This isn’t the Stairway to Heaven…
…because climbing it was pure hell. Last week I grabbed my two best buds and my dad up for a climb up KokoHead. We had heard rumors of how much of a bitch this hike would be — athletic guys who run all the time and yet cry at the thought of this hike. We had to try. The view at the top is fantastic. But be prepared to have a med-evac at the top if you can’t climb steps. All 1048 of them.
read moreHow to speak at a public event
I stumbled across this little bookcover concept today (via Book Design Review). My first reaction was positive – you know, it caught my eye & it got me thinking a little bit. It also brings me back to find memories of the old King’s Quest 1 game oh so many years ago. (geeky I know) I digress… What I enjoyed reading was the critique about the cover design and the explanation behind it. You get a glimpse of the thought process behind the artist.
read moreStraight out of Minority Report…
La Vitrine – Montreal from steven bulhoes on Vimeo. To be filed under the “Cool stuff we never see here in Hawaii” category. These LEDs will react to movement from Passerbys. Looks like we’re getting to the point where those billboards from Blade Runner and Minority Report are entirely possible. You know because of Hawaii’s budget shortage they’re cutting the arts again, I doubt anybody would have the fundage or the permission to install anything cool like this here anytime soon. (Urban Prankster via...
read moreBe Yourself
I’m going to tell you a little personal story today, one that I told to my business networking group today. Some of you may know I play music on the side every now and again. I’ve been in a billion bands. Started playing bass right around my Junior year of high school (What is that, 5 years ago now?). Right around the time I was 20 or 21 I was in this punk band called Freshly Squeezed. We were young and dumb. BUT we were pretty lucky. Lucky enough to stumble across the right connections that got us into a lot of concerts with VIP...
read moreHoly Cow
I really like this website done by web-designer, Orman Clark over in the Mainland. Really creative illustration work and nice technical expertise done on his site in particular. I’m jealous! I just have a brain-freeze with doing projects for myself, I wish I had the patience to do something like this. Check it out, it’s worth a peek. The only problem I can fixate on is that I keep seeing that Remax logo when I look at that floating balloon. (MyNameIsOrman)
read moreYou wanna die with a man’s gun…
I always hated chores as a kid (pfft, who didn’t?)… One of the chores I didn’t care for much was washing my dad’s car. I forget whether I had to do it in order to get allowance or something like that, but I didn’t enjoy it at all. Maybe in part because I didn’t have a cool squirtgun hose like the one above. I’m going to keep this product in mind when Kingston comes of age to wash my car. Bwahahaha (Design Reaktor Berlin via Monster-Munch)
read more“Simple”
One of the most overused words I hear when I talk to a client is the word “Simple” “I want my website to be real simple”. “This shouldn’t cost so much because I want it real simple”. “My illustration should just take you a few minutes because it’s really simple” AAAAAAgh. Folks, never approach a graphic designer with that word. Do you know what we hear when the word “simple” is spoken? Translation: Make the estimate higher. Do you know why? There’s usually 2...
read moreBusiness woes
I get jokes sometimes from relatives and friends, “You make too much money Raph”. While I think in some small part that’s a compliment to the appearance of success in my business, I can’t help but reflect upon my situation and see how much that’s really true? I put SO much money back into my business. I think I put about 25% of time and money into advertising, another 30% chunk gets “donated” to Uncle Sam, a good portion goes into operations (i.e., computer upgrades, software, office supplies, etc.)....
read moreBallpoint sketchwork
Here’s something quite amazing…this artist, Juan Francisco Casas Ruiz, does this amazing artwork with ballpoint pen. Can you imagine this? Shit in highschool the only thing I drew with ballpoint was some Metallica logos on my bookcovers. My only problem with this is that it’s so photo-realistic….what’s the point? Let’s just take a photo! Sometimes if I want to see an artists hand-drawn work, I want to see the actual hand-drawn lines like the way Michaelangelo or Da Vinci’s work is often left...
read moreYue Minjun
With all the hoopla in recent months over dead celebrities and how we idolize some of them, I think this artists work was particularly fitting. “…multiple clones of my self-portrait image have been created in order to invent a new idol”. Something about seeing a laughing face that just brightens your day a little bit doesn’t it? A recent goal of mine is to get a good laugh…you know, the type of laugh where you tear over and can’t catch a breath? It’s been a while since I found anything that funny! ...
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LoweStudio Inc was founded by me, Raphael Lowe, a Honolulu based illustrator and web designer. I presently design and manage a few dozen commercial websites, but my main focus these days is acting as the head developer for Kapiolani Community College and teaching