Lyrois

Miniature Series: Purple Shadows

We're almost done with the 2008 styles. Stay tuned for the remainder and for some previews into the 2009 colorways and materials.

Miniature shapes in black and purple vinyl on white aluminum.

Labels: 2008ss, aluminum, art, lyrois, miniatures, tableaux, vinyl

Instructions, Obedience, Discipline: The Fault of the General

If the instructions are not clear, if the orders are not obeyed, it is the fault of the general. But if the instructions are clear and the soldiers still do not obey, it is the fault of their officers. --Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Sometimes, virtuosity develops in the second row. Uninstructed, apparently disobedient and seemingly undisciplined.

Labels: 2008, art, fashion, interior+design, lyrois, miniatures, murals

The Year of the Rat: Color Me

February 7th, 2008 marks the beginning of the Chinese year of the rat.

2-THOUSAND-RAT TWO-THOUSAND-LY-RAT 2008
TWENTY-ZERO-RAT TWENTY-ZERO-LY-RAT 2008

The Rat (Chinese:鼠) was welcomed in ancient times as a protector and bringer of material prosperity. It is the first of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. Rat is associated with aggression, wealth, charm, and order, yet also associated with death, war, the occult, pestilence, and atrocities. The Year of the Rat is associated with the earthly branch symbol 子.

Color me.

Labels: 2008, art, decoration, lyrois, miniatures, print, sketchbook, special+edition, year+of+the+rat

Translating High-Res to Low-Res Graphics

From very high-res vector graphics to low-res pixels in favicons.

Let's see how much we have to remove until the bare minimum, the essence, is left and exposed. Let's see how much we can remove. Let's see what we have to sacrifice on the way.

Check this out: 16 × 16px --

This is the original pic in 320 × 320px --

While the subject of this post is to announce the new favicon -- the little icon that is displayed in your browser's address bar, to the left of this page's URL and in your browser's bookmark list -- it brings along the beauty of simplification.

Here is the 16 × 16px version again, this time enlarged to 320 × 320px --

Now, please go back as far as your room allows and compare the two.

The design of the reduced version of that shape interpretes and translates the characteristics and lines of the original vector graphic. The original flow must survive the reduction in order to recognize the high-res fluid strokes beyond the hard and purposefully not anti-aliased 16 × 16 pixel-grid.

Does it work for you?

Labels: announcement, favicon, lyrois, making+of, miniatures, pixel+art