Life Drawing Time!

Yesterday I finally packed up my pencils and charcoal and made it down to Blim for their Tuesday night life drawing drop-in session.  I haven’t done life drawing in ages.  What generally passes for life drawing in my life involves taking my sketchbook on the seabus and pretending not to stare at strangers, so naturally I was thrilled to have two hours and an actual model.  It was a quiet but casual atmosphere, perfect for dipping my toe back into this estranged activity.  I’m planning on going every week, if I can make it!

Blim’s life drawing drop-in is every Tuesday from 7pm-9pm, for $10.  Blim is located at 115 Pender St. E, Vancouver in the physical world and http://blim.ca on the internet!

Malaspina Printmakers

OMG. I just discovered Malaspina Printmakers. These people are so sexy.

Essentially, they’re an artistic society based in Vancouver that focuses on the various elements of printmaking. They have all of the equipment and run workshops for a variety of print-related techniques:

…intaglio, aquatint, lithoplate, monotypes, etching, lithography, collography, inkjet [looks like some prepress and paper info], silkscreening, woodcut [!!!], intaglio photopolymer…

I don’t even know what half this stuff is, but it sounds very alluring. Next time I am feeling flush with cash I am totally rocking down and taking one of these. AND they have exhibits! I can’t wait to immerse myself in some awesome print art.

Album Realization

I am so excited to have finished my very first jewel case design! I’ve been doing layout of printed booklets for a while, but it’s definitely a thrill branching out into a slightly different format – one I can pick up, open and put in my CD player! A big thank-you to the North Shore Chorus for bringing me on to this project!

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Poster Time

So I made another thing! This is poster number three for the North Shore Chorus, a local community choir.  Their program featured a celestial theme, so I recreated a night sky.

Normally, I do a lot of text-based work – using fonts as a graphic element in combination with photos. Part of my day job is to do layout, so it’s a natural step for me. This time, however, I got to bust out my Wacom digital drawing tablet and make some original art. Doing the detail of the moon and the reflection was super fun. Can’t wait for more!

Shining Night Poster

Album Inspiration

Half of creativity for me comes from enjoying other people’s art. These days I’ve been really inspired by album covers. The challenge here is in articulating the essence or feeling of music visually, and it can lead to some wonderfully creative stuff. I love album covers with storybook illustration qualities, colorful and busy expressiveness, the surrealist takes, and the spare minimalist styles. A quick google search brings me a wealth of all of these.  Here are just a handful of the great images I’ve encountered recently:

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Hosier Lane

So I swear this isn’t a travel blog, but there were just so many cool art things to see in Australia that I have to share them.

In Melbourne I tracked down the famous Hosier Lane, where graffiti artists are encouraged to turn the walls into riotously coloured, ever-shifting public art. It’s tiny, more of a back alley, and the walls are so close together that it’s like you’re in a small canyon of paintings. And there’s a tapas place tucked in there too! Amazing!

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Fonts, Fonts, Fonts

So, fonts.

Fonts are so cool because they are the place were visual representation and textual meaning come together. What you mean to say in your text is highlighted by your font choice – given the subtleties of meaning brought in by visual associations. Power, trustworthiness, fashion, intimacy – fonts can colour the texts they contain with a slew of additional meanings.

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Resistenza’s “Bodoni at Home” gives us an intimate handmade quality as well as a nostalgic academia.

I love typography, but it’s a constantly unfolding word with new fonts being designed all the time.  Every time I look, there’s something new to learn about.  This is why I was so happy to find MyFonts.com

Not only do they have a huge collection of fonts listed by use as well as type (no pun intended), but they have this cool “What the Font” feature that allows you to submit an image of an unfamiliar font to find a match, or you can ask about it in their “What the Font Forum.” I really enjoy their newsletter the most, where they showcase new font families and interview designers, both emerging and established. This website is a great place to explore and learn about the wide world of fonts.