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If Aliens vs. Predator were a sitcom...

Sichon — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:15:42 +0000

Came across this on a message board and I lost my shit I thought it was hilarious.

New Team Hayastan-IMB MMA Shirts.

Sichon — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 00:52:08 +0000

Well, these babies are final, and over the next few days they should be hitting the silkscreener. Sensei Paul Booe and I went over the intial designs and worked out some final modifications regarding the sizing of the graphics along with the usage of color and narrowed it down to what you see here. I'm really pleased with the final result, and I cannot wait to get my hands on these shirts. I have to admit, I've got several school shirts that are pretty rank, I feel bad rolling with people cause as soon as the sweat hits, people might wanna tap so they can switch partners.

Hayastan-IMB MMA "The Modern Warrior" | Click on the image for a larger view

Here's the first design, we called the "Modern Warrior" shirt. I covered the thought process behind the design in an earlier post, but one addition we made on this shirt, along with the other school shirts is the addition of crossing swords on the back with the full school logo. With it I added a quote I found that I thought seemed appropriate that states, "We do not rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training". I thought the quote seemed fitting as a motivator. I read it simple as, 'Don't assume you'll succeed at something, because you'll only be as good as the preparation you put in'. Paul made a good ppoint that it may be misinterpreted as being negative, but I think if you really read into the words, the meaning is there, and it's meant to motivate. We had limitations on the actual size of the graphic on the front, I would have preferred for it to be larger, but it simply wasn't possible for this run, but I still think this is a great shirt, and I'm excited about it.

Hayastan-IMB MMA "Samurai" | Click on the image for a larger view
This shirt has easily been my favorite. Wasn't hard, the Samurai art was a stock clipart I found, and I added the school logo into the helmet and added some degraded effects into it. The back of the shirt has the same quote from the other shirt, and overall is the same design, just for this shirt, the colors were changed. I love the design simply because I love gray Tees, so this one is exciting and I got a lot of feedback from people saying this one was their overall preference. It will be interesting to see of the two, which one will be the popular seller.

Hayastan Grappling Challenge "Heel-Hooked" | Click on the image for a larger view
Lastly, here is the final design for the Hayastan Grappling Challenge shirt for the upcoming tournament coming up on March 19th. We tried several different designs, but we finally ended up with the "Heel-Hook" dig. I actually found a great image I was able to posterize and trace into a simple graphic vector. I'll give you props if you can make out who the people are. I know it might be somewhat obvious, but still. Kudos to you if you can.

Well that's it, hope you enjoy them. Make sure you buy'em up with you see them at the schools.

SICHON-T-Shirt-DESIGN-er | Some T-shirts I've been working on for my MMA school

Sichon — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 23:51:55 +0000

Hayastan-IMB MMA "Samurai"
I was recently asked by my Sensi Paul Booe and owner of Hayastan-IMB Mixed Martial Arts to try to do a few t-shirt designs for the school. I was more than happy to oblige. I've never designed T-shirts before so I was anxious to try it out. Obviously because of cost and silk-screening limitations, I could only work with 2 to 3 colors max, most cases just 2-color would have to suffice. I came up with a few different options. All of these designs in this post are still in concept phase, we're all still working out the details and figuring out which ones will get printed. I'm hoping for the "Samurai". The helmet is a piece of vector clip art I came upon that I thought would make a great shirt. MMA T-shirts as you know are generally very gaudy and over the top. Mostly donned by douche-bags, but if you're wearing one, and you're actually standing on a mat, sweatin' it out with other guys trying to hurt you, you can't be called a douche-bag for fear of a knee to the face. It's that fat guy ordering a cheeseburger at Wendy's in a yellow TapOut shirt. He's a douche-bag. So when I was designing these shirts, I thought generally if I'd wear this out, and yeah, some of these are pretty over the top, but in general, sure, I'd wear'em, fuck yeah.

Hayastan-IMB MMA "The Modern Warrior"Here's the first one I did... actually it was Paul's original concept of somehow illustrating a modern mixed martial artist honoring a tradition of disciplines thousand of years old. I would have liked to have illustrated maybe a silhouette of a cage fighter standing tall casting a large shadow behind him of his ancient counterpart, a samurai in full armour and uniform. Instead I layered and traced some images and photos to get this graphic effect and came up with the words "The Ancient Spirit of the Modern Warrior". Pretty heady stuff I know, but hey, it's Mixed Martial Arts, it's either this or skulls.

After playing around some more, I then moved onto designing some shirts for a grappling tournament coming to Charlotte, NC in March 2011 called the Hayastan Grappling Challenge. This event draws people from all over the country looking to put their submission grappling skills on display. The goal was to get some simple T-Shirt designs together that would be appealing to a wide audience. Nothing too hardcore.

HGC "The Throw"This shirt design is based on a photo I saw of a guy getting thrown. I posterized the image in photoshop and then I loosely blocked out some simple paths in Illustrator to get a very abstract effect. But the general feeling was that the image was a little too abstract, and it was difficult to discern what exactly these guys were doing to each other, so I scrapped this one.

HGC "The Shield"HGC "Heel-Hooked"After my first initial attempt at an HGC shirt, I decided to try a couple of simple shirts, more logo and messaging than imagery. "The Shield" is something they've done in the past, but it incorporated more artwork, I stripped it down to just a shield and simplified it some. The "Heel-Hooked" shirt is actually a play on the basis of this tournament itself. Typically a lot of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments do not allow for heel and foot submissions, but HGC does, so it's kind of a playful admission.

HGC "The Armlock"Here's one more stab at abstract grappling people. Again, trying to get as much detail using 2 colors is not easy, but I think I can tell the guy on the left is about to get his arm in an uncomfortable position. I like the image, I'll probably try using it a few different ways until I find something I like with it. Anyway, I'll post an update with me wearing one of these shirts sometime in the near future!

I'm back, and I'm a Martial Artist.

Sichon — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 14:08:16 +0000

Well over a year ago, I stopped updating my personal blog, for various reasons, some personal, some professional. But now I've decided it was time to start up again... again for various reasons. Wanted to share again that for the last 3 years or so, I was introduced to submission grappling and jiu-jitsu. I started training at Hayastan-IMB Mixed Martial Arts out of curiousity and out of the need to try to really get into shape. I loved it, and it did get me into great shape, in some ways choosing that path changed my life, because it made me really keep up with a healthier lifestyle. But during that first year or so of training, I never really took it very seriously. Some weeks I stayed commited, other weeks I would attend classes sporadically. A lot of people go through some of the same motions, some take to training like crack, others love it for a while and get disinterested. I fell a little more into the latter category, some of it was due to a hectic work schedule, some of it out of laziness. One thing that didn't change thankfully was that in between not being at the gym and rolling on the mat, practicing with the other guys, I still stay commited to working out, so I still maintained a reasonable amount of fitness — for me anyway.

Then something happened. I got hurt. Actually I twisted my left knee on a takedown defense drill in class months prior, but it didn't swell and I was back to normal in a coulpe of days, and then I went on with life. But several months later, I suddenly woke to find my knee swollen, and my abiliy to apply weight on it was impossible. MRI reveal an ACL tear, and it needed to be replaced. So training stopped. Life got slower, and I was in recovery mode. Over the course of the next 2 years post surgey, I stayed in shape. Worked out regularly, and practiced some moves at home while lifting. I went back to Hayastan months later, and I decided to ease back into shape by taking a strength and conditioning class 2 days a week. It's kinda their verison of a boot camp and fight readiness conditioning because a lot of the movements are specific to combat sports. I loved it. But everytime as I left, I'd watch a lot of the same guys I trained with come in and get ready for their classes and I wanted to be among them. Sweat with them, get mashed and do some mashing if you will. So yesterday was my first day back as on official Martial Artist again. I started back with fulltime classes of Kickboxing and Submission Grappling, to go along with my Strength & Conditioning class. I'm back in the Adult Grappling program with a full belt system based on a modified teachings of Gokor Chivichyan's training organization. I'm starting back on square one. New fish. What I learned before gets relearned. What I know now is meaningless. What I'll learn in in the coming months is the only thing that matters. This time, I'm pledging as a Martial Artist with a clean white belt, to apply myself and remain focused and commited. I want nothing more than to be a capable Martial Artist, like anyone that steps into a gym or dojo. Wish me luck.

BTW, I weighed myself this morning... 190.8. Lowest I've seen in years. My goal is to be a hard and lean 185. I have a lot of work in front of me.

Wow... I've been neglecting this place.

Sichon — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:08:04 +0000

For reasons that are just way too complicated to explain, and even if I did, you'd be compelled to pour lighter fluid on your face and burn it off. I've been unable to post updates here on my blog. But in the coming days, I'm going to rebrand, and reassess my place on the blogosphere.

I know you guys give a rats ass.

By the way, I really should have at least updated the page AFTER I finally saw Terminator Salvation. THAT MOVIE SUCKED BALLS.

OMFG... need I say more?

Sichon — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:20:58 +0000

NIN is always a nice touch. Can't wait til the end comes.

Armageddon Shopping List

Sichon — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 07:01:09 +0000

So its 2012, Rapture, the flesh eating dead rise from the ground, a super flu leaves everyone shit-faced except for a handful of idiots that keep dreaming about Aunt Jemima, nuclear suckfest, angry rage infected Britains with bad teeth, or Al gore and Roland Emmerich have the last laugh and the planet's weather system is screwed forever — what are you gonna need on hand to make the road agents and zombies to run for cover? Me? Well I've made arrangements to send my family to planet "It's Way Better Here", so no worries for my loved ones, it'll only be me, the Lonesome Dove left here on Planet Zero to have all the fun — but I need to go shopping...

Transportation

I guess you can take this in a lot of directions. I mean, you want something badass and mean right? Loud enough where you can hear it drone comin your way from the horizon, make the weak lambs of the land shudder and think it's a machine of death ready to pick their bones. Easy choice would be Wayne Industries' Batmobile. That thing is a tank with knobby rubber tires. It's got a jet engine, can smash through 3 feet of concrete without a dent, and when it takes a peeble to the oil pan, the thing can smash apart and turn into a sweet Harley with 4 foot wide tires. But ya know, for me, it's the end of the world, you can't have it all too easy, and the Batmobile would be too easy. That said, always been a big fan of the Road Warrior movies, and that badass Australian Ford Interceptor just does it for me.

Nitros, messy interior — booby trap switch under the gas cap, cmon bro, that shit is boss. But hey it is 2009 — maybe we should update things? Let go with Deathrace's Frankenstiens' Monster 2006 Ford Mustang GT. Any ride with 2 mini-guns strapped to the hood of the passenger side is a car after my heart. It's perfect to cutting down crowds of hungry ghouls or a few Commie bastards that thought the good ole US and A was ripe for the pickin. Opps sorry, did I run over your spleen?

My Pick: Jason Statham's Mustang of Death.
Runner Up: Mel Gibson's gas guzzling Aussie Gay Biker Basher.

Cutlery

Hey you might need to slice your way through overgrown landscape — remember it's the end of the world, nobody cuts their lawn anymore... either that, you may have the itch to go Zorro on some dreck trying to take your stash of riches, so when a gun might be too loud for the jobby, you need something fantastic to spill entrails on pavement, let's look at the choices. First one that comes to mind is Blade's Daywalker Sword. Hey, I say you can't go wrong with a silver bladed instrument of death, and it takes care of Vampires and has a nifty little defense mechanism that makes you look like you just grabbed a handful of spagetti and sauce if you're not the owner of the sword... sucks if you can't jerk off with your left hand! I say that's all a plus. Oh, but how about the classic Rambo knife? Nah, we gotta go modern, Rambo's new knife forged by hand in his dark sweaty blacksmith shack in Cambodia gives this butter knife some character. Anything that can take 10 minutes of overproduced footage of Sylvester Stallone's cock-viened face smashing sparks of iron in the camera has to be a great apocalyptic head splitter. Nah, I gotta go old school Shogun here — let's take Uma Thurman's Hatori Hanzo and Ginsu these pathetic survivors of the end.

My Pick: Hatori Hanzo from Kill Bill (any sword that can maim 200 Japanese swordsman in Men's Warehouse Reservoir Dogs suits and still finely slice a tomato is good by me.)
Runner Up: Rambo 4 knife, it's a Evil Gook smasher. Blade's Daywalker Sword... um, Vampires don't exist. Right?

Firearms

Well if zombies are at your door, people kick puppies and then eat them for breakfast, or your neighbors are running off of bridges to get away from the four horsemen of the apocalypse, I'd say the Brady Bill can kiss my tan ass. I'm stocking up and I'm stocking hard. These things will be on my body or in my trunk ready to rain lead on anything that tries to take my canned pet food.

Assault Rifle

Here I'm going SOCOM Navy Seal on your ass. I would think that 5.56 ammo would be somewhat acessible in the American Wasteland. If we're talking a Great Asia armageddon, then I guess I'd have to go with the piece of shit terror toy AK-47. I was gonna go a little more contemporary with HK's G36 carbine, but as far as Ghost Recon style spawn killing, M4 always did the trick — even though I rocked the SA-80 more.

Long Range Paranoia Maker

If you've seen the original Robocop, and Dr. Romano from ER says "I LIKE IT!" yeah, my sentiments exactly. Let's shoot some heads with a Barret .50 Cal and finish my human tongue sandwich while my victim's posse scrambles for cover stepping over peices of splintered skull.

CQB

When you're rummaging through your dead neighbors belongings, you don't want to be suprised by feral dogs or unsuspecting cannibal squaters. So what's a guy roll with to ransack tight corridors? Can't go wrong with FN's Tactical Police Shotty... red-dot sight is a nice little touch, so cute! I gotta say, I'm a bit nostalgic too with Mel Gibson's sawed-off double barrell with shells that wouldn't fire, something about two big holes in your face really makes people lose their self esteem I gotta say.

Handguns

First, every redneck gun junkie always gushes over the .45 ACP. Okay I get it — big bullet, big hole, big death. Sure — I've only fired a 45 once at the range, def a big gun, after shooting 9s and 40s, the 45 is definately the load that says, Hi there, wanna take your hands off my booty? Well, I mind as well fall in line, I'm going all the way, double holsters of Punisher .45's, can't go wrong there, I'm going Chow Yun Fat you.

But hey, can't stop there... I gotta have aleast a 40 cal HK USP or Sig, hey, what's good enough for Jack Bauer is good enough for me right?

Lastly, admittedly, I'm a bit of an untrained shot — although after killing a few dozen road agents and flesh hungry Catholic School Girls, I'm confident I'll be able to produce tight groups. While I'm in training mode, I may need to spray and pray, and if that's the case, I may need a Glock 18 for those drive by's spraying into a crowd on the undead. Another great option would be the HK MP7 — hey, everyone and their mother rocks that on Rainbow Six Vega multiplayer, I'm thinking you can't argue with the numbers can you — clack-clack.

Apparel

You know, I work pretty hard these days to be able to wear size 34 waist and look good in large sized fitted shirts and not show any unwanted buldge. I'm thinking the form-fitting tactical suits in the new GI Joe movie are out for me to wear for the End of Days if I can't find a girdle. Little too form fitting for my tastes, I look alright clothed, but I can't say I got a beach-ready body to be able to paint a form-fitting suit on — let alone some kind of Armageddon Batsuit. I think I'm more into the Titus Pullo body type of Punisher Warzone. You know that dude's got so much body armor on, who has time to notice his love handles? That sounds more like what I'm talking about. Perfect outfit to repel some light small arms fire and blunt force instruments, but with enough padding and layers to keep the Cooties off. Hey, if the shit goes down, the least you can do is look good fucking up in the fucked up world you're rockin in right?

So, I think it's safe to say that if I've got the tools above, I think I can really make a difference in the World Gone to Shit scenario. I don't know about you — but the first thing I'm doing with some economic stimulus is getting my "Predaredness" groove on. What's on your death-clock list? See you when the shit hits the proverbial fan.

3D movies might be the way to go.

Sichon — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 17:38:00 +0000

Took the family to see Coraline today... family entertainment is hit or miss sometimes, sure movies like Ratatouille and Shrek can be great for everyone, but then you have to sit through shitty klunckers like Meet the Robinson's or Bee Movie. Coraline looked pretty good right away because I know it was produced by Tim Burton, and his interesting visual style and dark undertone makes family movies all the more interesting. One thing I wasn't too prepared for was the 3D aspect, and I have to say, I'm a total convert. I thought the glasses and the blurry screen would piss me off, instead, it really did enhance the experience. I'm totally psyched about the potential of the medium. Especially Dreamworks' Aliens vs. Monsters, and James Cameron's Avatar. Fuck those blue and red paper shades, I think 3D is here to stay.

My Xbox 360 Fists Me Again.

Sichon — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:10:00 +0000

I popped in Fallout 3 after weeks of neglect, was just looking to download the patch so I can continue my current game quest (game kept freezing in the Jefferson Memorial during the Waters of Life quest) and low and behold, screen freezes, RED RINGS OF DEATH ensue. I have to ask Microsoft, What The Fuck? Honestly, I know all hardware has a failure rate, but when it becomes a certainty that your $350 game console will at some point encounter this fatal problem just under normal use, its inexcusable in my book... and not only that, THIS IS THE SECOND TIME it's happened to me. Luckily, I my repair was inside the 3 year warranty from the last repair. Should I just accept this as a consumer? It's total bullshit if you ask me.

I think I'm the last person on Earth using FreehandMX.

Sichon — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 05:22:14 +0000

And you know what. That sucks. Because Macromedia Freehand (Well now Adobe Freehand? -- so weird) is a do everything you pretty much need it do do but maybe not perfect but still very good overall and superior in many different ways than Adobe Illustrator (Phoey) -- although I must say that Illustrator is a great program — if I can ever figure out how to select the item I actually want after "Ungrouping" endlessly with "Command U", Illustrator is just a cumbersome f**king program... for me anyway. Now I know Adobe aquired FreehandMX from Macromedia when they aquired well... Macromedia. Look I'm not an expert on the subject of mergers and aquisitions, but I can tell you though is that event signaled the end of a great program in Freehand. Sure it's a couple years now, but its starting to come to a head. I'm gonna have to bite the pillow and learn Illustrator. Even though Freehand I always felt was more comfortable to manipulate — I know some of the pen tools were a little clunky and unprecise, Freehand allowed a lot of...freedom. You could set stylesheets to text attributes — fuck you could design and print a book! With pages that had different sizes. Never understood how Illustartor could now never have multiple pages, so weird! Blah-eh!

But I gotta realize that as a designer, the tools need to be updated, the trend has to evole... as I. F**k!