So i have to confess it's finals week. And while getting the remainder of my work done, I have to have something going on in the background to at least keep my mind working. Working on only one task can sometimes get monotonous, and some background noise really helps. So I decided to binge watch (really just listen) to some Man at Arms/ Man at Arms: Reforged videos on YouTube. (You can watch and get sucked in like I did here) And there is a small part of my that would love to learn blacksmithing, but I don't know how practical that would really be in this day and age. Amazing and cool? Absolutely. But financially responsible? Maybe not so much. These guys have enough of a stranglehold on the industry as it is.
But nonetheless I still think it would be cool to do. Then I found this video. And I did some research. And this is totally going to be one of the summer projects I have set up for myself. I think that the applications of this idea, especially in the creative field, are near limitless. I can prototype out little things for myself and really just make cool stuff. I absolutely have enough soda cans lying around my garage and this is putting them to good use. They're getting recycled, just in a bit of a different way. And, let's be honest, an absolutely cooler way.
Styrofoam and aluminum and really, really, probably dangerous high temperatures for the win. Now all I need to do is find an empty fire extinguisher somewhere...or empty one out myself on someone for fun maybe...
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
The Book of Kells
Illuminated manuscripts are books of text which are supplemented by images, often with ornate border decorations on the page. They are traditionally produced on either parchment or vellum, a prepared animal skin, often made form calf or sheep, which are then written and illustrated on. They were a means of preserving not only scripture, but also classical literature and music. These books were expensive, due not only to the fact that they were hand-written by monks and scribes since movable type had not yet been invented, but also because the animal skins consumed a long amount of time to produce. Inks were also expensive and took a long time to prepare, and in cases suck as blues, like lapis lazuli, could only be acquired from a single area in Afghanistan. Gold was either ground up and put into paint and painted on to the page, or flattened into a thin sheet and applied as gold leaf. Manuscript production, in this fashion, lasted for almost 1,000 years, the earliest produced around 600 CE and the latest produce in the 1600’s. Manuscripts were reported to be produced in antiquity, however we do not have any surviving examples of such.
Production of the pages was left in the hands of two sets of individuals. The copisti was a trained letterer, and the illuminator was responsible for the visuals on the page which supported the actual content written on the page. The imagery was extremely important, as even individuals who were illiterate, which at the time was a large portion of the population, could also glimpse at the book and understand what was taking place on the page. Therefore the images themselves were also a means of educating individuals, similar to stained glass windows in churches. These individuals labored in the scriptorium of a monastery, overseen by a seemingly all powerful scrittori. Since they were handmade, every manuscript is different. But, as time progressed, manuscript production eventually moved out of the monastery and into urban centers. Eventually, with the advent and efficiency of movable type, the printed book became more popular because it was cheaper and easier to produce.
The book of Kells was produced between 794-806 CE in Ireland. The exact genesis of the book is unknown, but the most plausible theory is that it was began at a monastery in Iona and, after Vikings began raiding across Ireland, was then smuggled by fleeing monks to Kells where it was completed. Also, more than likely, multiple artists were tasked with finishing the book. It is supposed that as many as four separate illuminators worked on the manuscript, but since their names are not anywhere in the book, we may never really know.
The designs in the book are nothing if not complex. They follow the traditional there are linear patterns that seem to weave together into familiar knot patterns. There are bright colors used in these designs, and one can see how this design sense influenced the capitals within the text of the book. Each one of these capitals seems to be a small illustration to themselves. In the Celtic manuscript tradition, capitals would also sometimes tail off and turn into a miniature illustration of their own. The book of Kells includes 2,100 such capitals. The Chi-Ro (letterform created by combining the first two letters in the Greek word for Christ) page takes an idea of enlarging capitals to an extreme. It is the only letterform on the page, but within the letterform there are illustrations of both human and animal life in addition to the intricate line work seen elsewhere. The colors are somewhat faded now, but when they were fresh and new they must have been extremely vibrant, and when light reflected off of the ink and gold the manuscript must have seemed to literally be illuminated by something internal.
Text in illuminated manuscripts is sometimes somewhat difficult to decipher. Traditionally, red dots were sometimes used to denote word breaks. The Celts, on the other hand, actually began leaving space in between words in an effort to help the reader. They used a half-uncial, rather than an uncial, script, so the script had the presence of ascenders. The specific lettering technique with the addition of the word spacing became known as insular script. Ascenders have a distinct angle, and frequently are adorned with triangles as a little bit of a flair. Also, the script appears almost like a proto-script/calligraphic handwriting like we use today. Letterforms are frequently connected not only at the baseline but also near the x-height/waist line area.
The Book of Kells is an amazing example of early book design. The intricate design, mixed with the revolutionary insular script provides for a piece that was almost a culmination of a tradition. Bold, illustrative capitals not only provide an entering point for the reader, but also are visually pleasing and convey an idea. Had the Vikings not invaded and drove the monks out of their monasteries, one could only imagine to what lengths the Irish monks may have taken manuscript illumination.
Detail image of Chi-Ro page form the Book of Kells, depicting animal life.
Detail image of Folio 309r, showing some of the half-uncial insular script found within the Book of Kells.
Production of the pages was left in the hands of two sets of individuals. The copisti was a trained letterer, and the illuminator was responsible for the visuals on the page which supported the actual content written on the page. The imagery was extremely important, as even individuals who were illiterate, which at the time was a large portion of the population, could also glimpse at the book and understand what was taking place on the page. Therefore the images themselves were also a means of educating individuals, similar to stained glass windows in churches. These individuals labored in the scriptorium of a monastery, overseen by a seemingly all powerful scrittori. Since they were handmade, every manuscript is different. But, as time progressed, manuscript production eventually moved out of the monastery and into urban centers. Eventually, with the advent and efficiency of movable type, the printed book became more popular because it was cheaper and easier to produce.
The book of Kells was produced between 794-806 CE in Ireland. The exact genesis of the book is unknown, but the most plausible theory is that it was began at a monastery in Iona and, after Vikings began raiding across Ireland, was then smuggled by fleeing monks to Kells where it was completed. Also, more than likely, multiple artists were tasked with finishing the book. It is supposed that as many as four separate illuminators worked on the manuscript, but since their names are not anywhere in the book, we may never really know.
The designs in the book are nothing if not complex. They follow the traditional there are linear patterns that seem to weave together into familiar knot patterns. There are bright colors used in these designs, and one can see how this design sense influenced the capitals within the text of the book. Each one of these capitals seems to be a small illustration to themselves. In the Celtic manuscript tradition, capitals would also sometimes tail off and turn into a miniature illustration of their own. The book of Kells includes 2,100 such capitals. The Chi-Ro (letterform created by combining the first two letters in the Greek word for Christ) page takes an idea of enlarging capitals to an extreme. It is the only letterform on the page, but within the letterform there are illustrations of both human and animal life in addition to the intricate line work seen elsewhere. The colors are somewhat faded now, but when they were fresh and new they must have been extremely vibrant, and when light reflected off of the ink and gold the manuscript must have seemed to literally be illuminated by something internal.
Text in illuminated manuscripts is sometimes somewhat difficult to decipher. Traditionally, red dots were sometimes used to denote word breaks. The Celts, on the other hand, actually began leaving space in between words in an effort to help the reader. They used a half-uncial, rather than an uncial, script, so the script had the presence of ascenders. The specific lettering technique with the addition of the word spacing became known as insular script. Ascenders have a distinct angle, and frequently are adorned with triangles as a little bit of a flair. Also, the script appears almost like a proto-script/calligraphic handwriting like we use today. Letterforms are frequently connected not only at the baseline but also near the x-height/waist line area.
The Book of Kells is an amazing example of early book design. The intricate design, mixed with the revolutionary insular script provides for a piece that was almost a culmination of a tradition. Bold, illustrative capitals not only provide an entering point for the reader, but also are visually pleasing and convey an idea. Had the Vikings not invaded and drove the monks out of their monasteries, one could only imagine to what lengths the Irish monks may have taken manuscript illumination.
Detail image of Chi-Ro page form the Book of Kells, depicting animal life.
Detail image of Folio 309r, showing some of the half-uncial insular script found within the Book of Kells.
Art Nouveau- A brief history and some major players
Straddling the decades of the 20th centu-
ry, a new art style was finding its roots in the
streets of Paris. In the gallery of Samuel Bing,
named the Salon de l’Art Nouveau, illustra-
tors and deisgners alike were starting to move
away from the clutter and fluff of the Victori-
an and transiting into a new style. This style
would affect not only illustration and design,
but also architecture, interior design, fine
art, and the decorative arts such as
jewelery, glass and textile design.This made it a truly “total” style of art. Art-
ists of this period wanted to bring art into
every aspect of life. It was an international
movement, mostly because of the increase in
the efficiency of travel. But, at the same time,
different locales had their own penchants.
Curved lines referenced lines found in nature,
and artists repurposed some popular motifs
found in Rococo art such as the flame and the
shell.One of the biggest influences on artists in
the late 19th century was the art coming out
of Japan. Because of increased trade with the
Orient, the unique stlye of Japanese art which
developed during the Tokugawa period (1603-
1867) revived graphic design in Europe and
America. Europeans were crazy for anything
and everything Japanese, and the craze became
known as Japonisme.Japan had closed it ports to everyone but a few approved Dutch and Chinese traders during the Tokugawa shogunate, allowing Japan do develop its own domestic style. The ukiyo-e style, or literally translated as “pictures of the
floating world,” blended traditional naratives depicted on scrolls with a growing interest in urban life. Initially, many pieces portrayed
scenes from the entertainment district in Edo,
modren Tokyo. Subjects ranged from Kabuki
actors to sumo wrestlers to courtesans and
other beautiful women. And these individu-
als were often referred to by name. As time progressed, other scenes depicting historical
events, flora and fauna and landscapes became
popular as well. Many of the prints of the time were made
on woodblocks, which also made reproduction
of the prints very easy.Several masters made huge strides in the
field of woodblock printing. Hishikawa
Moronobu is considered the first master, using
only one color ink, black, to illustrate scenes
from daily life. Okumura Masanobu is con-
sidered the first to use two colors in his prints,
and Suzuki Harunobu was the first master to
produce full-color prints.However the most prolific and well known
artist of the time was Katsushika Hokusai.
He started out life as a book illustrator, and
between the age of 20 and his death illustrat-
ed 270 different books. He is most known for
his series of woodblocks, collected and named
36 Views of Mount Fuji, which included one
of the most reproduced prints of all time, The
Great Wave off Kanagawa.
From this style, Western artists drew inspi- ration from a few key elements of these prints. One was the very calligraphic quality of the line drawings. There was also present a sim- plification, aabstraction and generalization of form. Color was also used in a very flat fash- ion, filling large areas, and silhouettes were common. There was also great use of pattern.The ukiyo-e style was a catalyst that pro- pelled the art world from the Victorian era into the modern style, however gradual it was.In Paris, there was a new law granting freedom of the press, and posters began to plaster the walls of the city. However, many of the posters at the time were just chunks of type.One illustrator, Jules Cheret, sought to change that standard and create something more illustrative. Known as the father of the modern poster, Cheret produced over One Thousand posters during his lifetime. Many of these posters contained many of the same elements. They featured strong, beautiful, young women, known as “Cherettes.” He used bold colors, particularly vibrant reds and blues, and bold calligraphic typography. Cheret was also known for overprinting images to create unique and original effects.He became such an important figure in the French art scene, he was inducted into the French Legion of Honor, for conceiving a new form of art in the poster, and also advancing the function of printing with his new tech- niques.Later in his career, he was able to pass on his style to a new group of designers, including Georges Auriol, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, and Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen.His counterpart in France was Eugene Grasset. He developed a unique style of his own based on his study of illuminated man- uscripts form the Medieval period. His il- lustrations for “The Tale of the Four Sons of Aymon” were a beautiful mix of line work and watercolor. His posters often have a coloring- book style about them, with broad contour lines and large, flat areas of color. Grasset is also known for incorporating floral motifs into his poster designs.In England, in 1893, the Studio publication featured a cover illustrated by Aubrey Beard- sley, one of the most important figures in the English Art Nouveau movement. Beardsley was known for his broad and striking pen lines, and although they were created mainly in black and white, there was a certain vi- brancy about them. He came to prominance mostly because of his illustratiomns for a new version of Sir Thomas Mallory’s Morte d’Ar- thur.
Beardsley’s imagery was also quite erotic, especially for the time, as England was still emerging form the rigidity of the Victorian era. His illustrations for Aristophanes’ Lys- istrata caused English censors to become so agitated that they actually banned the book from England.
The other leading illustrator in England at the time vying for success was Charles Rick- etts. He, unlike Beardsley, thought of the overall harmony of the printed page, not just the illustrations. To him all of the elements of the page from the illustration to the typog- raphy to the binding of the book, everything had to work together. Instead of the thick , bold, Kelmscott style Beardsley was famous for, Ricketts went for a more delicate quality of line. His designs mimmicked Celtic designs and ornamentations, and were also reminis- cent of the illustrations of figures on Greek pottery and vases.The Art Nouveau moevemnt would arrive in the United States by way of England, more specifically Louis Rhead. Rhead was born in England, and studies in both England and Paris before coming to America. He stayed for eight years before he returned to Europe. Once there, he discovered the posters, mag- azine covers, and illustrations of Grasset. Adopting Grasset’s style he returned to the United States. He did not, however, directly copy Grasset. They both did utilize attractive young women, the same kind of contour line and large areas of flat color, but Rhead decided to use bold, bright, vibrant colors instead of the pale, watercolor-esque coloration of Gras- sets illustrations.William Bradley was another American graphic designer who developed his own style based on a European designer. Self-taught, he studied Beardsley’s work, and so closely im- itated him that Bradley was refered to as the “American Beardsley.” However he was able to turn the inspiration he drew from Beardsley to develop his own style. He becan to use cer- tain photochemical techniques to manipulate images, repeating, overlapping and reversing imagery to create something truly unique.Bradley also had a love of typography, and was one of the first individuals to restrict ty- pography to a rectangular space, changing text size and letter spacing to leep the text con- strained within that space.Bradley is also credited with populariing the chapbook style, where he was able to play with typography by mixing roman, italic and all caapital fonts within a single page, and manip- ulate the letter spacing to make it all work. He also heavily used woodcut illustrations in these books.Bradley was also responsible for the rede- sign of Colliers magazine, which led to a great increse in sales. Instead of doing illustrations for the magazine himself, he hired freelance artists whose individual styles more matched with the theme of the magazine, as his own illustrations had become more reminiscient of story books.
From this style, Western artists drew inspi- ration from a few key elements of these prints. One was the very calligraphic quality of the line drawings. There was also present a sim- plification, aabstraction and generalization of form. Color was also used in a very flat fash- ion, filling large areas, and silhouettes were common. There was also great use of pattern.The ukiyo-e style was a catalyst that pro- pelled the art world from the Victorian era into the modern style, however gradual it was.In Paris, there was a new law granting freedom of the press, and posters began to plaster the walls of the city. However, many of the posters at the time were just chunks of type.One illustrator, Jules Cheret, sought to change that standard and create something more illustrative. Known as the father of the modern poster, Cheret produced over One Thousand posters during his lifetime. Many of these posters contained many of the same elements. They featured strong, beautiful, young women, known as “Cherettes.” He used bold colors, particularly vibrant reds and blues, and bold calligraphic typography. Cheret was also known for overprinting images to create unique and original effects.He became such an important figure in the French art scene, he was inducted into the French Legion of Honor, for conceiving a new form of art in the poster, and also advancing the function of printing with his new tech- niques.Later in his career, he was able to pass on his style to a new group of designers, including Georges Auriol, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, and Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen.His counterpart in France was Eugene Grasset. He developed a unique style of his own based on his study of illuminated man- uscripts form the Medieval period. His il- lustrations for “The Tale of the Four Sons of Aymon” were a beautiful mix of line work and watercolor. His posters often have a coloring- book style about them, with broad contour lines and large, flat areas of color. Grasset is also known for incorporating floral motifs into his poster designs.In England, in 1893, the Studio publication featured a cover illustrated by Aubrey Beard- sley, one of the most important figures in the English Art Nouveau movement. Beardsley was known for his broad and striking pen lines, and although they were created mainly in black and white, there was a certain vi- brancy about them. He came to prominance mostly because of his illustratiomns for a new version of Sir Thomas Mallory’s Morte d’Ar- thur.
Beardsley’s imagery was also quite erotic, especially for the time, as England was still emerging form the rigidity of the Victorian era. His illustrations for Aristophanes’ Lys- istrata caused English censors to become so agitated that they actually banned the book from England.
The other leading illustrator in England at the time vying for success was Charles Rick- etts. He, unlike Beardsley, thought of the overall harmony of the printed page, not just the illustrations. To him all of the elements of the page from the illustration to the typog- raphy to the binding of the book, everything had to work together. Instead of the thick , bold, Kelmscott style Beardsley was famous for, Ricketts went for a more delicate quality of line. His designs mimmicked Celtic designs and ornamentations, and were also reminis- cent of the illustrations of figures on Greek pottery and vases.The Art Nouveau moevemnt would arrive in the United States by way of England, more specifically Louis Rhead. Rhead was born in England, and studies in both England and Paris before coming to America. He stayed for eight years before he returned to Europe. Once there, he discovered the posters, mag- azine covers, and illustrations of Grasset. Adopting Grasset’s style he returned to the United States. He did not, however, directly copy Grasset. They both did utilize attractive young women, the same kind of contour line and large areas of flat color, but Rhead decided to use bold, bright, vibrant colors instead of the pale, watercolor-esque coloration of Gras- sets illustrations.William Bradley was another American graphic designer who developed his own style based on a European designer. Self-taught, he studied Beardsley’s work, and so closely im- itated him that Bradley was refered to as the “American Beardsley.” However he was able to turn the inspiration he drew from Beardsley to develop his own style. He becan to use cer- tain photochemical techniques to manipulate images, repeating, overlapping and reversing imagery to create something truly unique.Bradley also had a love of typography, and was one of the first individuals to restrict ty- pography to a rectangular space, changing text size and letter spacing to leep the text con- strained within that space.Bradley is also credited with populariing the chapbook style, where he was able to play with typography by mixing roman, italic and all caapital fonts within a single page, and manip- ulate the letter spacing to make it all work. He also heavily used woodcut illustrations in these books.Bradley was also responsible for the rede- sign of Colliers magazine, which led to a great increse in sales. Instead of doing illustrations for the magazine himself, he hired freelance artists whose individual styles more matched with the theme of the magazine, as his own illustrations had become more reminiscient of story books.
Massimo Vignelli
Massimo Vignelli was an Italian designer who lived from 1931-2014. He was not only a graphic designer, but also a typographer and an industrial designer. He designed everything from typefaces to logos to posters and signage to furniture and tableware.
As a young man of 16, Vignelli worked with many of the famous architects of the time, some of them being the Castiglione brothers, Giulio Minoletti and Franco Albini. He worked in the architecture field until he was 22, and then began a career as a freelance graphic designer. He studied architecture at Politecnico di Milano and later at the Università di Architettura in Venice.
Vignelli first came to the United states on a series of fellowships in 1957, and over the course of three years spent time in Boston and Chicago. Upon his return to Milan in 1960, he formed his own design office. In 1965, Vignelli helped to form Unimark International, at the time one of the largest graphic design forms in the world. While there, Vignelli worked on projects for some high-profile clients, including Ford, JCPenny, Memorex, Panasonic and Xerox. The National Parks Service was also a major client for Vignelli at the time. He formally resigned from his position as the head of the Unimark New York office in 1971, and that same year opened his own design firm, Vignelli Associates, with his wife, Lella.
1972 was a big year for Vignelli. Not only was he commissioned with designing the Bloomingdales logo, which is still in use today, but in August his New York City Subway maps were able to be seen around New York. Previously, there was a real issue relating to the navigation of the subway system. Much of the signage still in use was from when transportation around New York City was run by three separate agencies. The biggest problems arose during the 1964 worlds fair, where people from outside of the area were taxed with trying to navigate the five boroughs, a task which was quickly deemed extremely difficult, even for native New Yorkers.
The project had started while Vignelli was at Unimark, but the map had become obsolete by 1979 due to changes within the structure of the subway system and it’s coloration standards. The same basic map is still in use today, though it is a revised, digital design completed in 2008. In 2011 the MTA again invited Vignelli to design a system in which the map could be periodically updated in relation to engineering work taking place on specific lines, a system which is still in use today.
Vignelli, in his design, relied on a few basic principles. His work was very geometric in concept, and he relied heavily on the use of white and negative space. He stuck to only a few specific typefaces, Helvetica bing his favorite, followed closely by Bodoni. he actually developed his own version of the classic font, called “Our Bodoni,” which he believed worked better with Helvetica. The other few typefaces Vignelli used included Futura, Century Expanded, Garamond and Times.Vignelli also believed in the use of a grid, an idea he pushed during his time at Unimark. He believed it was able to standardize design and turn it into a sort of a system. So long as the system was followed, creating good design was almost fool proof. The Unimark grid was so named the “Unigrid.”
But Vignelli believed in more than the tangible, physical results of the design. He was interested in the conceptual, intangible ideas that a piece not only evoked, but the understanding and the process that the designer used to produce the piece. He believed that it was of the utmost importance that a designer truly understand the topic he is designing around or for, and the only way to come to such an understanding was through research. The semantics, syntactics and pragmatics were just a few of the intangible facets he was concerned with when it came to a design. He would eventually collect all of his thoughts on design in a book, appropriately named the Vignelli Canon.
Visit the Vignelli Associates website here.
As a young man of 16, Vignelli worked with many of the famous architects of the time, some of them being the Castiglione brothers, Giulio Minoletti and Franco Albini. He worked in the architecture field until he was 22, and then began a career as a freelance graphic designer. He studied architecture at Politecnico di Milano and later at the Università di Architettura in Venice.
Vignelli first came to the United states on a series of fellowships in 1957, and over the course of three years spent time in Boston and Chicago. Upon his return to Milan in 1960, he formed his own design office. In 1965, Vignelli helped to form Unimark International, at the time one of the largest graphic design forms in the world. While there, Vignelli worked on projects for some high-profile clients, including Ford, JCPenny, Memorex, Panasonic and Xerox. The National Parks Service was also a major client for Vignelli at the time. He formally resigned from his position as the head of the Unimark New York office in 1971, and that same year opened his own design firm, Vignelli Associates, with his wife, Lella.
1972 was a big year for Vignelli. Not only was he commissioned with designing the Bloomingdales logo, which is still in use today, but in August his New York City Subway maps were able to be seen around New York. Previously, there was a real issue relating to the navigation of the subway system. Much of the signage still in use was from when transportation around New York City was run by three separate agencies. The biggest problems arose during the 1964 worlds fair, where people from outside of the area were taxed with trying to navigate the five boroughs, a task which was quickly deemed extremely difficult, even for native New Yorkers.
The project had started while Vignelli was at Unimark, but the map had become obsolete by 1979 due to changes within the structure of the subway system and it’s coloration standards. The same basic map is still in use today, though it is a revised, digital design completed in 2008. In 2011 the MTA again invited Vignelli to design a system in which the map could be periodically updated in relation to engineering work taking place on specific lines, a system which is still in use today.
Vignelli, in his design, relied on a few basic principles. His work was very geometric in concept, and he relied heavily on the use of white and negative space. He stuck to only a few specific typefaces, Helvetica bing his favorite, followed closely by Bodoni. he actually developed his own version of the classic font, called “Our Bodoni,” which he believed worked better with Helvetica. The other few typefaces Vignelli used included Futura, Century Expanded, Garamond and Times.Vignelli also believed in the use of a grid, an idea he pushed during his time at Unimark. He believed it was able to standardize design and turn it into a sort of a system. So long as the system was followed, creating good design was almost fool proof. The Unimark grid was so named the “Unigrid.”
But Vignelli believed in more than the tangible, physical results of the design. He was interested in the conceptual, intangible ideas that a piece not only evoked, but the understanding and the process that the designer used to produce the piece. He believed that it was of the utmost importance that a designer truly understand the topic he is designing around or for, and the only way to come to such an understanding was through research. The semantics, syntactics and pragmatics were just a few of the intangible facets he was concerned with when it came to a design. He would eventually collect all of his thoughts on design in a book, appropriately named the Vignelli Canon.
Visit the Vignelli Associates website here.
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Dove's Type
In London at the turn of the 20th century, trouble was brewing. At the Dove Press in Hammersmith, London in 1900, Thomas James Cobden-Sanderson and Emery Walker were on the verge of a potential breakthrough in typography. Cobden-Sanderson, a book binder and printer, felt that there were no type faces that he considered perfect, commissioning his friend and business partner Walker to design one that was.
Cobden-Sanderson supervised the project while Walker drew out the design, and eventually Dove's Press was using the single size and style of type to print all of it's books. The face resembles some of the faces created by Nicolas Jensen in the 15th century, and would become known as "Dove's Type." During the creation of the type, Cobden-Sanderson was very hands on, wanting every element to be perfect.
Relations between the two men began to deteriorate, and by 1908 the two were in a bitter quarrel. A year later the two men would find themselves in a legal battle for rights to the type. It was settled that Cobden-Sanderson would retain the rights to the type face until his death, at which time the rights were to pass on to Walker.
However in 1913 Cobden-Sanderson destroyed the matrices for the type, the molds which actually hold the type blocks, by throwing them into the Thames River off of a nearby Bridge. Between 1916 and 1917 he records in his journals that he, over the course of 170 trips, did the same thing to the actual type. After his death in 1922, Walker sued Cobden-Sanderson's widow for £700 because of the loss of the type, over $43,000 in todays market.
There seems to be something with this typeface that breeds obsession.
In 2010, artist and designer Robert Green took it upon himself to try and reproduce the type face. He searched for as many remaining examples of the type as he could, and ultimately wound up with 96 examples and quickly went to work on reproduction. Similar to Cobden-Sanderson, Green became infatuated with every detail; every curve, every vertical, every slope and every horizontal.
Green immersed himself in Cobden-Sanderson's journals to search for clues as to what bridge he may have disposed of the actual type off of. He scoured the shores of the Thames and was actually able to recover three pieces of the original type. And with help from the British government, an additional 147 pieces of original type were able to be recovered. Half of the recovered type he has lent to the Emery Walker estate and is currently on display at his former residence.
For a piece BBC News Magazine recently did on Robert Green and his efforts, follow the link. Green's reproduction Dove's Type is also available for purchase here.
Cobden-Sanderson supervised the project while Walker drew out the design, and eventually Dove's Press was using the single size and style of type to print all of it's books. The face resembles some of the faces created by Nicolas Jensen in the 15th century, and would become known as "Dove's Type." During the creation of the type, Cobden-Sanderson was very hands on, wanting every element to be perfect.
Relations between the two men began to deteriorate, and by 1908 the two were in a bitter quarrel. A year later the two men would find themselves in a legal battle for rights to the type. It was settled that Cobden-Sanderson would retain the rights to the type face until his death, at which time the rights were to pass on to Walker.
However in 1913 Cobden-Sanderson destroyed the matrices for the type, the molds which actually hold the type blocks, by throwing them into the Thames River off of a nearby Bridge. Between 1916 and 1917 he records in his journals that he, over the course of 170 trips, did the same thing to the actual type. After his death in 1922, Walker sued Cobden-Sanderson's widow for £700 because of the loss of the type, over $43,000 in todays market.
There seems to be something with this typeface that breeds obsession.
In 2010, artist and designer Robert Green took it upon himself to try and reproduce the type face. He searched for as many remaining examples of the type as he could, and ultimately wound up with 96 examples and quickly went to work on reproduction. Similar to Cobden-Sanderson, Green became infatuated with every detail; every curve, every vertical, every slope and every horizontal.
Green immersed himself in Cobden-Sanderson's journals to search for clues as to what bridge he may have disposed of the actual type off of. He scoured the shores of the Thames and was actually able to recover three pieces of the original type. And with help from the British government, an additional 147 pieces of original type were able to be recovered. Half of the recovered type he has lent to the Emery Walker estate and is currently on display at his former residence.
For a piece BBC News Magazine recently did on Robert Green and his efforts, follow the link. Green's reproduction Dove's Type is also available for purchase here.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Enemies from "The Legend of Zelda" franchise re-imagined...
For anyone who does not know this about me (which, I'm almost sure, is most people reading this), I am a HUGE fan of the Legend of Zelda series...and a HUGE fan on concept art. So when I stumbled upon these rad series of drawings of what the enemies form my most beloved video game franchise may look like in the real world, I figured I had to share...
Big shout-out to Deimos-Remus on deviantArt.com for the awesome work he put up. Check out some more of his stuff here. I also saw he's selling some of the original sketches from this series so, if you like it enough and have some spare cash to drop, support a working artist!
Big shout-out to Deimos-Remus on deviantArt.com for the awesome work he put up. Check out some more of his stuff here. I also saw he's selling some of the original sketches from this series so, if you like it enough and have some spare cash to drop, support a working artist!
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
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