Me, at Twenty-Three
Having just looked back at my previous posts and coming across one about being twenty-two, I feel I should now have one about being twenty-three. Not much has changed. I still work in the Atheneaum, and I am still looking for other work, preferably in Bristol. I have started looking into becoming a visual merchandiser, (or similar) it looks like fun- making things look attractive. Anyway, my Saturday night is going to be dedicated to applying to a million jobs. I’m done with being static… Move!!
(well soon anyway)
The Wide World of Web
I’m venturing, very cautiously into the world of web. Although I’ve got this blog, plus Facebook, Twitter, DeviantArt, etc, it’s not the same as really doing it for yourself -it’s a shit load easier!
Having made one, non-live, website at uni I am now struggling desperately to scrape together some sort of portfolio website as well as work full time and have something resembling a social life. Any guesses for whats currently coming in last place?
So I have eventually managed to get my web-page up (thats right, I said page- to say site would be lying) and the links are both a) wrong and B) not working. It’s a disaster, but almost so much so as to be vaguely humorous when I’m not tearing my hair out.
Anyway, I’m going to keep plugging away and hopefully have something to show for my pain very shortly!
Old Skool
School related creativity…
typography < handwriting
click the image if you want to go there.
Glossy Glamour
So I have a thing for glamour at the moment, it could be because of the lack of it in my life at the moment. I’m going glossy magazine (among other things) shopping tomorrow. The most recent Juxtapoz magazine has a piece about Natalia Fabia, who is an artist I’ve been interested in the past. Her new stuff looks even better though. The piece below is my favourite, it has almost made it out of the magazine and onto my fresh white bedroom wall. I love the movement in the water and the almost photoreal style. But there is also the fashion element, this picture wouldn’t look out of place in a magazine like Inked. Kind of fashion oil painting, rather than fashion photography. Fabia usually uses her friends to model for her. [this picture doesn't do it justice AND she appears on Miami ink, legend!]
I didn’t intend to blog about Fabia particularly but then I stumbled across Linnea Strid today. She is more ‘fine’ art, less fashion concerned, but the water caught my eye again, it is absolutely stunning.The piece below is ‘Try not to waste’, I think I appreciate this one particularly due to a lot of time drawing hands recently.
She has lots of examples of her work on Flckr. I also liked the one below but there are lots, many revolving around water. I also like the fact that in these paintings even though they are quite dimly lit, the colours still feel bright with all the reflections in the water.
P.s. just after I published this post I went on DeviantART and looked through the daily picks (which I rarely do) and found Linnea Strid was one of todays picks. Weird coincidence. This was the piece chosen.
Marmite Concepts
Some sketches I’ve been working on for a book about Marmite. I’ll put the one thats being taken to completion up, when its complete.
Basically the idea will revolve around scraping the dregs out of a pot of Marmite, but without the tattoos (shockingly someone else had this idea too).
So this week I will be mostly doing two jobs, jobs being like buses of course. It feels good to be working hard on something that I can really get my teeth into.
I’ll keep you posted on further developments and should have the final piece ready in about a week.
Anchors and Maps
Here are some more examples of the lovely books I work with. I apologise for the appalling quality of the photos, they are just taken from my phone. I have kept a record of the best ones though so hopefully when the Athenaeum is open to the public I will be able to go back and get some better photos or scans. But for now….
This is a yearly ‘magazine’, (from around 1902) the design on the front made me think of the current trend for traditional tattoo design (which I am a huge fan of). The lovely anchors and ships pleased me a lot! I also found the cover below in this section, each one of the volumes was embossed with this beautiful anchor.
There wasn’t a huge amount of excitement through the travel section, some of the maps were stunning but the subtleties would be lost at low res. I did get one though, the book was about one of the Poles (I forget which, observant as I am) the type is incredibly detailed, this is one i will definitely go back to. This page in particular caught my eye, the layout and colour, it could be poster. The page/map title is calligraphic and is surrounded by lots of embellishment.
More to come!
Cardigans and Sensible Shoes
My new job isn’t the most exciting job I’ve ever had, but it is very interesting, and only partly because I don’t have to run around being nice to people. I’m archiving books in a small, overcrowded dusty room above a library, known as the North Devon Athenaeum. Most of these books are about rural interests, farming, agriculture etc etc etc. I spent yesterday morning trying to alternatively describe 30 books about trains and railways. Enthralling. However, it isn’t the content that I look at in detail, but the design. Which, when some of the books are from the early 1700’s this can be fascinating- and it’s not because I’m turning into a librarian, trust me.
Methods of printing and production were so different back then that it doesn’t come as a surprise that the aesthetics would also be different. The cost of making books was greater, they were not mass produced, some of the books we handle even contain original etchings or prints (you can see where the oil from the inks has bled through the pages in some cases). Time was taken to create something informative, and more importantly something which would last. The art of setting out headings, having page numbers written out in long-hand and flourishes between chapters seems to have been almost lost, even though it is present today, it seems dumbed down. Perhaps because books sell to people who want an easy read, but perhaps because books are more consumable now, people buy rather than borrow that it has become more important to produce cheaply than beautifully.
Unfortunately since I am at work I can’t really scan or photograph the more beautiful books, but have jotted down a few of the better ones to go back to (Like a ‘the guide to illuminating’ which is full of original colour prints from around 1850). Even if it is a temporary stop-gap job I feel like I’m getting a real insight into historical book design, which I probably would never have done of my own accord.
This is a picture of some pages from ‘The Guide to Illuminating’ by Digby Wyatt. Found on Flickr, here.
Oh Lily
Lily Allen launched her new Jewellery line yesterday in Claridges. I knew this because I follow her on Twitter, and generally think she’s pretty sound. Thinking that there would be some chunky gold chains, nothing very out of the ordinary but made with some nice metals and stones, I thought she could be on to a winner…. However. What she has actually done is relaunched Argos’ 1994 collection. You know those clowns and smiley faces covered in multicoloured jewels? Yep.
I hoped for something along the lines of the Julia Roberts/Natalie Portman scandalous C*nt necklace of 2006, but it wasn’t to be. I have only seen a small selection though, and the target age range was 14-40. Perhaps the rest of the line has been designed for those over 15, finding jewellery that is a bit different but good quality is quite difficult, so I hope so!
I haven’t been able to find many pictures to put up here, there was also a pink flamingo. Click to go to the InStyle article, it’s one of the only positive reviews I’ve found (apart from the ones about her wardrobe malfunction in Claridges).
Poster art
I seem to be finding a lot of these recently, really nice posters for gigs/ films etc. I think they’re much nicer than regular photo-based ones.
This one for the Mars Volta is by Micheal Motorcycle (awesome name). Hand painted and really intricate.
The one above is by Jay Ryan of ‘The Bird Machine’. The bird Machine is a small American company who design and screen print gig posters. They look pretty cool, pretty much everything is designed by hand and printed in shop, usually with about 200/300 prints per design. They obviously get told that they are brilliant a lot though, their questions section is quite funny, clearly aimed at their (often student) fans. Check that and lots of their other posters out here.
The poster above was designed by Matthew Woodson his online portfolio is really nice, I like his use of a few muted colours. Real simple but effective designs. All these posters have beautifully hand-rendered legible typography. I think bands should use these instead to advertise, much ore fun! Maybe I should do one for Spinnerette…
Being Twenty-Two
Due to the recession now isn’t the best time to be in your early twenties. Everyday we are told by the news that young workers (of the 18-25 age range) are finding it the most difficult to gain employment, with up to 1000 new job cuts per day. At this age we are also the most susceptible to swine flu.
So, as an unemployed twenty-two year old, what am I to do? Well, today I found the time to make one of these – entirely from memory, even though I haven’t made one since I was in school and have a terrible memory. The things the human brain is capable of!
I have also had lots of time to find pretty pictures on the internet, some of them are below. Click the pictures to go to where I found them.
