Album artwork for Minnesota-based dreamy shoegazey super-catchy indie-rock band Carroll’s ‘Needs’ EP. I began by designing the front cover, and then expanded on the idea/style from there. Since I got my copy in the mail, I can’t stop listening to it!

Additional Collateral

The “Model”

DOWNLOAD / ORDER CARROLL’S ‘NEEDS’ EP @
carroll.bandcamp.com or carrollmusic.net

Works created between 2008-2012. Clips are taken from my thesis, motion courses at CalArts, freelance, and some self-initiated shenanigans. The full-length pieces can be found on vimeo.

Opening titles (and end credits animation) for Honey Toad Studio‘s webseries ‘WRECKED‘. It establishes the show’s Seattle location between sips of coffee and alcohol to signify the course of a day. I was responsible for generating the title concept, as well as hand-animating the sequence. Watch the 10 minute pilot below!

STILLS:

‘Honey Toad Studio is a new production company based in the Puget Sound area focused on the emerging relationship between storytellers and internet audiences. Our free culture licenses mean that anyone can screen, perform, cite, copy, distribute or adapt our work in any way they see fit.’ Help support WRECKED Season 2!

watch more ‘WRECKED’ at
wreckedtheseries.com

Senior Thesis: Having no reason is no reason not to make, having no work is no reason not to work, having something due is no reason not to do something. For a period of 10 weeks (2/4/12 – 4/13/12), I made an image every day and a short film every friday. These were based on week to week rules/prompts, creating a kind of methodological sketchbook.

This project culminated in a binder/monitor display of the work and a graphic novel version of the films (below). All images, films, prompts, and commentary can be viewed on the PRACTICE PRACTICE site.

select images & films

ten fridays: the graphic novel

After the 70 days completed, the main project was over, but the drive was still there. As a generative process, the content films (all created from different prompts and rules) was turned into a graphic novel. It’s abstract and nonsensical but a kind of subtitle to all the films.

Above: Amanda Lui looking through the images (photo: Melissa Kuo)

MORE AT LILABURNS.COM/MAKE

Here is a selection of sites I’ve built, some based on my designs, and some designed by collaborators!

NotaBeneIndexing.com

i-n-b-o-x.com

Designed by Tom Kracauer. Designs included a mailchimp campaign (archived on the site).

jesscastillo.com

ameliastier.com

Designed by Amelia Stier

teachevil.com

Designed by Amelia Stier

Semester-long popup shop collaboration with Gabby Datau, Tiffanie Tran, Jazmyn Faulkner, Elizabeth Alexander, and myself. We made different foods and sold them by the CalArts cafeteria for $1 each week.

Each week we traded jobs: designing a free booklet, food packaging, advertising materials, and more. The project culminated in a BYOBBQ for the design program. We held a team-based treasure hunt and a ‘Make-It-Together’ activity booklet. Our aim was to spread knowledge, make something affordable/accessible, and be 100% collaborative in our efforts. More info below.

BYOBBQ: Book + Treasure Hunt

Documentation:

A brief animation transforming some fine art classics into Lisa Frank worlds. A healthy mix of candy, space, rainbows, magic, unicorns, and the renaissance.

STILLS:

Jazmyn Faulkner, Tiffanie Tran, Gabby Datau, Becky Song, Andelee Lin, Augusto Piccio, Elizabeth Alexander, Phil Shaw and I worked on the 2012 end of year showcase (featuring 63 BFA1-4 designers) at CalArts titled If / Then. We worked collaboratively on most stages, my specific responsibilities included: show concept, copywriting, printed advertising materials, project management, and construction/setup.

about the show

” ‘If ____, then____.’ forms the axis between 4 different year levels in the BFA program. The work shows the progression of our design education, while also presenting a synthesis of conceptual meaning, personal value, visual language, and process. The show develops a new way of thinking about student design that spans larger than schoolwork, but rather our relationship with design and the world. It showcases work that represents different approaches, diverse cultural backgrounds, and varying professional trajectories. [...] ‘If ____, then ____.’ is the main configuration of everything we do.” Find out more about the show.

Above: sections divided by year level (photos by Augusto Piccio)

Above: shots of the opening (photos by Lily Sin)

Above: interactive wallpaper at the entrance. (photo by Melissa Kuo)

Postcards & Collagable Posters

Designed and printed by Tiffanie Tran, Becky Song and me.

• • •

…and a peek the process. (photo by Augusto Piccio)

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Posters and event flyers (both digital and screen-printed) created between 2009–2012.

Calarts Musical Performance Flyers

Joel Evey Lecture

Ben Woodlock and I collaborated on a set of 18 mono-prints announcing Joel Evey’s Lecture at CalArts. We used a set of hand-carved stamps for the letters, and found stamps (collected at Michaels). Funnest poster process to date.

Welcome Home / Womanhouse Opening

Gabby Datau and I collaborated on this set of stamped, screenprinted, and sewn posters for the Welcome Home gallery at CalArts. The opening was celebrating the 40th anniversary of Womanhouse, a feminist art installation in the early 1970s. We made around 8 unique stamps, screenprinted the information/frames, and sewed the cloth bits to the poster. The overall footprint of the poster pays homage to Sheila de Brettville’s original exhibition catalog for Womanhouse.

CalArts Halloween Party

Becky Song and I collaborated on one of a set of six posters advertising the 2011 CalArts halloween party themed ‘Haunted Schoolhouse’. These were each 2-color screenprints at 30x40in.

From left to right: Gabby Datau + Andelee Lin, Augusto Piccio, Tiffanie Tran + Phil Shaw, Jazmyn Faulkner, and Rachel Smith.

Mindy Shapero Lecture

A set of three posters created for a Mindy Shapero lecture at CalArts. We used her gorgeous sculptures as a starting point, and created our own versions of her forms. These were designed, spraypainted, and screenprinted by Edwin Alvarenga and myself.

Redcat Events

In another collaboration with Gabby Datau we created two screenprinted posters for two Redcat events (through a class at CalArts). Left: Redcat International Children’s Film festival (with a female counterpart poster designed by Andelee Lin and Tiffanie Tran). Right: Michael Robinson ‘Victory Over the Sun’ (film & video showcase).

Want to see more CalArts posters? Check out the CalArts Redcat Poster Archive!

During the summer of 2011, I interned at Modern Dog Design Co. (Greenwood, WA). The studio is a fabulous (though small) group of people known for their decades of posters and active interaction with the Seattle design community (teaching, lectures, workshops, etc.). There are some seriously cool things happening at Modern Dog. While I was there, I primarily worked on web design and programming, logos, and album covers.

WAGS WEST LLC IDENTITY

This hip dog-walking/cat-sitting business based in New York City was looking for a retro-modern logo and business card. Business card design assisted by Robynne Raye.

POLAR ENDS ALBUM LETTERING

Custom lettering for Erik Tollefson’s ‘Polar Ends’ album — the rest of the packaging was designed by Shogo Ota.

WEBSITE WORK

I worked on a handful of websites while at Modern Dog. Left: Josh Dayley’s website, designed by Tori King, coded by Mike Strassburger and me. Right: A Speech Path Seattle, designed by Robynne Raye and Shogo Ota, and coded by me.

Illustrations produced between 2009-2012 for school, freelance, and fun.

CalArts T-Shirt Show

Every year, the CalArts Design Program puts on a T-Shirt Show where we all submit a design, and together, we screenprint hundreds of tshirts to sell. These are my submissions over the course of four years (newest first).

French Revolution

Decadence and blood: a series of seven images referencing key symbols of the French Revolution. In order of appearance: the guillotine, Marie’s cake, the death of Marat, Louis XIV, Marie, Napoleon, and Voltaire.

Sands of Mexico

Advertising materials for the Sands of Mexico film and webseries.

FISK SUBMISSIONS

Periodically, FISK, a CalArts-based design collective, comes out with themed publications (specifically holiday zines featured here). From the right: ‘Mischief Night’ (Halloween Zine 2011), ‘No Treats Just Tricks’ (Halloween Zine 2010), and ‘Holiday Krampus’ (Holiday Zine 2011?).

For Fun

Books, zines, and other publications created between 2009-2012 for school and for fun.

MEMORANDOM

Through the Tiny Press Practices class at CalArts (taught by Jen Hofer) I created this small hand-made zine. It is filled with gems from my notebook (handwritten = original, typeset = overheard), screenprinted on various kinds of paper, and each is bound with a separate disposable photo. Check out the brand new Tiny Press archive!

Practice Practice: Ten Fridays

During my senior thesis, I created 10 short films every friday for 10 weeks. As a kind of generative process, I used these films as content for a corresponding graphic novel.

CalArts Eye No. 1

In February, Lianna KV of CalArts asked Thea Lorentzen and me to design the first issue of a school newspaper entitled the Calarts Eye. Our job was to create a basic format for future designers to jump off of, since each would be designed by someone different. We also helped naming some columns, as well as drawing and commissioning editorial illustrations. The articles can be viewed here.

Stache Magazine

Sample spreads from a magazine which celebrates competitive beard and mustache growing.

Primates

A primate-centric book of imagemaking.

Electric

Our BFA2 class at CalArts collectively decided on a topic (“Electric”) and a fixed height, and each made a small publication. We then bound them together (each in whatever order we pleased), and created unique packaging for the book. I chose to make a small book of illustrations about Nikola Tesla.

Every year, a CalArts BFA design class is asked to design packaging for the upcoming CalArts Jazz CD (all original compositions featured are by CalArts music students). One is chosen (Becky Song‘s awesome design was chosen in 2011). My design was based on motion and pattern.

Every year the undergraduate design program at CalArts organizes a showcase of all the program’s motion work. This year was themed around Horror movie genres, and reality tv (a kind of staged making-of).

Director: Terry Lee – Art Direction: Lila Burns – Packaging/Poster Production: Lila Burns, Matt King, Christina Rodriguez, Jazmyn Faulkner, and Tiffanie Tran

Mo’sho 2011

Below is the motion show from 2011 in full, horror themed, if you care to watch. I worked on the interstitial shoot, as well as some production management. Also, my work is in there too! (BFA3 section). More at motionshow.calarts.edu

Created for Bruce Robinson’s “How to Get Ahead in Advertising“, I created a two posters (complex and simple) as well as a title sequence. The titles use a series of found commercials (ranging from 1950s-1990s) to create sub-narratives between them (only after hours and hours of watching old commercials).

I created an existential detective agency (think Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman in ‘I Heart Huckabees’) who cater to people experiencing mid-life crises, aptly named JungAgain (pronounced ‘Young Again’). Additional to creating the logotype, stationery, website, and endtags, there is also a take-home test for new patients with a self-test Rorchak kit, a disposable camera, and a journal. Below is a process documenting the various stages of this project.

Process

SPEAK! came to me about doing a video sometime fall of 2010. He wanted a “stop motion love letter”, and gave me full creative freedom from there. I learned as I went, so the narrative followed as such.

PRESS

“As you might have gathered from the flickering circles and triangles at the start of this militantly un-hip-hop hip-hop video, Speak!‘s latest slice of swagged-out art goon tomfoolery (tongue firmly in cheek but tongue also sharp as Ghostface darts) is produced by Afta-1, the Benji B-certified sound architect who brings texture and form to every sumptuous, dignified composition. Supreme, video of the year contending stop-motion action courtesy of Lila Burns.”
—Southern Hospitality,

“‘No Distance Just Grace’ is a lovely-crafted stop motion style diddy that may make your shoulders shimmy. SWAG.”
—The Mint Collective

“What started off as an idea for a traditional hiphop album has evolved into a multi medium collaborative art project between various creatives within our community. With the help of animator Lila Burns, we have been able to give new life to one of the early recordings from the record and are very pleased to share it with you. This is NOT a music video. It is merely a stop motion love letter from Afta-1 & SPEAK!. Across countries, cities & seas Afta-1 & SPEAK! present “No Distance Just Grace.’”
—The Word is Bond

Stills:

Screenprinted covers for my band the electric lemonade project. “Connect the Dots” (2007) and “FoofaRAW” (2008).