see more of Kevin's work here
YUNG BENTLEY CHILLIN
Caught our studio pooch dozing off on the stairs!
EARN YOUR STRIPES V.2
A few long nights and a couple eye exams later, the earn your stripes v.2 is near completion! Prints & gear coming soon!
CS Black Moon
Pen & Paper Yue Wu
We're suckers for good drawing skills and he's talented.
CS x Camp Pendleton x Birthday x Fun
A mini weekend trip the crew took to hang out with some friends at Camp Pendleton CA. The headliner of the event is our friend Jacqueline. Happy Birthday Jacqueline (nick name Cookie or Cooks hence the title of the video) Enjoy the video:
Page from my sketchbook
We like to take breaks to doodle. Here's a random page from the sketchbook.
Good Listening: Big Krit "R.E.M"
What better song than a song about dreams.
Caselogic Ag++ (arrived)
I've been anxiously waiting on this Caselogic "Ag++" case for about two weeks now. Surprisingly when you order from their online store, all orders are fulfilled in Hong Kong so shipping takes longer. I would imagine them having a US presence and shipping be a bit faster (unfortunately not.) I actually stumbled upon this case by accident looking at various ID work on Behance. (great site for those of you looking for inspiration or to hire) The case is designed by Andrea Ponti check out his Behance here.
wasn't trained but ill do it anyways
Definitely not a trained footwear designer, but it won't stop me from sketching em for fun! KD IV inspired sneaks.
kate upton, big boy and steve johnson rocking em!
Here's a SKULL CANDY product I was super blessed to be apart of! Designed through my gig at ASTRO STUDIOS. It's always super dope seeing a product go into production and worn by super stars!
Work
"Those mu'fuckas whom work well like brothers. Be afraid cause we are brothers."
Good Listening: Of Monsters and Men: Mountain Sound
"I heard them calling in the distanceSo I packed my things and ran Far away from all the trouble I had caused with my two hands"
Rock Paper Kicks
So if you have been keeping up with our blog you'll have noticed an excerpt, on Jennifer the talented PaperSmith, that I posted about a week ago. Well we've been working on branding for her company called "Rock Paper Kicks", I managed to spend a bit of time this past weekend sketching out various ideas. Here's a rough glimpse into my sketchbook and illustrator work. I personally love the earlier stages of my design process because I get to design-vomit all over the place before we dial in the details.
Camp Pendleton CA.
Happy Monday folks, Instead of working through the weekend we broke the usual routine and headed south. Destination, Camp Pendleton, CA for a friend's Birthday; and to take a breather from design life. Being in sunny Southern California soaking up all the vitamin D was well needed. Now we're back, refueled, and reminded of a little quote for ya from the father of Taoism:
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. -Lao Tzu
Remember sometimes it's perfectly normal to allow time, space & nature to take its course. We need not to rush or hurry things. Everything will be accomplished as it should. I find this relevant in design when I walk away from projects and allow my mind to be inspired and roam other venues of thought- often new or conclusive ideas arise from these detours of the mind.
Canon 40mm 2.8
Here's one of those lens that are so inexpensive I don't see why you wouldn't pick one up just to have a light walk around piece of glass to snap some quick portraits. I ordered this sucker from Amazon Friday for only 149 and would def recommend this lens for those of you whom are looking to add to their lens game. I'm not going to do a review of it only because Youtube has a ton of great ones out there already.
I can appreciate that Canon built this bad boy with a metal mount. In comparison to the infamous 50mm 1.8 that you can score for under 100 (with a plastic mount), the 40mm's metal mount made for a good enough reason for me to pick this one up instead.
Its so funny how dorky the lens look on my 5D Mark II; though I would imagine it looking quite nice on your entry level DSLR T series.
Here is a quick photo i took at my desk at - 400 iso f 2.8
Good Listening: San Cisco "Golden Revolver"
Jennifer Aquino the "PaperSmith"
Its amazing how social media has changed the platform in meeting people. More specifically it sped up our rate in discovering and sharing. Jennifer Aquino is one of those people I stumbled upon and continue to follow her craft. She is what I dubbed the "PaperSmith" (instagram:jboogs317)
(Bellow are few photos Jennifer shared with me.)
As most of you know my brother and I are a bit crazy about sneakers so imagine how excited we were to find someone working with paper as a medium. Jennifer does an incredible job at working in a structural and 3dimensional way, unlike origami she seems to have the mindset of a seamstress and an engineer as she tackles each paper project.
As a creative I know what it's like to be driven by passion and finding inspiration in everything. As ambiguous as everything is, you always will find a way to apply it back into your craft. For Jennifer she finds inspiration all around her, whether it is music, movies or cruising the aisle at Bed, Bath & Beyond. You can imagine exactly how Bed, Bath & Beyond of sorts is a supply store for her. Think about the variety of texture, materials and randomness you may find when your mindset is in search for interesting paper for the next paper shoe.
Jennifer claims as geeky as it may be, when working on some Jordan Concord's she was out shopping for a friends gift. The gift bag she bought had the perfect texture for her project so she bought 50 more. Now that's passion.
CS Harlem Shake
Yes, we hopped on the bandwagon. ENJOY
10 Virtues for the Modern Age - Alain de Botton
I stumbled upon this manifesto earlier today on a buddy's Instagram! I find this list extremely relevant to life as well as design. It's a quick read, enjoy! 1. Resilience. Keeping going even when things are looking dark; accepting that reversals are normal; remembering that human nature is, in the end, tough. Not frightening others with your fears.
2. Empathy. The capacity to connect imaginatively with the sufferings and unique experiences of another person. The courage to become someone else and look back at yourself with honesty.
3. Patience. We lose our temper because we believe that things should be perfect. We've grown so good in some areas (putting men on the moon etc.), we're ever less able to deal with things that still insist on going wrong; like traffic, government, other people... We should grow calmer and more forgiving by getting more realistic about how things actually tend to go.
4. Sacrifice. We’re hardwired to seek our own advantage but also have a miraculous ability, very occasionally, to forego our own satisfactions in the name of someone or something else. We won't ever manage to raise a family, love someone else or save the planet if we don't keep up with the art of sacrifice.
5. Politeness. Politeness has a bad name. We often assume it's about being 'fake' (which is meant to be bad) as opposed to 'really ourselves' (which is meant to be good). However, given what we're really like deep down, we should spare others too much exposure to our deeper selves. We need to learn manners, which aren’t evil - they are the necessary internal rules of civilisation. Politeness is very linked to tolerance, the capacity to live alongside people whom one will never agree with, but at the same time, can’t avoid.
6. Humour. Seeing the funny sides of situations and of oneself doesn't sound very serious, but it is integral to wisdom, because it's a sign that one is able to put a benevolent finger on the gap between what we want to happen and what life can actually provide; what we dream of being and what we actually are, what we hope other people will be like and what they are actually like. Like anger, humour springs from disappointment, but it's disappointment optimally channelled. It's one of the best things we can do with our sadness.
7. Self-awareness. To know oneself is to try not to blame others for one's troubles and moods; to have a sense of what's going on inside oneself, and what actually belongs to the world.
8. Forgiveness. Forgiveness means a long memory of all the times when we wouldn't have got through life without someone cutting us some slack. It's recognising that living with others isn't possible without excusing errors.
9. Hope. The way the world is now is only a pale shadow of what it could one day be. We're still only at the beginning of history. As you get older, despair becomes far easier, almost reflex (whereas in adolescence, it was still cool and adventurous). Pessimism isn't necessarily deep, nor optimism shallow.
10. Confidence. The greatest projects and schemes die for no grander reasons than that we don't dare. Confidence isn't arrogance, it's based on a constant awareness of how short life is and how little we ultimately lose from risking everything.