eighteen miles of books. it's an odd way to measure a quantity of books, but such is the claim the strand has made. and what a bookstore it is! aside from your local mom and pop bookstore, it's the best place to go in nyc. why mention all of this? because the strand is having a tote bag competition. current totes flaunt the work of art spiegelman and adrian tomine–swoon!–so it's safe to say it's a pretty awesome opportunity.

so...i had to submit. i don't have any illusions of winning (though being a runner up and getting a bag of books from fantagraphics would be pretty amazing), but i did have a lot of fun (and yes, a bit of frustration) trying to come up with something that reflects nyc life and not just books. there are things i wish i could tweak; i think some of the individual elements in the green-yellow combo could have been more refined for greater fluidity. in the end, i spent a bit more time refining the pup in the blue-orange one. but, deadlines are deadlines and i'll learn from my mistakes. the process of completing each new piece teaches me a little something about myself and illustration that i may not have realized before.

it's also really interesting to see what other people in the nyc area are doing. because sva is a sponsor, i'd imagine several of the submissions are coming from current students.

enough babbling. over and out.