Ok, the original plan was to do a book series on horror of course! But since i had gonna that path with the first project and my zombie font I decided to stay away from that. So what did I choose? Violence! Mostly because it was different from horror (not by too much, but still different) and because it was the only other section of books that I knew about. I had planned on doing something along the lines of collaging together imagery to create one cohesive image. With the idea drawn from ransom notes being cutout out and pieced together. I went to the book store to look at book covers to get some inspiration for composition and what not, when I saw a book cover with Ralph Steadmans art on the cover. Why didnt I think of this before? It fit the gere so well I change my idea. I went out and bought some India Ink and created all my covers on my bedroom floor that night in a style that resembled Mr Steadmans. I also had splashes, blots, smears, etc of different colors but decided on just black and white. I thought the black and white enhanced the feeling of being devoid of feeling, coldness, anger, you know. I also wanted the theme to carry over on to the back so i created a framed compostion to frame the body copy. I wasnt havin' it with the black lines and white background so we came up with reversing it and it looked much better. Also, my copy was way too rigid and structured in context with what my theme was. So I split the paragraph into two seperate paragraphs and the second one stayed rigid and structured. The first one however, I offset the lines at different angles and made the font sizes different. This was all in an attempt to carry over that feeling of crazy, screw-loose, etc. I settled with it after that and turned it in.

James Victore Rad Maker Results!

For the assignment I chose three of Victore's posters that interested me, liked the best, could have used to send/communicate a message, etc. I used basically the same subject matter from each of his posters, but with my own twist. In Victore's "Use a Condom" poster he depicts two rabbits mating. However the rabbits are sketched out with a sharpie in a very crude manner and "use a condom" is handwritten inside the image. I photo-realistic condom is placed above the image. I chose to promote a sustainable and fun act that I engage in myself, riding a skateboard. It is basically done in the same style, but I added text about how skateboarding can be fun, healthy and sustainable near the bottom. I also decided to delete the skateboard I had originally placed where the condom was on Victore's poster.

On the second poster that I created I basically appropriated a piece of Victore's as well. He had a poster of Mickey Mouse's head that had been cut off. Inside it said "disney go home." What I did to recreate my own interpretation of it was create another Disney characters head that had been chopped off. I chose Donald Duck. Victore's text was created with tape, so I wrote out what I wanted it to say with actual tape and scanned it in. Underneath the imagery there is a little blurb about Disney that is discriminating towards different races. I wanted the text inside the head to relate to what was underneath the imagery.

On the 500th aniversary of Columbus' arrival to North America, there was a celebration happening on the east coast. in spite of what was happening my artist, created a poster of a native american with a skull-like face drawn over his face. the text on the poster said "celebrate columbus, 1492-1992" What I got from the poster was that Victore was trying bring down the glorified status that comes with certain celebrated figures. So what I tried to create was a poster of a celebrated figure, that really wasnt all he was cracked up to be. I chose Abraham Lincoln, revered for saving the slaves. In reality, he cared not for the slaves, but for ending the civil war. I took a direct quote from lincoln and an image of two slave children juxtaposed with the skull-like face, and text saying "celebrate lincoln, 1861-1865."

Book Cover Ideas

So, I had originally planned on creating a collage-type image for the book covers. You know like... when you see a ransom note, it is a collage of different fonts cut out from magazines. Only I was going to try to do that with the imagery. So yesterday I went out to the thrift stores/goodwills/etc. But to check out different book covers I went to Barnes & Noble to perhaps get some inspiration as far as layout, type, and the like. I saw a book there about Hunter S. Thompson. On the book cover was a drawing done by Ralph Steadman. So Yesterday I changed my idea and am now going along with Ralph Steadman style for my book covers. Ive been working on both (rad maker and books) but leaning towards working on the books more for some reason, so I haven't really done anything else for the rad maker poster series. whatev

3 Book Covers

Originally I was going to choose the "Spine Tinglers" group of books (duh), but for the sake of diversity in my portfolio I have decided to go with something else. I choose the "Violence" group. It includes A Clockwork Orange, In Cold Blood and Hells Angels. I know what A Clockwork Orange is about, I love the movie. However, I have not read and do not know a great deal about the other two titles. I can assume that Hells Angels has to do with the motorcycle gang, but no real knowledge on what the book actually contains. In Cold Blood is about the murder of a wealthy farming family of four, committed by two parolees. I have researched and done a little bit of reading on each, but hopefully I can come up with some good ideas that will work well for the book series with the information I have attained thus far. Ill keep you posted.

James Victore

So Kate hooked me up with James Victore. We pretty much hit it off, and now we're getting married. I had heard of him before, mostly just HEARD of him. I had only seen a couple of his pieces before I started to research and check out some links that Kate sent to me. As far as I understand we are creating and presenting an homage to this artist. Not necessarily appropriating the work, but don't keep that out of mind. So here are a couple pieces of his that I really enjoy.

Hopefully...

You all get the idea that I did put some time, thought and effort into this assignment. I do not have pictures of my process. I realized too late after starting the project that I should have documented my process better. So all the pictures I have are of the final completed pieces.

Promo Piece 1

I wanted to capitalize on the Zombie factor of my project, and how to you kill zombies? With guns. Shoot their brains out. So I created a fun, parody of an emergency tool box that you usually see a firehose or axe in. What I did instead was title it, IN CASE OF ZOMBIE INFESTATION, BREAK GLASS. Inside I included a fake/toy sawed-off shotgun with 4 shells. It would make me want to buy this font for sure.

Promo Piece 2

This is the second promo piece that I decided on. I created a cd that compiled a number of song from various artists concerning zombies and the like. I then created a cover for the cd case, a back cover, inside cover and graphics for the top of the cd itself. The front has the name of my font, FEED THE DEAD, and a subtitle saying, A Zombie Compilation. The back is a track/artist list. The inside has a spec sheet of the font I created and a little blurb about it.

Promo Piece 3

This is my third part of the promo project. It is a medical aid kit that I took and redesigned the cover for. I also used my spec sheet for the back of the kit to tie in that it was promoting the font that I created.

TYPE FACE

Here are a few of the letters that I have designed so far. What I was going for was a Horror/Monster type kind of type face. As far as the name goes I am torn between several different ideas. So people and I in class discussed names such as Wretched Death, Rotting Fetus, or something totally on the opposite side of the spectrum like Happy Bunnies or Marshmellow Clouds. Im torn.

Type History

This was a nice short writing about the history of typography. I was surprised that the heritage of modern type can only be traced back to 50-120 AD. I thought it would of gone back before that. Although they do reference Egyptian hieroglyphs and Sumerian inscriptions. I was also intrigued to hear that the first printed types were Blackletter faces, medieval or "old english." I am especially fond of these type faces, haha. There is just something about the intricate, ornate capital letters. It also said something about many typographers being abhorred by Helvetica. What? Ever since I started the GD program here at PSU, Ive only heard good things about Helvetica. Its everywhere. Personally, Im not that fond of it either, whatever.

Experimental Type Ideas

My first Idea I had I am still leaning towards, but perhaps different variations than I first thought. WE talked about how you tend to stick with your first idea, and ha I am doing that exactly. I want to design a Horror font. Nothing of the wall, too out there like perhaps that hot dog/shadow alphabet. I want it to be tall or long, not wide and look as if it has been ripped through or something to that effect. I have it in my head, similar to the font called Ghastly Panic or Frank Knows. Another Idea would be to perhaps make t look like blood. Creeper, right? Im a gorehound and love horror stuff so... whatever. Either like it is dripping from the wall or splattered all over the place. Text written in brush is really cool and I have an idea that might work out for that way if I choose it. Im a big fan of graffiti art as well, but I am no good at it. If I looked at/studied enough tag art perhaps I could design my own graffiti text. Id really enjoy that and it would be a challenge.

Blog Assignment #1

WHAT ARE SOME OF MY FAVORITE FONTS?

Below are a few of my favorite font thats are included in the font book here are school. But this of course does not encompass my full list of favorite fonts. My top favorite font would have to include GHASTLY PANIC (which I plan to use as a big reference for our first project) and SHOGUNS CLAN. Those definately have to be a couple of my all-time favs. But Iron Maiden font is pretty sick as well, that kind of thrash/metal style font.

WHAT AM I EXCITED ABOUT?

Including all things in general or just pertaining to typography?
Pertaining to typography, I am really excited about this class. I have never had a strictly typography class before and I believe that perhaps this will help my designs out quite a bit, since my type knowledge up to this point is limited. Kate seems way more influential and thought-provoking than some other teachers Ive had as well. Excited as well as kind of stressin the portfolio review. I am excited b/c it will allow my work to progress and gives me an excellent goal to work towards. But there is always that stress level included with it, pressure to get it done and done right.

FAVORITE BOOKS & MAGAZINES

Its ok, Im a big nerd and know it. Some of my favorite books would include, of course, Lord of the Rings, and anything of that genre, but I read and know quite a bit about comic books. Mostly Marvel stuff, not so much DC or Darkhorse. My favorite magazines almost entirely consist of automobiles. Any kinds really, I am way too into cars. Eurotuner, European Car, Mopar Muscle, Super Chevy, Automobile, Road & Track, etc. Bizarre is a really interesting magazine I enjoy thuroughly as well.

FAVORITE WEBSITES

Craigslist.org for sure. So many good deals and find on there, its insane. Not much for typography though. Matt (Vu) told me about a cool site that include many many decorative fonts. It is called Dafont.com, I really enjoyed that and it might come in use for the class as well. Conceptcarz.com for anything regarding automobiles of all sorts. I dont really know any design websites tho, sad.

In order:
ECCENTRIC STD
STENCIL
LUCIDA BLACKLETTER
HERCULANUM
DESDEMONA
CORRIER NEW
COPPERPLATE GOTHIC BOLD
CHARLEMAGNE STD
CENTURY SCHOOLBOOK
BAUHAUS 93