Rudyland ~ Greetings from Nowhere

Captain Barbel Returns to the Sea

2009-09-28T23:23:46Z

The notorious pirate Captain Barbel has been chosen as the subject of the design to grace the bottom of my new longboard. My 9'0 boat is a fitting vessel for a pirate, although it has a serious lack of cannons.

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GET RADICAL

2009-07-20T17:21:13Z

The Surf Rudyland "Puff Fish" board has been done for a while now, but I keep forgetting to bring my camera when I paddle out. Yesterday I remembered, so here is the finished board. My pink skegs aren't so pink anymore; I need to find a more plastic-friendly spray paint.

Materials Used: sand paper, waterproof spray paint, sharpie, acrylic coating
Skegs aside, the rest of the artwork is holding up just fine in the waves.

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Hit the Beach with Rudy

2009-06-30T21:22:15Z

Back in May I received an email from the LCAD Alumni mailing list about an open casting call for designers. It sounded pretty interesting so I went to check it out on my lunch break. The project was for LG; they were looking for a group of four designers to be a part of Heidi Klum's Style Team and design a backplate for the phone. The whole inspiration and design process would be filmed, resulting in INTERNET FAME.

I was one of the four designers, but in the end Heidi didn't quite "get" Rudyland. All of the designs were pretty cool, though, so I know it must have been a difficult choice.

Here's my profile on the LG website, now with more sneer.

I'm eclectic and I like "random things." Who knew?

Here are all the designs. The second from the left won. Guess which one is mine!

Visit the LG Rumor2 website

20 Years of Dano Surfboards

2009-06-19T22:55:57Z

Last week local shaper Dano celebrated 20 years of making surfboards. That's pretty awesome.

Dano is a man of many talents.

Hangin' Loose at Dano's Party

Click for full set

Dano Surfboards Website

Artsy Fartsy

2009-06-03T03:00:18Z

TO BE CONTINUED...

Surf Rudyland WIP

2009-05-28T17:05:26Z

Here's some of the latest board art I'm working on.

New Projects for Summer 2009

2009-05-22T19:03:29Z

A lot has been happening in Rudyland; I've covered LA Fashion Week and the Newport Beach Film Festival (recently featured on Surfline), I'm recycling and reimagining clothes for my DIY Couture online store, and developing Surf Rudyland custom surfboards. I participated in a top secret design project that I can't announce yet, and even redesigned the ol' blog! WOW

Rudyland @ Color Overload

2008-06-02T22:25:54Z

Color Overload is a very cool Tshirt blog by Gino Orlandi, the talented designer who also runs one of my favorite design blogs, You the Designer. Color Overload is not your standard Tshirt or fashion blog - created with the designer in mind, instead of latest trends or "what I wore today"-type posts, you'll find an organized collection of very well-designed Tshirts that are presented in a fresh, inventive style. Tshirts are presented by category or color, and it's really inspiring to see what other designers are creating. Color Overload is a refreshing reminder that good design is alive and well, so be sure to support small, independent Tshist makers and designers with actual talent and quality products!

Rudyland Premiere Collection

2008-05-27T19:39:57Z

Here it is, the Rudyland Premiere Collection of designer Tshirts! The Men and Women's tshirts are based on a custom pattern that is unique to Rudyland; they're not prefabricated shirt bodies from a generic wholesaler. The collar shirts and tshirts with stuff on them already are part of the "Rudyland Recycles" program, where I take existing garments and print my art on them, making something cool that is also good for the environment! DIY Couture!

Announcing Rudyland Premiere Collection

2008-05-20T19:34:07Z

Rudyland FW08 // Model: Lana // Shirt: "Cut Out & Collect" // © Rudyland Photography

On Saturday I loaded my car with the Rudyland samples, camera gear, plenty to drink, and my awesome friends, and we headed for the BoxEight Factory in Downtown LA to take some pictures. I'm currently in the editing process right now, but the collection will be up by the end of the week, I promise! (see Photographer's Dilemma)

Salton Sea: What Went Wrong?

2008-04-23T22:32:12Z

The Salton Bay Yacht Club

I can imagine that during the early 60's there was a rivalry stirring amongst the tranquil waves of the Salton Sea. In the Southwest, as part of the Holly Corporation's development of Salton City, a championship golf course was built, and the crown jewel of the city was the Salton Bay Yacht Club. The Salton City 500, a speed boat race, attracted many visitors, including some from Hollywood.

The North Shore Yacht Club

In the Northeast, the lavish North Shore Yacht Club & Estates opened at a cost of approximately 2 million in 1960, home of the largest marina in Southern California at the time. There was also a luxury seafront motel, and North Shore became known as the "Glamour Capitol of Salton Sea."

Brochure with information about Salton City

With two new cities each trying to outdo the other in terms of attractions on opposite sides of the shore, the Salton Sea was poised to become Southern California's next premier vacation spot. With the dedication of the Salton Sea State Park only a few years earlier, the Sea was a land of opportunity for real estate and recreation. What went wrong?

An ominous sky over the doomed Yacht Club

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Where the Yacht Club once stood Salton City is perhaps the best example of the dream destroyed - miles of cracked pavement wind and stretch through the empty desert, street signs rust at vacant intersections, and the desert has reclaimed the green of the golf course. The infrastructure for a great city was built, yet homes were never constructed and families never came. Is the Holly Corporation partly to blame for squandering the resources of investors? Was too much promised and not enough delivered? Some would argue that Holly bailed from the Salton City Project when they sensed it wouldn't be as profitable as anticipated, leaving investors in the lurch and a city half-built. The final death knell came in 2000, when the magnificant Yacht Club was razed.

North Shore Yacht Club Today

North Shore suffered a similar fate, although its Yacht Club has been spared since it was designed by architect Albert Frey. It closed its doors in 1984, and ever since it's become a haven for photographers and skaters.

The Photographer's Dilemma

2008-04-16T22:55:13Z

Rudyland.net's LA Fashion Week: FW 08 photoset

I'm about halfway through getting my FW08 photos on Flickr. My "Photographer's Dilemma" is that I find far more enjoyment in the taking of pictures than in post-processing them - instead of sitting around making minor corrections in PS and then resizing photos for web, I'd rather go out and take more photos. It's counterproductive, really, because as I sort through my photos I often think to myself that although I am satisfied, I still feel that I could explore other situations and angles and lighting, and basically take the photo over again to make it better instead of bothering to edit what I have. I explained this to another artist and he called me selfish. He's probably right.

Of course, dealing with clients is totally different - all my clients get work delivered on time and in the specified format. But for personal stuff, I'm woefully lazy.

When I was still in school, a professor asked me "What is your best photo?"

My answer? "I haven't taken it yet."

The First Look @ Rudyland

2008-04-04T00:05:26Z

The Rudyland Premiere Collection is in production right now. By the numbers:

9 original designs
2 unique patterns exclusive to Rudyland
50 shirts total - 25 Men's & 25 Women's
4 colors - black, white, and two pantones
3 special thread colors used, since having black thread on a black shirt is boring!

Art Preview:

Days until LA Market: around 50

The Allure of the Salton Sea

2008-02-19T20:12:26Z

What is the Salton Sea? Or, rather, where is the Salton Sea? In this series I'll present a brief retelling of the history and tragedy behind one of California's most infamous disasters and why I draw so much inspiration from it.

The Salton Sea was created by sheer accident in the California Desert around 1905 or so - some dams holding back the Colorado River broke and millions of gallons began rushing towards the lowest ground, which happened to be the Salton Basin. Stories say that an entire city was wiped out, along with lines of rail and an unfortunate train or two. I don't know how much of this is true, but it's neat to think about a Lost City under there, or sunken rail cars containing unspeakable horrors, forever shut away from the world. A bit Lovecraftian, perhaps, but imagine the incredible mystery!

The Salton Sea was a popular vacation destination

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A Champagne Flight - how classy! All seemed well and good, with miles of new road paved, power lines and water pipes laid, and luxurious Yacht Clubs built for exorbitant sums (The North Shore Yacht club alone cost around $2 million in 1960).

The Salton Bay Yacht Club in Salton City

The Sea even has its very own Glamour Capitol

The North Shore Motel & Yacht Club in North Shore

So what happened?