PECU LIARBLISS ISSU E ON E

SYNONYM • CHRIS PIASCIK

PECU LIARBLISS ISSU E ON E

Pecul iarBl iss .com is a stream of doodles and images, featuring creative , or iginal works from sketchbooks and other mediums into one location, with the hope to inspire continued creative thinking . Pecul iarBl iss Magazine is the quar ter ly continuation of this effor t .

This issues theme: “Synonym”

Cover design: Chris Piascik

VAU

GH

N F

END

ER

SMI LI NG C H EESE - JOSH LAFAYETTE2 : peculiarbliss • ONe

SYNoNYM - RAC H EAL AN i LYSE3 : peculiarbliss • ONe

RoBoT & N ER D - RAN D R EN FROw4 : peculiarbliss • ONe

MakESH I fT MoN DR IaN - JOH N RU DOLPH5 : peculiarbliss • ONe

PavEMENT L I fE , S I DEwaLk LovE - SAB R EEN Aziz6 : peculiarbliss • ONe

SYNoNYM - RU kMU NAL HAkiM7 : peculiarbliss • ONe

PHO

TOS

BY: T

ON

YLU

ON

G.C

OM

QU ESTiONS BY : SHAN NON DUGGAN

in troducingCHRIS PIASCIK

20 QUESTIONS

He’s a graphic designer & ar t ist residing in New England. He has spent the last f ive years working at two award-winning design studios and has taught design courses at Har tford Ar t School (University of Har tford) . He is currently working as a freelance graphic designer and i l lustrator.

alphabet • Hand Drawn, Digital Color, 2010

S. What do you define as your current ar t community(- ies)?

C. Hmm, this is a tough one! i am between many places both in my work and my location. i spent the last 5 years working at a couple small design studios . Graphic design in my foundation though i f ind myself more al igned with the f ine ar t community these days . At this very moment, i am packing up my apar tment in Boston to move to my home state of CT. There i ’ l l be star t ing my career over as a ful l -t ime freelance designer and i l lustrator and continuing to fur ther my “f ine ar t ” based work.

S. How are designers fair ing in this downtrodden economy?

C. Things are tough! i have had many fr iends get la id off— including myself ! i am optimist ic though, i think that this is a good t ime for independent designers that can market themselves across a var iety of platforms.

S. You’ ve done work for companies across the U.S. Do you feel that your work is wel l received by the Constitution State? Or do other states seem to attrac t to your aesthetics more strongly?

C. i d id wel l for myself when i was in CT earl ier in my career and i hope to continue to do so when i return next week. in terms of aesthetics and my personal style , i don’t think it ’s real ly a state-based thing .

S. Is there a design capital of the world? I f so, where?C. i don’t think so. The internet has made it possible for amaz-

ing designers and ar t ists to be located in obscure places .

S. Where is the current interest in design? Are there interesting intersec tion st imulating discussion and experimentation?

C. i think that design is a l l over the place these days, but mostly in a good way. Designers today are forced to be mult i - discipl ined and take on many rol ls that are not seen as tradit ional “Graphic Designer” rol ls . Design is ult imately a way of thinking so a designer ’s approach to any projec t is going to be interest ing and different in that aspec t .

S. How has “design” taken on new meanings in the past f ive years? Has is expanded to encompass more or, perhaps, formed more special ized roles?

C. Design has expanded into a more diverse f ie ld while at the same t ime very special ized niches have sur faced. For example, on any given day i can be working on a corporate identity, book layout , letter ing treatment, paintings for an upcoming show or charac ter i l lustrat ions.

S. Where is design headed?

C. i think design wil l continue to embrace the crossover between f ine ar t and design.

Designers today are forced to be multi-disciplined and take on many rolls that are not seen as traditional Graphic Designer rolls.

10 : peculiarbliss • ONe

PrintBr igade T-Shir t Designs • Hand Drawn, Screen Pr inted, 2009

Daily Drawings • Hand Drawn, Moleskin 2009

11 : peculiarbliss • ONe

various Logo Designs • 2008-2009

T-Shir t Design • Hand Drawn, Digital Color 2009Logo Design • 2010

Major Taylor Zine • Hand Drawn, Digital Color 2010

S. Do you fol low cer tain blogs that give you insight into what other designers are creating and learning?

C. Too many! i t ’s Nice That , LetterCult , My Love for You is a Stampede of Horses, The Post Family, BOOOOOOOM!, Share Some Candy, a mil l ion others!

S. Most inf luential person you met in 2009 and what you learned from them.

C. Hah wow, that ’s a tough one! i met Jesse Ledoux at Cut&Paste Boston (he was a judge) . i later saw him at SXSw and began fol lowing his work c loser onl ine ( i ’ve always been a fan) . He’s al l over the place and working on a lot of different things. Seeing that hustle cemented my ideas about being able to do my own thing .

S. Where do you gain inspiration?

C. Everywhere . The media, music , my fr iends, other ar t ists, designers, even just s itt ing down and doodl ing gives me ideas.

S. When did text become a formal theme in your work? (or do you disagree that it is?)

C. i have always loved drawing words and letter forms. At a young age i would disassemble album packaging and draw my own. My favorite par t was i l lustrat ing the band’s name.

S. Can you c lar ify the difference between lettering and typography for us laymen?

C. Letter ing is the ar t of hand drawing / painting letter forms whereas typography has to do with sett ing a pre- exist ing typeface .

S. Your designed quotes seem to give more than just fancy lettering , but a conceptual consideration and a visual response to how you understand them. Due to your font designs, the quotes that I may have read or heard before take on new meanings. Do you consider the implications of how your text is read while i l lustrating the letters?

C. Definitely. The feel ing i want to invoke is the dr iv ing force behind my i l lustrat ion.

S. Do you have a “go-to” charac ter?

C. As in a typographic charac ter? i real ly l ike “Y’s” mainly because they can be completely over the top. in non-typo-terms, i enjoy drawing cyclops charac ters .

S. Do you ever not want to draw a drawing for the dai ly drawing?

C. Sometimes i am definitely way too t i red or busy, but i convince myself to do one. At this point , i am wel l over 500 dai ly drawings without missing any—so there better be a damn good reason for me to drop the bal l .

S. Three materials/mediums you cannot l ive without .

C. Sharpie , paper, Mac

S. Three pieces of advice to newly graduating designers.

C. 1 . Hustle 2 . Do your research. Don’t star t a letter inquir ing about

a job or posit ion with “To whom it may concern.” 3 . Did i mention “H USTLE?”

S. Best par t about being a designer?

C. Being able to draw and create new things al l the t ime.

S. What makes for a great c l ient?

C. Open-mindedness, trust , good communication, on-t ime payments!

S. I f you weren’t in the ar ts . . . where would you be?

C. Trying to be a rockstar.

At a young age I would disassemble album packaging and draw my own.

FOR MOR E OF C H R iS’S wOR k ViSiT H iS wEBSiTE (U PDATED DAi LY) www.C H R iSPiASC i k.COM.

14 : peculiarbliss • ONe

BaD, L I kE GooD - RAN D R EN FROw

vI ETNaM - TONY LUONG16 : peculiarbliss • ONe

LIGHT SwITC H ES - JOSH LAFAYETTE17 : peculiarbliss • ONe

SYNoNYMICaLLY-aNoNYMouS - SAB R EEN Aziz18 : peculiarbliss • ONe

wooD - kEN HOC kER19 : peculiarbliss • ONe

TH R EE DuMP TRuC kS - JOH N RU DOLPH20 : peculiarbliss • ONe

SEEN Suppor t ing creative goods from independent ar t ists . Cl ick on the images to v iew stores .

1

6

10 12

2

5 7

13

119

8

3

1 . Antimatter - Brooklyn Super Hero Supply Company 2 . Future Cubes -

wil l Bryant 3 . Vampire Bat - Brooks Golden 4 . Test Pr int #208 - Aesthetic

Apparatus 5 . Eternal ly Unsatisf ied But Tirelessly Optimist ic - Chris Piascik/

Vaughn Fender 6 . Beer Cozy - Ryan Bubnis 7. Euro by Car - Uberkraaft

8 . S imple Steps - Mol ly Smith/i l lustrated by Tad Carpenter 9 . Egg on Bread

zine - Ana Benaroya 10. Forest Paper Cut - Naomi/ The Time is Now

1 1 . Major Taylor zine 2 - Chris Piascik 12 . L ightning Bolt Shir t - Ruben

Gutenberg 13 . Cat Comrades - Sophie Davies 14 . Miss Eva Tong - Meg Hunt

Independent ar t ist? Send us your l inks: pbsubmissions@gmail .com

4

14

FOUND

B LaC k 100 - ARG STU DiOSSwI R L - GR iTC H ELLE FALLESGON

PR I NT - Mi kE LAY

HEARDCompiled by Al ice “wonderland” Grandoit of HOMEBASENYC.N ET

1. Boudoir Synema - J*Davey 2 . Amerykah pt 2 - Erykah Badu

3 . The Colossus - RJ D2 4 . i ’m New Here - Gi l Scott Heron

5 . Volume 2 - She&Him 6 . L ights - E l l ie Goulding 7. Eyel id Movies -

Phantogram 8 . Quadron - Quadron 9 . Black Magic - Jose James

10. Hel igoland - Massive Attack 1 1 . Broken Bel ls - Broken Bel ls

12 . B lack Sands - Bonobo 13 . Soldier of Love - Sade

14 . L i fe is sweet! Nice to meet you - L ight Speed Champion

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12

13 14

PECU LIARBLISS ISSU E ON E

ContributorsRAC H EL AN i LYSEw w w.rachealani lyse .com

SAB R EEN Azizw w w. sabreenaziz .posterous.com

RU kMU NAL HAkiMw w w.society6.com/Hakim

kEN HOC kERw w w.kenhocker.com

JOSH LAFAYETTEw w w.joshlafayette .com

TONY LUONGw w w.tonyluong .com

C H R iS PiASC i k w w w.chrispiascik .com

RAN D R EN FROww w w.r-quad.com

JOH N RU DOLPHw w w.wecantstop.com

Pecul iarBl iss Magazine is a quar ter ly publ icat ion. To contr ibute to the magazine or website , email us:pbsubmissions@gmail .com

Editor / DesignerVAUGH N FEN DER w w w.vaughnfender.com

Associate EditorHAN NAH FiC HAN DLER

WriterSHAN NON DUGGAN

Music CuratorALiC E GRAN DOiT w w w.homebasenyc .net

PECU LIARBLISS.COM

Su bMiSSion DEADli n E : J u n E 20, 2010

ContEnt:We are open to al l mediums – doodles, photog-raphy, digital , paintings, col lages etc . Al l work should be sent by email , please submit work to Pbsubmissions@gmail .com with the t it le of the current theme.

Gu i DEli n ES:1 . Dimensions 10’ x 10’2 . P lease create your work high res and provide

a copy @ 100 dpi3 . Provide your contac t info with al l submissions4 . only send work you to have considered

for publ ication.

We are now accepting submissions for the theme:

“HAPPINESS”