning, but hey -- who's complaining. Me wants more!

Ayran

2011-10-30T14:33:00.000+02:00

Ayran is a cold drink, made of yoghurt mixed with water, usually salted, sometimes carbonized. Primarily a Turkish beverage, it's a popular drink in many countries around the Black and the Caspian Seas. Despite being so widely spread among our neighbors (Turkey and Armenia in the south, Azerbaijan in the east, Caucasian peoples in the north), the drink somehow managed to avoid Georgia, where it was practically unknown until recently. With the expansion of Turkish businesses into post-Soviet Georgia and opening of many Turkish restaurants in Tbilisi and other major Georgian cities, it was inevitable that the Turkey's most popular drink would eventually find its way to the Georgian market.

The drink is mostly being imported from Turkey and Armenia, but recently some local companies have started producing their own ayran. One of such companies contacted me a little while ago, ordering the label design for their new-born product. Their only demand was to make green the dominant color, partly in an effort to make it more distinguishable from the local dairy product style with dominant blue/red/white color schemes. Also, for some reason they didn't elaborate on, the label had to feature the Armenian name for ayran -- tan. The rest was entirely up to me.

I decided to go with a thick, "milky" hand-drawn font for the main title. Then I dug up a nice milk-splash stock image and placed it on a "condensated" background, emphasizing a cold-served product. A tiny bit of "orientalish" ornaments, some fashionable reflections and I was almost set. Almost, because I had to come up with some sort of a logo for the manufacturer.

The company in question is called Agapi Ltd. Agapi (more correct spelling would be aghapi) is a Georgian version of the Greek word agape, which means "non-corporal love." So I decided to go with a "milk from the heart" theme, visualized quite literally, as you can see.

Below is the finished label. It's circular, meaning it wraps around the whole diameter of the bottle. Hence the "double" design, so that it remains interesting from more possible angles, leaving the technical parts squeezed in-between the lead design elements.

And here's a digital simulation of the label attached to the actual bottle, as it would appear on the final product. The bottle is made of glossy white plastic and has a green cap to match the label.

The Epic Lawn-Making

2011-09-14T18:38:00.003+03:00

We have a huge yard, but with Diana's parents being gardening maniacs, there is hardly an inch of free space in it -- vegetables, flowers and berry shrubs are all over the place. You can't really find an open pitch to set up a sun lounge, roll in the grass, play badminton or practice Tai Chi. So this summer, finally, Diana and I decided to put an end to the vegetable supremacy and fight for our sunbathing rights.

First, we marked the territory by placing rods (like in Disciples II) and stretching cords between them. For that we chose the patch behind the house, where strawberries had been growing previously (they would be replanted later to a different patch). My father-in-law had already mowed the strawberries, so I just had to dig them over and root them up.

Just. Actually, that turned out to be an epic struggle lasting for three days. The strawberries weren't exactly cooperative, so the process kinda reminded rooting up the Mandrakes, except they weren't screaming (to my luck). Can you imagine an underground network of long, stringy roots connecting dozens of plants to each other, like a secret web? That's how strawberry communities grow. You know, social plants make me feel creepy ever since I read Clifford D. Simak's All Flesh Is Grass.

By the time I was finished with those hive-minded strawberries, I got some really nasty sunburn on my back. Great. Now I have my own farmer's tan...

See those sleeveless shirt markings? Americans
call this particular type of tan-lines "Texas tan."

Back to the lawn-making. The next step was to enclose the future lawn in a plastic edging to isolate it from the surrounding vegetation, although I suspect even our super-deep (20 cm) edging won't be enough to prevent some especially impudent specimens from trying to invade our lawn. Anyway, planting that edging into the ground wasn't a piece of cake, either. The plastic stripe refused to be buried alive, twisting like a snake in my hands, so it took quite a while.

Now it was time to buy some grass seeds. After some pondering, we set our choice on a frost-resistant brand. Hopefully, it will survive our harsh falls and springs. Or at least die trying.

Diana's father, being a lot more experienced farmer than me, volunteered to conduct the sowing part. However, he confessed that he never had actually sown any grass before, only vegetables and such, and issued a disclaimer over the consequences. While my father-in-law was mellowing the soil with a rake, I was gaping at the contraption he had prepared for stomping the seeds into the ground.

As soon as the seeds were scattered, the stomping part began. Naturally, there were yet more cooperation issues: the seeds didn't seem to be too fond of being trampled into the earth, preferring to be carried away with the wind instead. No matter how hard we tried to stomp them, they just kept laying on the surface, tanning under the sun. Hopefully, sooner or later, they will have no choice but to grow into the soil.

Thus ends the epic lawn-making. Now all we have to do is wait and see what comes out of it (literally). If everything goes right, we may see the grass popping up in a couple of weeks.

A Taste of Homeland

2011-08-05T17:17:00.012+03:00

There are some foods which are almost religiously revered by Georgians, who generally like to have a good snack. Shashlik (mtsvadi in Georgian) is among them, surpassed in the Georgian "food charts" perhaps only by khinkali. Since I happen to be Georgian, I share the common genetic weakness for shashlik, naturally.

As with any sort of grilled meat, there is no tastier shaslik than the one made outdoors, preferably in nature's lap, with your own hands. The process itself is a whole ritual, gradually preparing your gastric juices for the grand finale. Luckily, I live in a countryside (sort of), and I have a wife who knows how to marinate the meat overnight.

Ever since I moved to Lithuania, making shashlik in the backyard became one of my most persistent obsessions, as if it was some sort of connection to my homeland. We even bought mangal and skewers earlier this summer, but something had been constantly preventing us from actually using them -- busy schedule, unpredictable Baltic weather, etc.

The other day, at very long last, we were able to test the equipment in action. Diana's father helped preparing the charcoal (we used birch logs for that), and when it was all smouldering, I skewed the pieces of marinated meat and placed them on the mangal, while Diana was taking pictures of this event of the month.

Not everything went as smooth as I expected, though. Apparently, we should have had produced more charcoal, because the heat turned out to be not enough for a fast grill and it all dragged on for an eternity.

But the wait was really worth it, I must say. A little taste of homeland, if you will. Although, I've noticed that shashlik is quite popular among Lithuanians, too -- making šašlykas, as it's called here, is one of the favorite weekend pastimes for many locals. Skanaus!

All About Organizing

2011-07-31T11:15:00.011+03:00

A couple of months ago I received quite a challenging order. My task was to design leading elements for the website of a client who unclutters and organizes office spaces. The website is called All About Organizing.

The ultimate goal was to create a sort of triptych, illustrating the three stages of the uncluttering process: the assessment, the organizing, and the final result. But first, I had to make a cartooned character of the lady who owns the business, in three different poses, with different expressions, suitable for each stage.

The next step was creating the background for the triptych, representing a fictional office in three conditions: messy, being uncluttered, and glisteningly organized. I started with a perfectly organized room and then messed it up as much as I could -- it was the easiest way.

Now all I had to do was to bring the organizing lady into the action. Below you can see the final result, ready to be incorporated in the website header.

My Old Nimbus 2000

2011-07-24T21:25:00.004+03:00

Harry Potter. I had seen some movies, and played some games, but never read any of the books. This summer I've finally decided to sit down to it, so here I am, reading the UK edition from my wife's collection.

I'm enjoying the books immensely, despite the little mistakes scattered here and there. I really liked the movies (so far I've seen the first three of them), but the books are, well, books. A whole different level of submergence into the magic world of Hogwarts, with myriads of tiny, but important details, regrettably (but unavoidably) missed in the movies.

Anyway, today, when lurking around outside the house, I've found my own Nimbus Two Thousand! Well, actually, it's just an old broom from the backyard, but it will do perfectly for a Muggle like me...

Meeting Razmadze

2011-07-05T16:38:00.008+03:00

A couple of weeks ago Ramaz Razmadze, a fellow Georgian surrealist, arrived in Lithuania with a small gang of other Georgian painters to participate in a plein-air event together with a group of local artists. They were based in Molėtai, a small town some 60 kms north of Vilnius.

When the event was finished, they moved to Vilnius for a few days of touring before departure. Although Ramaz and I had known each other for years online, we had never met in person, so we couldn't miss this wonderful chance to finally meet each other, thousands of miles away from homeland. Yesterday, it happened at last -- we shook hands at the Cathedral Square, where Ramaz introduced me and Diana to the other three Georgian artists who arrived with him.

After visiting the Cathedral, where we took the opportunity to see the famous St Casimir's chapel, we roamed about the Old Town for a while, before landing at an open-air snack-bar to have a beer.

The rightmost fellow on the photo, easily distinguishable from the resort-tanned companions who had spent a healthy fortnight of working in the open air, is me. Ramaz is sitting right next to me. I hadn't spoken in person to a living Georgian for about 18 months, and here I had the fourfold pleasure of conversing with the fellow countrymen -- and fellow artists, on top of that. Besides, I had wanted to meet Razmadze, whose art I greatly admire, for years. So I had a really great time. Until next!

Lemonade for the Masses

2011-06-16T17:30:00.006+03:00

The summer is hot, even here, in Lithuania. Now imagine how hot it must be in Georgia, which is some 2500 kms to the south. Luckily, I have a strong base of lemonade-making customers there, who are more than eager to provide you with cheap, but nonetheless tasty refreshing drinks. What more can you dream of in the heat of the summer? Ice-cream, maybe... but we're getting distracted.

So here it is -- a series of aerated refreshing drinks from one of my regular clients based in Western Georgia. Actually, it's a brewery, but it produces large amounts of non-alcoholic drinks as well, like many other Georgian breweries do. The series is called Tskhratskaro and it comes sugar-free. Please, don't try to pronounce the name, unless you're a native Georgian speaker, otherwise you may receive a permanent damage to your utterance apparatus. Literally, it means "nine springs" and it's a toponym -- two mountains, a mountain pass and a village is called by that name, although the product itself has no connection to any of those geographic places.

There's nothing much to say about technicalities. Fast order, limited budget for stock images, basic printing technology. Designed for 1 and 1,5 liter PET bottles. Done in CorelDRAW X5, photos edited in Corel PHOTO-PAINT.

Dad

2011-05-31T22:00:00.009+03:00

This is my father. We have never lived together, he has another family and so on, but we're on good terms. I took his photo in December 2009, a couple of months before my departure from Tbilisi. Usually he wears only a moustache, no beard, but he had quite a stubble on that occasion. I really liked his grizzled beard and told him that I was gonna take his picture and draw his portrait from it when I had time, so he gladly posed.

I haven't seen him for 16 months and I really miss him. Last month I decided to finally sit down to the portrait. It dragged on, as usual, but now it's finally finished.

I believe it's my fourth attempt in oil pastels, and it seems I'm slowly getting my hand in this medium. I usually try to develop the colors and shades evenly and gradually, as I was taught back in the art school, but this time I chose to proceed in a different manner, finishing separate parts almost completely. As you see from the WIP shots below, first I rendered the central part, then the top area, and lastly the bottom part.

The drawing was done on a grey pastel paper with a smooth finish. Colors blended easily and I didn't have to use any chisels or such for blending, just an occasional finger-work. Here's a zoomed detail to show the technique up close and personal.

Spring in Your Eyes

2011-05-01T22:48:00.005+03:00

It seems that spring has finally come to Lithuania. It's in the air, and it's irresistible. Yesterday, on the last day of April, as I was planting some potatoes in our kitchen garden, I felt a sudden urge to draw something for the season, quick and simple. So here's my humble tribute to the beauty of spring.

It's done with H, HB and 5B pencils and a mechanical pencil. The model was Diana, of course. Below you can see the work in progress and a zoomed detail.

Pegė Logo

2011-04-29T20:55:00.008+03:00

Last month I won a logo contest at uzdarbis.lt, a Lithuanian design-related forum. The logo was for an online store for baby products, such as prams, soothers, etc. This is the final version the client chose:
Next, they asked me to help with the facade design for their physical store, fitting in style with the new logo. The process turned out to be quite long, mainly because of the window design, which went through numerous trials and tribulations, until it was finally approved sometime in the middle of April.

But that's not all. The final task was creating the website header. They wanted something cheerful, in the mood of the logo. I liked the idea of their draft header, which included sun, fluffy clouds and a rainbow, so I decided to offer my version of it. Here's the result:

I know, I wasn't much of a blogger this month, but I have quite a few ongoing projects, so, hopefully, I'll be more active next month. See ya!

Laura

2011-03-30T17:45:00.007+03:00

This little lady is my wife's cousin's daughter (genealogically, I believe the term "first cousin once removed" would be more correct). It's my gift for her birthday, which is in May. I did it so early because we need time to frame it and ship it to Israel, where she lives with her family.

The drawing has been done with Giotto Stilnovo pastel pencils on Canson Vivaldi Crème paper. Below you can see the work in progress and a zoomed detail. I apologize for the WIP shot quality -- the paper didn't fit into my scanner and to avoid the stitching routine at each stage, I was taking the pictures with my camera, which is in fact a cell phone.

Project 24

2011-03-22T21:54:00.008+02:00

Project 24 is a soon-to-be-launched charity initiative by Oceanida, a Georgian fish products brand. Each time someone buys a product which has a Project 24 sticker on it, 1% of the profit goes to a special fund, equally distributed among 24 orphanages (or Children Homes, as we call them in Georgia). It's a very good cause and I'm proud to be working on such a project as a designer.

The logo conveys the idea behind the project by depicting a house-shaped money box where the aforementioned 1% of the profit is put in the form of a coin. The small sticker (see below) adhered to the products explains more details, but the full information will be provided through the media advertisement campaign which is going to be launched along with the project.

Lips of Color of Blood - Cover Design

2011-03-18T16:19:00.008+02:00

This is the cover design for Lips of Color of Blood, a novel by Jurii Kirnev. The artwork is based on Nocturnal Interlude, a drawing from the mini-series of illustrations I did for this novel earlier this year.

I removed the grave in the foreground (see the original artwork) in order to make room for the inscriptions. My font choice for this project was Andalus (actually, it's an Arabic font, but it features a nice Latin typeface, too). I especially enjoyed working on the word BLOOD -- I used some vector grunge stock elements to create that "blood-soiled" effect.

Happy 8th of March!

2011-03-08T16:21:00.007+02:00

In case you didn't know, today is the International Women's Day. It's an especially popular holiday in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet countries. Originally a Socialist political event, today it's just a day for celebrating beauty, love and all the other wonderful things associated with the better half of mankind.

Technically, it's spring in Lithuania, but there's a thick layer of snow on the ground, so I can't pick any flowers. Of course, I could buy them in the local shop, but this is so cliche! Besides, I don't have any cash at the moment, and the flower traders don't accept credit cards. Long story short, I decided to make a paper flower for my wife. It's my first paper craft ever, so don't laugh!

The text on the improvised card is in Georgian and it reads: "Happy 8th of March, my love!" I'd like to wish a happy Woman's Day to my wife, my ex-wife, their mothers, my mother, my sisters, and all the other women out there. Let your men treat you every day like it's the 8th of March!

Tile Cleaner

2011-03-07T15:45:00.007+02:00

Are your floor tiles dirty? And what about wall tiles? If they are, look no further -- our tile cleaner is all you need!

Ahem... sorry about that. It's called a designer's midlife crisis. Anyway, here's another label design for one of the oldest local brands of detergent products in Georgia. And don't believe the English inscription telling you that it's an "all-purpose cleaner" -- actually, its purpose is only to clean ceramic tiles, which is rightly indicated by the Georgian inscription reading "wall and floor tile cleaner." Why the difference? Well, I don't have a comprehensible answer to that question, so let's just say that inscrutable are the ways of the detergent manufacturers, especially in Georgia...

As for the technical details, the work has been done entirely in CorelDRAW X5. Commercial stock images have been used. And, of course, no detergent manufacturers were harmed during the production.

My Interview at SomethingWeLike.com

2011-02-26T23:21:00.002+02:00

A couple of days ago SomethingWeLike.com published an interview with me. Here's the link in case anyone is interested in reading it:

Chitchat: Rezo Kaishauri

Gone with the Melody

2011-02-23T15:45:00.008+02:00

Here it is, at last -- the third and final drawing from the mini-series of illustrations to Jurii Kirnev's Lips of Color of Blood, a novel about a young and talented composer who fell in love with Death itself in the form of an attractive young woman.

As in the case of the previous two drawings, the reference for the model was provided by the author himself. In the background you can see a fragment of the Buda Castle in Budapest (where the novel's events take place). The drawing was done in color pencils, with the female figure finished with a black ball-point pen. Below you can see the work in progress.

I had an epic fun drawing the notes. Those who can read them may even recognize the music, because these are the actual fragments of Mozart's Requiem, carefully drawn, note by note, from the score sheets. Here's the enlarged detail for you to appreciate my "scribing" skills:

In conclusion, I'd like to thank Mr. Kirnev for providing such an excellent opportunity and a great material to work with. Maybe someday I'll get the chance to actually read the novel I've done the illustrations for...

My Fairy Lady

2011-02-17T16:04:00.008+02:00

By the end of last November I was contacted about logo and header design for a dance competition registration website. The URL was MagicReg.com, so I decided to make a dancing fairy figure, with a magic wand in her hand. The client liked the figure design so much, that he ordered additional dancing fairy poses for use throughout the website. The work went quite smooth and everything was finished and approved in about two weeks. The funny things started just after that...

What could possibly happen, one may ask. Dance experts, consulting the client -- that's what happened. They pointed out the inaccuracies in some of my dancing poses. Outrageous! I've been dancing since... no, wait... I don't dance. Okay, okay, I admit -- I have no idea about professional dancing requirements. I had no choice but to revise the poses according to the experts' recommendations. Naturally, it all got dragged on, with holidays and other stuff concurred, so the final dot to the project was put only a couple of days ago.

Here's the final version of the logo. In the initial versions the "working" leg didn't touch the "standing" one, with the foot keeping some distance from the knee. The dance experts considered it a blasphemy, so my "fairy lady" had to strike a proper pose.

Below you can see the additional poses, including some "funny" ones, like stretching a leg or holding a roster.
And here's the header design sample:

Being an inveterate package designer, I rarely do website-related projects, so it was fun working on this one (except the part where the experts intervened, of course) and I'm certainly looking forward for more work in this vein.

Dish-Washing Time!

2011-02-15T17:08:00.003+02:00

Long time, no design. Time to fix that. With detergents, of course! So I'm presenting a new series of dishware cleaners from one of oldest detergent brands under my design: Eco+. Oh, and don't try to locate them on your local supermarket shelves -- unless you live in Tbilisi, Georgia, that is.

No FruitLab involved -- this time the client wanted me to use some real (and fresh) fruit photographs, so I had to buy them from Shutterstock, along with some new flatware. The rest is just the good old curves and bubbles, tried and tested many times before -- they always work with this kind of things...

Nocturnal Interlude

2011-02-07T22:42:00.008+02:00

This is the second drawing from the mini-series of illustrations to Lips of Color of Blood, a novel by Jurii Kirnev. If you follow my blog, you might already know that the novel is set in modern day Budapest and its heroine represents Death itself in the form of an attractive young woman.

The reference photo for the model, as in the previous case, was provided by the author himself. As the references for some of the background details I used photos of Kerepesi Cemetery -- one of the oldest graveyards in Hungary. The drawing is done with my usual mix of media -- color pencils finished with ball-point pens.

Usually I try to develop the colors as evenly as possible throughout the entire process, but this time, as you can see from the WIP scans below, I tried a different approach, rendering the colors and shades step-by-step, starting with the most important elements.

As I wrote in the previous post, there will be three drawings in total, so stay tuned for the conclusion!

The Final Symphony

2011-01-21T23:00:00.012+02:00

This is the first drawing from an upcoming mini-series of illustrations to a novel by Jurii Kirnev, who contacted me through deviantART just before the New Year. The novel is titled Lips of Color of Blood, it's set in the modern day Budapest and its heroine represents Death itself in the form of an attractive young woman. Why playing on a violin? Well, you're gonna have to find it yourself -- if you ever get a chance to read the novel, that is.

The drawing is called The Final Symphony and that's the name for the whole series as well. The reference images of the model have been provided by Jurii Kirnev himself. I have used my usual mix of media: color pencils finished with ball-points. As it happens, I got carried away by the background details, but I promised the client there would be less architecture in the next installments. Anyway, here's the WIP scans for those who are interested in how the process went on.

There will be three drawings in total, so stay tuned for more!

Happy New Ear!

2011-01-05T18:06:00.010+02:00

Before you ask: no, it's not about plastic surgery. And it's not about the 80th anniversary of the Frankenstein's bride, either. It's just another of my silly wordplay-based surreal fantasies, no deep meaning intended whatsoever.

As for the details, no ball-points have been used in this one, only color pencils. The ear belongs to Diana, of course. Everything else -- to her mother, although I greatly exaggerated the aged skin texture for a more drastic difference. As you can see from the WIP below, the snowflake earring went through some transformations before establishing its final shape and size.

Titanik

2010-12-31T22:13:00.004+02:00

It's the last drawing from Politika series, sort of "grand finale," gathering all the "heroes" together and even introducing some new ones, most notably Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. The ship full of Putryoshkas is headed towards the imminent wreck, ignoring the clear warning (the text on the sign says "Iceberg, right ahead!" in Russian). In the background you can see Viktor Yanukovych (the Ukrainian president) towed to the ship. Whether he will follow it to the end or cut the rope in time, remains to be seen. What we already see, is Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus trying to flee in a lifebuoy. Good luck, buddy!

Adoration II

2010-12-28T19:45:00.006+02:00

Finally -- new artwork! The heavy workload of the last couple of months has lightened up a bit due to the holidays, so I was able to finish up a drawing I had started back in October.

It's another "Dianization" (a remake of old artwork, featuring Diana, my wife, as the model) done for the Body Language II series. On the right you can see the original artwork -- Adoration, made in 1996. The drawing represents a mix of erotic symbolism and surrealism, with quite a simple concept: an illustration of worshiping someone blindly and dependently.

I decided to leave the most elements, beside the female figure, intact, introducing only minor changes to them. For instance, the sky is brighter in the new version, with less small details and more saturated blues contrasting with the oranges and yellows more pronouncedly. In the old version you could see a prominent face in the clouds. Now there's another one, right next to it.

In the early WIPs the column had exactly the same perspective as in the original drawing, but when I started laying out the tiled floor, I realized that this perspective was wrong all along, so I fixed it.
Due to the large gap in time (14 years, actually) between these two versions, they serve as a perfect illustration of my skill progress, especially in human anatomy and skin shading.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T15:02:00.005+02:00

I'm an Orthodox Christian by confession, so "officially" my Christmas comes a couple of weeks later (on January 7, to be precise). But my wife is a Roman Catholic, so I'm celebrating on December 25 as well.

Merry Christmas, everyone! I wish you peace, happiness and health. And love, of course. Lots of it. May the upcoming year bring you only good things, leaving everything bad behind.

Hugs,
Rezo

P.S.
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More Wines

2010-11-30T14:43:00.012+02:00

Last month I did labels for a series of wines exported to Belarus, brand-named Retro. A couple of weeks ago the client ordered me a new series of wine labels, also for Belorussian export, but with a different brand-name: Salkhino. As in the previous case, I started with the trademark design. I did something in the spirit of the previous project, but with more "geometrical" approach. The logo font is largely based on a Cyrillic version of ITC Anna, although it's been heavily modified to fit the design requirements.

The client wanted different hand-made artworks for each label, so it was high time for unleashing my "Kakhetian fantasies" -- the wine-related drawings I usually do for my wine labels. As a result, below you can see some of the drawings made exclusively for this project -- namely, the ones used in the dry wine labels.

Now as I had the trademark and the drawings, all that I needed to do was bringing them together into a label design. Below you can see the result:
For the semi-sweet wines the client wanted the same composition, but darker, more saturated colors. Naturally, the artworks also had to be in different style, more suitable for the "heavily colored" settings.
Everything went nice and smooth, until it came to the point of the approval from the Belorussian distributor. We had some experience from the previous project concerning the Belorussian bureaucracy in regard to the product design standards, but, apparently, they had more rabbits hidden up their sleeves than we thought. The distributor approved all the labels, except Pirosmani -- a red semi-dry wine named after the famous Georgian painter Niko Pirosmani. The problem was in the drawing I made for it, which depicted a traditional Georgian festive scene in the spirit of the above-mentioned painter. As it turned out, the advertisement law of Belarus explicitly prohibits featuring any images of humans or animals in alcoholic beverage advertisement, as well as displaying the alcoholic beverages themselves and the process of their consuming. When I pointed out that the advertisement restrictions could not be applied to the product design itself, they replied that while the law didn't affect the product design requirements directly, there were numerous supplementary decrees, resolutions, state standards, and so on, which they had to comply with, so they didn't want any complications.

There was nothing we could do, so I had to replace the drawing with a different one, similar to the other labels, but with no Pirosmani-related motives. (You can see the replacement drawing on the right.) It's a real shame when some irrelevant requirements force designers to put their creativity on a leash in order to comply to the rules.

How Much Is The Fish?

2010-11-25T12:38:00.028+02:00

No, it's not about Scooter, it's ofFISHially my first blog post about fish products design. It had been quite a while since I had done such work, so I was pretty excited when I received the order (two similar orders from different customers, actually, but we'll get to that later).

Near the end of last month I was contacted by an old client of mine -- a company which hadn't been working with me for a few years due to the management change and other stuff unimportant to the reader. It was sort of a return of the prodigal son and I gladly agreed to work with them again, because we had done some good stuff together years back.

First things first -- we needed a trademark for their new brand, Oceanida. Not to confuse with the sea mollusks -- they actually meant an Oceanid from Greek mythology, but the thing is that both words are spelled as "okeanida" in Georgian, so they chose to spell the English part of the brand accordingly. They didn't give me complete freedom on this: they wanted a certain type of imagery, while my task was to realize their ideas and come up with an optimal manifestation for them. It all resulted in quite a beaten kind of a logo, nothing really original -- but, hey, as long as the customer is happy, who am I to whine?

So, the next task was to create a side label for a caviar tin can. In fact, it was to be printed directly on the can. They wanted a minimalistic style for that, but still allowed me to cheer up the things a bit by throwing in some digitally cultivated grains of caviar. Anyway, here's the result -- a Georgian caviar! And here I was thinking that stuff was being harvested only in northern seas. Or maybe they are importing it from somewhere else -- there was no indication of that on the label and I didn't pry into details.

Next we had salted herring, and lots of it (8 kilos in a large white plastic can, to be precise). I only needed to cover the sides of the can, not the top. The first demos were brutally rejected and for a quite long time we were unable to reach a solution that would please everyone. Then, finally, I managed to "give birth" to an "all-pleaser" which I proudly present below. I also did a rough 2D simulation of the actual product to have a better idea what it would look like on the shelf.

Somewhere in the process of making this herring, I was contacted by another old customer of mine, who, coincidentally, also wanted to order a herring can design. Interestingly, the company is called Okros Tevzi ("goldfish"), but they had been working exclusively with the meat products before and it was the first time they had actually decided to make "something fishy."

They made two separate orders -- one for a larger can with whole herrings and another one for a smaller can with cut herrings. I was unable to find any cut herring to my liking in stock images, so I decided to cut the fish myself. Here it is -- both cut and uncut:

The designs for both customers haven't been printed yet, it's in the process. Hopefully, everything's gonna be alright, they will sell lots of it and come back with more fish orders. I like fish!

Sea Paradise

2010-11-21T19:40:00.008+02:00

These labels were sent to the printer almost a month ago, but I'm posting them only now. I've been very busy lately, but to be completely honest, I simply forgot about them. Now my memory is back and I'm writing this post.

There is a restaurant in Tbilisi, called Zghvis Samotkhe ("Sea Paradise"). They have their own brand of aerated refreshing drinks, called the same name and bottled exclusively for them, which is a common practice in Georgian restaurants. I had done quite a few label designs for such "restaurant lemonades" in the past, and this was just another order in that line.

As they usually do, the owner wanted me to match the labels with his restaurant's visual style, so I studied some photos before setting to work. The restaurant has a "traditional Georgian" setting, which is a highly popular cliche for such mid-level establishments. I was unable to find anything sea-related on the photos, except the facade stonework reminding beach pebbles, which I heavily utilized in the design.

This month has been quite fruitful in terms of design (which, unfortunately, hasn't left much room for art), so stay tuned -- more design stuff is coming soon.

Retro Wines

2010-11-03T11:42:00.022+02:00

This design project was finished a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't have time to write a blog post about it. I still don't have much time -- the last two months turned out exceptionally busy for me -- so I'll be as brief as possible.

Since the Russian embargo on Georgian wines, imposed in 2006, our winemakers have been actively trying to enter different markets, but so far they have been able to establish their tangible presence only in Ukraine. Recently that started to change, as Georgian wine companies have begun making more notable advancements in Belorussian market, too.

On that wave, I was contacted by an old customer of mine, who had been away from wine business since the Russian ban. Now he was back in full glory, with a new company and a brand new project aimed exclusively at Belorussian export.

The first thing was to create a trademark which needed to be registered locally. "Retro" was chosen as the brand name, and I was instructed to visualize it by keeping to the beaten track, avoiding any risky experiments. The design had to be approved by both parties -- the Georgian manufacturer and the Belorussian distributor. I offered them several trademark designs and logo font variations, and after some cogitation they decided on the version you can see below. The trademark design is based on traditional Georgian wine-drinking horns, and the logo is based on a heavily modified free font called Apollo ASM (a small amount of money has been donated to the author). By the way, the font doesn't support Cyrillic, but, fortunately, the word RETRO in Russian can be typed with standard Latin letters -- PETPO.

The next thing was to develop three different series of labels under this brand. The first series were to be made for Alazani Valley wines and had to feature a drawing of a traditional Georgian wine-related scenery, so it was high time for employing my artistic skills. Since I was given a restricted time frame, I decided to draw only the line-art traditionally and color the drawing digitally after scanning. Here's the result:

And below are the labels featuring that artwork. You might notice that I have changed the color of the grapes for the white wine label.
The leading inscriptions on the labels (and all the information on back labels) are in Russian, not in the native Belorussian (although similar, they are still different languages), which is rather strange, given the strict requirements the manufacturers have to meet when designing their products for the local market. See that huge size of the alcohol percentage and the volume? Long live the Belorussian bureaucracy, which surpassed even the Russian one!

The second series of labels consisted of dry wines, and the client wanted a more reserved style for them. Here's the result:
The third series consisted of red semi-sweet wines (namely Akhasheni and Kindzmarauli) and had to be based on an existing design. Since the labels were derived (legitimately, of course) from another artist's work, I don't feel comfortable with posting those samples here.

Okay, folks, I honestly tried to be brief here, but I got carried away, as always. I really need to learn how to write short blog posts. Any training courses on that?

Levan May Cry

2010-10-03T21:09:00.023+03:00

A couple of years ago my good friend and business companion asked me to draw a portrait of his son. Last year, when I still lived in Georgia, we took some photos of Levan (that's the name of the boy) to be used as the reference for the future artwork, where, as we decided after some brainstorming, he would be "cosplaying" Nero, the main character from Devil May Cry 4, one of Levan's favorite videogames.

My own son, Sandro, who happens to be Levan's friend, also participated in that photo-session -- I try to kill two birds with one stone whenever I can. That's when I got the idea of a double portrait featuring Levan and Sandro. I liked that idea so much that I postponed Levan May Cry and immediately started working on The Little Heartbreakers, planning to finish this "side project" very quickly and proceed with the "main thing" right after that. But, as it often happens with me, the work dragged out -- I was able to finish the double portrait (seen on the right) only in May 2010, when I had already moved to Lithuania. By that time I had so many other things to do that I had to forget about Levan May Cry for a while.

A couple of weeks ago I finally found time to sit down to it. I couldn't linger any longer -- the kid was growing up, after all. Besides, my mother was coming to visit us by the end of September, so it was a perfect time to finish the drawing and send it to Georgia with her.

Initially I intended to use my usual combination of color pencils and ballpoint pens on this, but then I changed my mind and decided to make it through only with color pencils, like I did with The Little Heartbreakers. It would serve as another proof that I can draw pictures without the help of the "magic" ballpoints.

As the reference for Nero's costume and his famous grotesque arm (replicating those textures was no piece of cake, I must say) I used some game poster found on the Web. Since the character has white hair, I had some reservations about the perspective of Levan's brown hair turning all white. But, as the work progressed, all my doubts dissipated: the white-haired Levan looked quite convincing -- maybe, in part, thanks to the slightly oriental shape of his eyes, very suitable for all this "Japanese fantasy slasher" thing.

I usually try to distribute the basic colors and shades right from the beginning, developing all the important parts of the drawing as evenly and simultaneously as possible. It helps keeping the control over the drawing. But in this case, as you can see from the WIP shots above, I chose to proceed from top to bottom, almost entirely finishing one part, before switching to another. This way I successfully avoided soiling the artwork with my own hands dirtied while working on the areas with dark, intense colors, quite prevalent in this drawing.

As you may know, I'm using a new signature since 2010, with no date under it. But, as requested by Levan's father, I signed and dated the artwork with my old signature. I was able to finish and scan the artwork in the nick of time -- just 15 minutes before the taxi for the airport arrived. As I'm writing this post, the drawing is flying in my mother's suitcase from Vilnius to Tbilisi, where Levan is waiting for it impatiently...

My First Lithuanian Orders

2010-08-27T15:44:00.010+03:00

I've been living in Lithuania since the end of January, which makes it six months already, but I still haven't managed to establish myself as a designer in the local market, so to speak. No big surprise -- nobody knows me here, and starting things from the scratch is always hard. Still, after some fishing in the local Web I was able to catch me a couple of fresh Lithuanian customers. About time!

The first was a basketball-related organization called Krepšinis tau (meaning "basketball to you"). They contacted me by the end of July about modifying their existing logo for usage on blanks and other documents, and possibly creating a new one, if I managed to beat the current logo. Alas, the logo managed to beat me instead, although I tried really hard -- several dozens of different demo versions can confirm that. Yet, we managed to develop the print-optimized version of the logo (I don't feel comfortable with posting the visual sample here, since it's based on other designer's work). Also, the customer chose one of my versions (seen below) for possible alternative usages -- like web-banners, for instance.

The first pancake is always lumpy, as Russians say. Fortunately, the second pancake... er... order went with a swing. It wasn't exactly an order, though -- I won a logo contest on some local job-related website. The logo was for a company which rents and sells cars, and the client chose one of my versions.

Not much, I know, but still not bad -- I've done my first Lithuanian design jobs and pocketed (metaphorically) some local currency! Hopefully, there will be more of it... the works, I mean. And the money, of course -- designers need to eat, you know...

The Persistence of Khinkali

2010-08-24T20:44:00.022+03:00

Everything started with... my avatar. Yes, the one with a melting khinkali on it. I made it about 5 years ago just for fun, but presently I'm using it as my "official" avatar everywhere: on this blog, on my deviantART profile, at ArtWanted.com and many other art or design-related websites, forums, etc. The avatar itself is an entirely digital work -- I took a fragment of Salvador Dali's famous The Persistence of Memory and digitally painted a khinkali over it, replacing the melting clock.

A short explanation for those who don't know what khinkali is -- it's a national Georgian sort of meat dumplings, usually served with beer. It is believed to be originated from Georgian highlands, and since I also come from one of those regions, lust (there is no other word to describe it) for khinkali is in my veins, genetically. Also, I'm a die-hard fan of Dali (obviously), so the avatar served as a manifestation of the eternal unity of the two things I equally cherish in this world -- Dali and khinkali.

No, I'm just kidding -- there was no idea behind the avatar whatsoever. As I said, I did it merely for fun. But, ever since I made it, I've always wanted to bring this visual idea into life as a full piece of art. Naturally, I never had time to sit down to it.

Then something interesting happened. Earlier this year I learned that Salvador Dali's works were going to be exhibited in Chavchavadze House-Museum, located in Tsinandali, Eastern Georgia. The exhibition indeed took place, and it lasted for three months, from April to June. By that time I had already moved to Lithuania and was unable to attend it, but that's not the point. The point is, that this fortunate event revived the sparkle smoldering in me all these years -- the idea of connecting Dali to Georgia, something in the spirit of that khinkali avatar. It was like a sign from above, so I said to myself: That's it, I'm making The Persistence of Khinkali this summer!

I started working at the beginning of August. The most important thing was to choose the medium. Since it was to be practically a copy of Dali's original oil painting, the first thing that came to my mind was oil on canvas, but I quickly rejected the thought -- I've never touched oils since 1995 and, while it seemed to be an appropriate occasion for a glorious "return of the Jedi," messing with them without a properly equipped studio wouldn't do any good. Instead, I decided to use oil pastels, which are able to imitate oil painting quite effectively. However, they are too rough to handle Dali's refined technique all alone, so I left the delicate parts for color pencils.

You might be surprised, but the original painting is quite small in size -- only 24 x 33 cm (9.5 x 13 in). It was quite convenient for me, since I'm used to working in small formats. As for the paper, I set my choice on Canson Montval -- a French brand of heavy watercolor paper. Working on a toothed paper with oil pastels is a pain in the buttocks, but the achieved "canvas feel" makes all the suffering really worth it. Generally, if you want to replicate an oil painting, but don't want to use oils or acrylics, oil pastels are your best friends: as you can see from the WIP shots below, even the process of drawing itself -- creating the under-layers, applying the colors on each other, etc. -- pretty much resembles the oil painting technique.

The work in progress also shows that not all the elements were initially there -- the monument to King Gorgasali and Metekhi Church were added in the process. These distinct landmarks of Tbilisi were present in the concept right from the beginning, and the fact that they are absent on first WIP shots has merely a technical explanation: in order to retain the continuity of the color gradation in the sky, first I blended the colors in the area, then drew the monument and the church on top of it.

Beside the khinkali and the landmarks, there is another "Georgianized" element in the picture -- myself. Or rather, my soft, sleepy head, resting peacefully, with a khinkali covering my ear. If you look at the original, you might see certain similarities between my head and that of (presumably) Dali's, although my nose, naturally, is more Georgian. Also, I have a mouth!

The Persistence of Khinkali might lay the foundation for a whole new series about "Dali in Georgia," but let's not beat the gun. For now let's just say that this is my humble tribute to the great artist, whose legacy continues to inspire creative ideas all around the world. Including Georgia, as you see.

BAMA Vodka Reloaded

2010-08-21T15:48:00.017+03:00

Earlier this year I did a couple of magazine ads for BAMA and VONOST 88, the two leading vodka brands of Solomon Spirits, a US-based alcoholic beverages manufacturer and one of my major clients abroad. Now they have ordered me a new advertisement for a re-branded version of BAMA Vodka, which might share the container and the visual style with VONOST 88.

My part was to create a new advertisement poster, based on VONOST 88 magazine ad (seen on the left). The task seemed quite simple, since I had all the basic materials at hand. I decided to combine the elements from both previous designs and add an Alabama landscape in the background to cheer up things a bit. That's where the problems started.

The first design demos featured a vintage photo by William Christenberry, taken near Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It suited the theme perfectly, because, according to the advertisement text, the vodka is being filtered with "the world's best limestone quarried exclusively from Alabama," and the photo displayed some hills, looking pretty much like a quarry site. Unfortunately, that wasn't gonna happen: the Smithsonian American Art Museum, which holds the copyright on that photo, is a division of the US Federal Government and thus cannot allow their materials to be used in liquor campaigns. And the happiness was so close, as Russians say.

So we had to find another scenery for the background. We searched high and low, but were unable to find anything as fitting as that Tuscaloosa photo. The rocky landscapes from Alabama Hills would make a nice replacement, but unfortunately they are located in California, not Alabama. Finally, tired and frustrated, we gave up and decided in favor of a photo of Mount Cheaha, the highest mountain in Alabama. By the way, the photo we chose is in public domain. No copyright, no headache.

Daily Soap

2010-08-18T15:26:00.005+03:00

Here's a series of liquid soap labels for the same manufacturer who runs the Eco+ brand. It's called DAILY and it comes in three flavors. I've used an image of Diana's hand in the design. Again. She really should start demanding royalties for this. Ha ha, just kidding...

Demonic Khan

2010-07-29T13:16:00.018+03:00

First of all, let's make things clear: I don't draw celebrity portraits. In fact, I hate them (the portraits, not the celebrities themselves, of course). Yes, I did some movie posters when I was a kid, but that was different.

So why Roy Khan? What's so special about him that forced me to make an exception to the rule? I can't say for sure, but certainly being a Kamelot fan has nothing to do with it. Maybe it's his face, so alive, able to convey a cascade of different emotions in a single song -- from anger and contempt to grief and lust. The man does amazing things with his expressions on stage. This, combined with his brilliant vocals, captivates and energizes the audience no less than the band's ass-kicking music itself.

That said, let's move on to the drawing. My task here was to depict Khan's "demonic" nature, as he rules over the audience with his "dominating" poses and "spellbinding" gesticulations, often seen both on stage and in music videos. Speaking of the latter, the Ghost Opera video represents one of the perfect demonstrations of Khan's scenic image, so I decided to use a still frame captured from it as the reference for his facial expression. The solid black eyes fitted into the concept just perfectly.

I was unable to find any suitable images for the pose reference though, so I had to improvise. Since I have a terrible deficiency in male models, I had to stand in front of the camera myself. Luckily, I mostly needed only hands, and my hands happen to look quite like Khan's (at least, I have successfully convinced myself of that). For the rings I used the still frames from the same Ghost Opera music video.

Now the costume. I wanted something a bit fancier than he usually wears on stage, something insanely detailed to challenge my drawing skills. When searching for the Gothic dress references on the Web, I stumbled upon a costume (photo on the left) which I thought could serve as a good base. For extra solemnity, I decided to add a band collar to the suite. Finally, with all the references in place, I started to draw my first "official" celebrity portrait ever.

Since the dominant color had to be black, the choice of medium was obvious: graphite pencils. I hadn't drawn anything solely in graphite in years, so it promised to be a pleasant digression, reminding of my art college days. But it wasn't, as it quickly made me remember what a messy medium graphite can be. Below you can see the WIP shots, documenting every step of my pathetic struggle with this medium, once my favorite.

I can't say exactly how long it took, because it's hard to keep track of time when drawing occasionally, only a few hours or even minutes per day. Overall, it dragged on for about a month. Despite being long and exhausting, the process still was fun. However, I won't be drawing anything in graphite pencils anytime soon, that's for sure.

A Perfect Reward

2010-07-05T11:43:00.011+03:00

My copy of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X5 arrived a couple of days ago. It was sent to me by the Corel Corporation as a reward for my participation in its beta-testing. I honestly had no idea I would receive any software for my participation, so it came as a pleasant surprise. Besides the software DVD, the bundle includes a Collector's Notepad -- a hard-covered book with 200 blank pages to be filled with creative ideas and concepts.

I've been working in CorelDRAW since 1996, practically on a daily basis. It's my primary designer's tool of trade, so being presented with an opportunity to take part in the process of making it better was a great benefit for me already, and getting such a wonderful bonus for my humble contribution is certainly twice as rewarding.

Summer. Finally!

2010-06-28T10:33:00.013+03:00

I know what you think: "Hey, dude, look at the calendar -- it's the end of June already!" But here in Lithuania it feels like summer is just another spring, only a bit warmer. This year's summer made an especially slow start. The long chain of cold and rainy days was interrupted by the gleams of sun only occasionally.

On the other hand, I'm just a southerner, thrown some 2.500 kilometers north from his sunny homeland, so I'm not exactly an expert in Lithuanian summer. Although I often hear the locals themselves say that this summer started off colder than usual.

Anyway, it seems that the season has finally arrived. The last few days have been warm and sunny, although a bit windy -- but still enough for me to crawl outside. Besides, it was a very long weekend (St. John's Day merged with the normal day-offs, resulting in 4 days long holidays), which also added to the summertime mood.

From the two of us, Diana was especially glad, because she didn't have to go to work for a few days in a row and she could do whatever she pleased. And she pleased to walk in the yard, play with cats and enjoy the flowers growing all around the house.

So yesterday she decided to weave a wreath of clovers, just for fun. You know, I seldom do things just for fun, trying to find an application for everything I see. And when I saw her absorbed in her "girlish" pastime, I immediately remembered "Baltas brolis" -- one of my long-time conceived projects, involving a young woman dressed in white, with a wreath of flowers on her head.

When it comes to photo-sessions for my drawings, Diana doesn't need to be asked twice. So here she was -- dressed in white, with her long hair unbound and fluttering in the wind. The sight of her fully unleashed beauty is something I'll never get used to, thrilling my heart every time I see it.

The project itself is exactly the opposite of green and sunny -- it's gonna have a dark setting, with full moon in the background, the Gothic graveyard atmosphere, etc. But the photos we made will be still useful as the reference for the female model. Besides, even if I didn't need them for the artwork, it's a real shame to miss a chance to capture such a beauty, isn't it?

In the process, Diana tried her wreath on me, too. Of course, it didn't look quite as good...

The weekend is over, Diana is at work, and I'm writing this post. I just hope this wasn't another "false start" and the summer has really come, with many more warm and beautiful days ahead.

GB Group Logo

2010-06-08T16:32:00.007+03:00

Recently I was ordered to make a corporate logo for GB Group (Georgian Business Group). The client wanted a simple, classic logo based on "GB" monogram. From all the variations he ultimately chose this one:
Below you can see one of my personal favorites, which was rejected due to being "too modern" (lowercase letters and all). As opposed to the handworked monogram of the final version, its "GB" is based on existing typeface (Geometr885 BT, to be precise).

The Little Heartbreakers

2010-05-20T19:38:00.005+03:00

My friend David has a son, Levan, who is a couple of years older than my own son, Sandro. Naturally, they are friends, too. So here they are, Levan on the left, Sandro on the right. Both bright-eyed and impossibly cute, they look like brothers. They're like Dean and Sam Winchesters in youth, only cuter than the kids who play them in the show. The little pranks are already breaking a lot of girlie hearts, and I'm sure they won't stop doing that when they grow up.

I drew the boys from the reference photos taken by me last October, during a photo-session for my upcoming project Levan May Cry. For the first time since 1995, I've used only color pencils when drawing -- no ball-points, no graphite, no mechanical pencils. There was quite a gap in the work: Levan was almost entirely finished by the end of October 2009, but Sandro had to wait until a couple of weeks ago, when I finally found time to continue the drawing.

I usually date my artwork when it was started, not when finished, but I decided to make an exception in this case. Thus, The Little Heartbreakers is officially my first artwork dated 2010 -- although actually there is no date on it, because I don't place dates under my new signature. Speaking of, the drawing is also the first one to display my re-branded logo, as you may have noticed.

That's MISTER Max for You!

2010-05-19T20:17:00.015+03:00

In A Quick Rinse done last year I introduced MAX, a new brand of detergents from "100+1" -- my very first detergent customers. Guess what -- MAX is back! Only he's called MISTER Max now. Besides the name change, the container was also replaced, so I had to make a new outline to fit the depression in the plastic vessel. Also, strawberry was added to the three existing flavors.

The new design maintains the general direction of the original MAX labels, but there are certain differences, mostly brought in by the changed brand-name and the different shape.

And here's the actual product prototype (in this case, the digital versions of the labels placed on real containers):

But that wasn't all for Mr. Max. In fact, the most interesting part started right after finishing those labels, because now I had to design a mascot for another product under this brand -- a dish-washing gel also called MISTER Max.

I usually draw my mascots by hand and trace them digitally afterwards, but this one has been assembled in CorelDRAW from the scratch. He looks more like a Man in Black (right before erasing your memory with a Neuralyzer) than a detergent mascot, but I think he's still does his job as a "detergent barker" good enough -- you can see him in action below.

That's it for now, but I'll be back shortly with a couple of little heartbreakers. No idea what I'm talking about? Good! Stay tuned and you'll be the first to know.

Spanish Paella Party

2010-05-15T15:25:00.010+03:00

Kinda old news, but it's better late than never. Last Saturday my wife and I went to a "paella party" where we were invited by (brace yourselves, full name and title ahead) Manuel Hernandez Gamallo, the Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Spain to Lithuania. It was fun, I met a bunch of interesting people (mostly Spanish, giving me an opportunity to show off my rusted Español) and had a chance to taste paella (a rice dish of Valencian origin), gazpacho (a cold vegetable soup) and sangria (a red wine punch with sliced fruits), but the first thing to do was presenting the host a bottle of Georgian wine, of course.

While Diana was snatching at her chance to recruit a teacher of Spanish for her university, I roamed the mansion full of guests, enjoying loud music and examining pictures and other interesting objects on the walls. But most of the time I was eating, as you can see from the photo below (I'm not eating anything "exotic" in this photo, in case you wonder -- just some grilled meat).

Enough private life reporting for now. I'll be back with some design news in a few days. Stay tuned!

Paranoia II: The Complete Series

2010-05-03T19:45:00.013+03:00

Red Bound II has concluded the Paranoia II series, so I think it's time for a little showcasing. But before that, a brief digression into history.

The first "fit of paranoia" happened to me in 1995 and lasted for two years, resulting in 10 surrealistic drawings, infused with allusions and hidden visual messages in the spirit of Salvador Dali's famous Paranoiac-Critical Transformation Method. The three colored balloons, first seen in Nine Questions (on the right), later became one of the most recognizable symbols in my art. (It represents childish eroticism, in case you wonder.)

The second wave started in 2002, four years after finishing the first series. The gap in time brought in some noticeable changes. Besides the more refined technique, the artwork from Paranoia II (or ParanoIIa, as spelled alternatively) shows more integrity in style. At the same time, all the trademark features of the series are still present: visual audacity, predilection to hidden allusions, and the same Dali-influenced polymorphous imagery.

Paranoia II also consists of 10 pieces: nine original and one remake of a previous Paranoia title -- Red Bound. Here's a number of selected works from the now complete series, as promised in the beginning. You might have seen some of them already in my previous blog posts, while others are published here first time.

Sex a la Salvador Dali (2002)

Trichotillomania: Deluxe Widescreen Presentation (2002)

Laokoon (2003)

The Towel of Babel (2009)

Red Bound II (2009)

You can see the whole series at my website, or my deviantART gallery. As for the future works, there's still a whole bunch of "paranoid" ideas left in my sketchbook, so I'm planning to start Paranoia III later this year.

Red Bound II

2010-04-30T21:23:00.010+03:00

This is the last drawing from Paranoia II series. I have just finished it, but it's been dated 2009, because it was started last December, and (as you might know from my previous blog posts) I usually date my artwork when started, not when finished.

As for the artwork itself, it's another "Dianized" remake of my older work -- namely, Red Bound from the first Paranoia series. For those who don't follow my blog closely, "Dianization" means remaking my earlier works with Diana (my wife) as the model. On the right you can see the original version, done exactly 15 years ago.

The remake keeps the original composition mostly intact, with only minor rearrangements. The main difference is the color range, which has become significantly warmer. Also, some elements, such as the "crater" below the soap bubble, have substantially "evolved." Finally, the sky and the clouds participate in the "big picture" more actively now, as you can see for yourself.

As for the symbolism behind the artwork, it's quite simple, actually. In my perception, the original version represented one's hesitation before stepping over a boundary -- a "red line," so to speak. I guess that could be applied to the new version as well, only this time it has become even more obvious what sort of boundaries we're talking about here exactly...

Solomon Spirits Logo

2010-04-12T16:50:00.012+03:00

I've been working with Solomon Spirits (an alcoholic beverage company from Florida, US) since last year, when they ordered me a series of labels for their liqueurs. This year we have mostly worked on the advertisement for their vodka products -- Vonost 88 and BAMA. The latter is soon to be launched (more precisely, next month), so we needed to prepare its press release, featuring the company logo. Since there was no such logo, the company entrusted me with the task of creating one. The deadline was quite short -- I had only a few days for working on it. I made the first demo on March 29, and the final version was sent to the client on March 31. It's almost impossible to create a corporate logo in such a short time, because in my experience it usually takes a lot of tweaking before everyone is happy. Still, we managed to finish it on time, and since the client has expressed deep satisfaction with the result, I call it successful.
The logo represents a combination of two mirrored "drops" forming the letters SS with their shiny edges (or just one S in the form of the gap between them). It slightly resembles the ancient Chinese symbol of yin and yang. The corporate colors are black, gray and silver. Here's the version for using on dark backgrounds:

Spring Transformation

2010-04-08T14:15:00.013+03:00

According to the calendar, it's been spring for more than a month already, but here in Lithuania we started to actually feel it only a few days ago. The sun is still weak, but the flowers are already breaking into bloom, and the birds are singing more and more boldly.

However, in Georgia it's the very height of the season, and the business is long-time awoken from the winter's sleep there. New Broker Group is back with their spring offer, advising to hurry up and buy the land in premium locations while it's still cheap -- as reads the advertising flyer which I designed for them by the end of last month.

But that's not the main reason for this blog post -- it's about another "magical transformation" done with the help of a photo-editor. Like in the previous case, the customer wasn't able to provide me with a suitable photo for the season, so I had to improvise. Again.

This time I took a photo made sometime in fall and transformed it into a blooming spring scenery. You can compare the edited photo with the original below.

Vodka Advertisement

2010-03-27T19:57:00.002+02:00

Recently I received a magazine advertisement order from the same customer, who ordered me Limonzala liqueur labels last year. Actually, it was a double order -- they wanted the ads for two vodkas, Vonost 88 and Bama. I needed to make something simple and conservative, suitable for their elegantly reserved labels.

Vonost 88, according to the advertisement, is the only vodka in the world that is fully corked. So I decided to use an image of a corkscrew in the design, beside the traditional Martini glass. I made everything strictly black-and-white, to match the minimalistic colors of the product.

As for Bama, it's short for "Alabama" (not "Obama," as some of you may have assumed), and it's filtered with the limestone quarried exclusively from that US state. The vodka is bottled in a transparent blue bottle, and there's a stylized diamond on its label, so I made a glowing blue background and placed a huge blue diamond beside the bottle and the glass.

You have already guessed it from my post, but still I'd like to stress out that I have designed only the magazine ads, not the products themselves. Label design belongs to the manufacturer (Solomon Spirits), and the ads are published here with their kind permission.

My First Daily Deviation!

2010-03-22T20:17:00.011+02:00

If you know what deviantART is, then you most likely know what I'm talking about. If you don't know, here's the quick info: Each day a few selected works (a.k.a. deviations) from different members (a.k.a deviants) are displayed on the front page of this mega-popular art website, getting a huge amount of exposure for 24 hours. Such works, called Daily Deviations (commonly abbreviated as DD), retain their honorable status even after they are no longer showcased.

In order to be featured as a Daily Deviation, the artwork must be really interesting, original, innovative, provocative, funny, shocking, or otherwise appealing to the public. Anyone can suggest anything for DD, but only the gallery moderators and other distinguished members with proper rights decide whether it's worth to be featured or not. Daily Deviations are not given easily, and receiving one is a true award for any member of deviantART -- the biggest online art community in the world.

That's why I'm so happy and excited -- yesterday one of my works became a Daily Deviation! To be honest, I had been expecting it, but not so soon -- I've been only for a few months at deviantART and there are loads of a lot more popular works from other artists, waiting for their chance for years. It came as a pleasant surprise -- and twice as pleasant, because the "winner" turned out to be one of my favorite drawings (and the most "Georgian," at that): Tutarchela. Here's the link to the deviantART page with the artwork, where you can feast your eyes upon the shiny award and read some kind words accompanying it. Or you can just content yourself by what you see below:

As for the artwork itself, it's a bit different from my usual style, although the technique is the same combination of color pencils and ballpoint pens. I made the drawing in 2007 for an audio CD cover, ordered by a Georgian female folk-band Tutarchela for their second studio album -- Having Fun. The word "tutarchela" means "moonlight" in Mingrelian (one of the spoken languages in Georgia). I was asked to draw something beautiful, girlish and skittish, featuring the Moon and some spring flowers, in a traditional Western Georgian setting. Although it wasn't exactly my line of work, the fact that everyone liked the result makes me bold enough to say that I was up to the task.

Alright folks, I have to go now. But I'll be back soon with some design related news. Stay tuned!

The Milk Wars

2010-03-07T08:52:00.008+02:00

It's another drawing from Politika series. I started it last year, but it's been finished only recently. It represents Putin and Medvedev engaged in "Holy Milk Wars" against Belarus and Lithuania. As you may know, in 2009 Russia's Sanitary Department banned milk imports from these two states, claiming that their products failed to meet certain quality standards. Although, the real reasons are obviously political: Belarus has refused to support Russia's recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and Lithuania is well known for being Georgia's primary ally in the Baltic region.

Banning imports is an approved method used by the Kremlin for "punishing" their disobedient neighbors. Back in 2006 Moscow banned Georgian and Moldavian wines and mineral waters, claiming to have found "dangerous additives" in them. Later the ban was lifted from Moldavian imports, but it still remains on Georgian products.

The Mornings After: Sunday

2010-01-31T11:45:00.010+02:00

Here it is, finally -- the last drawing from The Mornings After series. I finished it a few days ago, but since it was started last December, along with some other drawings from the series, it's dated 2009 -- if you follow my blog, you may already know that I usually date my artwork when it was started, not when finished.

Please read the blog post accompanying the first drawing (Monday) to learn more about the background of the series and the technique used in the drawings. Here's the rest of the drawings, collected together for your convenience:

The Mornings After: Monday

The Mornings After: Tuesday

The Mornings After: Wednesday

The Mornings After: Thursday

The Mornings After: Friday

The Mornings After: Saturday

2010 Art Calendar

2010-01-24T16:05:00.008+02:00

Last year I ordered a copy of the ArtWanted.com Art Calendar for 2010, which arrived just the day before my departure to Lithuania. It's a small tear-off calendar featuring the artwork by ArtWanted.com's members, and it contains one of my works -- namely, Still Waiting...

I was free to choose the date for the page with my artwork, so I chose September 21, Diana's birthday. It's quite appropriate, since she's the model in the picture.

Below you can see the artwork itself. One of my earlier blog posts contains the details behind it.

The Move

2010-01-23T21:50:00.002+02:00

Just wanted to let you know that today I have moved to Lithuania to finally settle down with my wife, Diana. From now on my "base of operations" will be located in Avižieniai, a beautiful rural outskirt of Vilnius. As I'm writing this post, it's freezing -22°C outside, which is quite a drastic change from the warm Georgian winter I've left behind, but it's very cosy inside and I'm feeling just great.

Beside the winter, I have left my family, friends and lots of favorite things back in Tbilisi, and I'm surely gonna miss all of that. But Diana is also my family, and since she just can't give up her lifetime work in Vilnius University, it's me who has to make a sacrifice for our long-awaited reunion. Of course, it doesn't mean I'm cutting my ties with my homeland -- there will always be a part of Georgia around me, no matter where I live.

The Mornings After: Saturday

2010-01-16T19:17:00.004+02:00

This is the last but one drawing from The Mornings After series.

The Mornings After: Friday

2010-01-10T00:48:00.004+02:00

This is another drawing from The Mornings After series. The two remaining pieces (Saturday and Sunday) are coming soon.

The Mornings After: Thursday

2010-01-03T10:08:00.004+02:00

Another drawing from The Mornings After series. Four down, three to go.

Rebranding

2010-01-02T20:28:00.023+02:00

First of all, happy holidays everyone! This is my first post in 2010, so I think it's appropriate to begin the new year with something about a change.

My artistic career started exactly 15 years ago, and since that I have changed my signature twice. First time it was in 2000, and the second time it would have been in 2005, only I hadn't done any artwork that year (at least, anything worth signing), so "officially" the second change took place in 2006. As you can see, I have developed a sort of habit to change signatures once in 5 years, so it's time for another change -- hopefully, for good.

My new signature is not exactly new. Actually, it's a simplified version of my original "pyramid" logo, used between 1995-1999 (you can see it on the right). I have just removed the triangle and left only the intertwined R and K. So it's like a return to the roots. Also, there will be no date under the logo, which means my artwork won't be dated anymore, only signed. This is bad for chronology, but good for "timelessness." Many artists prefer using signatures without dates, and among them are some of my favorites -- like Luis Royo, for instance.

My previous signature won't be completely abandoned, however. It's still going to be used on certain works, like the political series, some pastel drawings, etc. But all the mainstream surreal and fantasy artwork will be signed with the new signature from now on.

I won't start using the signature immediately, though. I still have to finish some artwork started last year, and since I usually date my works with years when they were started, not when finished, they're gonna be signed with my old signature. Most probably, the first artwork signed with the new logo will be The Little Heartbreakers, which was also started last year, but will be dated 2010, as an exception to my "dating rules."

Suitcase Mood

2009-12-30T21:30:00.020+02:00

I made this drawing as a present for my younger brother Soso on his birthday, which is today, December 30th. For the reference, I have used a photo of him, taken by me in Riga airport, during our transit flight from Vilnius to Tbilisi, in January 2009. Only he wasn't actually sitting on a suitcase. The idea comes from the Russian expressions "sitting on a suitcase" and "a suitcase mood," used when someone is ready and eager to depart somewhere.
The artwork perfectly represents my own mood at the moment: I'm planning to move to Lithuania next month, to finally reunite with Diana and settle down our nomadic marriage. No more suitcases and airports please! Thank you.

As for the drawing itself, it's my usual color pencil/ballpoint pen combination. I have decided to place both my brother and his suitcase (my suitcase, actually) against a clean white background, in the best traditions of Norman Rockwell, which adds to the comic feel of the artwork.

The Mornings After: Wednesday

2009-12-28T11:17:00.007+02:00

Another drawing from The Mornings After series. For the details please read my introduction to the series.

The Banner

2009-12-26T06:55:00.004+02:00

With Black Coffee II finished, I have switched to my other series called Paranoia II (or ParanoIIa, as spelled alternatively). For a change, I decided to draw something new this time, not a remake. Well, the concept itself is quite old actually -- I did the rough draft a few years ago -- but still, it's a refreshing break from the long streak of remakes I did in the last few months.

I have nothing much to say about the artwork, except that it also features Diana as the model (what could I do without her!), only in a rather unusual form -- we can see a narrow stripe of her body, attached as a banner to her own... finger! Well, the finger is not exactly hers, but it sounds more bizarre that way -- and not only sounds, but looks as well, as you can see for yourself.

Black Coffee II: The Complete Series

2009-12-24T12:20:00.033+02:00

Inquisition II has concluded the Black Coffee II series, but I still have left a whole bunch of "coffee sketches," as I call them, so I'm planning to begin the third installment of the series next year. Meanwhile, I'd like to showcase some of the best (in my opinion) works from now completed series. But before that, a brief history of my "coffee artwork" -- and what on earth has coffee got to do with it, in the first place.

The answer to that question is simple: all the drawings from Black Coffee series are based on the actual images seen in dried coffee grounds, inside the actual coffee cups drunk by the actual people. I did these coffee drawings on a regular basis since 1993 through 1996, using only black ball-point pen. Most of them were drawn on the pages of a math copybook, properly titled and numbered, but later I started to make just quick drafts on random pieces of paper. Presently the copybook drawings are gathered into the series called Black Coffee With No Sugar, while the quick coffee sketches are collected as Coffee Drafts. On the left you can see my very first coffee drawing, called Golgotha.

The first colored version of a coffee drawing appeared in 1995. It was Mate to the Queen, loosely based on 1993's Regal Execution, seen on the right. It's probably the only case when I have changed the original composition so dramatically -- all the later color remakes follow their black-and-white predecessors as close as possible in that regard.

Mate to the Queen (1995)

The Black Coffee series, based on my earlier black-and-white coffee drawings, was among my first surreal portfolios, along with Body Language and Paranoia. It contains 15 pieces in total, dated from 1995 to 2000. In 2002 I started a new series called Black Coffee II, which has been completed only a few days ago. It also consists of 15 pieces and has some remade titles from the previous series. Here are a few selected works from the now complete series, as promised in the beginning. You might have seen some of them already in my previous blog posts.

Mate to the Queen II (2002)

Mermaid's Dream (2003)

Bride & Widow (2004)

The Original Sin (2004)

Shadows of the Memories (2006)

The Blue Cloud (2007)

The Moonstone (2009)

Nude Beach Dreaming II (2009)

You can see the rest of the works from this series at my website, or my deviantART gallery.

The Mornings After: Tuesday

2009-12-23T06:05:00.005+02:00

This is the second drawing from The Mornings After series started in September. For the background of the series and the technique details please read my earlier post about the first drawing from the series, called Monday.

Inquisition II

2009-12-22T08:12:00.006+02:00

This is another remake of my earlier artwork, only this time the gap in time is significantly smaller than it was with previous "coffee remakes" -- the original Inqusition, seen on the right, was made in 2004 and is from the same Black Coffee II series, as its new version.

The concept behind the artwork is quite simple: a woman, presumably accused of witchcraft, is about to be burned. There's nothing much to say here, except that the representation is utterly stylized and theatrical -- the lash-marks are the only "real" details here.

The original version followed the image seen in the coffee grounds as exactly as possible, hence the anatomical irregularities. In contrast, the remake features a live model, which brings more sense of realism, although the setting still stays the same (the only difference is the stump which replaced the table-like pedestal). The torn white dress, exposing the woman's semi-naked back, was changed to something more resembling a peeled-off human skin.

Like all my recent works, Inquisition II also features Diana as the model, but this time I had to change the natural color of her hair to red, as required by the new twist in the concept, according to which the hair seamlessly transforms into the flame. But you can still fully enjoy the view of her gorgeous amber hair in the model study made just before the remake.

Two Drops of Bloody Ketchup

2009-12-20T03:07:00.006+02:00

Recently I entered a vampire artwork contest at ArtWanted.com with my old Vampiric Self-Portrait (a.k.a. Two Drops of Ketchup). I did it just for fun, never expecting to win anything, but to my big surprise it won the 2nd place! The prize is only 10 bucks (crisis, you know), but I'm still very happy, because it's the first time my artwork reaches such a high place in a contest.

So here it is, my "award-winning" self-portrait, made back in 1996. It's done with color pencils, ball-point pens, gouache and Indian ink on paper. The so-called "blood drops" (by the concept, they are just ketchup drops) were made by using a sort of "action painting" -- I dripped highly diluted red gouache from a distance high enough to cause natural splatters, then I slightly tilted the paper for a second to make the drops run down a bit, and let them dry that way. That's why they look so realistic. Of course, I had to post-process the drops with color pencils and ball-point pens to give them the necessary volume.

As for my face, I didn't have a camera back then, so I used a double mirror to draw myself from life. Very archaic method nowadays, but it works quite well, once you get a knack of it.

Nude Beach Dreaming II

2009-12-18T04:12:00.004+02:00

As you could have guessed, Nude Beach Dreaming II is another remake of my older artwork. Like Maria Magdalena II, it's also from Black Coffee II series, and it also features Diana as the model (doing the double job actually, because she poses for two figures in this one). On the right you can see the original version, made in 2000. It's the last drawing from the first Black Coffee series (1995-2000). Conceptually, it represents the inner conflict between the desire of sexual freedom and the constraint developed during the years of moralistic upbringing.

In the remake I tried my best to leave the composition and the basic elements intact, because all my "coffee drawings" are based on the actual images seen in coffee grounds and I consider it important to retain the original feel and atmosphere in their remakes. But drawing from life brings its inevitable corrections, so I had to follow the rules of anatomy and make certain modifications.

Combining the realistic and semi-realistic visual elements has always been one of the trademarks of Black Coffee series. With Diana's appearance as the model the contrast between these elements became even more pronounced. From purely artistic point of view it might be considered as a threat to the visual and stylistic integrity, but I'm willing to take that risk just to see how Diana's body fits into the various, often harsh and difficult surreal environments -- and from what I've seen so far, it does just perfectly...

Sweet Attack II: The Royal Revenge

2009-12-17T19:23:00.015+02:00

More sweets! And there's a whole lot of them this time. But don't panic, we're gonna survive this attack just as easily as the previous one, if we stay put and don't get distracted by all those sweetie-pretty wrappings.

But why the royal revenge, you might ask. When describing the epic events of the first Sweet Attack, I mentioned that I had received two identical chocolate orders simultaneously, but from different customers, and I started working on the second one right after finishing the first. The brand name for this second series of chocolates is Samepo, which is Georgian for Royal. As for the revenge, these two brands -- BEST and Samepo -- are competing with each other, so my task was to beat my own design, as required by the second customer, who tempted me with gold and silver. The money was good, and you surely remember my three wives and eleven children (the recurring characters from the previous episodes of my design soap). So I tried my BEST to beat the BEST chocolates (sorry for the pun, I just can't restrain myself).

The key product in this series was a classic tiled chocolate with hazelnuts. I call it "tiled" to distinguish it from the bar-shaped chocolate -- I still can't get over the fact that in English there is no distinction between the Mars-type bar ("батончик" in Russian) and the flat, tiled chocolate ("плитка" in Russian). Did I mention I have a thing for contrastive linguistics? Well, now you know it...

Back to the subject. My primary task here was to make the design as different from the previous one as possible, while retaining the classic looks the both products shared. So, for starters, I gave it a horizontal orientation as opposed to its counterpart's vertical one, seen in the example on the right. Also, I chose a pitch-black background for the area with the brand name, while spotlighting the product representing graphics as vividly as possible, to direct all the attention to the content. On top of that, I designed the digital chocolates and hazelnuts from the scratch, trying to make them look different from the ones used in the previous work. But it wasn't entirely possible, because they shared the same digital technique and came from the same FruitLab.

Still, I think I was able to achieve that goal through the overall representation. While it definitely shows that the two designs come from the same author (you can't completely escape that and that's normal), the difference is quite enough to safely put them together on the shelf, so to speak.

One thing I particularly liked about this order was that, unlike the previous clients, the "Royal manufacturers" didn't try to give their goods the "outlandish" looks -- all the inscriptions were in Georgian, proudly emphasizing the origin of the product.

The next in the series were the two smaller "tiles" (50 grams each) under the sub-brand Kalakuri, which is a popular word used for naming various products, from sausages to vodkas, and its literal meaning ("urban" or "of the town/city") often has little or no connection to the actual product. In this case, it was simply used to distinguish the "weight class" and make the reference easier.

One of these smaller chocolates had the same hazelnuts inside, so basically I just placed the existing graphics into a modified environment. The other one came with raisins, so I had to spend some more time in the above-mentioned FruitLab. I had never dealt with raisins before, so it was fun making them (although they didn't come out quite as convincing as I planned).

There was yet another pair of tiled chocolates, even smaller (only 20 grams). One was called "Coffee Chocolate" (only I was unable to find any coffee in its ingredients) and the other was named "For Kids" (basically meaning there was no cognac or other "grown-up" stuff inside it).

Right in the middle of this chocolate invasion I received another "sweet" order -- this time from an old customer of mine, who had switched from making soft drinks to baking cakes, to my great surprise (and I suspect to his own as well). But that's not all. Coincidentally, his brand also uses the word "royal" -- it's called Nugbari Samepo, meaning "Royal Delicacies" or something like that. As for the order itself, basically it was a box design, but I only needed to make the front and side stickers for it. The contents of the box would vary, so I decided to use a photo of the assorted products in its design.

Funny thing is, I had no camera at the moment, so I had to make the product shot with my N73. This phone has quite a decent built-in camera which has saved my ass many times before. After some editing and tuning the sweets and cakes started to look quite inviting. Below you can see the actual box prototype:

After this "royal interlude" I continued with my chocolate drama. The customers decided to deal the final blow to the enemy with a series of chocolate bars with fruit fillings, six in total. I already had quite a stock in my FruitLab, but I still lacked some specimens, like cherries and apricots, so I had to design them from the scratch. Also, I needed to come up with some idea for the cocoa filling (we had one on the menu). For that I made a modified version of the "caramel ripple" effect which I had used in their competitors' dark chocolate design.

I seriously doubt the other party will ever get on their feet after this carpet-bombing. But if they still do, I'll be glad to switch sides in this "chocolate war" and beat my own design... once again.

A Tiny Bit of Magic Before Christmas

2009-12-06T16:11:00.021+02:00

Well, it's actually quite long before Christmas and even longer if we're talking about the Orthodox Christmas, but still...

This is the front side of an advertising booklet for a real estate brokerage company, introducing their special New-Year offers. It's really nothing special in terms of design, but there's something else I wanted to boast about. You see that snowy scenery with a Christmas tree? Take a good look at it. Feel the frost in the air? Hear the Jingle Bells? Good! Now compare it with the original photo, provided by the client:

There, you have just witnessed a tiny bit of photo-editing magic. And such a "miraculous transformation" is the only option when customers are unable to provide you with proper material to work with. Not that I'm complaining, though -- it was quite a fun working on this one.

Maria Magdalena II

2009-12-03T04:25:00.017+02:00

This is another "Dianization" of my older artwork, this time from Black Coffee series. You can see the original version on the right. It's been done in 2000, but the concept draft has existed since 1996. It was my take on Mary Magdalene, one of the most important women in Christianity. According to Eastern Orthodox belief, she had been a virtuous woman all the way from the beginning, so chaste that the devil thought she might be chosen to bear Christ into the world, so he sent seven demons to sway her from the righteous path.

Interestingly, I wasn't aware of such interpretation back when I did the drawing (inexcusable for an Orthodox Christian, I know), and the connection with it came out completely unintended. But that's the way these "coffee drawings" work -- everything about them is spontaneous and happens on subconscious level, because they are all drawn from the actual coffee grounds, which are supposed to be completely random.

You might ask, what the dog has to do with it. Maybe that's the question for the person who actually drank that cup of coffee, but since I can't really remember who it was, I guess I'll have to answer that myself. Well, in my art (and in life, generally) a dog is a symbol of loyalty and faithfulness, and the chain here should not be considered as means of restraining Magdalena's freedom, but rather a way to keep her feet "on the ground" -- something everybody needs when standing on the edge of a crumbling rock.

So here it is -- the brand new version of Maria Magdalena, featuring Diana as the model. I must say, it takes some courage to pose for such a tough theme, with its controversial and somewhat disturbing imagery. But for me there are no forbidden themes in art, and I'm happy that Diana shares my stance on it. Maria Magdalena II is the first artwork to feature her full frontal nudity, and she managed with grace, beauty and the complete understanding of the subject, for which I'm very grateful.

Sweet Attack

2009-11-23T17:22:00.012+02:00

As the year is nearing its end, the local sweet-makers have noticeably livened up. Recently I have received two chocolate orders simultaneously, from different customers. One has already been finished, the other is still in progress.

The completed order consisted of four items in total: chocolate with nuts, classic dark chocolate and two chocolate bars -- one with fruit filling and the other with crème brûlée. But first, I had to come up with the trademark design, something simple but catchy, in tune with the brand name: "BEST Chocolate."

Next, I fired up my FruitLab to produce some "come and eat me"-looking nuts. I already had some experience with peanuts, which really helped. Throwing in some chocolate tiles was a piece of cake... or chocolate, in this case. And here it goes, the BEST chocolate with nuts, ever (according to the manufacturer, that is).

It wasn't that easy with the dark chocolate, though. I couldn't use the pretty nuts as the main attraction this time, and without some eye-candy the "dark" package risked to appear duller than its "nutty" counterpart. Some beautifully spread ripples of dark chocolate would do the trick, and I decided to work in that direction. There were some more or less suitable images in stock, but it contradicted with the "golden rule" I'm diligently trying to follow lately: avoid using stock or clip art as much as possible. So I had to make those ripples myself somehow, and that was no easy task.

Luckily, while searching for the reference images, I stumbled upon this wonderful tutorial on how to make 3D ripples in Adobe Illustrator, completely vector-based but very realistic. I didn't even know Illustrator could do such an amazing effect, and so easily, at that. I tried it myself and the result exceeded my expectations: it was perfect! You can see the fruits of my labor in the finished design below.

Working on the chocolate bars went on a lot easier. I made two identical packages, but with different background colors, inscriptions and the colors of the chocolate fillings. The only challenge here was squeezing in the loads of small technical text, but I used to work as a layout designer for a magazine in my previous life, so that was no problem.

You can't fully evaluate a package design until you see it in action. So here's the prototypes of the actual products, dressed (or rather wrapped) for success.

How to Make a Peanut

2009-11-16T11:30:00.023+02:00

Today, children, we will learn how to make a peanut! A digital one, that is. It's really not that hard, provided you have some basic knowledge of any vector graphics tool, like CorelDRAW or Adobe Illustrator.

First, we make a simple peanut-like shape, as shown on the right. Then we're gonna need a bitmap texture, like they do it in 3D design, only a lot simpler. Fire up your Photoshop (or any other photo-editor of your choice) to create a rectangle filled with a color suitable for a peanut shell, then take the lighter and darker versions of that color to make light spots and shadows, as shown in my example. It's very simple, you just need large soft brushes to achieve the smooth gradations.

Now just import that bitmap into your vector tool and place it inside the peanut shape we created earlier. Next comes the hardest part: making those notches on the shell. Again, it's not that hard, once you know what you're doing. First, we need to make a few simple shapes, filled with a color gradation, from darker to lighter. Then we need to arrange those shape randomly along the peanut shell, with smaller shapes closer to the edges and in the middle. After that we create a few more rows in a similar way. According to our lighting model, the bottom row should be a bit darker. That's it -- our peanut shell is all ready.
But that's only half the work. Now we need to cut the shell out and place some peanuts inside. For that, we simply make a copy of our peanut shape, fill it with a much darker color cradient, reduce it a bit and adjust its curves to fit its parent, where necessary. Then we need to make another copy of the parent, but this time fill it with a lighter gradation and make it a bit larger than the previous copy, so that it creates an impression of the cut. Look at this -- now we have a huge hole in the shell!Time to make a peanut core. Basically, it's just a nut core, only longer and smoother. Also, it has some evenly distributed, barely noticeable lines along its surface. As for the color, it's reddish brown, and, like in the previous cases, we need a gradation between the darker and the lighter versions of that color.
After the peanuts are ready, all we have to do is place them inside the dark "cavity" we made before. As a finishing touch, we could make a sliced version of the peanut core, but that's optional.
Congratulations, now we have our very own digital peanuts! And they are freely transformable and scalable, like any other vector objects. So what now? We can simply admire our peanuts, gratuitously feed them to some (digital) squirrels or, better yet, use them in a peanut label, like this one:

The Queen of Mermaids

2009-11-09T11:04:00.005+02:00

This is an old artwork from my fantasy series, but it had never been published on the Web before, because it hadn't been entirely finished. A few days ago I finally managed to find some time (after eight years!) to sit down to it and get it done. At long last.

Essentially, it's a color remake of a 1994 drawing with the same title from the copybook called Graphic Fantasies. You can see the original artwork on the right. Initially I intended to repeat it's arched shape, but later I changed my mind. I've kept the basic composition and the details of the scenery mostly intact, but altered the mermaid's posture from relaxed to more solemn, living up to her title of the queen. Also, I've changed the throne to some sort of an "epic-looking" rock formation, more suitable for the underwater fantasy setting.

Sausages. Lots of Sausages.

2009-11-08T17:45:00.031+02:00

First of all, let's clear some things up. The English word "sausage" refers to all types of sausages, while in many other languages (like Georgian or Russian, for instance) there are two separate words: one for the large and medium sized sausages, and the other for the small ones, also called Vienna sausages, frankfurters or weenies in English. Since this post covers both types, I need to distinguish them somehow, because they really are different products both visually and gustatorily, so let's simply call them "big" and "small."

I've been working as a graphics designer since 1995, but I did my very first sausage design only in 2003, which, my dear Watsons, lets you safely deduct that this particular industry hadn't been exactly thriving in Georgia until more recently. The big sausages were mainly imported from Russia, while the local manufacturers concentrated mostly on smaller ones -- like those they put in hot dogs.

The local brands of these small sausages (most notably, Iveria and Vake) were hugely popular in Georgia, but their manufacturers never really cared how their products were represented on the shelves: they just dropped the bulks of chained sausages into the fridges and were happy. That started to slowly change lately, as more competitors appeared on the market -- both local and from abroad. So the local sausage-makers finally started to notice us, designers.

My first "sausage order" came from Loma, now retired foodstuff company. It was a box for a cervelat, flavored with tarragon and mint. They never actually released the product due to some technical complications, but still, here it is...

A couple of years later, a newly emerged manufacturer called Akhali Produkti ("New Product") literally heaped me up with a whole series of sausages. They were mostly based on popular Russian (or rather Soviet) sorts, like "Doktorskaya" and "Lyubitelskaya," but also included a few local brands.

The pinnacle of AP's production was a special sort of sausage called "Manuel's Recipe," named after a then popular Spanish chef cook hosting a local culinary TV show.

After that I had a long break from the sausages -- right until 2007, when another new customer knocked at my door: a Gori-based meat products company called Okros Tevzi ("Goldfish"). This time it was different, because the labels were to be printed directly on the sausage coating, and with the applicable printing technology (flexography, to be precise) still being in the embryonic stage here in Georgia, it provided additional challenges from the designing point of view.

Fortunately, the customer soon realized, that the quality of the local flexography just wasn't enough for the proper representation of their products, so they finally switched to my favorite offset printing, ordering me a series of stickers for their main brands.

Last month I received another order from Gori for their new line of small frozen sausages in vacuum packs, three labels in total: Chicken, Milky and For Kids. All three products were sized and packed identically, but since their ingredients and target markets were different, the customer requested three separate designs.

That's it for now. This particular sphere of design still remains largely unexplored for me, and I'm definitely looking forward to more "sausage orders."

Orgasm Vodka: The Final Product

2009-10-29T14:48:00.008+02:00

Yesterday I received the studio photos of the finished Orgasm Vodka bottle. I think it's exactly what the doctor ordered. My only regret is that the label has been printed on a regular paper instead of metallic, but the gold foil stamping also looks great.

The Founding Fathers (a.k.a. Bulgarian Perverts) promised to send me a few bottles, so hopefully I'll have a chance to study the final product up close and personal (but not THAT personal, if you have some lewd thoughts on your mind). They have almost finished the "discreet package" design for supermarkets and presently are working on posters (with my involvement in the latter). Meanwhile, you can enjoy the teaser video from YouTube:

Khinkali!

2009-10-13T05:22:00.016+03:00

Aeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Ahem... Sorry for that. It's just a fit of my genetic craziness about khinkali, shared by many of my compatriots, for whom eating this traditional Georgian sort of meat dumplings is always a special occasion and a joyful event, because we usually eat khinkali in a merry company of our friends and family members. Besides, it's really tasty!

Khinkali is believed to be originated from Pshavi, a historical Georgian province on the southern foothills of Greater Caucasus. From there, it spread to the neighboring places and became a trademark dish for Khevsureti, Tusheti, Mtiuleti and other highland provinces. So, my genetic affection to khinkali is doubled, because my family name, Kaishauri, also comes from that part of Georgia.

Today khinkali is widely (and wildly) popular throughout all Georgia and is considered a nationwide culinary heritage, but still, the "real" khinkali is always associated with the places of its origin. That's why many semi-prepared food manufacturers tend to distinguish their khinkali with titles based on the associated regions (Khevsuretian, Tushetian, Mtiuletian) or geographical names (Shatili, Pasanauri). Of course, these products have very little in common with the traditional cooking methods practiced in the "home regions" of khinkali, they just try to bring an air of authenticity.

This is exactly the case of the dish we have on the menu today. It's called Mtiuluri Khinkali, implying it's somehow related to Mtiuleti, one of the renowned "khinkali provinces." But, as you could have guessed, it's rather a wish than reality. In fact, the product doesn't even stand up to the standards of a regular "urban" khinkali, not mentioning a Mtiuletian one, because it features soy as an ingredient -- a cheap "mass addition" to the meat.

Of course, the highlander's genes in me were terribly outraged by this heresy, but then I remembered my three wives and eleven children, and after some brief inner struggle (about 5 seconds) decided to take the order... Alright, alright, I do such things on a daily basis and I feel no shame. Satisfied?

So, what's a Mtiuletian khinkali without something Mtiuletian? I remembered the famous series of paintings by Gigo Gabashvili, depicting drunken Khevsurs. They are not Mtiuls, but very close. I decided to make my own version of a drunken highlander, very "cartoonish" and light-hearted. Naturally, he had to be unshaven, wearing a mustache and a papakhi. A quick marker drawing, scanning, tracing, coloring and my drunken Mtiuli was all ready. Somewhere in the process he lost a front tooth, but that's OK.

Now all he needed was a dish full of khinkali, suitable in visual style. More drawing, tracing and coloring... and here it was. But wait... there was something missing from the picture. Ah, a jug of beer! What's khinkali without good fresh beer? Either that, or vodka... but I prefer beer with khinkali. My label, my choice! Waiter, a beer over here!

That's it. If you ever come to Georgia, you absolutely have to try khinkali. Heh... who am I kidding here? You WILL HAVE NO CHOICE but to try -- just don't resist, it's futile. I'm sure you're gonna like it. Well, George W. Bush certainly did, if it helps... And don't be afraid: we treat our guests only with best khinkali -- no soy, no cheap tricks, only the real thing!

Stairway from Heaven II

2009-10-10T05:50:00.019+03:00

This particular theme in my artwork has a long history. I had painted the very first version of my "winged prostitute" in 1994 (exactly 15 years ago), when I was graduating from Nikoladze Art School. Actually, it was my diploma work, although it barely passed the test: for the examination board members it looked more like a mockery. I really can't blame them: an "angel" with the body of a streetwalker and the face of a transvestite isn't exactly what you expect to see in the diploma work of a model pupil.

When I was asked, what it represented, I said it was about the duality of the human nature. That's why I referred to the work as Dualism, although it never had any "official" title. The painting, done with oils on cardboard, beside being the largest piece of art I've ever done (105 x 85 cm), also remains to be my last oil painting, and it currently covers a hole in my apartment, face to the wall.

Later the same year I did a black-and-white version for my "Graphic Fantasies" copybook, which has a long history of its own. The copybook version had been titled Two Natures, and looked somewhat caricatural. The next year I did another remake -- this time with color pencils and ballpoint pens, which happens to be not only my first serious attempt in that technique, but also the very first work that laid the foundation of my whole artistic career as a surrealist.

Stairway from Heaven (Morning Version)

Stairway from Heaven (Evening Version)

Stairway from Heaven (Night Version)

As you can see, the remake came in three different versions: morning, evening and night. I decided to change the title from Two Natures to Fallen Angel. Years later I came up with a more original title: Stairway from Heaven.

When I first met Diana in person and we started our artist/model relationship (in step with the romantic one, that is), it was only natural for me to think about remaking the old works with her as the model. In the next two years we did a lot of photo-shooting for various projects, including the "Dianized" versions of some previous titles, but the only actual remake (or rather a sequel) we did so far was Still Waiting..., continuing the story of Waiting for Another Crank-Up.

Thus, Stairway from Heaven II was to be the second remake with Diana, and the first one, actually featuring her face (we saw only her back in the previous remake). I started to work a couple of days ago, and it took only two full days to finish the drawing.

My "winged prostitutes" are simply doomed for experiments. The original oil painting was sort of a Frankenstein monster, painted from different models (one lent me her arms and torso, but was too shy about her legs, the other was just vice-versa). Besides, it was the one and only painting where I used the elements of pointillism (in the mosaic texture of the stairway). The 1995 versions represented a real training ground for my emerging trademark technique. As for the remake with Diana, it was the first time I tested my new LYRA Osiris aquarelle pencils. They proved to be an excellent medium, perfectly suited for my style, and they were especially handy when rendering the stairway texture: they can be applied wet, which makes the dotting process a lot easier, among other things.

But that was the only experimental thing about it. As you can see from the different stages of work, all the rest proceeded as usual, from the basic layout to the intermediate processing with color pencils, subsequently refined with the ballpoint pens, as seen in the finished artwork below.

When put beside Stairway from Heaven (Morning Version), this remake perfectly illustrates the improvement of my drawing technique. But the new version looks much better not only because of that, but also because it features Diana, who can make any artwork of mine look way better than it is without her...

Orgasm Vodka

2009-10-08T09:25:00.039+03:00

Recently I've been contacted by a new customer from Bulgaria, asking if I could make a label design for a... let's say... specific brand of vodka. The new product was titled Orgasm Vodka, but what really cracked me up was the suggestive shape of the bottle and the very idea behind it. As explained by the customer, the product was intended to have three spheres of application: as a drink, as an aphrodisiac (apparently they put something in it to "stimulate the desire") and... well... use your imagination here (the bottle's made of plastic, if your imagination needs a hint).

It was a perfect job for an old pervert like me, so I took it gladly. Having received the label dimensions and the basic concept, I eagerly set to work.

I liked the idea suggested by the customer: a naked (and preferably masturbating) young woman lying on the word ORGASM, with her legs and her lowered panties making the letter A. But the diamond shape of the label and the shortness of the word prompted me to put the woman in a seated position. With the concept fully ripened in my head, I started to draw the so-called "orgasm girl."

After finishing the drawing (represented on the left), I scanned it into the computer, traced it and completely digitized it, which would easily allow me any further manipulations and experiments. Below you can see the digital version of the original artwork, as it progressed from tracing to coloring and shading. It was the most laborious task, but the efforts were fully repaid, because now I was able to quickly (and separately, what's more important) modify all the parts of the figure -- from the hair to the shoes.
I made the three initial demo versions of the labels: blue, pink and black. Respectively, the "orgasm girl" was represented in three different images: brunette with black stockings, red-haired with pink stockings and blonde with white stockings. All three versions included a starry background, where the stars, as some of the other elements of the design, would be printed in gold or silver.
The "Bulgarian perverts," as I lovingly codenamed my new-found customers, returned the following suggestions: to shut the woman's mouth a bit (according to one of them, she was "howling at the moon") and to cover her nipples with stars (government regulations, you know). Also, I was to further experiment with the font, the colors and the placement of the Triple Pleasure tagline, because it didn't quite fit into the whole picture.After sending some more demo versions with the modified girls, I was asked to experiment with red. I revere the erotic fantasies of my customers, so I immediately dressed my girl in bright red stockings and send her back to work along with her completely color-drained version, placed against solid dark blue background (also a part of the aforementioned fantasies).
The Bulgarians liked the red versions very much, but I strongly advised them to stick to the pink color, having noted that while red is definitely sexy, pink is more "libertine" and therefore more suitable to the subject (not mentioning the deep bluish-purple color of the bottle). Also, pink looks a lot better than red, when printed on metallic paper (that was the plan). Fortunately, my arguments were heard and the ultimate choice was decided in favor of the pink versions.

At this stage I was finally provided with the actual cutting outline, fitting the label depression in the bottle precisely. As expected, it required some corrections to the design, but nothing major. Also, as requested by the printing company, we had to remove the yellow color from the woman's body entirely. Guess what? She looked even better now -- all pink, happy and orgasmic. Soon the work was done and the final version of the label, as seen below, was sent to the customer.
As a bonus, I threw in the "retro" versions of the "orgasm girls," just for fun. But the other party took the idea quite seriously, having said that they might use it for some future projects -- like a brandy for Russian export, for instance. More erotic fantasies... Fascinating!
I really enjoyed working on this project and I'm definitely looking forward to more opportunities like this -- it's exactly my line of work. As any other self-respecting erotic artist, the only thing I like drawing more than a naked woman is a masturbating naked woman! And when someone pays money for this, what more could I wish for? Only more naked women, more money and more "pervert" customers, who are not afraid of daring experiments.

The Mornings After: Monday

2009-09-25T21:30:00.036+03:00

The idea of a series of nude drawings came to me last summer, when I was in our Surami cottage with Diana, just before the August War. It was a beautiful morning, and Diana was even more beautiful, lying in the bed, half-awoken and naked, with her long amber hair flowing like a river. Such mornings, after a long night of passion, are always delightful, even if it's raining outside.

Enjoying the breathtaking view, I remembered a song by Lacrimosa, "Der Morgen danach" -- and quite appropriately, because it means "The Morning After." I immediately pictured a series of "morning drawings," made on a toned pastel paper, possibly with sanguine or some other sepia medium. The drawings, as I imagined, had to be seven in number -- one for each day of week -- and the title of the series would be, of course, The Mornings After.

After returning to Tbilisi, we arranged a morning photo-session especially for this project. I took the pictures already in sepia mode, to feel the mood of the series better. Later I picked the seven photos and distributed them among the days of week. Now I only had to find a suitable paper and start working, but that would have to wait until Diana's departure.

Literally the same day as Diana left for Vilnius, the tension in the "South Ossetian" breakaway region reached its peak, resulting in a full-scale armed conflict, with a subsequent Russian "peace enforcing" invasion. Naturally, I had to postpone all my projects, including The Mornings After. Like they say, when the cannons speak, the Muses are silent. And even when the cannons stopped, all I could think of was the informational war against Kremlin and my part in it, as an artist. For many following months, the Politika series, inspired by the August events, was the only art I did.

When finally I was able to return to more pleasant things, like drawing my beautiful girlfriend (presently my wife), I faced another problem -- I simply couldn't find the right paper! I tried many different pastel papers, but they were either too light or too dark, or just the wrong color. For a long time the search was fruitless, until I finally found what I was looking for... in Vilnius, during my summer vacation. CANSON Mi-teintes 340 "Chanvre clair" (that's the brand of the paper) seemed to be just perfect for my needs, so now I finally could begin the series -- a year later after its "conceptual birth."

Firstly, I had to "lay the ground" with a common graphite pencil. On the right you can see the artwork in its preparatory stage, beside the monitor displaying the reference photo from the last year session. Prior to the next stage I had to choose the media -- and I had to do it carefully. As I suspected, my Conté sanguine crayons, used in Her Childish Smile, turned out to be too "vivid" for this particular task, but they still would do as a complementary medium -- especially for hair. Koh-i-Noor's Gioconda 6 sepia leads looked a lot better with this tone of paper, so I decided to trust them the main job, having placed one of these leads into a mechanical holder, especially designed for them (it's very convenient, believe me). For the finer details and darker parts I chose a dark brown pencil from my favorite LYRA Super Ferby series. Finally, I brought in some chalk for the highlights.

The paper I had chosen has two different sides: toothed and flat. It's harder to work on a rough side, but in the end its more rewarding, because it gives those classic "grainy" looks to the drawing. Fortunately, I already had received quite a training in drawing on toothed surfaces with similar techniques, while working on Her Childish Smile, Tamro and The Purple Haze, so I hadn't faced any particular challenges, other than trying to maintain the balance between the chosen types of media. Below you can see the development of the artwork at the later stages.

And this is the finished drawing, named "Monday" -- the first swallow of the upcoming series. Six more to go...

As a bonus, here's a zoomed detail showing the technique more "up close and personal."

That's it for now. Stay tuned for the next "morning after" -- it'll be coming very soon!

Still Life with a Mirror

2009-09-24T13:55:00.015+03:00

On a rainy day of my summer vacation in Vilnius I was sitting at Diana's desk, thinking of what to draw. I had my Red Folder with me, where I keep my unfinished drawings, but I wanted to start something new. I was on the edge of frustration, when I incidentally looked at Diana's mirror and was struck by a sudden idea.

I asked Diana to look into the mirror, so that I could catch her glance. That was it! I took a probe shot and started to polish the idea further. I needed to clean up the scene and leave only what was necessary, making it more minimalistic. But I also wanted to bring in some "conceptual elements" that would help convey a certain mood. And that would be a lipstick and a ring.

Diana doesn't wear lipstick, but she still has one. As for the ring, I decided to use something plain and classic. My concept required an evening setting, so I dimmed the window and turned on the table lamp. The next task was to arrange all the objects according to the unwritten rules of any still life composition: looking good together, but with a certain degree of natural randomness.

Now that I had all four elements (the lamp, the lipstick, the ring and the mirror itself) in place, I needed to get the most important, but elusive "fifth element" -- Diana's face in the mirror. After some intensive trial and error, I was finally able to catch her reflection exactly the way I was looking for.

All set, I started to draw using my detailed technique, which takes much time. Naturally, I wasn't able to finish it in one day, and since my vacation was nearing its end, I only had time to do some initial work on the basic elements. Still, it was a start.

I had a pile of work waiting for me when I got back home, as it usually happens after vacation, so I was able to continue the drawing only about a week ago. I finished it yesterday, scanned and sent to Diana, as I always do -- she's my first audience (besides, it was her face in the mirror, after all). She liked it very much, having commented that the "life" in the picture isn't exactly "still," which is definitely a good thing. So here it is, (Not So Very) Still Life with a Mirror, all finished...

I like still lifes that don't just represent some carefully arranged objects, but also tell a small story. Hopefully, Still Life with a Mirror has one of such stories to tell. In my perception, it's about a woman who's getting ready for an evening, planning to go out with her beloved. And if she happens to be your woman, it's a great feeling when you catch her glance in the mirror, as she smiles at you, as if saying: "Aha, you like what you see, don't you?"

A Quick Rinse

2009-09-14T10:00:00.008+03:00

Yep, more detergents are coming your way. No no no, don't faint on me -- it ain't gonna be another Big Wash, just a quick rinse this time, I promise.

It was the first order I received after returning from my summer vacation, and it came from the customer who was behind my very first detergent labels back in 2006: a firm called "100+1" (the same name as their production). Only this time they decided to go with a new brand name: MAX. Naturally, the design also had to be different and fresh.

As before, the labels needed to be done in three different flavors, so I locked myself up in my FruitLab to breed some more of those "self-made" fruits. Since I already had a stock of lemons and oranges, I only needed to add some green apples to my "digital garden."

After tailoring the shape of the labels to the actual liquid container and designing the MAX logo, all I had to do was "stirring up" the background and adding some eye candy like pretty bubbles and shiny sparkles. And here it was: another fruity detergent in the best traditions of the genre.
But that's not all. A few days later I received a new "dish-washing" order from another regular customer: a private venture primarily using ECO+ brand for their production (those who had been fortunate enough to attend the Big Wash should be familiar with that name). The customer didn't want anything new this time, but rather to alter an existing label which we did earlier: a detergent balsam, featuring Diana's "glamoured" hand and a mascot character. The task was to change the shape of the label and replace the ECO+ brand with BEST. Also, the original label was a "solo project," and now it had to be done in three different flavors, as we usually do with other labels.

The FruitLab already contained the "raw ingredients" for the two of these flavors, but it didn't have any strawberries, so I had to design them from the scratch (which was actually fun: strawberries proved to be a very interesting fruit to "build," so to speak).

The "ECO+ girl" also had to undergo some changes: now she sported a new "sponsor's logo" on her apron (which effectively made her the "BEST girl"), and this new sponsor turned out to be quite generous, adding two new dresses to her collection to match the new flavors.
Usually I don't like redesigning the labels, because the new elements are often hard to fit into the existing arrangements. Fortunately, this wasn't the case here: the completely redesigned top part of the label matched the rest quite naturally.
That's it for now, but I'm sure there will be more episodes in this soap (or rather detergent) opera: my ever-competitive customers declared a real war on each other, which is certainly fine by me, as long as I remain the main weapon supplier for the both sides of the conflict...

The Village Cross

2009-09-06T10:15:00.016+03:00

The story behind this drawing had been already recounted in my epic post called Summer in Vilnius, but I can hardly imagine anybody able to read that one through beside myself, Diana and a couple of martyrs who decided to bore themselves to death in the name of art, so here it is in a more exclusive form. Besides, when I was writing that post, the reproduction of the artwork still hadn't been ready for publishing, only some photos where you could see the work in progress and the finished drawing.

The drawing represents a "village cross" in Avižieniai, a rural outskirt of Vilnius. As I wrote before, I had already seen this place during my winter trip to Vilnius, but back then it had been all covered with snow and I had barely noticed it. Now it appeared before me in all its glory, captivating me with its simple beauty and peaceful quietness.

Having noticed my interest, Diana briefly introduced me to the history of this place. There was no church in Avižieniai, so the local community decided to gather the money and build this simple cross as a modest tribute to the Lord. The cross has been surrounded by a short wooden fence with some hydrangeas inside, which at first made me think it was a grave or a memorial of some sorts (here in Georgia the graves are usually surrounded by individual fences, with flowers growing inside, so that was a natural thing to think).

When one of the sunny days of my vacation I decided to draw something in the open air, this beautiful place was the first thing to come to my mind. I was so eager to draw it, that couldn't wait for the proper lighting: the sun wasn't in the right position yet, casting awkward shadows on the cross. I still made a rough sketch just to feel the proportions and "breathe" the atmosphere of this lovely site. Diana was beside me, as always, sharing my enthusiasm, taking some photos and greeting the neighbors curiously passing by.

Later, when the lighting was more suitable for this particular scenery, I came back and took some pictures to be used later as reference: since I had no easel and no place to sit, I couldn't make a detailed drawing in the open air, so I decided to finish the job some other time, at home.

Franciszka, Diana's mother, liked the sketch so much that she asked me to leave it to her, so that she could boast to everyone, what a talented son-in-law she had. But I wanted to leave her something more valuable than a simple sketch on a rough paper, so a few days later I took a sheet of Canson Vivaldi Crème paper, settled in front of Diana's monitor and started drawing a more detailed version of The Village Cross, based on my previous sketch and the reference photos made earlier.

A few hours later the drawing had been finished, but it wasn't quite ready to be given away -- I had to scan it for my website (and this blog) and frame it. Diana's scanner had died on her a long time ago, so we had to go to her work to scan the artwork. Then we went to the framing shop, located in the Old Town of Vilnius, and ordered the frame. It fitted the artwork perfectly, and now I could leave it to Franciszka in a proper state.

That's the whole story behind The Village Cross; I hope you found it interesting. And here's your "reward" for being patient: the scanned artwork itself.

Summer in Vilnius

2009-08-30T17:46:00.250+03:00

On my previous trip to Lithuania it was a cold, frosty winter, and my thermophilic southern butt stayed most of the time indoors. Even on those rare occasions, when I heroically risked my life and dared to challenge the snowy, icy and slippery streets of Vilnius, I was dressed like a Teuton in full armor, and the slit between my cap and my scarf was so narrow that I could hardly see anything.

This time it was totally different: I could finally enjoy the city and its beautiful outskirts for real. The weather was often unpredictable (which seems to be typical for a Baltic summer), but most of the time it was warm and sunny.

There was another different thing this time: I didn't take my brother Soso with me. Instead, I took my mother. I know, it's kinda "not cool" to travel around with your mom, but Diana's folks were eager to meet my parents, and since my father doesn't live with us, my mother had to represent both of my ancestors. Besides, the woman hasn't been anywhere outside Georgia for nearly three decades and for her it was a real adventure -- I just couldn't deprive her of the chance to "see the world" again, like in good old Soviet times, when you could fly to Moscow and back just for a price of an ice-cream... well, a really BIG ice-cream.

Naili (that's my mother's name) quite enjoyed the flight, although at first she was a bit nervous: it had been a very very long time since she last flew on a plane and back then the planes were really scary. But the comfort of a modern Boeing calmed her in no time, and soon she was curiously observing the fascinating view from the window.

The Arrival

Yes, the flight was very enjoyable and pleasant... until we found out what airBaltic had done to my suitcase! My friend's suitcase, actually, which I had borrowed for the trip. The poor thing looked as if it had gone through World War II. The airBaltic representative (a very nice girl, by the way) described it as "all crashed and beyond repair" in her report. But words cannot truly describe its state, you should see it for yourselves.

Strangely enough, the contents of the suitcase had survived. All the fragile stuff had been packed in Naili's suitcase, anyway. Most importantly, the gifts were safe and sound, so the traditional greeting part went smooth, without those embarrassing "oops, it was a bottle of fine Georgian brandy, but you can still drink it, if you find a way to filter out the tiny shards of glass" moments. But we still had to buy a new suitcase before departure, and I was still angry at airBaltic for being so careless with luggage.

But enough of that. Everything else was just peachy, and nothing could overshadow the anticipation of a wonderful vacation with my beloved wife... and the Honeymoon, Part II, of course -- Diana and I, naturally, were eager to continue where we left off in Tbilisi. But first, we had to introduce the city to my mother... and re-introduce it to myself, too -- I missed so much in winter! So that was the first thing we did next morning. Since Diana lives in Avižieniai, a rural outskirt of Vilnius, we would have to take a regular bus to get to our destination, but Diana's uncle, who lives nearby, kindly offered to give us a lift in his car.

The city was overwhelmingly beautiful in summer, just as I had expected. Vilnius welcomed us with a bright, sunny weather, magnificent buildings, neat streets, short skirts and long, tanned legs (which at first I honestly tried to ignore, as any decent man would do in the presence of his lady, but then I realized that resistance was futile and succumbed).

No, there will be no photos of amber-haired and long-legged Lithuanian beauties in this post (other than those of my wife's, that is), so bear with it. Instead, I'll show you how we enjoyed walking the streets of the Old Town and posed graciously before the camera -- all for you, my dear readers, all for you...

Manual Labor

Being on vacation doesn't necessarily mean you should lay on your back doing nothing. In my case, manual labor was an excellent way of recreation, because I mostly work at my computer, getting very little physical action. So the next day, when I heard Juozas (that's Diana's father) unloading some wooden boards from his tractor, I eagerly volunteered to give him a hand. Thus we ended up working together, and that was a really nice feeling. Juozas told me those boards were good for heating: they were unpolished chipboard leftovers from a nearby furniture shop, and chipboard burns extremely well, because it's completely dry and has low density. For now we only had to unload them and cover them from rain with a large polyethylene film; as the need would arise, Juozas would break them into smaller pieces and take them to the basement, from where the central heating system was maintained.

Later that evening I saw something you don't get to see every day -- at least here in Tbilisi. When all the dogs in the neighborhood, including our own Amik (a mix of German shepherd with something unidentified), started barking like crazy, we looked up to the skies to witness an extraordinary sight: it was literally covered with balloons. And we're not talking some kids' balloons here, but the real airships with people and everything. Some of them were flying so close to the ground that I was even able to make out the inscriptions -- and that's with my nearsightedness, mind you!

Pressing Matters

Vacation is good (not to mention the honeymoon), but we had some pressing matters to attend to. Namely, I needed to officially apply for the residence permit, so the next few days were spent running "there and back again" to the Migration Department with a document folder in our hands (or rather in my hand, as you see on the photo on the left), dubbed the Red Folder No.2 (No.1 is my famous Red Folder where I keep my unfinished drawings). On the first day of our quest for the residence permit we just went there to learn what was required from us. We gathered all the necessary papers, filled all the forms and returned the next day, hoping to be done with it. But as it always happens, we turned out to be lacking one of the critical documents and had to come back another day. Finally, they accepted the application and told us to wait "up to 6 months" until the case was examined and approved by the higher authorities. Until then, I could enjoy my preferential visa as the husband of a citizen of the European Union.

I still had plenty of time ahead, but nevertheless decided to begin my resettlement preparations immediately... by learning Lithuanian. In case you didn't know, it's one of the hardest languages in the world, but I was quite optimistic. While Diana searched for some self-tutoring books and software online, I grabbed a short Lithuanian-Russian dictionary, borrowed from my brother before our departure from Tbilisi, and started to practice random words. In the following days I continued in that spirit, only now I practiced on the streets, reading out loud everything I saw: shop titles, billboards, advertisements, posters, even road signs. Naturally, Diana was there to correct me when I was wrong... and sometimes I was deliberately wrong, like in the case of "maisto papildas," which I, for some twisted reason, persisted to pronounce à la Portuguese (something like "maishtu papyudas"), finding it rather amusing how Diana diligently corrected me every time I did it.

As expected, I didn't learn much by merely walking in the streets and reading the inscriptions, but in the process I invented a whole new Lithuanian word! It's žmuoklis, only I still don't have a slightest idea, what it means. Diana didn't like the word at first, having said that it sounds rather Finnish than Lithuanian, but with time (and I made sure she heard the word on a constant basis) she got used to it, then she started to like it, and finally she loved it -- especially when I murmured it into her ear playfully, like a contented tomcat: "Žmuooooooooklis..."

Earginity Lost

Speaking of ears... We had another important mission this summer, only much more pleasant than applying for residence permit. Well, surely pleasant for me and maybe a little hurtful... for Diana. Thing is, we decided it was high time for Diana to loose the virginity... of her ears. Say what? Yep, her ears had never been pierced before. Like every (ear) virgin, she tried to resist at first, but soon had to surrender in the face of inevitable. Besides, my mother had given her two pairs of beautiful earrings as a gift, and as a woman she just couldn't fight the desire to try them on. Yet, I decided to stimulate that desire even further by buying her another pair -- something more delicate and expensive (expensive from a poor artist's perspective, that is).

So we went shopping for earrings before visiting a beauty salon. It proved to be quite a task trying the earrings on ears not even pierced. Besides, we didn't like the assortment. Diana, just like me, hates gold and prefers silver, but we couldn't find anything to our liking at the silver stands. When all hope was lost and we were already running late for our bus, we finally found something in the white gold section. Since white gold looks almost like silver, Diana kindly agreed to try it on and there it was -- we both liked it!

There was still little time left and probably we could make it to our bus, but I saw how excited Diana was about this whole thing, so I officially announced that we were late. Now we could go piercing to our leisure and catch a taxi later. So we did. Diana was a bit nervous (to be true, she almost chickened out at the beauty salon entrance), but the desire overcame the fear. Soon she had gotten two little holes in her ears, along with a nice pair of temporary earrings. Bad news was that she couldn't wear anything else for at least a month, as the "piercing lady" instructed, so all those pretty new earrings had to wait. Nevertheless, even these temporary earrings looked very nice on her, so we were still happy.

On the way home we decided not to tell anyone what we had done, but instead let them notice the change themselves. We wondered, who would be the first, Naili or Franciszka, Diana's mother. As I expected, Naili won this contest (she's a mother-in-law, after all), although it took quite a while. This is how Diana officially lost her earginity (ear virginity, that is). Now she already has three pairs of earrings (besides the temporary ones) and surely must be looking forward to expanding the collection, while my duty and my pleasure is to assist her in this matter.

A Perfect Place

Meanwhile, the vacation went on. As expected, Naili was fascinated by the beautiful garden Diana and her parents had grown -- she does some house planting back home and has a thing for decorative flowers, like many housewives do. But walking around the yard and enjoying flowers certainly wasn't the only thing for her to do when not in the city. From time to time she went "on tour" around Avižieniai, all by herself, to experience that little "foreign adventure" she missed all these years. She even visited a hair-dresser a couple of times. In the evenings she enjoyed her favorite TV series on Rustavi 2 and Imedi -- the two Georgian TV channels available worldwide via satellite.

Naili wasn't the only one to appreciate the beauty around us. I also liked walking in the yard, exploring it, breathing fresh air, and trying to make friends with Amik, the dog (not so successfully, I must admit -- good thing he was kept inside an enclosure). Generally, I'm very glad that Diana lives so close to nature -- I really miss that in Tbilisi.

Avižieniai is a perfect place for people like me, who'd love to live in a rural area, but can't abandon the city life completely. On the one hand, it's a typical village, with yards, gardens, greenhouses, domestic animals, fresh air and quietness. On the other hand, it has all the essential benefits of civilization: modern communications (including satellite TV and broadband Internet), comfortable facilities, public services, a decent supermarket, etc. Surely there are some things missing, like nightlife, specialized shops or bank offices, but the big city is only 20 minutes away and you can "dive into civilization" any time you want.

Personally, I don't care much about nightlife or any other city life, but there are certain things I can't live without, like shopping for computer hardware or art materials, for instance. Surely I could shop for them online, but I prefer to do it in person -- especially in case of drawing papers, which I really have to "touch" before I buy. Luckily, Vilnius has plenty of opportunities in both regards, but we'll talk about that later. Also, I love those ultra-modern shopping centers in the city -- especially Europa and Akropolis. I'm not some sort of shopping maniac (quite the contrary), but I like to wander around these giant malls, just like in a museum.

Touring the City

Now back to the story. We went to the city almost every day, shopping, sightseeing or just walking around the Old Town. Diana loves to spoil me with presents (and not only me), so she literally bombed me with them. I tried to "return fire," but my attempts were miserable: all I was able to come up with, beside those "initiation" earrings, was a modest silver ring bought in a street stand. But it's OK: I gave up on competing with Diana in buying gifts a long time ago, because it's impossible to beat her.

Among other things, Diana bought me this new "Mao Zedong" outfit, as I call it, so I couldn't miss a chance to pose before the camera whenever I could, alone or with my companions.

Speaking of chances, I also couldn't miss a chance to eat my favorite pizza on this vacation, so when we got tired and hungry, we went to the nearest Čili Pica restaurant -- that's where they make my favorite "Septynių kalvų" with tomatoes, champignons, smoked beef and black olives. Naili doesn't eat mushrooms, so she ordered "Pikantiška" with chicken fillet and pineapples -- and, of course, an ice-cream on dessert. She loves ice-cream, and Vilnius really didn't disappoint her in this regard.

Full and happy, we continued the tour, which in our case means more walking, shopping and posing for camera. The weather was fine and we really enjoyed the leisurely stroll after nice meal.

The day was drawing to a close, so we had to return home. Pizza is great, but nothing compares to a simple home dinner, with fruits on dessert, gathered in your own garden!

Talking about eating, we were really lucky on this vacation in that regard, having not one but two skillful chefs this time around: Franciszka and Naili. Lithuanian (or rather Polish-Lithuanian) and Georgian cuisines joined forces to our ultimate satisfaction!

We had a special guest that evening: Mruczek, the youngest of Diana's three cats. He lives in the yard with his elder relatives, but sometimes likes to visit the house, although he's not officially allowed there. Cats and curiosity, you know...

Artist by Nature

The next day I finally remembered that I was an artist, so I decided to draw something. I hadn't done anything "en plein air" for years, and now it was my chance to recall the good old days. As for what to draw, the choice was obvious: there was a special place nearby, which I liked very much. As Diana told me, there was no church in Avižieniai, so the local community decided to raise funds and build at least a small place as a modest tribute to the Lord. Thus was born the "village cross," as Diana calls it. I hadn't properly noticed this place during my winter stay, since it was all covered in snow back then. Now it appeared before me in all its simple but touching beauty, and I immediately fell in love with it.

I was so eager to draw it, that couldn't wait for the proper lighting: the sun wasn't in the right position yet, casting awkward shadows on the cross. I still made a rough sketch just to feel the proportions and "breathe" the atmosphere of this lovely site. Diana was beside me, as always, sharing my enthusiasm, taking some photos and greeting the neighbors curiously passing by.

Later, when the lighting was more suitable for this particular scenery, I came back and took some pictures to be used later as reference: since I had no easel and no place to sit, I couldn't make a detailed drawing in the open air, so I decided to finish the job sometime later, at home.

Meanwhile, I wanted to find some other inspirational places around here, so I asked Diana to be my local guide. Avižieniai is a small settlement and there's not really much to see here, except neatly arranged houses and yards. Still, we managed to find a couple of places worth an artist's attention. Perhaps I'll draw them too someday.

Now that the artist in me had woken up, I remembered about my artistic needs as well. So the next day I asked Diana to take me to a specialized art shop in Vilnius, where I could find some materials for my future projects. Namely, I was looking for a suitable pastel paper for The Mornings After series. The art shop in the Old Town, where Diana took me, exceeded all my expectations. I was like a child in a toy store. This shop, called "Meno mūza" (meaning "The Muse of Art"), is a real heaven for an artist, with all sorts of quality art materials from all around the globe. It had the widest range of drawing paper I've ever seen, and I was finally able to find exactly what I was looking for.

Beside several different types of paper, we bought aquarel pencils (I had wanted to try them for a long time), a mechanical pencil (my old one had been expropriated by Sandro, my mischievous apprentice, who coincidentally happens to be my son), a drawing whiteboard and a large paper case with a zipper (not sure how it's called, but you can see it on the photo below).

Running for Hardware

Buying art materials wasn't the only thing we had planned for that day. Back in January we had decided to upgrade Diana's computer sometime in summer. Now it was summer, so the time was ripe for some hardware shopping. Good thing we didn't take Naili with us, because we had a lot of running to do. But we were yet to learn, what running for hardware REALLY means...

We decided to start with Panorama, another giant wonder of modern Vilnius. It was quite far away, so we needed to use public transport. When we arrived there, it turned out that the hardware section, belonging to BMS Megapolis, had been closed for some sort of maintenance, and that was the only specialized hardware shop in the mall.

When leaving Panorama, Diana showed me quite an unusual thing for a shopping center: a refuge for homeless cats! As she explained, two Lithuanian animal care organizations, SOS animals and Lesė, together with Panorama administration, constructed a special enclosure inside the mall, where the homeless cats and kittens are kept until someone adopts them. Want a kitten? Take one. It's free!

Diana remembered another BMS Megapolis store, where we bought a hard drive and a graphics adapter in January. We were getting impatient, so we called a taxi to get there. When we arrived at the place, it turned out that BMS was no longer there, and the building had been emptied for lease. "Crisis," said the driver and offered to take us to the central, largest store of BMS, which surely had to be operating.

Alas, the entrance at the BMS central building welcomed us with "CLOSED FOR INVENTORY" inscription. Yet there were some people inside, so we went in to ask what's going on. Apparently, the taxi driver was right and they really had some difficulties. Later that confirmed for sure: the parent company, owning BMS Megapolis and Optimalūs Kompiuteriai, went out of business.

But we didn't give up. We called another taxi and headed to Akropolis, which has a large section of electronics, including computers, called ElektroMarkt. Fortunately, they were open, but unfortunately, they didn't have what we wanted. To be precise, we needed a Core 2 Duo (at least 2.5 GHz), a suitable motherboard for that CPU and some memory, suitable for that motherboard, but ElektroMarkt wasn't a specialized store and it lacked many types of computer hardware, such as motherboards, for instance.

It was high time to stop running and start planning. Diana accessed the Web through her mobile and found a couple of alternative computer stores, along with their phone numbers. We established a temporary base of operations at Akropolis and started making calls.

One of the probed stores, ICG Kompiuteriai, turned out to have everything we needed, so we called another taxi and rushed there frantically. When we arrived, we saw another BMS Megapolis branch nearby, and decided to see if it was open, just out of curiosity. As you could have guessed, the same "CLOSED FOR INVENTORY" message had been waiting for us. We ultimately determined, that we had enough BMS for one day, and returned to ICG Kompiuteriai to finally bring an end to the running part and start the shopping part.

As I expected, the shopping in ICG still didn't go quite entirely as planned: the promised Core 2 Duo in practice turned out to be a Core 2 Quad, which was twice as expensive. Fortunately, Diana could afford that, so in the end it was even better (although certainly not cheaper). Beside the CPU, we took an MSI motherboard (I wanted an ASUS, but they didn't have one), 2 GBs of RAM, a keyboard (to replace Diana's hellish IBM keyboard with the most masochist arrangement I've ever seen), and a dual cooler for HDD. As I mentioned, we already had a HDD and a graphics adapter, so that was all we needed at the moment.

Tired but happy, we finally returned back home. It was getting late, so we decided to put off the upgrade for the next day. Until that, we just plugged in the new keyboard and tested its wondrous features, like a built-in calculator and a Skype button. My suffering had been finally over! Now I could type without breaking my fingers. Not that I had much to type, but still...

The next day was meant for hardware upgrades: it was cloudy outside, and the rain drizzled from time to time. In other words, a perfect day for staying indoors and digging inside your computer. So we stayed, and we dug. Or rather, I did the digging, and Diana kept watch in case anybody entered the graveyard... Sorry, just kidding.

Unfortunately, the dig unveiled something I should have had checked prior to hardware shopping, but terribly overlooked: the form factor incompatibility and the insufficient capacity of the power supply. In plain English, the new motherboard didn't fit into the old case, so we needed a new, bigger one. Also, the power supply was weak: only 230W, while we needed at least 400W to handle the new, more power-hungry hardware. Too bad I hadn't thought about it earlier. Another shopping? Noooooooo! But we had no choice.

Luckily, Michal, Diana's uncle, was available to give us another ride to the city, saving us much time. But before that, we had to know where to go. First thing on our minds, naturally, was to call ICG Kompiuterai, and we did, but unfortunately they didn't have anything suitable. Then we started searching online. It took some time, but finally we were able to discover just what we needed: an ATX midi-tower with 400W PSU. And the price was quite reasonable. We praised our luck and immediately left for the city (Diana's uncle had been already waiting outside).

For a change, everything went smooth this time. The case turned out to be very good looking, with a decent exterior and convenient interior (unlike Diana's old IBM case, which looked like a miniature version of the Monument to 1300 Years of Bulgaria, only black). The computer shop itself was very small (especially, compared to the monsters like BMS or ICG), but we liked the cosy atmosphere (especially, a pair of hamsters in a glass cage with a wheel). We took the case, a pair of 80mm case fans and an 8GB flash drive for Diana. Now we REALLY had all we needed. Uncle Michal took us back home, and I continued with the upgrade.

The rest was all plain sailing. I may not be an expert in computer science, but I can assemble or disassemble a custom PC with my eyes shut, because I've done it probably a hundred times. Now I was finally able to plug in the PCI-E graphics adapter, which we bought back in January, but were unable to use until now, due to the slot incompatibility (the old IBM motherboard supported only AGP, and that's another thing I had overlooked, which I often do with hardware, as you may have noticed). Now Diana, at long last, could enjoy the 3D accelerated computer games like everybody else (she had been dreaming of Guitar Hero III ever since she had a chance to play it on my home PC).

As we were told in ICG, Windows XP doesn't support quad-core CPUs properly and we would have to install Windows Vista or Windows 7 in order to fully utilize it. I'm not quite sure if it's true, but I'm no expert in that, so I decided to follow the advice and install a new system in dual-boot mode, leaving Windows XP intact just in case. Diana had Vista at work and she didn't like it, so the choice was obvious: Windows 7. Besides, I had tried the RC version of Windows 7 on my PC and was quite impressed with its performance and usability even in that incomplete state.

Naturally, we spent the whole next day installing the new OS and all the necessary software and drivers for it, so there's nothing much to tell, except that everything went nice and smooth and by the evening we had a brand new PC at our disposal, with most programs installed and running just fine (and a lot faster). The only thing that bothered us was the noise -- probably caused by that dual-fan cooler I mounted on the hard drive. But it was worth it: Diana's 1TB Seagate was running at 26°C now, while my drive, which is exactly the same, usually runs at 44°C.

The Reception

The next day, August 20, was very important for us. If you follow this blog, you should already know, that when Diana and I got married earlier this summer, we had no wedding ceremony, no reception, no formalities -- we just registered a marriage. On this vacation, Diana decided to arrange a little celebration, just for her closest friends and relatives, who were eager to meet me. I'm not much into banquets and receptions, but I liked the idea, because it would give me a chance to take a first step in becoming closer to Diana's family, which is now my family, too.

Everything had been arranged long before the day of reception. Diana had invited everyone in good time, and a week earlier we had gone to one of Diana's favorite restaurants in the Old Town to book the tables for the date of reception. The only thing left to do was figuring out how to seat the guests. We already knew that the tables would have been joined together to make one long table for 18 persons. Now we had to think how to arrange these 18 persons around the table in the most efficient way. Diana had to face the task alone, because I didn't know anybody from the guest list, except Uncle Michal and his wife, Zofia. I, personally, didn't care much, who would sit where, but as Diana explained, a certain system was absolutely necessary, otherwise we most likely would end up in a primordial chaos. Diana knew all the details: who was going to drink (and even what), who wasn't, who was going to like each other's company, and so on. After all, they were her people, so it didn't take too long to sort them out. Soon, with some help from Franciszka, Diana came up with a perfect scheme. Now we just needed to print out the name cards and make the final preparations for the evening, powdering our noses, and so on.

Diana's childhood friend Lily and her husband Sergey had kindly agreed to collect us on their way to the reception. They came for us an hour earlier, because we needed to arrive to the restaurant before everybody else, to lay out the name cards and make sure everything was under control. Naturally, we took Naili with us, but Diana's parents stayed home "to watch the house."

Everything went as planned. When we arrived, the tables had been already set. We distributed the cards according to Diana's scheme and were ready to receive the guests. Soon they started to come. Diana tried to explain to them earlier, that it was no wedding, just a friendly dinner, but they still brought presents. All of them.

When the majority of the guests had arrived, we took our seats and the dinner commenced. A few people were running late, including Wincenta, Franciszka's sister, who always comes late, and Michal with Zofia, who never come late (but apparently decided to make an exception in our honor). Fortunately, they didn't take too long and soon all the guests were accounted for (and, most importantly, seated neatly in their proper places).

As a Georgian, I'm not used to drinking without rules: as you may know, we have a whole drinking system here in Georgia. So I felt myself in the wrong box at first, but soon I got accustomed to the local habits and even found them to my liking. You see, I always dreamed one day I could drink to my leisure, without thinking about the toasts, their proper sequence and timing, or how to trick the toastmaster and his watchmen into believing that I actually drink every glass, or how to avoid those huge special drinks coming my way. Now that glorious day had come! I was free to drink whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted and how much I wanted, without having to say anything before drinking. And that was great! Although I felt some minor twinges of conscience as if I was betraying the centuries-old traditions of my ancestors... but that passed without a trace after a few glasses of Italian wine. Besides, the toasts were still there, even if there was no toastmaster, and they were really interesting, well-spoken and, most importantly, from the heart -- as you would expect from your family and friends, the people who really love you and don't have to pretend.

As the alcohol kicked in, the guests started to have a jolly good time, like the British say. Soon I could hardly tell the difference: as it turned out, it only takes a few glasses of a good drink to transform a sedate European reception into something closely resembling a Georgian feast in the stage when the tamada loosens his grip and the real fun begins. I felt at home, because everything was there: the joy, the laughter, the jokes, the "bruderschaft drinking" (an old German custom, widely popular in former Soviet States, when two people drink with their arms intertwined, with the subsequent kissing). Speaking of kissing: there was even the good old Russian custom, when the guests cry out loud "Gor'ko!" (meaning "It's bitter!") and the newlyweds have to "sweeten their drinks" by kissing each other in front of everyone. I didn't know they had this custom in Lithuania too. Now I know. Our feeble protest, that it was no wedding, but merely a party, was completely ignored by the guests, so we had to yield to the wish of the masses and give each other a long, Hollywood-style kiss to their utter satisfaction. Not that we didn't like it...

Besides having a good time, it was quite interesting to be present in such a multilingual company. Trilingual, to be precise. Diana's relatives were communicating with each other mostly in Polish, seamlessly switching to a fluent Lithuanian or Russian when necessary. All toasts, naturally, were spoken in Russian, so that Naili and I could understand. There was also a tiny bit of Georgian -- just to spice up the table.

In the height of the feast I suddenly realized, that Diana's scheme actually worked! I really enjoyed the company of her friends, who were seated beside me, just as Naili enjoyed her company. And that was true for everybody else. No awkward silence, no mandatory conversations, no uncomfortable situations (maybe except a few flat jokes, but that happens on every table -- especially this informal and relaxed). In short, everyone was happy with the system. The only one to "resist" it was Patryk, Diana's godson -- a lovely boy with a cute earring in his left ear, about the same age as my son. But Diana had wisely foreseen this possibility as well, having allocated a suitable place for him at the farthest edge of the table, allowing him to freely move around, leaving and coming back whenever he pleased. I let him take my cell phone, which always has a couple of games in it, so that he could entertain himself while waiting for the dessert.

We returned home late, full of impressions, a bit tired, but in excellent mood. Naturally, we were eager to open the presents, but first Diana had to find the vases for the numerous flowers they gave us. As expected, all the gifts were more or less household related, and they were really wonderful. Beside gifts, as tradition required, there were greeting cards and envelopes with money, which proved that no matter how hard we insisted on our "it's not a wedding" thing, they still regarded our little party as some sort of wedding celebration. Well, it's their problem: they'll have to bring presents twice, because we're definitely going to have a REAL wedding in due time.

Enjoying Life

There were only five days left till the end of the vacation, and I wanted to make good use of them. I didn't want to tour the city anymore, but rather spend these last days in Avižieniai, walking with Diana, riding the bike, drawing, and simply enjoying life with my beloved.

The Village Cross

I still had to finish my "village cross" project. Franciszka liked the sketch so much that she asked me to leave it to her, so that she could boast to everyone, what a talented son-in-law she had. But I wanted to leave her something more valuable than a simple sketch on a rough paper, so I took the sketch, the reference photos made earlier, a sheet of Canson® Vivaldi Crème paper we had bought in the art shop, my brand-new drawing board and a brown pencil, and started to draw.

A few hours later the drawing was finished, but it wasn't quite ready to be given away -- I had to scan it for my website and frame it. Diana's scanner had died on her a long time ago, and I couldn't make a frame myself, so we'd have to go to the city one more time before my departure. But that could wait for another day.

Still Life with a Mirror

Meanwhile, I was still "on the vibe" and wanted to do more drawing, so the whole next morning I spent thinking of what to draw. It was raining outside, so another "plein air" was out of option. I had my Red Folder (No.1) with me, so I could continue one of my unfinished drawings, but I didn't feel like working on old projects, I wanted to start something new. The indoor possibilities were scarce to say the least, and I was on the edge of frustration, when I incidentally looked at the mirror at Diana's table and was struck by a sudden idea. I asked Diana to look inside the mirror, only not at herself, but at me, so that I could catch her eye in the mirror. That was it! I took a probe shot and started to polish the idea further. I needed to clean up the scene and leave only what's necessary, making it more minimalistic. But I also wanted to bring in some "conceptual elements" that would help convey a certain mood. And that would have been a lipstick and a ring.

Diana doesn't like lipsticks, but she still has one. As for rings, she also didn't like them... until I gave her one. Now she never takes it off! Of course, she would take it off to let me draw it, but there was no need, because I decided to use a different ring: the one I bought her on this vacation.

Now that I had all four elements, I needed to get the most important, but elusive "fifth element" -- Diana's face in the mirror. After some intensive trial and error, I was finally able to catch her face exactly the way I was looking for.

All set, I started to draw, using my usual technique, which is very detailed and takes much time. Naturally, I wouldn't be able to finish it in one day, and most likely I would have to continue later in Tbilisi, but still it was a start. I had done some initial work on the basic elements by the evening and that was it for the time being.

Someone to Walk With

The next day was the last before the departure day, so basically it was the last time we could go out in the city together. I wasn't feeling very good -- I'm always in a bad mood when it comes so close to parting with Diana. But we still had some unfinished business to do, so I had to pull myself together.

We took Naili with us, but since we had some running to do, we left her in Europa, where she could shop at her leisure, eat some ice-cream and wait for us.

First we went to Diana's office at the university to scan The Village Cross. I had been there quite a few times before and knew almost all of Diana's co-workers -- even had a chance to meet her boss, the dean of the faculty, earlier on this vacation (yep, not all the things we did on this vacation are described in this post, although you may refuse to believe it). Diana had to go to work only after my departure, being completely off duty until then, but somehow she still managed to get busy while I was scanning. What a workaholic!

Having finished here, we headed to the part of the Old Town, where the art shop was located: the framing shop was right in front of "Meno mūza" (very convenient, because I needed to buy some more of that Vivaldi paper, which I literally fell in love with while drawing The Village Cross). We chose the frame, left the artwork and were told to come back in an hour. So we went for a walk.

I love the Old Town of Vilnius. It's truly beautiful! It's a real pleasure to walk its cobbled streets, so cosy and quiet. And the pleasure is doubled, when you have someone to walk beside you, someone very dear. This is one of the most romantic places I've ever seen. And it's also really old. You can see an actual Gothic lettering on one of its walls, advisedly left untouched by the building restorers.

Time passed quick and we had to go back. The frame was ready and it suited the artwork just perfectly! We hurried back to Europa to pick up Naili and return home. Our last tour was over, and I started to feel sad again, because soon our summer vacation would be over, too.

The Departure

"Everything comes to an end someday, and everything good, moreover, comes to an end quickly and suddenly," I once wrote. Only now I fully understood the meaning of my own words: it doesn't matter if you know that the end is near, it still comes unexpected, because you refuse to expect it until it's already here. It's amazing how the bad things seem to last forever, but the good things always end too soon.

And here it was: August 25, the day of parting, when everything seems so short, even the longest ride to the airport. And the shortest of all things is the precious piece of time between check-in and security control. Finally, there comes a farewell kiss that never seems to be long enough, yet lasts for days and weeks on your lips.

This vacation might have seemed too long to you when reading this epic post, but it surely was too short for me, because I had to leave Diana for months, when I can't spend a day without her. But then again, we're always together, no matter the distance...

From Florida with Love!

2009-07-23T19:21:00.019+03:00

At the end of last month I received an order for liqueur labels from the USA. Actually, it was my first international order -- I had done some labels for export before, but only for local customers. The order was placed by a small manufacturer from Florida. It was a series of three different flavored liqueurs called Limonzala -- Lemon, Lime and Orange. The shape of the bottle suggested two separate labels: the primary and the secondary. After we agreed on prices and I received the basic concept, a blueprint of the bottle and a photo of the actual product, I set to work.

The order didn't fit in my usual understanding of liqueur labels, so I had to improvise. The thing is, the liqueurs here in Georgia are mostly based on sweet fruits, almonds, coffee, chocolate, etc. -- but never on citruses. Also, they are mild, considered to be a "ladies' drink," with no more than 25% alcohol by volume. Consequently, the liqueur labels I usually make are somewhat "feminine," with floral ornaments, pretty vignettes and so on.

Limonzala Liqueurs are in fact citrus vodkas, with 40% alcohol, so the choice of style was obvious -- no heavy decorations, ornate elements or dark colors, but everything light, bright and "vodkish." As for the fruits, photo-realistic ones wouldn't do here, so I locked myself up in the FruitLab and bred the new sorts of "digitally hand-made" citruses, exclusively for U.S. export.

I finished the labels in a week or so. As a finishing stroke, I added some Florida sun, palms and a girl on a beach chair, and sent the demo version to the client, along with an actual product prototype, as I call them (you can see it on the right).

I liked the results myself, but even so I didn't expect the reaction to be so rapturous: the client was so happy that he doubled the payment! The labels were approved without a single change, except minor edits in the back label text.

Last week I safely received my payment and sent the final version in Adobe Illustrator format, as requested by the client. The labels are ready for printing, but we still have to wait for the U.S. Government approval. My work is done, and I'm looking forward to the long-term business relationship with this new-found partner from Florida.

Russia, Nicaragua... ESET

2009-07-12T12:23:00.007+03:00

What these two countries and an antivirus software developer could possibly have in common? I'll tell you what -- they all regard Abkhazia, a breakaway Georgian region, as a country (although, as I've heard, the parliament of Nicaragua still hasn't ratified Ortega's recognition of Abkhazia and so-called "South Ossetia").

I discovered this fact last Monday, when I was browsing through ESET's website (my trial version of Smart Security 4 had expired and I was looking for purchase options). While the presence of Abkhazia and "South Ossetia" in the country lists of Russian websites and software products is a common rule after Medvedev's recognition (some displayed Abkhazia even PRIOR to the recognition), the rest of the world usually respects the territorial integrity of Georgia and avoids listing its breakaway provinces among legitimate states. So it was rather unexpected to see something like this on a Slovakian company's website:

Generally, ESET seems to have a thing for including autonomous regions in country lists -- like Aland Islands (Finland) for instance -- but that's not really our business. But Abkhazia is certainly OUR business, so I decided to let them know how wrong they are. I sent a short letter to Christopher Dale, ESET's PR manager, aiming for the weakest point of all companies -- the sales numbers. Here it is:

Dear Sir,

I had decided to buy ESET Smart Security 4, but then I saw Abkhazia in a country selection list and changed my mind. If you think a couple of extra purchases from this Russian-controlled province is worth loosing a lot more Georgian customers, then be my guest. Maybe it's just business for you, but it's politics for us.

Sincerely,
Rezo Kaishauri

I had little hope for a positive response (or any response at all), so I decided to start a thread in a political section of Tbilisi Forum -- the largest Georgian-speaking web community in the world. The reaction was immediate, and soon a squall of angry letters rained upon Dale's mailbox.

Apparently, the massive onslaught did its work -- in a few days ESET silently removed Abkhazia from their country list, as you can see below:

Some may say, who cares about country lists, when there are much bigger problems. Well, we care. Because every small victory matters in this great war for people's minds.