Waxing nostalgia
It was a “cold” 60 degrees this morning in Hawaii. I actually quite like it. The only odd thing was just less than 12 hours earlier I was sweating in my car blasting my A/C on full blast. It just doesn’t seem normal here in Hawaii where everything has been so even and temperate all year round. It got me thinking of all the other things that have changed here in my hometown since I was in diapers. Beach space is shorter now. The actual space to sit down on the sand has eroded away in some of the more popular beaches I used to...
read moreAudi lights
[youtube id=PmeeUGrDkPw] I may be a little partial to Audi lately. I just love my car. One of the things that really appeals to be about the car are the lights — what the car salesman described as “bling lights”. It just appeals to my 10 year old kid in me watching Knight Rider and wishing someday to own a cheesy car with fancy lights. Low there’s talk of using OLEDs in Audi cars? This would be AWESOOOME! The design possibilities are endless. But I dread what it might take to replace the OLED lights if you ever got in...
read moreRecycled Can Sculptures
File this under wish-i-could-do-this-but-don’t-have-the-patience category. Apparently Japanese artist Makaon creates these sculptures out of recycled tin cans. To me, what’s extra cool about these is his sense of how multi-colored cans can be combined to get the desired result. If you’d look at any one piece independently you’d swear it wouldn’t work…but in entirety I think he’s made them all look great. (via Toxel)
read moreHappy 2013
Happy New Year everyone! Let’s all wish for a better year this year huh? Grant us a new year with no more horrible school shootings, no violent gang rapes, & no messy dirty politics. For me personally 2012 wasn’t a bad year overall. Just extremely hectic…and not necessarily in a good way. Dealing with renovations for a good third of the year certainly made those months uncomfortable and unforgettable. We didn’t even have the chance to decorate our home for the Xmas season this year. But in the end, it was mission...
read moreHard time with the Season
I don’t have a good track record with the Holidays. Looking back across my years of accumulated posts here, it seems this time of year brings a lot of unintended stress and shit I’d rather not deal with. And that’s fine to a certain degree…I’m a big boy. I don’t need to have a sparkly Christmas in order to feel ok about things. But now with Kingston getting old enough to start developing an interest in the Season (he’s singing Xmas songs and learning about Santa), it’s made me feel like I have...
read moreRemodeling finished
So…we’re pau. No that picture up above was done about a week back. I can’t take any pictures yet because the place is still full of our unpacked boxes and covered in a layer of fine dust. But last night was the first night we were able to sleep back at home and my own mattress felt like a bed of heavenly pillows. So now are we officially inducted into the experienced remodelers club? This was not a fun experience, but looking over the whole project I know for a fact we skated through relatively unscathed. There weren’t...
read morePlanning a Photoshop photo
I think these examples would be great for my future graphic design students. As these tips and examples (by Martín De Pasquale) reveal, the secret to a good photochop is all about lighting. (image: Gizmodo)
read moreRandom thoughts.
Here are some thoughts I just needed to jot down. 10 years from now I can see what kind of asshole I was. Wait, let me check…nope, for the most part none of these things will come back and bite me when I run for President. I find envy is a horrible quality. Yet I realize that I envy people that can travel a lot. I found myself looking at a friend’s picture of their kid and thought to myself “my boy is cuter than that”. Gurp. How did I become one of those parents? I still think words are only as powerful as you make it....
read moreRemodeling progress
I miss my home. It’s been about three weeks since I’ve slept back in my own home. As gracious as my parents have been letting us stay at their tiny condo, I feel like I’m living on the edge of an argument about to happen at any time. My back is killing me sleeping on the floor too. Our condo is so close to being finished but yet has some key elements preventing us from going back. So far no countertops on our kitchen and bathrooms means no running water beyond our showers. And new carpets are supposed to go in our bedrooms...
read moreAnimatronic artist
[youtube id=G1iVJExd5vA] As I’ve aged, I’ve learned my own limits. There are certain things I don’t know, but I have confidence that I could learn provided I had (1) the desire to learn that subject matter and (2) the time to do it. Programming, photography, and videography are some of my current like-to-do challenges I know I could tackle to my satisfaction at some point in my lifetime. But this example of animatronics by Gustav Hoegen is amazing. As I stare at this video, I couldn’t help but think to myself,...
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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