WHO IS EEBS? (and where are we going?)

Time for a follow-up, I believe! Things have been flying by so quickly that I have barely had anytime to keep up!! A wonderful, wonderful thing, that's for sure.

WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON

Jan - Major reality check from Mentor concerning a lack of vision and focus. I quickly realigned my goals and actively pushed towards them through research, reading, lots of drawing and digital creation.

Mid-Feb - Spent a weekend with En Masse and left totally inspired and certain that I needed a big change. I completely threw myself into my drawing and this is when I had a flash of insight. Must create as Eebs Berenstein* and must work freelance!

* I've been using the sudonym Eebs Berenstein since 2009 when I felt the need to forge my place and identity within the John Molson School of Business. I wanted to openly associate with my creative side and differentiate myself from the 'typical' business student. I started using it as an online persona but it quickly became about my exploration of creative and career opportunities.  


I realized this March (with the help of a close friend) that having a sudonym builds allure, allows for anonymity and represents a specific time in your life as a creator. I will not be Eebs forever. But she is a big part of me now.


If I were to design strictly as Erin Willett for the rest of my life, when delving into different creative fields, people may become confused about what I actually do... Is Erin Willett a designer? A director? A marketer? A spiritual being? Creating under 'Eebs' gives me a creative 'umbrella' under which I fall in all my rolls. Eebs represents possibilities and opportunities for creation! Eebs represents who I can become.


I've discovered also that representing Eebs through my work, instead of myself, allows me to be less inhibited. It's about creative freedom.*

Early March - Quit my job with only a couple small contracts lined up but with a ton of inspiration and drive for the next stimulating and creative work that would come my way. In the mean time, I started focusing my efforts on my personal development, visual identity and online persona! I felt light and unstoppable after having trusted my instincts.

Mid-March - Jobs started coming in! Many jobs in fact! Positive word of mouth is spreading :). I also focused my attention on spreading the online word about Eebs Berenstein and got my facebook artist page up.

End of March - My website came together (Thanks for my friend, Nick Perusse, who did the coding). With that done, I was able to market myself as Eebs. I applied for the Sid Lee Bootcamp. I applied for a Moment Factory open interview session called Expose Your Talents, which I was invited to attend!

Last weekend I took part in the Moment Factory interview. ... ... ... Just amazing. Incredible space, such warm and receptive employees, creative atmosphere, supportive execs, smiling interviewer. This is the place for me. I was informed that they are not necessarily looking to fill positions with these interviews but more so to prepare themselves for the expanding they'll be doing in the near future. Every extremity is crossed for an opportunity to work with MF.

Right around the time of the interview, I was given the opportunity to freelance at Sid Lee for a week! Of course, I jumped on it! And so, here I am. Writing this from my Sid Lee freelancer desk, waiting for the next job to come to me :).

SO WHAT'S NEXT

Well - in a perfect world:
I get a freelancing or permanent job with Moment Factory and I get chosen as the graphic designer for the Sid Lee Bootcamp!!! I'm sending all my positive energy into the universe for these two things!

What's next for Eebs?
I've been doing alot of graphic novel reading and feeling really inspired by the style, colours, drama, story-telling. The thoughts aren't concrete just yet but I'm thinking I want to explore the comic side of myself and Eebs Berenstein. I'm developing a character that represents who Eebs was before she got so bad-ass. Perhaps an awkward, lanky, teen-version of Eebs - Ms. Eebie... Stay tuned.

I will also continue to depict Eebs as the confident, strong, independant woman you've seen in my recent pieces. My vision for the next piece: Eebs is going COMMANDO! Get ready, people! She's going to beat you down and you're going to love it!

I also want to explore my infatuation with typography. I'm planning the release of an Eebs font in the coming weeks. Followed shortly after by a Berenstein font...

Stayed tuned also for a feature on EEBS BERENSTEIN on MTL BLOG's FEATURE FRIDAY in the next few weeks!

Maybe you've seen this one already but I'm really loving, loving, loving this piece! So much attitude in Eebs' face. She's fearless and that really comes across.

This piece also sprung much inspiration for my coming pieces. Think: army, 60's, 70's, women in power.

This also got me thinking of visuals that would have been considered common place in 60's and 70's advertising. All around sexist visuals with men depicted in power rolls. I want to play with those notions of power, femininity, control and SELLING.


SPREAD THE WORD AND JOIN THE FORCES! EEBS WANTS YOU!

www.facebook.com/EebsB
www.eebsberenstein.com
@eebsberenstein on twitter

Love always,

Eebs Berenstein

The Birth of DEAD Shakespeare

My most recent piece was inspired by a list of things. It's been coming together for a several weeks, I guess. Started as a simple sketch for fun, developed into a final piece I'm very excited about. I feel this piece will lead to many more similar ones.

Several Saturdays ago, I lazily sketched out a skull without much thought. I added some wig-like hair. All of a sudden, the sketch became a dead Shakespeare.

One sunny Sunday afternoon, a couple weeks later, I ventured to Chapters with a friend who's asked me to illustrate some children's book she's writing. We went to the graphic novel/comic section looking for ideas. I came across a comic that caught my eye - bright, youthful colours, beautiful type work, unusual layouts - The Death Ray by Daniel Clowes. Published by Mtl's own Drawn and Quarterly and soon to be made into a movie. Clowes also wrote Ghost World! And man, do I love the colours. These jpg's don't do them justice but these are the colours that inspired DEAD Shakespeare.

Last week I was looking through pictures from En Masse and Station 16's recent visit to the Fountain Art Fair in NYC. I came across a photo of the back of a van that they were all painting on. Some beautiful typo work. I found out yesterday, from my buddy EARTH CRUSHER, that the work was done by an Mtl artist named What is Adam.

Here's a pic of that awesome typo!

Check out this great vid by Fred Caron, showcasing En Masse and Station 16 at the Fountain Art Fair:

En Masse @ NYC x Fountain Art Fair from Fred Caron on Vimeo.

I let the thoughts wander a few days and voila - they just melded together to form the base for this new piece.

Love how unexpected the creative process is.

Here's the final result:

The Deep-French Nail DIY by Eebs Berenstein

The new-age CAT LADY.

Oh, you haven't heard? It's cool to be a cat lady again, in fact, it's chic. Been sketching a lot about the modern, Montreal woman, in her many facets. Well, the sketches are more representations of myself, I guess. But they're coming out interesting and beautiful and full of narrative (which is something I've had difficulty with in the past when sketching). I will be doing a series of these I believe... I'll keep you posted.

I've been drawing a large/intricate/detailed sketch a day. It's been keeping me centered and allows me to focus my thoughts and keep my vision aligned towards creativity. It's also helped me realize the positivity in letting go while creating and just trusting myself for the next step. This becomes easier and easier the more I draw and more I allow myself creative freedom and guiltless lines (ie. drawing before planning, just doing it, not worrying).

This notion of letting-go really comes through as I bring the drawings I've made into photoshop. It's all about playing around and seeing what works. 

Le Catnap - C'est Rich

This is a great example of a few elements of design that are essential for me when creating: Texture (created using a few scans of really nice paper that I recently purchased), Contrast (lines in hair, title, central point of focus), Colour coordination (love me some turquoise but especially love it when it's next to a sanguine), Strong lines (see for yourself). Oh, and as an added bonus, my new favorite element: Typo.

Hope you enjoy it - I LOVED making this piece. Stay tuned for the next installment of the Modern Montreal Woman.

Shine A Light *** Looking back...

My loving mother has been a great supporter of my design endeavours from the very beginning.

Three years ago, she hired me to create a promo poster for a gala fundraising dinner organized by the Bishop's University School of Education.

Looking at these three pieces, you can see really how far I've come as a designer. Wonder what it'll look like next year!?

Here's my most recent Shine A Light poster for the March 31st, 2012 event:

Same event, under a different name: Teachers For Hope, March 26, 2011. Followed by the First promotional poster I ever designed I think... for the February 13, 2010, Shine A Light event.

Insane how far one can come in 2 years... Really makes me thankful for the decisions I made - moving from marketing to design was tops at that point in my life. Also really makes me thankful to have such a supporting family and group of people around me who encourage me to create! Not to get all mushy about it but, here's to following your instincts and passions!

I am Eebs Berenstein - hear me roar!

Beginning sketch. (After a few practice attempts at the 'Eebs Berenstein' portion). Came to me as I was walking home... Was thinking about the stitching on baseball caps as inspiration for the Eebs.

Final product. Round 1. Tweeked the sketch after I scanned it and worked with some fantastic paper and a picture of myself to create texture and depth. 

Makes me think of a circus/burlesque show!

Eebs Berensteins' Visual Identity

On the wake of the realisation that I need to invest more into my professional development, I've been working on my visual identity!

Doing a project a day (or round-about that) has really given me a new sense of purpose and has re-ignited my creativity! I'm sketching daily, investing time into reading articles, taking more pictures.... They're little things but they all add up. I find myself daydreaming of my next photoshop creation or drawing. I find myself choosing the computer chair over the couch and a show. I feel I've found my way back onto my path!

So as an effort to come off as more put-together as a designer (and also to encourage myself to feel more put-together), I've developed an invoice layout, quote layout and have reworked my c.v. so that everything is in line with my portfolio and business card!

My end goal here is appear as professional as my design work but I think it will also benefit by showing clients that I cross my t's and dot my i's. Hopefully, this will encourage their trust in me and therefore they may be more inclined to accept a higher quote :). Let's face it, clients can be cheap and first impressions count!

As a reminder, here's what my business card looks like:

Here's the first page of my portfolio book: 

First page of my pdf portfolio:

A page from my pdf portfolio: 

First page from my CV:

Front page of a quote. The invoice looks very similar...

Any thoughts, my people?

Visit The Famous Burj Khalifa

Photo by Hicham Eid - Design by Eebs Berenstein