Brick

Today I made it on to Mike Perry's website (he's the guy who compiled A Catalog of Type: Hand Job.) These are parts of 'Alphabet Town':



www.midwestisbest.com.

Sort of made me think of when I watched Hitchcock's Rear Window and started wanting to draw the row of terraces I can see from my own window. There is something I like about the regimented intricacy of the brick wall.

I also paid a visit to the pages of Rob Ryan, a British illustrator/writer. He creates some beautiful paper-cuts combining his twin interests, look closely for the shadows!






www.misterrob.co.uk

Wallpaper

I don't know why I'm sticking with the whole 'verb as title' thing, but I thought I'd just confirm that 'wallpaper' is not just a noun. On my desktop this week we have the delightful Charlotte Gainsbourg. Love child of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, she is an actress (recently in the wonderful Science of Sleep), a chanteuse and one-time guest editor of Vogue.

Illustrate

I'm on a bit of a blogging marathon tonight. No pasty legs or nipple plasters involved. Feeling the need for a quick hit of inspiration, I Googled 'illustration' and discovered www.illustrationweb.com. It is a site designed for clients to browse through artist portfolios in the aim of a professional relationship, but the scrapbook feature is equally useful for other artists wanting to collate what makes them tick. In my scrapbook I have...

Talya Baldwin who, amongst other things, illustrates for a human rights newspaper. I have great respect for satirical cartoonists, it is amazing what reaction a drawing can provoke.





Claire Scully, purely for her immensely intricate, organic style. She has produced work for Penguin, Random House and The Guardian. I think I saw her work in the most recent YCN book aswell.

Narrate

A much pastiched poem is Egar Allen Poe's Tell Tale Heart. This is a 1953 UPA animation, the first to be censored by the BBFC! I marvel especially at the opening credits and the general cut-out aesthetic.

Rug Cut

I can't remember where I came across this now but I like these jazz album covers from the 50's. They were painted by a David Stone Martin.







I really would like to frequent a jazz night actually, I hope I can find a good one.

Research

I have nowhere to go tonight so I thought I'd play a few games of Scrabulous and research for the competition brief. I was quite interested in the ISTD briefs that Sophie showed us, so I made that my first hit. Winners of the premier award include a few tasty Penguins...



...what looks to be a recipe book with lovely handlettering contrasted with rigid type (designed by Eggers + Diaper)...



...an unreadable book (Gaffa Design)...



...and some whisky cylinders! (Pearlfisher Design)



Sometimes I think my tastes in design are a little random, but I am beginning to see patterns emerge.

Handrender

For my web design module, I am experimenting with hand rendered links.

I got this book out of the library to inspire me. 'Handwritten' by Steven Heller and Mirko Ilic:



It has some nice images, but some naff chapter titles (sarcastic, scratch...:s)



This is the book I really want...Hand Job by Micheal Perry:



As I sit here doodling, I am listening to PJ Harvey. Note the lettering on the album cover.



My housemate is a big fan of Johnny Cash, on Sunday he and I are going to a tribute act!



On a different note...B&W Studio are a Leeds based design company who designed the website and mailers for St George's Crypt, the charity supporting homeless people. Their work is proof that not only commercial projects can look clean and professional.



The Christmas appeal mailer, which was too large to be scanned in, is printed on (100% recycled) newsprint, a paper I have been attempting to use recently. Also the one which jammed up my printer. I'm going on a search for that elusive pentagonal screwdriver tomorrow.b

Brief

Tomorrow we get our next briefing! I always get a bit excited when we get a new brief, it's a chance to start afresh. This time it's going to be a live brief, so I have to work extra hard on it. I should probably go to bed...

Kern

For the typography module I have been working on a newspaper layout. Not sure how good it is as I have been holed up in my room doing it without feedback.

Anticipate

Johnny Depp is the demon barber on fleet street, in the new Time Burton (who else?) film, Sweeney Todd. Out in the UK in January. Alan Rickman is in it too, hoorah.

The roll down menus on the website are rather nice. Tricky to screen grab though.

             

I am doing the typography module at the moment, and now I have finished my main brief I can really get into it. Our tutor recommended us some websites, one of which is now in my bookmarks because it is so darn good. http://ilovetypography.com

        

On it I found evidence of a book called 700 Penguins, which is a compilation of 700 book covers from the publisher's 70 year catalogue. It is going on my wishlist.

Another website I discovered is http://fontdiner.com It has some snazzy retro fonts, some are free.

Connect

My good housemate Cheng (the technological one) made a few phone calls and now we have the internet in our house! This means much more blogging. I've jammed up my printer though, so it's swings and roundabouts.

What an awful cliché.

Collect

It is six hours until the end of the collections brief and I have not yet printed my book. Terrible I know. This is what signature 1 (of 11) looks like now, after hours of re-aligning, nudging, outlining type and getting myself confused:



Hopefully I will have the book bound by tomorrow for the exhibition and my sketchbook ready for this afternoon!

Captivate

Last Saturday I went to see Heima, which documents Sigur Rós' tour of their homeland, Iceland. Hence the name (Heima is Icelandic for home).

I have always wanted to visit Iceland and this film cemented my aspiration. It is a beautiful country and Sigur Rós do it justice.

The best bit was the use of century-old rhubarb as a musical instrument.

Read

The inaugural session took place last night in the Borders basement. Turn out wasn't as great as I expected but I am staying postive as I KNOW THERE ARE PEOPLE OUT THERE!! We are currently reading A Short History of Tractors by Marina Lewycka, which has great cover art and has won various accolades so obviously must be brilliant.

Volunteer

This week and the next I am volunteering for LIFF. This means free film for me! There is a huge programme and a lot I want to see but I am celebrating the opening night with Planet Terror at Hyde Park Picture House. I have a penchant for old B-movie posters at the moment, as does Tarantino. Tarantino is much cooler than me though.



Noise, directed by Matthew Saville looks to be one of the most promising films of the festival, and the only film I've ever heard of to feature tinnitus as a plot device.



Other films I aspire to see include graphic novel adaptation Persepolis, Mexican horror The Orphanage, Miss Universe 1929, and Les Chansons d`Amour. The characters in the latter sing to each other in place of speech; previously any indication of a musical and I would dismiss it but I recently discovered hilarious Kiwi musi-comedy Flight of the Concordes and I may be converted.




www.leedsfilm.com

Begin

This is my on-line diary of all (well, most) things inspirational.

Don't expect too much of me though, my internet access is currently a limited privilege and not the basic human right it should be.