The great paper cape.

On a recent trip to a local kiddies library, beside looking like a bit of an odd ball, I discovered a wonderful little book by an author and illustrator by the name of Oliver Jeffers. After a little research I found out he is a fellow Visual Communicator, graduating with a degree in Vis Com from Northern Ireland. His work includes children's books such as 'How to catch a star' and 'Lost and Found'.

I especially liked his new b ook, 'The incredible book eating boy', impressed with his method of layering his images up, using lined paper, checkered paper and even pages from old books to form the background of each page.

His work relates well to the text and image brief because of his unconventional use of typography, the combination of handwriting and a typewriter font makes the book childish and nonthreatening, but with a charming quirky character about it.

In this image, Jeffers has incorporated the narrative into the architecture of the the image, making it a part of the illustration, opposed to an addition to it.

Yesterday's paper telling yesterday's news.

Our trip to London turned out to be every bit as arduous as expected. Thanks to the predictable British weather, the day was overcast, cold and generally miserable, a perfect day to traipse around central London.

We set out with the Design Museum in mind, but as we got further away from our drop off point, and closer to lunch time, the time seemed to dwindle. With an impending critique on Monday, we decided to utilise our time in a new environment, doing quick sketches, taking numerous pictures, trying to record our feelings on the place and eventually finding ourselves wondering down downing street.

Trying to look good limits my life

"Trying to look good limits my life." - Stefan Sagmeister.

Sagmeister creates some of the most visually exciting and confrontational work of the 1990's. He abandons formal constraints, disregarding social barriers, resulting in work that isn't always entirely acceptable. Below shows the result when Sagmeister was asked to design the poster for a lecture he was giving in Detroit. Instead of creating 2D, throwaway graphics, he proposed his assistant should carve the details into his very own flesh. The image proved eye catching and memorable.

As well as appreciating this sensational image for its aesthetics, the piece also conjures up feelings of awe, inspired by a man so dedicated to the visual arts and his work, that he could actually carve the message into his skin. This works especially well, given the context being a poster for a lecture, casting his students work ethic to shame.

There is limited attention to detail in the design of the font used for the text on his body, this is a reflection of the method of production. As each stroke cast would have been painful, it would have been sensible to avoid overly complex fonts or designs and limit the amount of strokes used.

I admire this piece the most for the use of unconventional canvases. I can see strong similarities between Sagmiester drawing on himself, and graffiti artists projecting their thoughts onto the building of a city. As soon as an artist uses a different canvas, be it a human body, a building, a tree or any other aspects of the environment, it gives the piece a more tangible feel. It brings the piece away from the sterile white walls of art galleries that so many of the masters are displayed on and makes it more accessible to the masses.

This piece is a contradiction to our modern throw away culture. Advertisements and poster graphics have only moments to grab your attention and get their message across before they are cast aside and thrown away. Carving the message into a human being promotes a much more permanent idea that the image will be there to stay, and can't be thrown aside so readily.

I definitely won't be forgetting this image anytime soon.

Alga Detroit Poster - Stefan Sagmeister

http://www.sagmeister.com/

New course, new friends, same old AIB.

I started heading towards the beginning of this course with a sense of foolish complacency. I, stupidly, thought that due to the fact that it was in the same location that I had been in for two years, the course would be the same and everything would be just fine and dandy.

This couldn't have been further from the truth, yet I can't stress enough that this is in no way a negative statement. Surprising even myself, I have thrived on the new environment, the new challenges, even the realisation that I’m not best in the class any more! In some ways this jolt of reality is exactly what I need. I have coasted through the last year with a dull sense of complacency, bored and uninspired by the course, but now, surrounded by a new group of creative young minds, I have rediscovered a healthy love of competition, striving to better myself even if it requires late nights and early mornings.

Our first few briefs have been daunting, set in an unfamiliar and foreign format that I’m doing my very best to get my head around and my nose to the grind stone. I was firstly surprised to see that this brief included an outline of what we have to do with our time! Despite there not being any kind of strict time guide lines, this is still a lot more help than I’m used to!

Our very first PAL session was today, which I found to be a great help. As well as them being lovely folk, our pal leaders seem to really want to help us. I felt free to raise any issues I had about the course or the course leaders in a save and completely confidential environment. This session also helped me to realise that despite I might have a few issues with the brief, with the time keeping aspects, with the quality and quantity of work expected from us, queries about our lectures, but it helped me most just to know that everyone in my class is going through it too, and there are lots of people milling around the building who are there to help.

The most helpful contribution I took from PAL is what exactly we have to do for PPRD, which is why I have set about my way to start this blog, a slick, convenient method of recording my thoughts and feelings on the course, any artists I may have been practically inspired by, or any excursions is don’t want to forget.

Until next time.