Sunday, October 2, 2011

More, more, more... books and things I enjoy

So I hit the ground running (quite literally running around) a bit this Sept. But I'm glad it happened this way. I could have been QWOPing my way instead.

Currently I'm working on a few things for Noel Night and more books have entered my library... I think I have a spending problem (or rather, I was stressed out/ill and I socialized and materialized my efforts).

Syd Mead was at the Taubman Center Campus Bookstore a bit over a week ago and I got to get my book signed for this special occasion. He's back on book tour for 2012 and apparently designed some concept restaurant in New York... I want to go there.

I bought Yoshitaka Amano's Final Fantasy Art Book while at Detroit Fanfare and dug up my old japanese art book of his to compare. Both cover an extensive amount of creative energy and wide range of efforts.

The IDEA magazines are just breathtaking beautiful publications from Japan on typography and graphic design. Somehow, the approach is much more whimsical over the Pacific. Mildly 80s and very avant-garde.

This came in during the week of Syd Mead's visit and I read it in about one sitting. Habibi invokes the old times of Arabian Nights and long form epics of more European comic artists. This felt like I was reading something monumental, in the same vein as watching The English Patient in some ways.


And this is more research/personal swag that I had to get recently to calm the beast within. Seriously. That Blade Runner Soundtrack is worth a lot more in the market and it's out of print.

I must go and write a paper now and return items to people.

More personal branding and artwork in future posts, as I prepare my upcoming trip to NY Comic Con and meet up with friends, old and new.

Working? ORLY

Now, onto other things I'm doing...
This horizontal piece above, unfortunately, doesn't work for this layout.... desperately I put it in under short notice. correcting it now.


a WIP from Fashion & Lifestyle, since I'm fixing some things around with after crit last week...
My lines are much more direct and loose now, and its really freeing. I need to show some restraint and attempt more minimal linework. and cleaner work.

In terms of inspirational fashion illustrators, I've really admired René GRUAU and Kenneth Paul Block for their loose and decisive lines, textures from various dry and wet traditional media, and bold use of color. http://theerrantaesthete.com/2009/07/13/swan-necked-hauteur/ - a great little post about Block's work and appeal.

A major costume designer I feel connected to is Edith Head. Back when I had short hair and wore my glasses more often, I was told I looked like her (or Edna Mode from the Incredibles).
A recent interest is with costume designer John Dunn, who has worked on Boardwalk Empire; he is amazingly tuned to period style and subtle touches of characters' relationship to clothing and status. http://www.esquire.com/blogs/mens-fashion/boardwalk-empire-costume-designer-091510- a great interview that notes some thought process on character development and wardrobe.



For people who wonder if I have a tumblr... I do. Will be posting mostly inspiration fashion stuff.

And for those who don't follow me on twitter (wudanni) or listen to my music podcast (Authentic Jams), I have streaming feeds on the right side of this blog.

more stuff from last weekend

More from last weekend! :D
This was set up by a former CCS Grad who's now teaching letterpress as well.



Beautiful design work by my friend Jacob at lovio george and their great design team in the Midtown area.


Ethan Nicolle, artist of AXECOP, gave me a free poster and drew a doodle in my sketchbook! :3

I was doodled by Matt Feazell and I drew a doodle of Ron Swanson from Parks & Recreation.


On a more serious note, this was sort of irritating to see at a comics convention. A vendor was selling cheap cardstock prints of DC artwork, directly cropped wrong (probably 'fit to page') and printed off of DC.com or the artists' personal websites. At SDCC, this would never fly because DC has a booth there and can watch copyright infringements like a hawk (no unlicensed goods distributed). Detroit Fanfare's in its 2nd year, and is not associated with the Comic Cons in San Diego and New York. For it to continue (I think it aims to be more about artists and comics), this is something to improve upon. Also the location at Cobo Hall is too spread out and the a/c is super cold.
I did send a note to a great artist I met at SDCC, Dustin Nguyen about this issue (I recognized his work from his blog in the prints), and unfortunately the only thing artists can do is send a cease and desist letter or threaten legal action.

And another book I checked out recently:
I really want to own this book and I highly recommend this to people looking at more graphic/comics approaches to illustration and concepts. Also if you're a fan of retro humor and black comedy, this is a nice book for your coffee table.

"I've been waiting for a book of Mark Newgarden's stuff most of my adult life. Somehow, he managed to retool the basic external elements of cartooning - big noses, panel gags, punch lines - into a sophisticated inner language of uncomfortably familiar self-mocking existential despair. Most everybody knows that 'funny' is really 'misery,' but his stuff gets as close to misery as it can without quite ever touching off the chain reaction that'll make you want to cut your head off - all the while staying hilarious. We 'youngsters' should be paying him reparations for stealing from him for all these years."
- Chris Ware