design job rates

It's hard to set rates for design jobs. We usually estimate the time and difficulty of the illustration. But I don't think that's enough.

Picture frames

We are having an exhibition in Taiwan this November. We went shopping for picture frames today. But I have a strange hatred for picture frames. If their function is to hold a picture vertically on a wall.... they are doing it in a very inefficient way. I don't see why they have to be so big and heavy. Mankind has been using picture frames before Da Vinci but no one has invented something better? (Blue tack kind of works.) It is hard to explain why I don't like them. But we are still going to use them.

How to mail stuff

I have totally mastered the art of mailing stuff !!!!!! YEAH! (for cheap)

And here are some more rules:
1. Don't go to the courier at lunch time or after 7pm because the guys there will ignore you.
2. The post office is crowded on Mondays. 
3. If you don't seal your air mail package, postage is cheaper. (It's considered printed matter).
4. Don't forget to calculate the weight of your bubble wrap, box, packing paper and tape.
5. Always stock up on stamps! You'll regret it when you run out.
6. Some mail boxes have extra small slots. So beware.
7. Google-map (verb) suspicious addresses (suspiciously wrong) or you'll just have to mail it again when it gets lost.
8. Bring change for the courier but the post office will always have change for your $500 bill.
9. The courier sometimes gives you discounts. Yay yay yay! But the post office won't. (But the post office is losing millions of dollars every year)

How we draw pictures

Pencil sketch

trying out some color

Refining it in illustrator

Testing different markers on different kinds of paper

smooth paper

textured paper

trying different brush strokes

some photoshopping

final picture!! :)