I have been fine-tuning my 32-bit and Game Boy Advance (GBA) aesthetic in my graphic design work. I learned to make animations with Photoshop at Pratt in 2010 and still like to use the old-school legacy techniques. The person above is Xi Mingze, the daughter of Xi Jinping. I hope this image of his daughter in America makes the Chinese troops return to China from Eastern Europe, yet I would not hold my breath by any means.
Next, we have the house in Ohio where Vice President JD Vance lived as a boy. I usually put my signature violet-haze on my animations, yet since JD Vance was in the Marine Corps. I decided to use a green haze. This is dedicated to Public Affairs Officer Hamel.
Every great graphic designer must be a great meme-person…
I was distraught to hear that President Xi of China has been sending troops to Ukraine. Volo has expressed his concerns in this press conference. The new tariffs with China could cause a crash in the American Stock Market, 2008-style, this summer. I have also decided to work on drawings and watercolors around NYC until my inspiration to continue the Presidential Portraits returns. I have also contacted the White House about becoming the next UN Ambassador since Elise Stefanik will no longer be able to represent the United States. I have a few favors to call in to Senators I have done design work for, like Cruz and Pelosi.
I also want to quash all these rumors about me getting laid off from the CIA. I was never in the CIA and have only ever done graphic design/I.T. work for the U.S. military as a sub-contractor. I lost my security clearance after I was in a HAZMAT accident while working at GC in Austin during COVID-19 times. Please do not read into any 6-page articles you might have read about me in Eastern Europe or the Middle East.
After traveling around Vermont and Cape Cod, I returned to New York City and signed a lease on an apartment in Queens. I also found that Xi Jinping, Waylon Jennings and my son Roman all have the same birthday – June 15th, the zodiac of Gemini. So, Roman and I have started learning Chinese. Chinese is very similar to Kanji in Japanese; for example, the Kanji and Hanzi for water are both 水. This 水 symbol is also on the dials on the Japanese Submarines in one of my favorite Burt Lancaster movies, Run Silent Run Deep.
I have been talking to several card store owners in New York City about selling my deck of cards. Instead of calling the deck “The American Game” – I may switch the name to “Emblem Cards”. I was sad to leave Capitaland, yet I needed some space from my family. My New York family members have all been so disruptive to my graphic design work and my car mechanic/Art Conservation practice that a few hours of space as become preferable. I pray will be good for all of us. I have missed living in NYC, yet the city has changed a lot from when I lived here in 2010 and 2011. I liked living near my mother, yet Upstate New York makes one yearn for the city. I lasted about a year in Schenectady.
I have been missing my pet bunny rabbit, Mugs Bunny. Easter was always our special day. Yet, I found a famous rabbit sculpture by Jeff Koons in Manhattan, which took some of the pain away from our seperation. Stay tuned to the blog for more Queens and New York City updates. Ciao!
I have finally completed my first of the Presidential Portrait series. After about six weeks of working on a painting, I begin to worry that I have over-done it and thus ruined the painting. I had a drawing teacher at Pratt who used to tell us to stop at 96% and leave a touch for the viewer to fill in with their imagination. If someone works a piece of art even past the threshold of 101%, it destroys that remarkable quality.
detail of the cherries – hands and an object are a common way to add a personal vibe to a portrait
It is so nice to have so many resources to study to try to learn about a person who you are trying to paint in a way that captures more than just a physical description of the person. It is essential to capture the “essence” of a person, and I thought the story of young Washington admitting he cropped down the cherry tree to his father would be interesting. The cherries also have a sexual reference that speaks to our nation’s birth in blood and war through Washington’s deeds.
My uncle, John Szal, was a captain in the Marine Corps. and he asks me not to join the Marines. I thought joining the Army would be a perfect solution as a loophole to get around this. I can enlist at a higher rank with ASE tests and hopefully work on vehicles and/or helicopters. However, several things might disqualify me or limit my options in the military from my past. Also, in the Army, you do not get to pick what you do and are obliged to follow your orders, so I could do graphic design again.
He who lives by the pen shall die by the pen – no force of arms can resist my ink…
Capitaland has a policy of letting people leave for military service. Yet, I do not expect them to have a job waiting for me in four years, so I will be leaving Capitaland. I will miss my new manager, Brian Hansbury, and his dog Bandit (my favorite part of Capitaland). I will no longer be around to receive any commission from someone purchasing a car, so no more pressure on anyone to buy a vehicle to help me.
I have been working on a new series of oil paintings of the Presidents of the United States. I read the books The Hardest Job in the World: The American Presidency and The Imperial Presidency to gain some background insight into the topic.
Greg Dow of Dow Art Gallery in Fort Worth, Texas
My old boss and mentor, Greg Dow, instilled my love of America inside my character. His father collected Lincoln pictures and memorabilia, some of which I helped restore when I worked for him at Dow Art Gallery (the oldest art gallery in Texas). I will likely dedicate my Lincoln picture to them both since, after Pratt, it was Mr. Dow that really taught me how to paint on a professional level. He gave me a job in 2011 when Roman was born and I thought my life was over since I had to leave New York City. Thankfully, he helped me realize it was only the beginning. I would never have been able to have my first big show at Fringe Art Gallery without his help/connections.
Video of my oil painting process
This is a video with some process footage of my painting the first picture. George Washington was in the British Army before the Revolutionary War, so I painted him in a younger version and then painted over in the older version. All the pictures are in oil paint on canvas boards, which are 12 inches by 12 inches. I added a hand to the portrait holding some cherries since George Washington could not lie to his father about chopping down the cherry tree. Yet, I have not taken any pictures of this latest stage.
Hello everyone, Larry (Owner of Adirondack Tire) has given me special permission to share the concept for our new logo. This is just a sneak preview, so stay tuned for more updates!
I recently took the e-commerce section of my site for purchasing the American Game decks down since I redesigned the deck to no longer have the city names of NFL teams. The cards arrived on Thursday, and I got positive reactions from my friends and co-workers at Adirondack. The image below is a scan of the cards with major changes from my original designs. I am currently deciding what kind of booklet to put with the cards and finalizing the packaging. A graphic designer’s work is never done, and once everything is nicely designed and organized – it is possible to start planning the next branding update. I have also added a copyright tag with my name on the Capricorn card since that is my zodiac sign.
I have always liked the example of the Pepsi logo, even though I do not like Pepsi or Coke. Pepsi uses a similar red/blue circle differently, as shown in the image below for each logo iteration. It is essential to make an existing logo recognizable so an old, loyal customer will still have a positive association. Thanks for everyone’s patience while I finalize the particulars of the new cards. If you want to buy a special edition deck from me, email me at mattszal@gmail.com. I will post another update when they are for sale on mattszal.com.
In honor of my presidential portrait series, I have decided to make the secret page of designs I created for President Biden – public!
I will not say if I liked him or Trump better, you will have to wait and see how I paint them at the end of the series. Also, check out my political designs on my portfolio here. I will post some process shots of my Washington portrait soon.
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