posted: March 10, 2010

It has been a while since i have been able to make it for a visit to New York, and this trip came at just the right time. In fact, this trip was one for the personal history books.

I came out for the Society of Illustrators Advertising and Institutional opening, and also to see friends that i haven't connected with in some time. As always with any visit to New York, i always seem to miss seeing some people, but this gives me an excuse to make another trip soon! It was great being able to have quality conversations with friends, and see parts of the city that i hadn't explored yet. I appreciate great friends like Peter Cusack putting me up, and the quality time we spent hanging out in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

It seems that every so often i take a trip that is like a pivotal moment for me, and this trip felt very much like that. With the help of my friends i was able to shake the rust of this past year's anxiety off myself and gain a better focus on what is important. It is friends like Peter and Nancy that help me gain clarity of vision, and i value their wisdom so much!

Prior to my trip i figured that i would look into the idea of renting studio and press time while i was there. I found "The Arm" letterpress studio in Brooklyn, and made the appointment to have some press time. Daniel Morris runs The Arm from his studio apartmnet in the Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn, and in addition to having a full functioning letterpress atudio, he runs a gallery out of the same space. Daniel is a great guy, and i recommend you check it out if you are in the area. His studio is just a couple of blocks down the street from the Bedford St. subway station, and his rental prices are very reasonable. He also offers workshops and the like there as well. I wish that i would have rented another hour or so!

It was great to hang out with Kate, Nancy, Zina, Peter, and Laura, and i hope to give another demo like this next time i am in town. In fact i hope that i can make this sort of thing a regular occurance when i am in town. I hope that Daniel can keep the goodness he has going on at the Arm going, and my hope is that folks out there will show him some support by stopping by!

Thank you Peter and Mel for making the time to hang, i really needed it! Thank you Nancy, Zina, Kate, Laura for hanging out. Thanks Laura for showing me around Brooklyn, what a great town, and i can't wait to show you around Detroit and Ann Arbor.

And thank you, the reader, for stopping by for the look-see.

posted: January 29, 2010

One day while living in Salt Lake City over ten years ago, my wife and I headed over to the local auto parts store to buy something for the car we had at the time. We park the car, and as we were walking into the store, I spotted a grey primer-painted 1970’s El Camino (you know, the car that looks like it should be a truck.) with the words “what you need is more fist in your diet” scrawled across the tailgate with a marker. I point and laugh without knowing that the owner of the car is sitting in it. He gets out and asks, “What are you laughing at?” I stammer and say, “ I dunno, just told my wife a joke, that’s all…” He grunts at me threateningly then heads into the store. My heart was pounding having just averted a beating. I spotted this same guy a few weeks later in downtown Salt Lake just about to throw a punch at another motorist.

Does anyone out there know if someone like Chuck Norris coined this phrase? Jean Claude VanDam? Schwarzenegger? Just curious because that guy didn’t seem to be a brilliant copywriter…

The image of the guy punching the bear reflects my feeling of 2009, but as I was printing this the other day, a former student of mine told me a story of his Russian roommate who claimed to have drank a bottle of vodka and then wrestled Siberian bears. Maybe from here on out I will lie and say that was my inspiration for this piece.

If I can get my act together I plan on having both of these for sale on both Etsy and Illogator. I plan on donating the proceeds from the sale of these posters to the relief effort in Haiti. Thanks for stopping by.

posted: December 31, 2009

I mostly agree with Massimo Vignelli that there are only five typefaces, but when I started my search for a complete set of wood type (or wooden letters as the English call it…), I was mesmerized by both the design of the letters and the actual objects themselves. These typefaces are an amazing part of American design history, and the innovation that went into their production revolutionized an industry. I have come to this a bit late, most of what I am looking to collect is almost out of the range of what I can afford, but I have been able to purchase boxes of random assorted wood type (pied type as they call it…). I must admit that when I bought them seven years ago my intention was to give away a letter here another there to people as gifts, but then realized how I could possibly use these down the road.  The real beauty of these letters is that they are usable objects that get better with age. It has been frustrating having only one or two sorts of a given typeface, and I had almost given up with collecting any kind of wood type. Well, my wife surprised me with a complete set of medium gothic wood type this year!

Wood type has a certain aesthetic, I call it the “Hatch Show Print look”, which has merit, but I have found a few different links to individuals who are pushing the medium into different directions. Some are experimenting with the letters themselves, others are using CNC machines to make new type, and others are proofing these letters and creating digital files from them to make photopolymer plates for printing.  All of this is inspiring and has motivated me to experiment. I see the potential for creating wood type on a CNC machine, but the cost seems too high when you have other alternatives. Maybe it can be used for recreating lost letters in a set?

One of the more interesting blogs out there, woodtyper, is devoted to wood type that is run by the designer Nick Sherman.  Another interesting place online to educate yourself on the subject is the Hamilton Wood Type Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. Hamilton was the premier manufacturer of wood type and printer’s supplies up until about 1985. It is a great museum, and it deserves your financial support.  I have included a short clip on a documentary on the museum in this post, check it out.  Yet another place online to get into all of the particulars of wood type design and manufacture is the Rob Roy Kelly collection on the University of Texas at Austin’s website.

Lastly, on the woodtyper site I found this interesting video clip about a wall that Lou Dorfsman designed at CBS headquarters in New York. Form what I can tell from the clip is that this was built onto a wall in their cafeteria? Has anyone out there who is reading this eaten in this cafeteria? Is it still there? This clip was placed on YouTube to ask for donations to restore it. Maybe this would be a good place to put small amount of your total charitable donations for 2009? Or to the Hamilton Museum? Membership with the Hamilton museum includes a digital typeface, and poster.



Happy new year everyone! It is my hope that we all can find fullfilment as artists, illustrators, and human beings in the new year. It also is my hope that we can also find the financial security we need as well. Here's to 2010!

posted: December 18, 2009

In the recent past i have posted a lot of "How- To" articles, but have shyed away from filming any of it because of my lack of knowledge for video. I am late in posting my first YouTube video clip, but i figure it really is never too late. My next video i plan on doing something a bit more interesting as far as camera angles, etc. I borrowed a friend's (thanks Bryan Durren...) video camera and gave it a try. I plan on doing a voice over for this once i figure that out on my fancy computing machine.


In this clip i am using a Nolan Proof press that has a tympan, a sheet i made to help register my posters. I have a collaborative project in the works right now with a few drawgers, and phase two of this project is going to be posters. More on that later....back to the press.....

I hope you all have a safe and joyful holiday season! -More from me on that later, but in the meantime, here is to an amazing 2010!!

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