If you've ever used a font editing program to create a font, you know that one generally shapes the various forms by arranging points on a screen with a mouse. But what if those points were controlled by something other than fine motor skills? Andy Clymer of high profile type foundry Hoefler & Frere-Jones was interested in exploring alternative methods for how a typeface is developed; hence, "font-face" was born.
Illustrator Lisa Hanawalt innovates the typical gossip rag by rendering wicked rumors of Devil Wears Prada villain Anna Wintour as clever cartoon drawings. Though akin to political cartoons, the result is more US Magazine (if US was prettier to look at). As usual, Wintour is depicted as soulless (and to think, she supposedly bedded Bob Marley!).
Sometimes ads are good for something. Such as documenting every single batmobile EVER, and publishing as a massive infographic. Comic book nerds, rejoice:
"There Is a Baby in Every One of Us", artist Ben Heine titles the first image in the collection below, taken from the latest in his pencil vs. camera series:
Drawing is a craft that becomes art when combined with an idea. It is a skill that comes naturally to some; for others it is a slower, more painful process. But the truth is, anybody with patience and discipline can learn to draw. Learn the principles of line, perspective, proportion and structure, and practice!
Melbourne-based graphic designer Benjamin Hammond just launched a site called One Minute Portraits, where the artist draws quick portraits in less than a minute. It works like this: email a photo of yourself, Hammond creates the portrait, and you can choose to buy the original if you like it. (OR pick up a few drawing lessons and do-it-yourself.)
Casual Fridays is so yesterday. Ignore the pretentiously relaxed dotcom dress code. Mock the jean-clad Wall Street bankers racing to grab a seat on the Hampton Jitney. Let's return Friday to a proper dress code. It's time to honor the greatness of George Lucas.
Jeremy Wood has turned the normally mundane task of lawn mowing into an art process. For the past nine years, Wood kept his mother's yard perfectly manicured, tracking every single motorized lawnmower ride with a GPS, and then converting the data into "maps".
Paul Lung requires nothing but a 0.5 mm technical graphite pencil, plus one sheet of A2 paper to create a nearly perfectly hand drawn facsimile of a photograph. The 38-year-old graphic designer of Hong Kong spends up to 60 hours on each labor intensive drawing.
Pixar animation artist Josh Cooley presents a series of drawings based on R-Rated movies in the style of G-Rated Golden Books (you remember, the children's books your parents probably read to you as a kid). Keep an eye on Cooley - his book, Movies R Fun, should be coming out later this year.
Artist Julia Randall's photorealistic colored pencil drawings of disembodied lips, tongues, and spit bubbles kinda give me the creeps (in a perfectly good way, of course).
The iconic Girl With a Pearl Earring, by Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, is widely considered one of art history's most seminal paintings. Artist James Mylne spent 90 hours copying the image, using just one Bic Cristal pen. Kudos. That shading took some serious skill (and patience).
Jacques Pense is the designer behind this amazing award-winning stationery for 13th Street, a German horror network. Total and utter carnage. The punch hole impalings are truly awesome.
Interesting collection of works by designer Anatoly Zenkov. Zenkov's Flickr set shows several images created by "using a simple java applet to track his mouse while working, black circles are pointer stops (not clicks)".
Wait for it, wait for it... it happens really fast... at right about 1:05. Okay, maybe he's not a world champion, but a very cool party trick nonetheless.
Rosemarie Fiore is badass. She makes art with pyrotechnics, amusement park rides, Atari, guns, and pinball machines. Though all of her work is cool, I have to say my favorite piece is Fiore's larger than life spirograph, made from an amusement park ride, entitled "Good Time Mix Machine".
