Category Archives for Inspiration
It All Begins With A Letter (Vol II)
Last March, I posted covers A-L in the Penguin Drop Caps series. The series consists of twenty-six collectible hardcover editions of fine works of literature, each featuring on its cover a specially commissioned illustrated letter of the alphabet by type designer, Jessica Hische. Perusing through Pinterest, I noticed that M-T are now available for sale! U-W will be released on August 26, and X-Z on September 30. Check them out below, and pick up (and pre-order) your favorites from either Amazon or Barnes & Noble (each book retails for about $16+).
The Comfort of Thingy-ness Vol V
It’s time for another edition of The Comfort of Thingy-ness (check out Vol I/II/III/IV)! I’ve come across a plethora of awesome book covers, and wanted to share. What have been some of your recent favorites? Comment away!
Top 25 Inspirational Hand Letterers To Follow on Instagram
In the past few months I’ve started following quite a variety of hand-letterers on Instagram, and of course as a way to inspire my readers, I want to share some of my favorites with all of you! As always, I am on the look out for inspiration, so if you follow some awesome designers, typographers or illustrators, comment away!
Creative Desktop Wallpapers Roundup
With all of this crazy winter weather, I’ve seriously been in need of some new desktop wallpapers to spruce up my life. In looking for myself, I decided to grab a collection of my favorites (and there are LOTS of them) and share them with all of you! Click on each image to be taken to the download destination. Enjoy :-)
For those of you who enjoy calendar wallpapers, would you be interested in seeing a collection that gets updated every month? Let me know in the comments, and I will be happy to make one!
Love is the sum of our choices,
the strength of our commitments,
the ties that bind us together.
No, I Don’t Want To Come To Your
Cat’s Birthday Party, Freak
My Dog’s Getting Married That Day
You’ve Got To Ask, Asking Is, In My Opinion,
The World’s Most Powerful And Neglected
Secret To Success And Happiness
Life Is Either A Daring Adventure
Or Nothing
2014 Oscar Nominees Poster Packages
So…who watched the Oscars on Sunday? Although, I must admit I didn’t watch the entire show, but nonetheless, I was thoroughly impressed by the fantastic graphics for the nominated films in the various award categories. Mill+ created the nominations package for the top nine categories. Each customized poster was specifically designed to echo the concept and tell the individual story of each nominee. In my opinion, they were the highlight of the whole show. What were some of your favorite Oscar moments?
Check out my favorites below: Best Picture, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Production Design, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Screenplay.
Best Picture Nominees
Best Costume Design Nominees
Best Makeup and Hairstyling Nominees
Best Production Design Nominees
Best Adapted Screenplay Nominees
Best Original Screenplay Nominees
The Comfort of Thingy-ness Vol IV
There are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts.” – Charles Dickens
Although I sincerely hope that what’s in between the covers is inspiring too, sometimes the mastery of the cover design overtakes the writing. Being a designer, I’ve purchased an insane amount of books based purely on their design. I mostly purchase tangible books (since now I read everything on my Kindle) purely on their aesthetic appeal to me. I continuously use them for inspiration when working on projects, and in an odd way they lift my spirits when I am sitting at my office desk and looking over at them on my bookshelf. Below, you can check out some of my favorites over the past few months! What have been some of your top book designs over the past year? Sound off!
* Check out The Comfort of Thingy-ness Vol I/II/III!
2014 #Project365
I love finding projects where an artist has the discipline and dedication to create a piece of artwork 365 days in a row for an entire year—it’s such a monumental task to produce something creative and challenging for so many consecutive days. My favorite part of these projects is seeing the constant growth of the artist’s abilities. If you take something that was produced on day 1 of the project, and compare it to the final piece on day 365, the progress seems truly incredible and inspiring. I’ve contemplated a 365 day project, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to devote myself so vehemently for a year, so my 52 week typography quotes project was my attempt at growing and nurturing my skills as a typography addict. But never say never…so maybe one day I’ll finally take the plunge!
So…now that I have rambled on for a full paragraph, lets get to the main subject of this post—Tim Bontan. He is one of the brave souls that I discovered on Instagram dedicating himself in 2014, to what he calls, #Project365. Inspired by Scott Biersack’s Project365 (whom I interviewed for a post a few months back), Tim is setting out to push himself to a higher level with his hand-lettering by producing 365 consecutive pieces of work.…
Incredible Typographic Chalk Drawings (Volume II)
by Almost two years ago, I posted several time-lapse videos of some pretty Incredible Typographic Chalk Drawings, and they were a huge hit with many of you! This enormous positive response left me searching the web for more spectacular chalk drawings by some fantastic illustrators. Check them out below, and I hope they act as a source of awe and inspiration!
and although this isn’t hand-lettering related, this time-lapse video of Morgan Freeman’s face is AMAZING, and too good not to share!
The Comfort of Thingy-ness Vol III
It’s been quite a while since I posted The Comfort of Thingy-ness Vol II, so I’ve been compiling a list of some of my favorite book covers, and I’ve finally been able to narrow the list down to 24! I just love going to Barnes and Noble and getting lost in the beauty of all the book covers. I can walk around for hours, just touching and smelling (yes, I am one of those people that LOVES the smell of books) everything in sight. Although, as I mentioned in my previous posts I buy my books on the Kindle, it’s nice to sometimes get lost in the world of the tangible. What are some of your favorite book covers? Sound off!
Project 365
One year is a long time…and it feels like an even longer time when you take on the task of creating something every day for those arduous 365 days. However, with great dedication and the desire for betterment, excellent things can come to fruition. Designer Scott Biersack, created Project 365 as a way to do just that! Check out my mini interview with Scott, and view some of my favorite pieces from the project below!
Q:How did you get into hand lettering?
A: I got into hand-lettering after seeing Zachary Smith’s work all over Tumblr. I’m sure you, and many other designers have probably heard of him, or seen his work. Especially now that he’s been hired on by Sevenly! Anyway, I saw his work and thought to myself, “Hey I could do this”. And from that point forward, I knew I wanted to practice, practice, practice until I could actually consider myself a “letterer”.
Q: 365 days is a HUGE commitment, what motivated you to take on such an endeavor?
A: Indeed, 365 days is a ton of work! To be honest, I didn’t think it would be that hard to complete a piece every single day for an entire year. Boy was I wrong.…
