Following my meeting a trip over town to visit buddy Paul Wright, (who has featured on this blog before). Paul hangs with the Toon creative elite at his studio in The Biscuit Factory and helped perform some dark magick over an illustration I am preparing for a book. Paul knows much that is hidden in the sinister world of Photoshop and other mysteries.
Saturday I took a trip down to Halifax to visit The Calderdale Scribes. It was their AGM and there was also an exhibition of members work, including these two magnificent pieces from Jim Winstanley.
During the afternoon there was a lecture from Timothy Noad about his work as a heraldic painter and scrivener. He told us that as a twelve year old he had a dream to be a heraldic artist at The College of Arms, and that is exactly what he has achieved. Tim is a professional calligrapher and illuminator, Fellow of both the Society of Scribes and Illuminators and the Calligraphy and Lettering Arts Society. While the majority of his work consists of formal commissions involving traditional skills and materials, he also introduces more experimental and innovative elements.
Today a lazy day.... but starting out actively with a trip to Bede's World at Jarrow to view the Northumbrian Scribes autumn exhibition. I have two pieces in the show this year, which were the result of my time at the Calligraphy Symposium during the summer. Loads of great work has been produced by the Scribes this year and they are a great bunch of people to be involved with, though I have much to learn regarding this exacting art.
Susie teaching her beautiful Chinese lettering...
Manny Ling does likewise with the digital calligraphers...
...in St Peters Church Monkwearmouth, where the original was created! Bede walked through this very doorway when he entered the monastery at seven years old.
Beautiful lettering was in abundance from many clever and interesting people. I'm already looking forward to the next event in 2011.
I'm getting ready to go to the Writing 2009 International Calligraphy Symposium tomorrow. In the past couple of years I have found a renewed interest in calligraphy, something I first took an interest in at school and have dabbled with during my graphics career from time to time. A couple of classes during the past two years have given me more confidence in my ability and potential, and also joining The Northumbrian Scribes has been a massive encouragement.
Perhaps you remember that a little while ago I submitted a painting to an art fundraiser. The very good news arrived today that my picture had been SOLD! Even more importantly, it was not the LAST picture in the exhibition to be sold, so I am mightily relieved as well as highly chuffed that somebody liked my painting enough to buy it and hang it on their wall (presumably!) There are still a few paintings left in the exhibition to purchase, so why not get over there now and help a very worthy cause.
FF Meta is a humanist sans-serif typeface family designed by Erik Spiekermann. It was originally developed in 1984 as a commission for a corporate typeface for the Deutsche Bundespost (German Federal Post), but was never adopted for use. Meta was designed to be a readable, sturdy, basic sans serif typeface, working on the postage stamp scale, but also as livery for post boxes and Deutsche Bundespost vehicles. Attention was paid to creating a face that was easily readable from an angle, and in smaller point sizes. In 1989 it was digitised again using Fontographer in the Macintosh, and three styles were made by Just van Rossum. In the period 1991 to 1998 a larger typeface family was developed, adding small capitals. A serif companion, entitled FF Meta Serif, was completed in 2007. (Hat Tip: Wikepedia [sorry!])Here's a little movie of the designer of FF Meta speaking about his relationship to the Mac, and the way it changed his trade. You will need to have some knowledge of the German language to fully appreciate it however. Speaking of which... I'm off to Germany on Saturday!
Driving back from Stockton last week I stopped to take a good look at the beautiful 'Daylight Bakery' building. The former home of the baker Ralph Spark Ltd is a gorgeous example of the Art Deco style. The signage font had me slightly baffled though. I was initially thinking Gill Sans, but then I spotted that strange 'G' and have come to the conclusion that this is a custom font, albeit based on Gill, that must have been designed especially for the building, which is on on Bishopton Lane in Stockton.
These two men have it in spades. On your left may I present Colin Woodcock, a true artist and entrepreneur... someone who walks the talk when it comes to producing original art, whether it be makin' pots 'n that, or painting beautiful pictures of the Isle of Tiree, where he and his wife, Susan, live. On your right I give you a man who is not a stranger to these pages... Mr Jason Thompson, web designer, drummer, musician (yes, both those!), entrepreneur, community mover and shaker. Jason has mentored me in the area of web design for the past ten years and he is someone I am very grateful to for his input, teaching and support. He is also someone who is about to become 40 years old! Today I was with these two men as they discussed important matters, and as Colin presented Jason with a beautiful picture from his gallery on Tiree.
Apparently the nation of India is embarking on a quest to come up with a symbol to match the status of its burgeoning economy on the world stage. An invitation has gone out to designers everywhere to come up with a symbol to represent the Rupee, just as we have our £ sign, the US have their $ sign and Europe has its € sign. The Indian government's search for the perfectly formed sign is via an open competition, which stipulates that entries "should represent the historical and cultural ethos of India."
You'd think that this could be the dream job for a type designer, but the process is riddled with difficulties, as the BBC article indicates..."Getting a symbol onto the international scene can be a complicated and lengthy process, says Mr Siebert.
There are the questions about where the new character should be placed in the character table and where it should be placed on the keyboard. (Outside the country in question, it is most likely to be rendered through special coding with keyboard short-cuts.)
Then the operating systems of millions of computers would need to be upgraded, as would dozens and dozens of font sets."
Still, I wouldn't mind a crack at the project...
