Get Better At Life With Pixelpaint

Every so often, we humans have a moment of genius.

For example, the moment someone figured out rubbing the unsightly chip in your wooden coffee table with a walnut hides that little sucker like magic.

What were they doing rubbing their nuts on the coffee table? Who cares!

We call these moments of divine discovery 'life hacks' and we wanted to share some of our favourites with you below...

We hope they change your life forever!

Love, The Pixelpaint Crew.

Ant says: "You spend all summer wearing in your jandals, only to have the strap pop out while you're chasing away a suspicious looking dog. This was my reoccurring nightmare until I discovered I could turn back time with a plastic bread bag tag. If the strap pops out of the sole, put it back in and secure it on the bottom with a bread bag tag. Works a treat."

Emma says: "When my fresh herbs wilt and die ahead of schedule it makes me want to punch someone. Luckily for my friends and family I discovered they'll (almost) live forever if I chop 'em up, distribute them into ice cube trays, and covering them with olive oil. They freeze beautifully, are ideal for cooking with, and all the prep is done!"

Kyle says: "One of the most emotionally scarring experiences for a young man is the day the pulley thing on his zipper breaks, leaving his manhood exposed to his fellow bros. If this happens to you, grab your keying, remove the keys and attach the ring to your pulley-less zipper. Just make sure you tuck your junk away first"

Nayte says: "If you like the sound of a refreshing twist for your next beverage, or you just want to impress a hot date,add frozen berries to it instead of ice cubes. You won't be sorry. This is how I pull all of the ladies, it's a sure thing."

Rich says: "You know that horrible moment when you're drinking your pump bottle on the loser cruiser and a wee bit goes down the wrong tube? You try to stop coughing, but you can't, right? My Mum always used to shout at me, 'put your hands above your head'. I swear it works! All you need to decide is whether you look like less of a tit coughing or holding your hands above your head on the bus."

Pixelpaint Winter Weekend Playlist

We love music at Pixelpaint. Listening to tunes all day as we lovingly create your canvas is a massive part of our culture.  So we've decided to share some of our favourite tracks to brighten your day.


This playlist goes perfectly with a lazy afternoon, the weekend papers and a hot cup of coffee whilst chilling at home. Click here to listen to our weekend playlist. We hope you like it!

Love,

The Pixelpaint Crew

Branding and Feedback Survey Results

We recently surveyed a portion of our database to get some feedback on our brand direction and to see how you guys felt we are doing at the moment.  Here is what you came back to us with:

Brand Direction:

We wanted to know what was important to you and see if someone could come up with a tag line or short phrase for Pixel Paint in this competition.  You guys are very creative and the general vibe was that our canvases make you feel happy and smile.  Out of all the entries, we felt that Lani Leiataua nailed it when she said:

"Pixelpaint - Put a smile on your wall."

We're continuing to work on the brand and you'll see the results in a few months once we've tied a few other parts of the puzzle together.

As for general feedback, we were stoked to see the comments you made.  We honestly had lumps in our throats to see what a difference and impact we had made to your lives!  Here is a summary:

Things You Love

• Great Quality - Much better than competitors, colour reproduction is great, and general good vibes.
• Communication - Reprint notifications and our newsletters seem to go down well
• Service - Fast and helpful responses to questions or issues
• Tone of voice and humour - you love our down to earth style
• Us!

Things We Could Improve On

• Occasional inconsistent delivery speed
• Add image proofs so you can see what the whole canvas will look like including some sort of size comparison of how it might look in the home
• Add an image resizing and retouching service
• Make it easier to understand image size requirements
• More sizes around photo based ratios e.g. 16 x 9 or 3 x 1
• Add more image effects and some sort of collage/montage creation tool
• Ability to split one image across multiple canvases
• Add a fragile sticker/print to the boxes
• Do more competitions and draws
• Add more edge options, like full image (gallery) wrap
• Make it easier to colour match
• Stamp our business details on back of the canvas
• Add canvas care instructions in the box

Thanks for all your honest feedback which we are taking on board and working through.  We love you guys!

We Turned Two!

The Pixelpaint crew celebrated it's 2nd Birthday last Thursday and we found ourselves getting kind of emotional. It wasn't just because we were sipping on the good stuff out of plastic champagne flutes or because the cake was so tasty, it was because we've actually come a really (really really) long way in the past two years, and it's been a wild ride.

We wanted to share a bit of our story, because we're proud of ourselves and we couldn't have done it without all of you! Massive shout out to all of our customers and friends for your support, help and encouragement over the past couple of years.

Not many people know this, but when Pixelpaint started we didn't even have our own office space. In fact, we didn't have our own phone line, workshop, or even our own Internet connection. We were a laptop on a desk in the middle of someone else's office, with a single printer and a lot of enthusiasm.

We used to laminate our canvases by hand, and hang them up in an old commercial meat freezer to dry. We had to hand write all of the addresses on each package and write down every tracking number. We sold over a thousand canvases with our first Treat Me promotion, so as you can probably imagine, things got out of hand pretty quickly. We were challenged daily to change, grow and improve our systems in order to process the amount of orders we were receiving which seemed to be growing at a phenomenal rate. Back then it was hard to imagine that we would ever be where we are now!

We currently occupy our own entire building, which we renovated and decorated DIY style ourselves. We have a workshop, an office, our own bathroom and even our own beer fridge. We've implemented some awesome systems in our workshop to streamline production, and we've automated a lot of our processes to make everything run like clockwork. We also actively practise lean manufacturing and KANBAN, both are working for us like a dream.

We thought it was important to celebrate our progress like rock stars, so obviously we ate sushi and cupcakes followed by an afternoon of video games at the Game Masters Exhibition at Te Papa (which was amazing, go along if you can!). It was magical. At the end of the day we sat around and did what we do what we do best (apart from creating beautiful canvas from your amazing images), we drank some beers and toasted to the last two years. Here are some photos from our Birthday party, check us out!

Canvas Inspiration: Close Ups!

All too often we fail to notice the beauty in the details right in front of us. Most of us lead pretty busy lives and it's easy to rush through your day without appreciating cheesy stuff like your girlfriends dimples or how cool it looks when you add a few drops of milk to black coffee. Don't miss out! A great way to slow down, and get up close and personal is through the lens of your camera.

Here are some cool examples and a few tips to get you started!

Four tips for better close up photography:

1. Scope the area out while looking through your lens. Test out some different angles, get creative! Take your time.
2. Use a cushion or beanbag to lie on so you can get really really low without being really really uncomfortable.
3. Try to get your hands on a right angle lens, this will allow you to get closer to the subject without having to squash your face into it.
4. Put some diffusing material over the flash to get better lighting. Most cameras with a flash don't work well with close ups! You could use some white cloth or paper.

Good luck and happy shooting!

Pixelpaint Gives Back

We've recently teamed up with Volunteer Wellington and we got out first project a few weeks ago! Our assignment was to graffiti proof the new mural at Naeae Clubhouse so we put on some sexy painting overalls and got to work! 

Naenae Clubhouse is a community centre where local youth can go to get involved with all sorts of cool stuff like 3D design, crafts, sound recording, video production and graphic design. We were really feeling their vibe so we made a few stencils for their music room door, and our resident artist Nayte freehanded a stereo to set it off.

Volunteer Wellington is super approachable and easy to get involved with so if you have any spare time and you want to get involved with community projects like this, get in touch with them! Hit up their website here: http://www.volunteerwellington.org.nz

Here are some snapshot's of our day volunteering:

Wellington Walk2work Day - Pixelpaint

Today was Walk2work day in Wellington and the Pixelpaint crew were up bright and (hideously) early to make the 10km trek from the city to Pixelpaint HQ in Shelly Bay. Walk2work day is an initiative started by Living Streets Aotearoa in an effort to encourage people to leave their cars at home and cut back on pollution. We fully support the cause and we had a blast, not to mention we got some good exercise in and a tasty breakfast at the end of it, thanks boss! Check out our snapshots of the walk below and get your workplace  involved. 

Our 10km route

Sunrise over Oriental Bay

Emma and Kyle representing

Starting the mission up Shelly Bay Rd

Nearly there!

Branding Competition - 3 Free Canvases Up for Grabs

We're working on our branding, and we would love to get your ideas and feedback because we value your opinion. 

Canvas prints are an emotional thing. We've asked a few people why they buy canvases and here's what they told us:

• Happiness: You feel happy when you see it.
• Pride: You feel proud of the moment or achievement AND of the canvas itself hanging in your home.
• Nostalgia: You look back at the memory and feel nostalgic.
• Admiration: You admire the canvas and what it depicts, and other people admire you for your taste/achievements.

So here's the competition:

We want you to come up with a phrase, statement or sentence of no longer than 6 words that sums up your reasons for buying a canvas print. This statement should sum up what Pixelpaint is all about.

The person who comes up with something that we can use or develop further will receive vouchers for 3 canvases (an A3, an A2 and an A1).

Entries now closed, thanks!

Cut off date is Friday the 15th of March 2013. 

Canvas inspiration: Light trails

One of our favourite elements of night time photography is the way you can play with and manipulate lights. There are endless tricks and ways you can do this, and a popular favourite of ours is creating light trails by using a long exposure and a slow shutter speed. It sounds difficult but it's easy to do if you're willing to put some time into it!

You've probably seen this done before, the most common way is to photograph the tail lights of a moving car (or to take a photo FROM a moving car...). There is something kind of nostalgic and beautiful about showing movement this way, and the results are pretty awesome. We wanted to share some quick and easy tips to help you to get this effect using your camera at home.

Choose a cool location with a clear view of the road. Pick a spot where there is lots of traffic, make sure the surroundings are interesting and frame the shot well as they are the backbone of the photo. Remember if cars are coming towards you your light trails will be white, if they're driving away they will be red. 

Plan the shot! Light trails don't only work in pitch black, sunset/sunrise light trails look pretty awesome too. Make sure you have a tripod if you want the lines to be sharp and the shot to be clear. Getting the right shot can take time so don't rush it. Make sure the shot is framed nicely and test out a few different angles. 

Time the shot correctly. Typically you want to take the photo just as the car enters the frame, but this will take a few tries before you get it right. Experiment with the shutter speeds and exposure until you're happy. Setting your shutter speed for 20 seconds is a good place to start. More or less is fine depending on what you are going for. The longer you leave it, the duller the light trail will be. 

Here are some pictures of light trails we love to give you some ideas! Good luck!

Summer Snapshot Competition Winners!

We keep forgetting that summer is officially over! It's still so warm and the beers are still so cold. It's almost turning into a joke around Wellington. Once lovingly dubbed by the crew as 'funeral city' (because of the depressing weather and large amount of people dressed in head to toe black), Wellington had the last laugh by transforming into a tropical paradise for the past three months.

Apart from the sun setting a little earlier the only thing reminding us it's Autumn is the calendar. This past summer was a winner, one of the best! And we have the photos to prove it!

Check out the winning entries for our summer snapshot competition below! Thanks to all who submitted.

Photo submitted by Marion Reynolds

Photo submitted by Rowan Miller

Photo submitted by Tarry Mortlock 

Photo submitted by Victor  Gilpin

 Our winners all took home an A3 canvas each! Make sure you sign up to our newsletter to stay in the loop with all of our up coming competitions. 

Manual Photography Cheat Sheet!

Manual photography gives you complete creative control over all of your photos, but we're often put off switching to manual mode because it can be kind of tricky getting all of your settings right! We came across this and thought it was too handy not to share with you. Enjoy! 

Artist Spotlight: Alison Withers

Time for a quick brag session! One of our clever customers won the peoples choice award at Cliftons Art Prize 2012!

Alison Withers took it out with the stunning piece pictured below and we feel privileged that we got to print it for her on one of our canvases. Read her words below and check out her website here!

"How do you write an Artist Statement without sounding pretentious? You don't. You create it instead." - Alison Withers, aka Jennifer B

I am a New Zealand-based, contemporary artist, originally hailing from England. I explore a wide range of genres.

My body of work is ever evolving and unpredictable. Sometimes controversial and provocative, I question life's conventions and nuances, through my artwork, and attempt to bring life, energy and emotion to the mundane. A passion for original ideas and exploring human emotion has inspired me to diversify into digital art.

My work has been exhibited and sold through galleries, art publications and art shows, I was recently honoured to receive The People's Choice Award, for my artwork, 'Because He Needs To' in the prestigious, 'Cliftons Art Prize 2012.'

I am looking forward to submitting a new, but very different style of artwork this year, entitled 'Broken',and am grateful to Pixelpaint, for providing such a high quality, printing service, which enables me to achieve this.

Staff Pick

This amazing photo was submitted by Steve Penny and was taken down in Christchurch at Orana Wildlife Park during the daily tiger feed. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to share this one with you all, it looks fiercely intimidating and impressive on one of our massive A0 canvases, almost as if we were standing face to face with the real thing!

Here is what Steve had to say about this shot:

The photo was taken locally here in Christchurch at Orana Wildlife
Park during the daily tiger feed. I have taken loads of photos at the park
and have been trying to get a good photo of the tiger when it leaps to get its food. The day this photo was taken the keeper decided to put the food into the water instead of on the high pole which requires the leap I wanted to catch. I was disappointed that there wasn't going to be a leap that particular day but I still just fired off a raft of photos anyway without too much thought to the composition. When reviewing the photos later I had several lovely shots of the tiger in the water which washed away any previous disappointment.

Summer Snapshot Competition!

We hope you has a fantastic Christmas and managed to take loads of embarrassing yet magical photos. What did you get up to this summer? Overseas trip? Holiday at the beach? Maybe you stayed home the entire time and ate your weight in chocolate coated pretzels? Whatever you did we want to see the evidence! Show us what you've been up to this summer and you could win a free canvas.

Send your favourite summer snapshots in to us at hello@pixelpaint.co.nz  before the end of February 2013 and if your entry is chosen you'll get a free A3 canvas plus exposure on our blog  and Facebook  page.

Creating a Photo Montage Wall in 4 Steps

A photo montage wall is an epic way to create a stand out feature wall in any space. They look super impressive if correctly executed and even though covering almost an entire wall in canvas can seem a bit intimidating, we promise it's not! We've broken it down into 5 easy steps for you.

 Photo credit: http://www.housetohome.co.uk

Step 1: Plan your space. Start by deciding how much of your wall you want to use, don't be shy - go big or go home! Next mark out the centre point in very light pencil, this should sit at eye level. You also want to lightly draw two horizontal (or vertical) lines running parallel on either side of the centre point, about 3-4 cm apart.

Step 2: Plan your layout: You'll need to choose what kind of look you're going for, how many pictures you want to use and how they are going to fit into the space. Make sure you chose a few varying sizes. Keep in mind all of our canvas dimensions can be found here.  We reccomend drawing up a quick sketch. This simple guide will give you a few layout ideas to get started:

Image credit: http://www.sasinteriors.net

Step 3: Chose a focal point and start from there. Pick the canvas for the centre of your wall and hang it right in the middle, making sure it's edge sits flush with one of the guides you drew earlier. Hang the next four or so canvases with either their bottom edge against the bottom line, or their top edge against the top line.

Step 4: Work your way out from the focal point by adding different sized pieces and deviating away from the guide lines, do your best to leave the same amount of space between each piece, about 2-3 cm is ideal.

Things to remember:

• You don't want the outer edges of the montage to be even! Just a few in the centre.  

• Before hanging things of the wall, practise the layout on your floor to get an idea of how it will look, you might need to try a few different combinations before you get things looking right.

• Mix it up and be creative! You can add signs or memorabilia to your montage wall to add a different dimensions to it. 

We'd love to see your montage wall in action, if you've made one featuring some of our canvas send us a photo!  

Canvas Inspiration: Maps!

Lately we've been really into maps. Not in a James Cook kind of way, in more of a home decor kind of way. Why? Because they look awesome on our canvases! Especially our huge A0 size! If you want something a bit different for your wall, we highly recommend checking out some different maps, there are so many options out there.

Whether you want a nautical map, vintage map or just a classic wall map, you'll easily  find what you're looking for on a stock photography site like iStockphoto or Getty Images. Check out the examples below of cool map wall art we found online to get you in the mood.

30 Day Photography Challenge!

Feeling void of inspiration and creativity after having way too much fun this summer? We have a fix for you - a good old-fashioned photography challenge!

A 30 day photo challenge is a great way to get your creative vibes flowing again and it's also a handy distraction from real life/getting over your post holiday blues. All you have to do is pick a number/theme from the challenge list, and take a photo which shows your interpretation of that idea.

You can start at 1 and work your way down to 30, or do them in any order you like. As long as you take a photo each day for 30 days. We found this great list made by Holly on her blog, which we thought was perfect! 

If you decide to do the challenge, flick us an email or comment below and let us know! We're super keen to see your photos and you may even snap up a free canvas or spot prize!

Top 5 Canvas Ideas for Valentines Day

Valentines day presents are tricky. Especially if you're in that awkward first stage of your relationship where you're dating but you're not sure if it's official. Do you get him/her a gift or keep it casual? Who knows?! We sure don't, we're just a canvas printing company. If you do need some relationship advice, ask Google or your Mum! What we do know is that our canvases make great Valentines day gifts. Avoid the cliché petrol station chocolates this year and opt for a thoughtful personalised canvas instead!

Here are our top five Valentines Day canvas ideas.

1. A love themed poem or quote  It's kind of cheesy but its also kind of romantic. Plus there are loads of ideas online! Here are some examples:

2. A picture of you! You know the love is real when they have a picture of your face on their wall. 

3. A mock valentines day card. Because LOL.

3. A picture of their favourite place. It doesn't always have to be about you! 

4. Their favourite photo. Is there a special photo on the fridge or by the bed that would look awesome blown up on the wall? Scan in or have it put on a CD and turn it into a canvas.

5. A photo of the two of you together. If you're married a wedding canvas is a must have. 

Orders for Valentines day need to be in by the end of January so get on to this fast lovers!