Birds and Kings

New Site

Zach Harris — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:52:24 +0000

I’m not sure how much longer I will use this site.

I’m now focusing all my efforts on a new blog, found here: ambrosiablog.com

IV Winterfest T-shirt

Zach Harris — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 02:46:29 +0000

I was commissioned to create a T-shirt for our college’s Intervarsity group’s trip to the regional Conference and this is what I came up with. All created digitally on PS.

For the alternate color schemes, click here.

I AM A BIRD shirt

Zach Harris — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 05:23:06 +0000

New shirt design.

Click here to see purchasing options through Zazzle.

Where Is God…?

Zach Harris — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 05:45:12 +0000

I recently designed a poster for an ongoing series and topic of discussion at my College’s Intervarsity group. The theme of “Where Is God?” is all about asking the questions that the church has historically repressed and which we are hesitant or scared of otherwise to address.

There’s a lot of mess in the world around us. We all wonder, “Where is God within all this bad?”

To make the poster I started with that concept. The design was partially inspired by the image I use in my header, taken by a friend of mine of her own hair. (It should be noted that there is a pun in all this: Where is God = W.I.G.)

Though its a rather common thing in popular design to see typography interacting with some design element, I loved the idea of the words being all tangled up in the hair and mess around that monumental question.

This is was the first full sketch of how I wanted the hair to flow and how the text sat on the page.

Next I drew out the design in pencil on a huge piece of watercolor paper and began outlining everything in India ink.

I fashioned a drawing tool out of a chopstick for use with the india ink. It works incredibly.

Next I began the arduous process of drawing each individual strand of hair. Though time consuming, it became rather therapeutic after a time.

And after all that labor the satisfaction of actually completing it was increased tenfold.

After finishing the physical piece, I scanned it in as two separate files on a school photo dept. scanner and stitched the files together in Photoshop.

After that it was just a matter of adding the information, some shadow to bring out the informative text and draw one’s eye to the center, and a nice watermark-like question mark overlay. Ready to print and spread out to our visually keen campus.

Introductions

Zach Harris — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:40:35 +0000

Jello,

You’ve somehow managed to wash up on the shores of this tiny island of my imagination. I hope that you might receive at your stay here a warm welcome and the absolute max of my allotted hospitality, shortly before the inhabitants roast you for dinner and/or sacrifice you to the great island bird god.

Now, formalities aside, you have reached by some fluke unbeknown to me, my own personal space on the web. I am currently at school in Chicago for film studies but love to dabble within all areas of the art, design, music, and film worlds. I love reading blogs detailing the interests and exploits of artists and musicians and therefor thought I might document my own here.

I don’t have the time nor resources to pursue every single thing I feel inspired about or inclined to otherwise to create to its fullest. Thus, I am left only to dabble in the infinitely broad forms of expression this physical life allows.

Here I will post things I make, ideas I have, questions I ask, and things which inspire me. I have no other plan for where this will go (other than perhaps “down”) but would like to share nonetheless.

Cordially,

Zach Harris

PS: if you would like to visit my past blogging expedition, go here: potatoesmashed.blogspot.com