RAW Artist show = Contest!

Hey all.  So I'm in charge of selling 20 tickets to the art extravaganza that's coming up on Thursday, February 16th.  I'll be showing some new paintings, selling some ties, and generally hanging out at 103 Harriet which is the main single floor of 1015 (you know, the big nightclub where the Handmade Ho Down was?)

ANYWAY, so I need to sell these tickets by Sunday at midnight (PST), and since I feel a little bit weird asking you to pay to come see my art (granted, there's gonna be music and DJ's and dancing and tons of great paintings and photographs and body painting and other stuff), I've decided that I want to make it worth your while ON TOP of just checking out a really cool event.

So.  I'm holding a raffle for everyone who buys a $10 ticket.  Note: buying ahead of time not only qualifies you for the contest, but also saves you $5 if you decide later to buy at the door.  Hell, you don't even have to go to the event (although I'd love to see you) if you don't want to.  If you want, you can also donate your spot back to me and I can offer it to people who would want to go but can't afford it.  Whatever, anyway, here's the deets.

1.  Buy your ticket to the event HERE by Sunday, February 11th by 11:59pm, PST. Make sure my name is in the drop-down field that says "Support your artist."

2.  Email me your receipt, or a screencap of your check out page, whatever.  Basically prove to me you bought a ticket within the time frame.  You can send proof over to: risk [at] rickkitagawa.com

3.  I'll enter your name into a raffle for one of the following prizes:

•  A copy of "The Journal of Dr. Marcus Igiatu," a book that I wrote, illustrated, bound by hand, and hand-silkscreened.  There are only about 8 of these, and I usually sell them for around $400.
• A 28+ color silkscreen print titled "Bullies" that has three monster children looking creepy.
• "Hydra" painting from the Bestiarum vocabulum show last march, a big-ass painting of snake-tacular proportions
• A custom printed tie for you.  You can see all the designs and tie colors at http://www.monkeyandseal.com/ties.html
• 3 "Fantasies Shattered" prints.
• 3 "Sad Panda" prints.
• 9 "Jackalope" prints
• And if none of the previously created work interests you, I'm also offering to create a digital illustration of whatever you want.  You basically get to be the art director, and I'm your illustrator and I'll print you a 9"x12" copy.  

4.  If you notice, there are 20 different items up for raffle, and I need to sell 20 tickets, so as long as you crazy rabid fans out there don't buy ten tickets each, the chance of winning something is pretty high. 

5.  Also, the way I'm running the raffle is that the 1st person picked gets their choice of prizes.  I know in contests sometimes I personally want 3rd place rather than 1st or 2nd, so this way being the first picked person gets their top choice.

Cool.  That's it.  I'll do the drawing on Friday the 17th, and will notify winners via email.

Thanks everyone!  So go buy your ticket(s) NOW!  Oh yeah, if you want to see some shots of the prizes:

 page excerpts from the book

 "Bullies" the big-ass silkscreen print

 The Jackalope print

 The Sad Panda print

Hydra painting

"Fantasies Shattered" print

Art dump

Eater of the Dead's Secret Lair for Midnight Carriage
Haunting Shark Fisherman for Midnight Carriage
Underground Kraken Insect for Midnight Carriage
City lines Menu design for Minted.com's menu contest.

Tiki Menu design for Minted.com's menu contest.


So I figured I'd do some art on this art blog. Some stuff I've been working on digitally. In a few weeks I should also have some prints made, and some interesting watercolor exercises. Maybe some figure paintings as well.

Minted submissions, frustration at people

"Warmest Wishes" and "FromSFWithLove," my latest designs for the Minted.com community design competition. The topic was geographically-inspired designs. I, as per usual, went with less of a traditional design and went more with illustration-based entries. I hope to break the 2.0 average score mark soon. One day...one day...

But if you want to vote, please go here in a few days and vote (but if you vote you have to vote for a lot of them, and vote according to what you like - don't just give everyone else a 0).

Truth be told, I don't really ever expect to win this contest anyway. My sense of what I like and what the Minted.com community likes are two different things entirely. Such is life, but it would be nice to have a design I can sell :P But I guess when I finalize and get my current side-project going, it won't matter anyway.


Anyhoo, on a more serious note, I know every feminist and their mother are posting something about the potential grim reaper that is Senator Palin. Most people automatically assume that feminists are happy about this, as "she's woman, we want equal rights for women, things should be all good, right?"

Wrong. The simple truth is that although Palin asserts that she is a feminist, she is not. A true feminist doesn't play the sexism card at every possible chance. A true feminist plays the sexism card when it's valid. Now I also don't condone attacking her and saying she's a failure as a mother, how will she take care of her kids, etc., etc. I do condone asking "Why are you against teen pregnancy for inner city children but okay when your own daughter gets pregnant?"

Basically, by automaticaly asserting that any criticism on Palin is sexist, the Republican party is making a play for your votes. Then, once Palin is VP, then they can basically roll back reproductive rights (which are already constantly being reduced), and other feminist measures of equality by saying "She approves it, it has to be feminist" when it most decidedly is not feminist.

Just as I don't support Asian Americans who don't see the issue with the fetishization of Asian women or war veterans who support the current war in Iraq, I don't support women who think that everything is all fine and dandy because they have "made it" and want to support the traditional patriarchal nuclear family and it's oppressive values.

Don't buy into false rhetoric. Just because people belong to a certain minority group does not mean that they are representative of that minority group's feelings as a whole. They way any dominant hegemony stays in power is allowing few select individuals of the minority into power. This way, by saying "look, they made it, why can't you?" it passes the blame of failing to embrace a highly prejudiced system onto you. By holding Michelle Malkin, Condolezza Rice, and Sarah Palin up as model women, they can then say "We don't discriminate against Asians Americans. We don't discriminate against Black Americans. We don't discriminate against women, period!" and most people will buy it. DON'T BUY IT!

I don't know if I ended up babbling incoherently, but I am just so frustrated by how people are actually listening to this nonsense. Please, check your priviledge, check your racism, and really evaluate who the hell is going to be a decent choice to lead this screwed-up nation of ours. If you like our crappy economy, our war, our unemployment rate, our xenophobia, please, vote McCain/Palin. If you want someone who at least understands the working-class people, vote Obama/Biden. They aren't perfect, but they're damn well amazing compared to the alternative.

SF Zine FEST

Come check out the SF Zine Fest! It's frickin' free people! This weekend!

There's tons of workshops, off-site events, and other hella cool stuff. I'm even co-instructing a bookbinding workshop! Eve and I have a table under Monkey + Seal, and we'll be selling zines, comics, buttons, and hopefully more! Check out the site for more details!

In other news, I submitted this design for the newest Minted.com design competition. Which, if you are artistically inclined, should enter! The next topic hasn't been released yet, but keep checking back at www.minted.com/contest for the next one!



And in much less-cool news, my cousin Amy was recently diagnosed with cancer. Fuggin' sucks, but she seems in high spirits and her uber-cool husband Floyd has a blog keeping it updated with Amy's conditions. Feel free to send any well-wishes her way.

Whitney, Onion

So Eve and I returned from climbing Mt. Whitney. We went up the backside via the Mountaineer's Trail, but unfortunately, due to altitude sickness (on which I partially blame the guides), I puked my brains out at Lower Boyscout Lake (where we made basecamp) and ascended no further. All in all, besides the puking, it was a great experience, as the other climbers were super cool people and the view was amazing. And if anyone still wants to help get kids outdoors and donate anything between $5 and $1000, please do so here.

In other news, we'll be at the SF Zine fest (I think I already said that someplace) as Monkey +Seal (we =R +E). Hopefully we'll have buttons, zines, comics, and some other cool stuff. I also might be doing a bookbinding workshop, so you should definitely check it out. July 19+20th!

I have another entry in the Minted.com holiday card contest. Here's my submission (also seen below) and please vote! You have until June 20th or abouts there (you'll definitely have until then) so please help me out!

Lastly, a bit of fun from the Onion. Probably NSFW, if only cuz you have to hear the newscasters.

McCain Vows To Replace Secret Service With His Own Bare Fists

HEY PEOPLE, COME WIN SOME FRICKIN CASH!

So those that are artistically inclined should think about reading this (direct from the CEO of my company):



Minted is a new online store offering fresh, modern custom stationery and invitations. We believe that great design lives and thrives in the hands of independent brands and designers that consumers may not hear about or have access to through traditional retailers. For our launch, we've handpicked a selection of the best independent stationery brands, known for their artistry, exquisite printing, and superb papers.

We also want to enable talented designers everywhere to gain prominence and be compensated for great designs without having to manage a full-time stationery business or take on the challenge of printing and shipping to customers. We want to offer modern, unique customizable cards to the public. To this end, we plan to host continuous, themed design challenges named “Freshly Minted” where designers can submit designs into competition and the Minted community will select winners. Winning designs will be printed by us and sold on Minted.com.

Why participate?

· Prize winners will be awarded cash prizes and will be featured prominently throughout our site, and will earn a percentage of every sale of their design sold at Minted.

· From among those who enter, Minted will choose outstanding designers to commission further work from.

· Through our PR efforts, we build recognition for our designers in the press.

· The designer’s name and the month they became a member of the Minted community will always be printed on the back of their winning card design. Because the average card order will be around 75-100 cards that are sent out to the purchaser’s friends and family, this means that thousands of people will hear about you and your awesome talent if we end up selling your designs at Minted.

Our Current Design Challenge

Our current challenge is seeking really unique, modern, chic holiday photo cards and the deadline is Saturday, June 7^th at 11:59 Pacific Time. Submit as many designs as you like! One request – please don’t change your style just because this is a holiday card challenge and you think that the community might want something more ‘traditional’ for the holidays. Think about what you and your friends would personally like to send out as a holiday card. This time there are two $1,000 prizes, one chosen by David Turner of Turner Duckworth and the other chosen by the Minted community.

Prizes: $1000 for 1st place winners; $250 for 2nd place winner; $100 each for 3rd, 4th, and 5th place winners. All top 5 designs will be featured and sold on Minted.com, with the winning designers receiving 4% of net sales of the products sold, in addition to the cash prizes. Winners' names will be printed on the back of each of the cards they design and we sell. Finally, we are thrilled to announce that David Turner, the principal of Turner Duckworth, the renowned international brand design agency, will be choosing a design to receive a 2nd, separate $1000 award.

Please see www.minted.com/contest for details and to enter. Good luck!

Save the Date

Sooo, 2 things:
1. Save the Dates
As some of you may know, I work in the wedding invite industry, and thus I was informed of a contest on minted.com to design Save the Date photo cards. I thus entered in order to try and win $1000 and have my Save the Date designs sold on their site.


Sooo, here are my two designs. I could talk about the design process, but the basis of this post is to go to http://www.minted.com/vote and create an accout and vote for my designs. Please feel free to vote for the other designs as well, but since you're my friend, vote 5's for mine!

I do realize that mine are a lot simpler than a lot of the others, but I tried to design mine with flexibility in mind. A lot of them are cool, but would they really look good with any photo in them, or just the ones that were provided? Eh, whatevs. I don't really expect to win, but any help is helpful! Thanks much!

2.
So thanks to Diana, I heard about this one woman fighting against the corporate crapface known as Louis Vuitton. She's trying to make a socio-political art campaign to get America to stop following idiots like Paris Hilton and start following huge global crises like the genocide in Darfur. And thus, using a LV-styled bag, she's getting sued. Super.

Thus, with the minted contest going on, and thinking on how sick it is how much money people pay for wedding invitations is, it got me thinking. Well, why don't I start my own wedding invite company that gives a portion of the profits to charity? PS - if some bastard reads this and takes my idea, I'll be sorta pissed, but if you do you had better be giving a shitload of money to charity. Anyway, all sorts of ideas are brewing in my head. Gotta go do some hw and do some research.