Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Letters, lots of letters.

I think I've found a deep love for drawing letter forms. As I have been working on a font for senior thesis this coming semester (that's a whole other blog post in and of itself), I am slowly realizing how intriguingly complex the design of a letter form can be and just how much work is required to make a good one. So many things need to be taken into account. Balance, weight, over-all consistency and the simple factor of whether or not all the letter forms look good and work well sitting next to each other, are just a few things to consider. All of these elements that need to be considered seem to create a complex equation of sorts that can only really be solved fully by eye-balling it and going with your design gut.

I don't know why I found I like to draw letters as much as I do, maybe I'm getting older and find a deeper appreciation for the more subtle design cues that can be found in individual letter forms, that either make or break an entire font. Maybe it's because a little bit if the inner OCD in me gets to shine through in the process, or maybe it's just because I'm back to drawing again like an excited little kid, something I have sadly been growing away from. Whatever it is, I feel like I am just that most of the time while I am drawing these little letters, an excited little kid drawing pictures. Isn't that what it's all about anyways?

Here's a preview of just one of my upcoming fonts that I'm designing for my senior thesis. I'm extremely excited about this upcoming semester and all the things I have planned, I don't think I've been this excited about a project in good long while, that's saying something. I plan on posted a lot of blog entry's all along the way, so keep checking back for progress updates and preview shots of what I'm working on.


Saturday, December 24, 2011

Hand lettered Christmas cards? YUP!

Christmas is probably my favorite time of year, even amidst all the chaos. This year I really wanted to do something different and slow down a little bit from school, work and pretty much just life in general and take the time to do something a little more personal; hand lettered christmas cards.
This is one that I did for my wonderful girlfriend Ashley's parents. Granted, it's not my best work, nor is it perfect in any way, but it has something that I don't normally get to put into my pieces; good old fashioned pencil and pen hand drawn type. It makes me kind of sad to know that in today's day and age it's not only hard to find the time to do hand drawn lettering such as this, but to find people who actually appreciate the extra time and effort put into it. However, I am realizing just how beautiful hand draw lettering can be and how much fun it is to do. I love all the imperfections in hand drawn letter forms. It's such a breath of fresh air after pretty much all of my work is edited and aligned to perfection in the computer. It's something that I feel just adds something special to a design, the beauty of the imperfections left by the human hand is something that I have grown to love and respect greatly.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Website is officially online!

This is indeed very exciting news for me. I've wanted to have my own portfolio site for a good long while now and I finally have it up and running. It took a lot of work that I couldn't have done without the help of my good friend John Bibbo who is pretty much the master of all things web. It wouldn't be nearly what it is now without his help. Yes last night was a long night, but I think it all paid off in the end! I still would like to do a few thing to it whenever I have some left-over time to put into it, but over all this was exactly what I was envisioning to represent my web presence. Anyways, feel free to check it out, browse around and contact me anytime!

Here's the link