On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
Posted on July 6, 2008
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I just finished reading On Her Majesty’s Secret Service by Ian Fleming, the James Bond books author. (Yeah, apparently they’re books. I know, right?) I needed some good beach reading, which means reading for my ten minute breaks at work. It was pretty fun! A fast read, and not totally unbelievable, except maybe for the end. Fleming does good play-by-play writing. I can’t imagine making a bobsled run interesting, but he finds a way. I guess when guns and hot chicks are involved, things are less bland!
The cover on the left is the one I just read, and the cover on the right is the new one from Penguin Books. I think it might be only the UK release, which makes me sad. The new covers have made the rounds on the blogosphere already, but I can’t help but post again. I really love covers that commission paintings. And the lettering!!
Watermelon whorls
Posted on July 6, 2008
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Sometimes, nature surprises you with its artistry.
Or is this just genetic manipulation?
Does it matter?
Silhouettes
Posted on July 4, 2008
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I guess I feel like I have to make up for all the non-blogging I did last month to my one dedicated reader (me). Here are the promised examples of silhouettes, which have been around forever. I’ve been seeing more of them lately and I like them a lot!
The above is Emily Brontë’s silhouette by Elizabeth Baverstock. The image is from Charles Burns’ incredibly detailed and interesting online Silhouette History. He’s got a bajillion examples of silhouettes across the centuries.
A bookplate from Barnes & Noble.
Beautiful junk mail from Nordstrom. Art by Ruben Toledo, who’s done other things for Nordstrom as well, like painting models. That is, painting ON models.
Mister Rob Ryan has been featured many times in the blogosphere before, and for good reason. His art is delightful and incredible. He’s like a modern day Hans Christian Anderson, who, as we learned from Charles Burns, used to entertain people by telling stories while making paper cutouts freehand with tiny scissors.
My mom had my silhouette cut out at a fair when I was little. I had pictures of it somewhere. I’ll post it later. It’s pretty cute.
The Vineyard tea towel
Posted on July 4, 2008
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When I was 6, I went to school in England for the year. The was the Year O’ Traveling for me, and I haven’t been out of the country since. Anyway. At the end of the school year, we all drew self-portraits on scraps of paper, and this company scanned them in and arranged it all on the towel. Over a decade later, I came across it again, and really liked the look of it!
The four portraits on the left are teachers’ self-portraits, and the four on the right are the students’. My fave is Umar, the Human Black Hole. Can you spot me? Hint: I labeled it. With my name. Which is Robin.
Mrs. Wright has captivated me since rediscovering this. Here’s the whole shebang:
Library of Congress Flickr
Posted on July 3, 2008
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The Library of Congress has a Flickr! 3,800 images (so far) from all time periods. This is my favorite photo I’ve found so far. It was taken in Houston, TX, in 1943. I love how the spokes echo the railings. And I’ve always loved turrets!
Threadless critique
Posted on July 3, 2008
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So I haven’t written here in forevs. I think I boxed myself in because I said I’d write about silhouettes, but I didn’t really want to after all, so I let it slide. For like a month.
Anyway, I’ve decided to pick up the stylus again and fiddle around in Illustrator. Here’s the result:
If you have any thoughts on the matter, please leave a comment, or else visit http://www.threadless.com/critique/24269/How_broken_hearts_are_mended. And yes, this was inspired by the Goo Goo Dolls song “Big Machine.” Classic 2002, am I right?
Aubrey Beardsley is bomb.
Posted on May 22, 2008
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I accidentally came across a book on Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898), an Art Nouveau illustrator, at my local library and was subsequently amazed. I love his use of line and shape and black and white! Check it out & click for bigger versions:
A lot of articles or blurbs about him say he’s infamous for his “erotic illustrations.” While his drawings for Lysistrata by Aristophanes do feature enormous phalli, I’d characterize them more as grotesque, not erotic. Wikipedia quotes him (uncited) as saying, “If I am not grotesque I am nothing.” In any case, most of his illustrations and the ones featured here are quite pretty and striking, far from grotesque.
Definitely click on the above and below pieces to see them larger. Look at the detail of the trees in the background. Look at it! White space is glorious.
Crappy scanner. Sorry. You can Google “Aubrey Beardsley” and it will come up with a better Isolde image, along with Peacock Skirt. The two are, I think, his most famous illustrations. I wanted to post images that were maybe lesser known.
Look at those swoops of black and white on their coats. Mmmmm. I want a muff. Doesn’t this seem like it should be from the 1930s? Aubrey, dahling, you’re ahead of your time.
This image—and other artistic elements, like the use of borders and the way faces are drawn—reminds me a lot of Perfect Stars, one of my fave webcomics. I’m not really sure why there’s a nakey lady in the background, as it seems contradictory with Wilde’s tastes…
If you’re into skeletons, dinosaurs, and creepy-ass-in-a-good-way art, please for the love of God look at the work of Dan McCarthy. My favorite print of his is 3 of Hearts. Anyway, back to Aubrey.
Aubrey (I like how I’m on a first-name basis with this dude) died young at 25, but he did a lot of work in his lifetime for magazines (like The Savoy) and other publications (like Oscar Wilde’s play Salomé). He was also the art editor for the literary magazine Yellow Book (at least until Wilde was arrested, according to Wikipedia).
The pattern of La Dame’s skirt reminds me of Lara Cameron’s River Stones.
I’ll save my favorite work of Aubrey’s until tomorrow, when I’ll post my thoughts on my new love: silhouettes.
Ampersand patterns
Posted on May 13, 2008
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I’ve been told that my Google Reader (RSS feed manager) is “terrifying.” This is because I subscribe to over 40 blogs, webcomics, etc. (See right.) But this is time well spent, ladies and gent(s)! After reading about ampersands at I Love Typography, listening to “I Don’t Believe You” by the Magnetic Fields (so you’re brilliant gorgeous and / ampersand after ampersand / you think i just don’t understand / but i don’t believe you), and learning how to make repeat patterns at Design*Sponge (genius!), I’ve come up with these:
I did both in Photoshop. Julia Rothman’s tutorial at D*S (see link above) did it old-school with scissors and paper, but child of the 90s that I am, I had to rely on machines. Plus, I can’t draw ampersands for beans. Anyway, enjoy!
The End of the World book arts project
Posted on May 12, 2008
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I’m working on my final project for Book Arts. It’s an 8-page book for an 8-line poem with accompanying illustrations. The above two are examples of the mock-up that I cranked out in Photoshop. If I have time, I’ll make 8 woodcuts (the orange) to go along with the polymer plates (the blue). I really enjoyed doing the line work! I was inspired by Lis Timpone.
Etsy shop
Posted on April 30, 2008
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My Etsy shop is all set up! I’ve already got 3 things for sale. Etsy is amazing. Not only do troves of talented artists post handmade things for sale - but a lot of people buy things, too.
Support artists. Buy handmade things. If you buy them from me, great! If not, great! Just buy art.
keep looking »-
About
I'm a college student (English major) with a passion for graphic design, bookbinding, learning French, and trying most things at least once. The goal of this blog is to inspire me, and maybe you.
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