And when we make those things ourselves, on our own terms, all of the sudden those things are built on DIY ethics. We believe in self-production and self-publication. So we self-produce and self-publish. We believe in open source and the creative commons. So everything we've ever asked you to pay for, we've released for free. We believe the walls preventing artists from making a presence in the music and games industries are largely illusory. So we're going to break 'em. Watch us.
It occurred to the gang, on one of these sunny Sunday mornings at the Hummingbird House during which these epiphanies tend to manifest, that the site should look like a bulletin board; harkening back to the aesthetic of the days when this type of content came in the form of 'zines. "Look like?" I demanded, pounding my fist dramatically on the table (or so it will heretofore be remembered), "This world has cameras in it!" And so it was that we set out to actually make this mug.
I delegated the work like a pro: "Wilson, paint this." I have a tendency to say "Do whatever," and then, when it's all wrong, I say "Keep going, we're almost there." Yeah, I'm a teacher so- whatever. You get it. Kid knows what he's doing, more than I do at any rate.
Oh! This one! I've cut/printed our logo, which was originally a scanned drawing, and a photograph, and another photograph, and now I'm painting over it.
The idea of printing, scanning, cutting, and painting is alluring to me: it makes me feel like part of a Norman Rockwell painting. Oh, speaking of which-
Click, click, click: this one's different on the other end of the looking glass. There's exactly enough cut, print, shoot in this one to cause mass confusion, or shut down the internet entirely. Oh, dear: I've lost focus.
You can enable yourself with stance. If you want to make something, stop crossing your fingers. Make it. Publish it. The very process does us all a bit of good. If we can flood the market with creative works on our own terms, the proprietary channels that bottleneck fame and notoriety burst open. And what's left? Natural selection, mixed with a dash of democracy. David Geffen no longer gets to decide who gets to make music for a living. We all do.
xoxo (CW) Alex
Posted Monday, Mar 11th 2013 @ 11:47