Block Type Part 2

Much much more to come. Tomorrow's my day off, and I'm going type hunting.

Block of Type Part 1

New York Giants

Football season is back, and I'm a huge football fan. My favorite team is the New York Giants, who I feel have one of the best logos in all of sports:

What Inspires Me...?

I owe alot of my interest in art and design to MAD magazine, which was huge to me when I was younger. I would read old issues and MAD books that my great grandmother gave me when I was about 9, as well as the modern magazine. I loved the art, and I loved the layout of the magazine in general. I blame MAD for giving me my whacked out sense of humor, amongst other things. I used to make my own humor magazines and spoof newspapers, mostly inspired by the joyful lunacy in MAD.

Here's a sampling of some MAD covers, courtesy of Doug Gilford of collectmad.com:

http://www.collectmad.com/madCoverSIte/

John McCain

Here's a close to finished draft of my John McCain type portrait. I approached this one a little differently than my Bob Barr portrait, using more large letter forms as outlines. I had more fun with this one, because the Barr portrait was good practice; the McCain portrait came easier, and I think he looks pretty funny. It's always cool making a tank, too.

This is where I work best...

I work best in my small computer corner at home. I usually work when it's late, normally after 11:00 PM. I like working at night because it's very quiet, and I work best when there isn't too much noise. I usually work in silence because it helps me focus completely on what I'm working on. I usually keep it pretty dark because us creatures of the night are burned by the light of day...actually, keeping the room dark helps keep me focused even more; when the only light in the room is coming from the computer area, I'm drawn to the light like a moth. I usually work until 2-3 AM, depending on how much work I need to do. By then, I'm usually so groggy my workspace looks to me exactly like it does in the picture. And if I've completed a project after hours of hard work, that final, groggy view of my workspace before I go to bed is one of the best views I have.

John McCain Tank

As part of my John McCain portrait, I wanted to include a tank. Here's the tank, comprised of the letters of "John McCain." I really like how it turned out.

Bob Barr Update...Again

Print and Editorial Magazine Rebranding

I'm updating the magazine Sepia, a photojournal from the 60s-70s, for 2008. First step is rebranding.

Original:

WIP Rebrand:

Bob Barr Update

WIP Bob Barr Type Portrait

Here's a WIP image of my Bob Barr type portrait, John McCain to follow. The type consists of quotes from Bob Barr speeches, press releases, and interviews. I'm working with using different values of black text to creating a shading effect.

It Perished...

I felt inspired...so I wrote a few lines and then played with them in Illustrator.

Finished Piece -- Self Portrait Project

For some reason, I couldn't get it to upload correctly onto Blogger...so here it is on flickr:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3261/2801266369_43794a1b1c_b.jpg

Portrait

The original photo, the touched up photo (Grayscale, contrast adjustment, and editing), and the finished portrait (with text):

Self Portrait

I've been taking the Self Portrait project as an opportunity to try something new. This is my first real use of photography in a project, and also my first use of handwritten fonts. I really wanted to "let go" on this project and explore new methods of creation. Here are some workups/sketches: