Album Anagrams

I've only just realized that I've neglected to post the album art I did for the last couple mix CD's I made.

I hate going through all the trouble to carefully create a mix for someone just to write "Jesse's Mix" or "Happy Birthday" or whatever dumb thing on it. It's like making a homemade table then painting over the wood.

My standard move is to take the name of the person I made the mix for (or part of it at least) and make an interesting anagram out of it. Then all I have to do is just draw the imagery to match it. It makes the whole thing much more personal I think. Plus it lets me draw all sorts of weird stuff that I would have never normally thought of.




Seize the Kelp Barbarian

If I remember correctly I made this one in a bit of a sleep-deprived rush on December 23rd of some year or another. It was for my cousin and while I had arranged the mix in advance I waited until the last minute to deal with the rest. Like usual! Which is (of course) why this is a picture of it and not a scan of it like I would normally do.




A Fairer Prop Thigh

I made this one and I was really proud of it. Like super pleased with myself. But then I noticed that it could be viewed as a lamp and not as part of a mannequin like I meant it to be. I've also just realized that I forgot to sign it... *sigh*

Mailman Visage Glue

It's another Mix CD cover! As per usual it sports a snazzy anagram name titles. Although, as you will probably notice, this time I didn't plan things out well enough and the bottom part of the title is hard to read, but I suppose that is what I get for rushing to get it done. Where's ctrl+Z when you need it, eh?

Hello, Insane Zebra Hats

As many of you know, one of my go-to cheapskate gift ideas is to make a mix CD and spice it up with some album art. No album is complete without a name so I just use an anagram of the person's name. In fact, you can even find a couple of them somewhere inside this ol' blog. Others you cannot because there was a time in my life when I didn't take pictures of these things before sending them off. But I have learned my lesson! Here is the latest one: Hello, Insane Zebra Hats.

It turns out I cannot draw insane zebra hats without giggling. They are just too silly.

A Break Filled With Work

I've been taking a little bit of a break from letter writing so I could focus my energies on gift giving instead. This means that it really isn't a break at all. In fact it is more stressful because the deadlines are written in stone. The funny thing is I usually only resort to arty gifts if I can't think of anything good enough to give a person. In my head they are kind of a cop-out. After all I did them on Christmas Eve, because I was holding hopes that I'd come up with something better and failed. Yet, they've been being better received than the actual gifts I gave, so go figure. Live and learn.

The first thing is a mix CD I made for my cousin. In my usual fashion I used an anagram of their name for the CD's title.
For my other cousin I made up a little poem/story/thing. Although it might be slightly different from the delivered one. Sometimes I end up making little changes on the fly when I write things out from the version I typed up, then don't think to edit the computer draft.

Rosalie Vs. Jingle

This is the tale of Rosalie,
a girl both brave and bold,
the one who will save us all from evil,
just as it's been foretold.

You see it all began
upon a winter's night.
The moon was covered by some clouds,
as it hid itself from fright.

The cold air didn't seem to mind,
as it danced upon the wind,
and as it did it's twists and turns,
something wicked grinned.

Rosalie was out for a walk.
she was out to get some air.
Suddenly a she heard a twig snap,
she wasn't alone out there.

Out from a bushes it came,
a goblin green and mean,
it wore a crooked top hat,
and a t-shirt with an image quite obscene.

In one hand he held a baby,
in the other he had some gin.
He smelled a bit like daffodils,
and was much too tall and thin.

"Oh hello, how do you do?
My name is Jingle Jangle.
I like country music and long walks,
and I love to kill and mangle."

"Greetings mister goblin,
I see you are quite well.
But if you don't let that baby free,
I'll send you straight to hell."

The grin did fade with that remark,
and his eyes blazed bright red.
"You best watch little miss,
or you'll be the one who's dead.

"I highly doubt that Jingle,
for there's something you don't know.
Now hand over the little one,
or it'll be your blood upon the snow."

"I've been alive for years and years,
born before you could even crawl.
I've seen everything under the sun,
and, miss, I know it all."

"At least that's what you say,
but you haven't got a clue."
"So hurry up and don't delay,
tell me before I kill you!"

"Whoa there mister goblin,
there's no need to fret,
I can solve this problem,
through a simple little bet.

Let me hold the baby,
and I'll tell you my information,
if you've heard it kill us both,
you'll have my invitation."

"Sounds fair enough," he said,
as he handed over the child.
"Now tell me, tell me!"
And Rosalie just softly smiled.

"You aren't standing on the sidewalk,
you're standing on the road.
Oh look a semi."
*Splat*
"It looks like goblins can explode."

Nice Weather Blues

Since it has now been delivered I am now able to show a CD cover I recently for a mix CD my cousin Melinda requested. Technically this is the piece that became the CD cover, the colors got dulled&darkened out in the printed version and I much prefer it as it is shown here. I also continued my tradition of using anagrams of the recipients name as the title for mixes. Well, it isn't really a tradition. I've only done it a couple other times. In case you're curious the others were "A Bio Map Memory" and "Clean Air Pillow Rain". I didn't think to take pictures of those so they are lost to the ages. I'm pretty sure they weren't very good though.

I doodled all over the box I sent it in as well, but I didn't bother taking a picture as it was already very late and the mail room was about to close. However, Melinda did the hard part for me. A round of applause for her hard work.

In other news I really should stop reading for fun, but it is just so hard. Interesting books just keep landing in my lap and I just have to seek out the treasures they contain. They have also inspired me to keep track of all the new words I learn. In order to better cement them into my brain I shall post them up here so you can, (A) feel superior in already knowing it or, (B) learn something new. Today I learned the word:

Sclera - The outer or "white part" of the eye.