I came up with the ‘Connect Four’ idea a few years ago. I remember reading news articles about Syria, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan & Lebanon. I thought to myself, “hmm, wouldn’t it be funny if all of these country’s were in a line, like tic-tac-toe or connect four?”

So I look up a map of the middle east, lo and behold the 4 country’s are lined up geographically! I’m like “HOLY SHIT! That’s hilarious!” – So I thought it would be funny to take the audio of the old school 80s commercial and animating the four country’s being gobbled up by the war on terrorism. It makes logical sense, if you build an oil pipeline across the four contry’s, there’s no need to go around Africa, thereby making things a helluva lot more efficient.

That turned out to be too daunting for me to tackle, in terms of animation know-how and my own personal self-doubt. Cut to a few years later, after having met someone with the same passion & fascination with typography & graphic-design, inspired me to start drawing and illustrating. I decided to pair down the animation and illustrate a frame with the same idea.

Everything came together a lot easier than I anticipated, the whole process was a blast and I can’t wait to start on the next piece in the series. Below is a progression of how I refined the piece down.

[ Initial Concept Sketch ]

[ Refined Line Art & Initial Composition ]

[ Initial Color Sketch ]

[ Tweaking Colors & Composition ]

At this point, I felt like the composition was working, but something was lacking. I didn’t like the colors, it felt ‘dead’ to me. There was a certain jovial sense of celebration the initial concept sketch had that this current version of the piece did not. I considered shelving it and just moving on to some other project, but I decided to buckle down and see if I could get a finished piece out of it. I realized I hadn’t drawn out the dollar bills festively flying through the air! I sketched out the dollar bills over a cup of coffee and laid them in. Presto! The ol’ man now had a reason for his, ‘hallelujah’ brother!

[ 2nd to last Final Piece ]

I Added some texture overlays in Photoshop, I originally had them in Illustrator, but I thought that if you scale down the texture overlays, they get all blurry and you ‘lose’ the organic noise of it all. So I decided to comp it in Photoshop.

At this point, I called the piece ‘done’ and decided to move on. I posted a printed piece up next to my desk and something about it still felt, ‘off’ to me. I still felt the original sketch had a certain, “jovial” celebration that this one still lacked.

It’s almost like the punchline is in the middle instead of at the end. After having spent a few days mulling it over…

[ Re-Worked Layout ]

I decided to lay out the elements more along the lines of the original sketch.I feel this is a lesson in, “blink” – first gut instinct thinking. The original layout had the kicker at the end. Now I feel like I’ll need to give this a few days and see how I feel about it later on.

Taliesin West – Scottdale, AZ.

Frank Lloyd Wright

Firstly, a little primer on Frank Lloyd Wright. Born in Oak Park, Illinois on June 8th, 1867. A completely self taught architect. Lover of sports cars, fiercely independent, critical thinker, hilariously arrogant and giant ego. Playboy & yo-yo champ. The man was awesome.

Taliesin in Wisconsin

After a few reoccurring bouts with pneumonia in the harsh winters of Wisconsin, his doctor asked him to no longer spend his winters at his studio and home then nicknamed, “Taliesin“. Later to be nicknamed Taliesin East. He decided to look for land in warmer climate.

Having already spent a few weeks in Scottsdale for a commission on a hotel in 1939 when Scottsdale had a mere 250 residents. He bought roughly 120 acres for $4.00 an acre 12 miles north of Scottsdale. When word was heard that he expressed interest in buying land there, prices shot up to $16.00 an acre. He came away with roughly 640 acres.

Ol’ Franky had 3 wives and a mistress or so. Allegedly, the mistress was the wife of a client. His last wife, Olgivanna Milanov was the one who inspired him to invite young people out to his house and watch him work. He said he disliked young people, She responded he could use their young vigor as manpower for his projects around the compound. That decision set the course for what we have today.

His welsh mother is to credit for the “Taliesin” name, literally meaning “Gleaming Brow,” Therefore, Taliesin West was built at the “brow” of the hill, about a 1/3 of the way up the hillside, because Frank Lloyd Wright thought that if a house is built up on the top of the hill, the hill is lost forever, no longer blending into its natural surroundings and sense of organic intermingling with its environment.

Meeting Room for Clients

First thing I noticed when I started taking in the look and feel of the architecture was the feeling of modern Japanese pagoda’s out in the Arizona desert.

Frank Lloyd Wright never being a wealthy man, always spending more than he made, but being a creative genius, used as cheap of materials as he could find. Using the rocks and stones on his own land and eager youngsters to work them.

First thing to take note is the roof. They’re detachable pieces of canvas. In fact, the entire compound, except for a few key buildings (storage and such) can be broken down and “given back to the desert” as it was every spring when Frank Lloyd Wright was in his heyday in the 40s through the 50s. No night watchman was ever hired. It was literally abandoned every spring.

There were no glass in the windows until his wife finally pleaded enough for him to change his mind. He thought glass was expensive, and it removed you from the elements. She didn’t want sand in her sandwich.

Secondly, all the doorways are unnaturally small and awkward. He was using a theory called, “compression / expansion.” According to him, one should not linger in doorways and hallways, so you should be compressed in these spaces and open up to something grandiose. Which he did every time in every building and room.

The Grand Room

Lastly, abstract triangles forms are definitely a reoccurring theme throughout the architecture and interior design. Back in 1939, this was one of the first applications of a contemporary “living room / den” Some people may say this room has a timeless quality to it. I think it looks more like 1970s to me, but it could be the yellow shag carpeting.

Stage View of the Auditorium

Every apprentice studying at the school was expected to be practiced in the arts and be a well-rounded artist. Concerts, plays, and formal dining events occurred often at the compound and encouraged the students to delve into more than just architecture. In keeping with the theme of the buildings being able to be easily broken down, the seats were just cushions laying on a bed of cement.

Theater Seats

Movie Theater

This movie theater was the first documented interpretation of track lighting to show patrons to their seats. It was a hexagonal room in order to not have any right angles which would dampen the acoustics of the room.

His Bedroom

Frank Lloyd Wright was such a consummate designer he even devised a system for his sleeping priority. If he were sleeping on the right hand side of the bed, he would be napping and be able to be disturbed, if he were sleeping on the left, he would wish to remain undisturbed.

His Bathroom

This bathroom is the first documented application of stainless aluminum used in bathrooms. It was selected for its modern aesthetic appeal, and is definitely what is being used nowadays, way back in 1939.

Sculpture Garden

Always being the staunch independent, he decided to not have ugly power lines constructed out to his compound, instead he had generators on site and even struck water at 400 feet deep. He achieved what most creative types would ever want. A self-sustainable art colony. I have been forever changed by the notion that this was once possible, and achieved by one man’s will.