Sugar Coated Advent 2012: Day Thirteen: Lollypop Day, Q. Cassetti, Trumansburg, NY, Adobe illustratorThere is pink, and then there is pink. I like ballet slipper pink. Its a pink that is more peach than pink, with a little bit of dirtiness, but not that crazy, “I am a first grader/ pinky pink” that every little girl adores. Hello Kitty pink, shocking pink, hot pink. Ballet pink has more grace and is more of a blender than a “look at me” kind of color. However, even I find that sometimes the pinky pink is a shot that you need just to get things jingling. Betcha you didnt plan on this yap today.
Our Advent Calendar continues apace. I am learning quite a bit, and find myself cracking open the ole tutorial book to see why something is or isnt working, and then surprising myself when I apply something that I have no idea how it will work, and it does, but not in the way I had expected.
I am learning quite a bit about some interesting Japanese offerings. First off, did you know that in the suburbs of Tokyo, the brilliant Sanrio company (read Hello Kitty etc). have their own inside theme park, Puroland, devoted to all things “Hello Kitty”? Well, now you do. You can visit Hello Kitty’s big pink house, meet her boyfriend “Daniel” (? Why wouldnt you name him a similar way: Hello Kitty, Good Bye Kanye?), see a Sanrio show, eat in their many restaurants and shop (imagine the
Kawaii heaven). They even have some pretty dull rides that you can take to participate in the wonderfulness. Great concept, looks like less than strong execution. Sanrio should have hired the imagineers to come in and do their thing to take this baby over the top. It could have been more “American Doll Place”—even…but from the pictures it seems a bit flat. However, you can get married there in a Hello Kitty Wedding Dress (yes, its true) (see to the left) and then shop afterwards. Imagine the Hello Kitty reception with food made to look like the Re ment stuff—from rice balls formed to look like Hello Kitty’s head, to sushi in the same shape, to little jellyroll confections with picks in the top of course, of the little pink bobbleheaded cat we all want to incorporate into every single aspect of our lives. I have been looking at the pictures of Puroland and as much as it fascinates me to no end, there is something scary to this place. Not a lot of pictures of people smiling, not a lot of kids, and no real feeling , no real beat of the emotion of the place. I bet its real clean, though.
I am working on a tractor illustration for a pair of musicians who are coming out with a new CD (due soon). Meeting with my friends from the Piggery to see how we can help them further their cause of affordable deliciousness—and move their newest endevor forward. Someone contacted me to use an illustration in some product labelling, so I am working on getting that designed and integrated (versus handing over the goods, I suggest I do the job for him…and more often than not, it works). There is holiday stuff, there is work stuff and of course there is illustration work stuff. So busy captures what is going on here.