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Monthly Archives: July 2011

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11 07, 2011
Lynda

Going to the Gig

By |July 11th, 2011|News|0 Comments

Many people assume, since Sew What? and Rent What? provide custom stage drapes, digitally printed backdrops, and other soft goods to so many artists and bands, that we are constantly going to rock shows.  That isn’t the case – if we were spending all of our time going to rock shows, we’d never be able to provide our customers with the high level of service that they expect and deserve.

Occasionally, though, we do make it to a show (I’ve been to Aerosmith/Lenny Kravitz and Van Halen), and it is always a blast.  Even more exciting for me than seeing a major headliner, though, is seeing my friends and colleagues perform.  I was privileged to do just that about a week ago, when Without Warning performed at Nick’s Taste of Texas in Covina.

It was a terrific intimate venue, a little “Texas Industrial Loft” in feel, with exposed ducting and brick walls.  Several bands performed that night, but WW was the highlight for me.  The band rocked hard for a full hour!

It was so much fun to see Megan, Bob, DC, David, and Doug perform.  They are high energy, and that energy infuses the audience!  I can’t wait to see them perform again.

Photos taken via iPhone – please excuse the less than stellar quality!

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6 07, 2011
Lynda

Backdrops for System of a Down

By |July 6th, 2011|Projects|1 Comment

Back in mid April, we were so excited to be approached by Chris Roberts on a large project of digitally printed backdrops for System of a Down.  Chris explained that they were looking for four (yes, FOUR) backdrops, each 30′ h x 60′ w.  That is 7,200 square feet of printing alone (not considering the hours spent in sewing the backdrops).

The project sounded especially cool, because they weren’t looking for 4 identical backdrops.  Instead, they wanted to utilize four different images – one image per backdrop – and each image was unique. 

The first image was a snow-capped mountain scene – very dramatic!  We found a photo of it on Flickr – check it out!  With the blue-tinged lighting, it really evokes the feeling of ice and snow.  A gorgeous desert scene in oranges is a great contrast to the mountain scene – just as dramatic, but this time evoking heat.  The third image was a terrific rendition of the band’s logo in white on a black background.  Finally, a hand image completes the series of backdrops.

The artist for two of the images (the mountain and the desert) was – you guessed it – John Rios (frequent contributor to this blog), and he also prepped the band’s existing images (logo and hand) for printing.

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2 07, 2011
John

The seamless integration of illustration and design

By |July 2nd, 2011|News|0 Comments

The goal in working with any artist is to capture their essence so well that the design becomes a kind of extension of the artist or the statement the artist is making. I learned the real power of this when I asked a friend of mine who had attended a concert where I had illustrated a huge backdrop what he thought of the art? He replied “What backdrop?.” My first reaction was, “Are you kidding?” it was the biggest thing on the stage. I then realized what he was/wasn’t saying was that what I had created was so “in brand/in sync” with the artist that all thirty feet of the art made a seamless statement.

That moment really showed me the power of what its all about… Enhancing a performance and contributing to the creation of an unforgettable artist/fan experience with every project.

 

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