Andy Smith - Book

The main reason I was drawn to this book was the price - and the fact, I will be producing a book to sell at the book fair.
Andy Smith is an accomplished illustrator and this is a nice example of a screen printed book...which sells for £7.50.
So in reality, i can't expect to sell a simpler, student produced book for this much or any more.
This has definately helped when it comes to production costs and overall pricing.

Rik Lee Type as image

When I came across this artist, it was was one of those 'wow' moments.
I discovered him because the first piece shown on this post was actually from the first Lyrics and Type exhibition that Timba Smits hosted in Australia, and the that I looked at his work - the more I liked it.

The pieces like the lyrics and type one, the 'gin and juice' and 'don't forget' - they're are all type as image but its totally readable because the structure of the typeface it is based on is still there - it shows that to make some this visually engaging as a type as image piece, you don't have to completely remove the original typeface, just work with it.

The other pieces with the script text, I also love because it reminds me of tattoos (obviously because of the tattoo gun)...the texture in the lettering is really delicate and soft.

Luke Lucas

These are just really good examples of how strong type as image can be - proven in that it doesn't need a background, its just flat black but they still look really strong.

I especially like the pieces where the imagery in the type reflects what its saying i.e. the 'I'll be home late honey...' piece, if it was any other sort of type it would just look like a basic sentence...but by using the lips and kissing image in the type, its clear that its communicating a lie that someone says when they're probably cheating...

Lee Crutchley

This was another of my Flickr finds. The pieces may aren't the most perfectly executed ones because its an ongoing project of his to just produce a visual response to lots of his favourite quotes/phrases.

I will definately take inspiration from this when it comes to visualising my ideas but also, it is something I would like to do in the future...not something for a studio brief, just a way of visually developing my work and producing visual responses to some of my favourite lines...because I have So many and I love words so I would definately enjoy it but by doing it in my own time, it means I don't have to do any contextual research or initial ideas just do it and move on to the next another day.

Volume One

The main thing that draws me to all of these pieces is that all the words look like they're made out of one ribbon or other piece of material, I always think this gives it quite a romantic feel.

I also like the simple backgrounds that they use - backgrounds aren't currently a strong point of mine and this shows me that they don't have to be really detailed, the simpler the better sometimes because it doesn't detract attention from the type.

Six word story every day

This was just something I came across on Flickr...I think what I really liked about it, is that it doesn't look over worked or vectorised...or digital at all.

I'm not sure I would like it as much if it was digitised because when I look at it more and more there is some type that I don't like etc...but at this stage of the drawing, I think it looks good.

Rudi de wet

I'm not going to lie...the main reason I first looked at this artist was because of his name, thankfully it wasn't a waste of time because his work is really good!
I absolutely love his large scale pieces - I would love to work on something so big and by working directly onto the wall, you don't really have any room for error so that would be interesting!

What I like about the t-shirt, in addition to the colour choice - is the scale of it on the shirt, when its worn, it probably covers your whole front. This is definately something I want to try on my Criminal Damage brief.

Lauri Johnston

I was drawn to this just because its really crisp, well executed example of taking a (probably) hand drawn pieces and vectorising it. I really like the different typefaces and how they work together.
This is by the same artist but looks quite different...a lot more 'hands on', as it appears to be a stamp. Although it is a kind of contrast to the first, vectorised example - I love it and I definately think the stamp effect adds to the appeal (whether it is a stamp or not, i'm not sure).
Even though the phrase 'Love is' seems unfinished, the simple pattern surrounding it kind of completes it anyway.

Katie Daisy

This work is a lot...prettier than things that I usually do, but its a really beautiful example of how well a different medium, watercolour, can work. I definately think its something that I will look at in the future.

Also, the 'imperfect' feel of the type (i.e. some of the words are wonkey etc.) gives the work a really personal feel - it could work really well on a greetings card or something.

Jenni Sparks

Although I don't think this is exactly the best executed or presented piece of work and apart from the obvious red for 'stop' the colour choice probably didn't take a long time...but it makes me laugh and that was probably the intention. So it shows that you don't have to spend a huge amount of time with minute details to make people - the simplicity works here.

Frogers

This...is just beautiful, and the facts it done on illustrator and photoshop shocked me. I really thought it was a photograph at first. The combination of colours and tones give it a really soft, and...beautiful aesthetic quality.
On the above piece, I really like the angles that he has used...it would have probably looked good if all the type was from the same angle etc. but by playing with that it makes it look more 3 dimensional.


With the above piece, I really like seeing how it translates from a digital piece...to a large scale print (with slightly different colours)...it looks fun. Just by simply replacing the 'e' in 'eyes' with drawings of eyes...and the 'o' in love with a love heart...it makes the piece more fun.




Although I do like this last piece, I think the choice of colour on the type is a bit weird in comparison with the colours on the photograph. However, just concentrating on the type I like the pure hand-crafted feel about it - its clearly not just a font found on the computer because all the letters work together so well.

The main theme that I love that run's through most of Frogers work is....New York. I love New York and just seeing it in his work makes me smile.