THE DAILY MONSTER

SEASON'S GREETINGS FROM MONSTER SANTA

New Daily Monster Papers start tomorrow at 3:44am!

INTRODUCING THE SAKS YETI (to Lynda.com)

Hi there! Would you like to hear me talk about the Yeti for 11 minutes? Yes? Then this is the video for you!

To explain: Every one of Lynda.com's over 280 employees received a yeti as a holiday gift. I was there to introduce them to their new furry roommates. I think Lynda.com may be the second most fun company to work for after 344 Design. And as you know 344 LOVES YOU

MEET THE SAKS YETI

Good afternoon! How are you? I'd like to introduce you to a new friend of mine. We met in my sketchbook back in April, and we've been working together ever since. He's friendly, he's furry, and rumor has it that his family lives on the roof of Saks Fifth Avenue in New York, making snow. If you'd like to have one of your own, click here.

There's more, but right now I just thought you guys should meet! I get a feeling that he loves you, and you know that 344 LOVES YOU too!

As always, you can click on the images for a bigger view!

As you can see, he's kinda shy, but just scratch his back or under his arms, and he'll be your friend for life. Also, if you meet his fraternal twin, he's a lot more outgoing:

Here they are together:

My friends at Saks have started a catch-and-release program, so look for the tag on the yeti's heel:

A NEW VERSION OF THE APP!

Good afternoon! In case you've been wondering why I've been an absentee blogger once again, this is one of the major reasons: A major update of the Daily Monster® MONSTER MAKER app just went live in the App Store! If you've bought it before, the update is free, of course. Otherwise, I can tell you it's $0.99 well spent! Lots of new fun things in this one, not least of which is a set of special Halloween parts! And look what else it can do! Clearly 344 LOVES YOU

ANOTHER APP MONSTER

Good afternoon! What better way to celebrate Labor Day than making somebody else do the work? Another great mashup from Michelle Stephens:

THE DAILY MONSTER APP (in use)

Good morning! I thought I'd share a few of the Monsters people have been creating with the Daily Monster® app. Here's one from Michelle Stephens:

Turns out that there is extra fun in saving your creatures and tricking them out in other apps, like Instagram or Marron. Check out this one by David Pava:

And another one from Michelle:

Is it any wonder that 344 LOVES YOU

THE MONSTER MAKER APP (explained)

It occurs to me that a video demo says more than a thousand words. I hope you'll enjoy this quick walk-through of the new Daily Monster® MONSTER MAKER app. Which you can download for your Apple gizmo at this link here. As always, please rest assured that 344 LOVES YOU

THE DAILY MONSTER APP

   Good morning! How are you? Hey, have I got a cool new toy for you today! Check out the brand new Daily Monster® MONSTER MAKER app for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch! Make your own Daily Monsters®, and send them to your friends!

Blow the ink with your finger. Add eyes and mouths and arms and pants from the over 150 elements in the PARTS palette--all of which I lovingly made by hand exclusively for this app. Or you can draw your own! 

Pop up a speech bubble and make your monster say something profound.

You can even pose for a photo with your creature and post it to Facebook or Twitter right from inside the app!

99 cents well spent, don't you think? If you have an Apple gizmo, I hope you'll give it a try and post a review!

I have to give a big, huge shout-out to Dominik Wei-Fieg of Ars Subtilior who spent ludicrous amounts of time building and fine-tuning this beauty. On top of that he patiently addressed exactly 222 e-mails from me in a five month period. I couldn't have done this without him. (At all! I know this. I tried.) Check out his other apps.

A great big Thank You also to Bruce, Marian, and Ze for their expert beta-testing and their great ideas, which made the whole thing immeasurably better. And lastly, many thanks to Linda for the beautiful demo photos!

OK! Please... get the app! Let a million monsters bloom! I hope you have a ball!

Even in the multi-touch display world 344 LOVES YOU

COLLECT THE STAR.ME MONSTERS

Good morning. How are you? Are you enjoying the new Daily Monster Papers, and Daily Monster 210? I hope you are.

Hey, have you checked out Ze Frank's latest project? It's called Star.me, and as with all of Ze's ideas it's fun, it's sweet of heart, and inexplicably addictive.

If you had told me that I'd spend an hour a day browsing and trading funny little star stickers online... well, let's say it's not an intuitive fit for the Teutonic soul, but here I am. It's FUN! (If you're into the director's commentary you can read Ze's thoughts on the whole thing at TechCrunch, but I'd say just go over there and start getting your stars on.)

Also, did I mention that there is a whole set of special Daily Monster stars you can collect and trade? Excuse me? It's only, like, super awesome? Check out these shiny teasers here: 
If you go to this special link you get the first star from the Monster set, and when you've collected them all you're entered into the drawing for fabulous prizes:

One Grand Prize winner will receive a one-of-a-kind, true blue, original Daily Monster drawing! Five second-place winners will receive a glow-in-the-dark monster poster and 25 third-place winners will win a pack of Monster greetings cards, which also glow in the dark

ONLY A FEW DAYS LEFT, Y'ALL! THIS GIVEAWAY ENDS ON JUNE 13th! GET IN ON THE STAR ACTION  NOW!

This is a Ze thing, so it's free, and he's not selling you anything. So if you need a new web addiction, go get yourself some Daily Monster stars! I made 'em for you. It's my pointy way of saying 344 LOVES YOU

 

 

THE DAILY MONSTER® TAKES OVER THE SF CHRONICLE AND CHICAGO TRIBUNE

For one day. On one page. As part of McSweeney's THE GOODS. But the headline was already too long to hold additional nuance. Be with me here.

Good evening. As you may remember from last week's HEADS UP post, the good people at McSweney's honored me by including one of my little Daily Monster fancies in their excellent, illustrated newspaper adventure, THE GOODS. Particularly, it was the good people Mac Barnett, creator of the Echo Park Time Travel Mart, who  invited me. He edits THE GOODS. You should call the features editor of your local paper to request it by name.

Well... I finally have my printed samples and can share some images with you. First off, here's the full piece, also featuring AWWWW CRUMB-STEAK! by Shawn Harris, HERO MILK by Eric Wolfinger & Mac Barnett, and a spelling game by Brian McMullen. As always, please feel free to click on the image for a bigger view.

Obviouslty, I'm a big fan of high end printing, but there is something so excellent about getting art on newsprint. I got my start making ads for a smalltown paper back in the Old Country. I'd put the second color on hand-registered tracing paper, with hand-registered trapping to match. Back then 4-color newspaper printing was nothing more than an insane glimmer in Arthur Sulzberger's brain. Those were rough days, kids! The reason I'm telling you all this is to explain why I will now geek out about the excellent printing on this piece. Ready? Here we go.

The printing on this piece is fantastic! Particularly in the Chronicle edition. Look how beautifully the details came out!

Here's a close-up look at the legal copy. My Monster triangle is one big image file, so that's a bit of plate-by-plate nerdery, to counteract Photoshop's default of making all black a 4-color mix even when you type in 0.0.0.100. (Silly application, don't you know that that won't work for type on paper?)

Look at the precision on those pinstripes and those shoes!

Oh, I'm sorry... is that not impressive to you? Let me try again. How about now?

And at the risk of starting an West Coast vs. Lake Michigan Coast print battle, look at the Chicago edition (left) compared to the San Francisco edition (right):

Whaddup, Chicago? Gust of wind knock your plates out of alignment? ... Come on. You know I'm just yankin' your chain... Your weak-on-the-magenta, out-of-register chain. Ha! (Let's make peace when I come to town for the Society of Typographic Arts in August.)

For now, let me close by giving you one more full view of this latest out-of-town Monster, by saying "Thank you, McSweeney's!" and by reminding you once again that 344 LOVES YOU