JANUARY 31, 2009
MY SATURDAY
Everything I do these days seems to be just another baby step towards Fur Face Boy's goals. Today, I took a few more steps by meeting Jessica Sanchez-Alvarado. She was looking for someone to do a logo for her up and coming company. Me, needing to gain some more capital for Fur Face Boy agreed to do her logo. When I met her, I came to realize that Jessica Sanchez-Alvarado was the same Jessica Sanchez (-Alvarado) I went to and graduated High School with! She got married to Josh Alvarado who I think was in an Art class with me back in like the 9th grade! Small world, huh? Anyways, after catching up on some old times we got down to business. We talked about what I could do for her and what she could do for me. As we were leaving our meeting, I hooked her up with some FREE Fur Face Boy shirts and then....(before I go any further, here's a photo of the lovely Mrs. Jessica Sanchez-Alvarado)
...we met this guy. His name is Ron Monroe and he owns his own silk screener. We talked for a bit, I told him what I do and he told me what he does, this and that, that and this, so we exchanged info. I hooked him up with some Fur Face Boy shirts too and I hope that the seeds of a Ron Monroe / Fur Face Boy relationship had been buried into the ground.
After meeting these great people, I was motivated to get the Fur Face Boy name out even more! I became even more hyped up when I came home to see my dear mom sewing Fur Face Boy labels on the rest of the first run of shirts! Mom -damn, you're the greatest!
As mom was sewing, I was organizing and calculating things. I then received a call from Jessica that her husband, Josh wanted to buy a Fur Face Boy shirt! I told them a time and place where we could meet up and ta-da! Fur Face Boy's first bank! (I gave Josh the "I knew you in high school promotional special" - valid only on that day.)
Here's Josh (and Jessica) representing Fur Face Boy...
When I went home, I wrote some words of wisdom on my first bank and then I framed it.
The rest of the day consisted of balancing/calculating my time and money towards Fur Face Boy. Sketching up more Fur Face Boy ideas, emailing friends and family to continue to spread the word and updating this site. Although I have a job, create a monthly zine, take in some freelance work along with figuring out the kinks of life, it seems that these days the only thing that is on my mind is Fur Face Boy. I want the brand to grow as much as it possibly can grow, but there's no way I can do it without everyone growing along with it. Zzz...zzz...
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JANUARY 30, 2009
MY FRIDAY
After a day's of work I went home and didn't do much. My room was a mess, so I decided to clean it up. Then I found this:
Let's examine this list and go through every bullet point 1 by 1. Bullet point 1: Exercise regularly. I admit, I'm no Mr. Universe, but I did exercise regularly. Alot of perfect push-uping, chin-up barring and running. I don't exercise to look good, I only exercise to feel good. My job consists of sitting in a chair all day, so if I don't get active my body starts aching like mad. So yea, check!
Bullet point 2: Go to San Francisco for the weekend to eat clam chowder and seafood. I didn't go to San Francisco last March like I planned. It was just too expensive. Instead, I went to Colorado in December. There I met the great Johnny Cupcakes! I didn't just get to meet him, I got to hang out with him too! So yea, although I didn't go to San Francisco to eat it's fantastic-o bread bowl clam chowder and seafood, I think getting to meet and hanging out / eating Mexican food with Johnny is 100 times better. Johnny plays a big part in inspiring me to do what I'm trying to do today! Thanks Johnny, you're still the man! So I'm gonna go ahead and check this bullet point.
Bullet point 3: Run a half and full marathon. I didn't run a full marathon. After running my first half marathon I thought to myself that that was already pretty damn hard enough. Instead, I ran 2 half marathons. The Big D Texas Half Marathon and the DRC Half. After the DRC half, I was a witness to some crazyass lady crashing her car into three bystanders! Very scary stuff! Anyways, I plan on running a few more half's this year. Email me if you're interested in running with me at ha@furfaceboy.com. But yea, two half marathons in a year is worth a check to me!
Bullet point 4: Find new apartment. I didn't find a new apartment. Instead I moved back in with my parents. Alot of you might think that this is lame, but to tell you the truth it ain't too bad. I'm able to save more money. I get to watch NBA / NFL games on an HDTV! Free food! Free laundry! It's all good. Read this and you might think to yourself..."Yea, I should do that!" Having a place to stay, saving money, free food, free laundry, free etc., HDTV...definitely worth a check!
Bullet point 5: Go to Japan in the summer - July. I didn't go to Japan in July, but I went earlier in the year in January to find some peace of mind and to visit my brother, Long and my sister in law, Sayaka. Going to Japan once a year is perfectly fine to me. I guess I was pushing it by wanting to go twice in a year. Japan is quite the experience, I believe everyone should go atleast once in their life. I'm gonna check this one too.
Bullet point 6:Take Drawing and business night classes. I didn't take the drawing class, but I did take some continuing education business courses at a local community college. I feel that I have a sense of drawing, so I decided not to take the drawing courses. I'm glad I took those business courses and earned a certificate. I came out of there with not a whole lot, but atleast some kind of business sense. I don't care what you think, I'm giving myself another check!
Bullet point 7:Draw a new drawing (Long and Sayaka?). This, I truly got done. Check!
Bullet point 8:Build a new unique and memorable portfolio with better work. I'm not sure if my new portfolio book was unique, but I'm hoping that some of the work was memorable. I got to showcase it at the 2008 HOW design conference in Boston and received some high praise from many designers, including Mike Strassburger of the great Modern Dog Design Co. If you can get Mike Strassbuger to check out your work then I believe I definitely deserve a check!
Bullet point 9:Prepare and unveil new website. I'm not talking about this site. I'm talking about my graphic design site. This, I truly got done as well. Check!
Bullet point 10:Look for 2 new clients. I'm not going to take the credit for finding these clients, I was either referred to or they found me. Either way, I got to do some client work. The logo on the left is for Sugarlush Cupcakes. They're the best little cupcakes in Texas! And the illustration on the right was for a co-worker of mine. Those two puppy dogs are the ever-so-precious Ivan and Sydney Hibbard-Hill! Woof! Check! Woof!
And finally, Bullet point 11: Save ??? - ??? dollars by Feb 1, 2009. I made this goal. 'Nuff said! Check! Believe it or not, though I accomplished the things I wanted to (and more), 2008 was THE MOST hardest year I ever had to get through. I had alot of personal issues to overcome and pretty much had to refind and rebalance where both my mind and heart were at. I had many months of depression and many months of not doing a damn thing, until one day I was just like..."F*** this! It's time to make some goals and get some shit done! " I just finished typing my goals out for 2009, so if Fur Face Boy still stands by this time next year, I promise I'll go over the list and give you an update. Wish me luck, because I have nothing but the biggest / highest of goals in my sight. Oh yea, by the end of the night...my room was spotless.
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JANUARY 27, 2009
SAN DIEGO
Over this past weekend I headed out to San Diego for the Agenda Trade Show. I wasn't an exhibitor or a buyer but I wanted to go to take in the experience of a trade show. That way, I could prepare myself for the future, if you know what I'm saying...wink, wink.
At Agenda, I met some FANTASTIC people! I was straight up with them and told them that I wasn't an exhibitor nor a buyer and that I was there to just get some insight and pointers on how to start my own brand. Things like what inspired / motivated them to do what they're doing, how to market myself better, what and how to do things and what pitfalls to avoid. As an appreciation of taking the time and inspiring me, I presented them with a FREE FIRST EVER PRINTING Fur Face Boy shirt! WooOooOoo! The guy below is Mikey Carbonneau. He's with DCMA Collective and was the first guy I talked to. I felt like such an idiot at first stating what I was doing, but after realizing how cool everyone was, it became a piece-o-cake!
Well, well...who do we have here? To tell you the truth...I have no idea! I guess I became so trigger happy passing out shirts and taking photos in the beginning that I forgot who I gave this shirt to. Either way, I'm glad he's proudly representing his brand new Fur Face Boy shirt! Thanks, mystery man!
These two wild and crazy guys are from Ludwig. They have a fantastic brand and I love their stuff!
Quick! Everyone look busy! It's Malcolm Phipps, President of Double Helix NYC! Malcom wasn't shy at all about giving me insight to his brand. I swear it seemed like he talked to me for like a whole hour. He had a real passion for his brand, something everyone MUST HAVE when starting out. Anyways, Malcom's a real great guy and a real class act!
Look into these eyes. Do you see that intenseness, that determination and that drive? That's that passion I was talking about earlier and Dennis Yu of the Natural Selection Agency (Mishka, Edwin, Free Gold Watch, etc.) has it! Dennis was one of, if not THE most helpful people at the tradeshow. Very cool, very laid back and at the same time knew how to handle his business. He let me know that anytime I needed some help to just give him a holler and I think that that's absolutely totally awesome. BIG PROPS to you, Dennis Yu. The man. The legend.
Fur Face Boy's can be Fur Face Gal's too! And this cool gal is Catherine from Claw Money. She was constantly folding and rearranging shirts, while passing out her business card / sticker to buyers all at the same time while telling me some insight to what Claw Money was all about. Multi-tasking...so awesome!
Hey, hey...who's that you see? It's Eric Crandel and Brandon Crawford from 101 Apparel! These two guys were very cool and were absolute riots! Not only did they give me their story on how they got started, but they also hooked me up with some pretty cool mix albums. After listening to these mix albums, I thought to myself..."Hmmm...maybe I should get into the music scene?" Then I instantly thought..."Neh."
Oh hey...didn't see you there. Anyways, these two gals are Chelsea and Lindsay from Maple and Erhart. They were the last two to recieve a Fur Face Boy shirt. As I walked around Agenda trying to find someone else to talk to, these two found me instead! As I was walking by their booth they approached me and said..."Do you want a cookie?" I immediately respond back with..."Do you want some Fur Face Boy?" And the rest is history.
Here's a few more Agenda pics. These DJ gals were great! The whole Agenda experience was great! I'm guaranteeing you that I'll be back. If not at Agenda then at another trade show. I hope to see you there. If you do make it out, don't be shy to swing by and ask me how I got there.
That guy in the middle is Jim Mahfood of 40 Oz. Comics. I used the read the crap out of his Generation X Underground Special. I actually have an original Jim Mahfood drawing that he did of me from 2005. Damn, I wished I had an extra Fur Face Boy shirt to give to him. Oh well.
See? I told you I had an Mahfood original. That's me on the right. Cool huh? Yea, I know.
This mural was all done with 99.5% type! Can you say...unbelievably, crazy, insane GREATNESS?
Aside from all of the Agenda madness I got to hang out and take in not only San Diego but Los Angeles too! And I'm glad I did it with these guys below. They're the Shogun crew! From left to right: Shogun Viet, Shogun Kieth, Shogun San (Great Gazoo variant) and Shogun John. Shogun is about to open up and the set up is totally mind blowing! Be sure to check out their blog and if you're ever in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to definitely swing by, say hello and grab yourself some heat!
And the last posting of the day is a dedicated to my mom! Before I headed off to the Agenda Trade Show, she stayed up all night for me to sew on my labels! Earlier she made me dinner and after the sewing she made me some special tea to soothe my sore throat! Here's to you mom! Master seamstress, super cook, doctor and Fur Face Boy's first ever fan! I hope everyone who read these postings will come back every now and then and grow along with Fur Face Boy. Soon I'll have all these links working and annouce abunch of other cool stuff. So stay tuned! In the meantime, if you ever have any questions or would like to share some random thoughts you can personally email me at ha@furfaceboy.com. I hope to hear from all of you guys!
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JANUARY 18, 2009
3:41 A.M...
I'm still trying to make this website work. Zzz...zzz...
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JANUARY 17, 2009
THIS EVENING...
I'm trying to make this website work.
THIS AFTERNOON - I'm trying to make this website work.
THIS MORNING - I'm trying to make this website work.
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