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Jennifer Losie
Catalyst One To start my journey into the depths of creating a typeface. I had been challenged to go out and find examples of type in my environment aound me. So I decided to go to downtown Medicine Hat to see what would pique my interest. Personally I have never been overly attentive to the downtown area and surroundings. So even with the cold and rainy weather I was rather excited by the type in the area
After reviewing my pictures, I decided to use traditional methods of tracing, which lead me to realizing how my adventure was lead by the signage, I was using the typography examples as a method of navigation, so I decided to use the ones that were the biggest influences on my decisions of where to go. I also decided that my next steps were to take my work into a digital space and finish my assignment with Illustrator.
My first attempt of making a poster I was trying to literally illustrate a sign pole and have all these signs “point� in specific directions. I added the one way in the background as a minor joke and to indicate the mess I was making (If you notice I’m indicating the poster is going down). It quickly became over complicated and was almost immediately scrapped in a group review. No one got the joke. I thought it was funny...
My second draft was a cleaner illustration of what I was trying to say. Without overcomplicating things I was able to clearly indicate the signs directng the viewer in different directions. It was a good method of getting myself into thinking about how to create type and how to illustrate it with traditional and digital methods. Moving into the Component portion of the project I was excited to create and understand the process of inventing type.
The Contenders Sir John Tenniel My favorite book of all time is Alice in Wonderland. The illustrations, the curious text design and the wonderful story enchants me to this day, and every year in my College career I find some project that I can use the book as an influence. So it shouldnt come as too much of a shock that I had Sir John on my list of artists to emulate. I love his hatching techniques and making texture out of ink, I find that to be a fascinating way of illustrating.
Eyvind Earle Another love of mine is Seriography. I am far from skilled but it just somehow clicked with me. Which is why Eyvind Earle is on the list as well. He is one of my favourite artists. His life and career is what motivates me on a daily basis and one day I hope to be able to create art like he does. His unique textures and use of colour is just flawless. Along with the minimaistic shape if the trees just makes the work so balanced and wonderful.
Eiko Ojala Even though the previous two had both emotional and personal ties to me. I just could not ignore the possibilities with Eiko Ojala’s work. So with a few apologies to my favourites, I took a further look at his work and was shocked at how detailed and beautiful it was. The shadows he uses are just so delicate that it made me instantly think about creating a shadow based typeface. All the ideas came into mind as I was browsing through his list of colourful and stunning art.
In Development I dove in headfirst dedicated to have this physical sheet that I could show to everyone and physically have the type there. I created templates on how the shadows should work if I shone a light a certain way. I even went into my special stock of comic paper, because it was thicker, and started to cute out the little flaps and semi circles to get my shadows. To my disappointment and anger it didnt work so well. So I went back to the drawing board and tried again with another sheet of my fancy paper. To find the same results.
I was so frustrated, I tried different methods and in hind site got interesting results, but nothing close to the shadows the artist had in his work. It wasn`t until further investigation that I realized that most of his work were illusions. He conjured them up in a digital format. When I realized this I knew I had been going about this all wrong and the work I had been looking at for inspiration were all done digitally.
Lesson of the Day Research = Valuable
“Semblance� Knowing what medium I was working in really helped ground my ideas and thoughts. I played around with layering to develope more intense shadows and giving it more dimension. I had some issues with the sofware and often felt frustrated that I took on too much of a task to be completed, it was almost as if I lost the motivation that I used to have previously. However I kept on going and eventually found myself in the rhythm again.
I decided to entitle my Typeface Semblance as the meaning of semblace is “the outward appearance or apparent form of something, especially when the reality is different.� I felt that this was approriate because his art is like an illusion, its outward appearance isn’t like the reality which is what intrgued me more in the end.
Final Posters The first of many posters I designed for the typeface is incredibly simple. Which is something I struggle with as a designer. I often think simple can be easily mixed up with last minute or unfinished. Which is something I try to not do. But in doing a simple poster I was able to better transcribe the shadows and the form of the type. However having it printed and up on a wall I was able to see many imperfections and was able to note what misakes to fix which will be applied in my next component.
My second poster I designed was more fun for me to do. I am more of a colourful person and love to incorporate it into my work as much as possible. It shows off more of the fun side of his work and shows that it can stand up well in coloured print and digital formats. In conclusion while I am more or less happy with my Typeface I know there are many adjustments to make to push it to the level where I want it to be.
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