The Future of Print

So many articles being published titled, "The Future of Print" or proclamations being made that, "PRINT IS DEAD!" These seem to only lead to reactions of one of two extremes - rigid defense that print is not going anywhere or demands for everyone to get with it and scrap the presses and move to digital-only models.

Does anyone consider the future of ALL printed stuff? In every "the future of print?" article I read, book people only think about books, magazine people only about magazines, newspapers only about newspapers. The business models are obviously different, but the method of production and distribution and consumption are the same. People can't see the forest for the pulped trees.

doodles from APHA conference

(tried posting this from the train yesterday and it just wasn't happening)

Here are some doodles drawn in my sketchbook during the lectures and panels while I was at the APHA conference in Washington DC this weekend. The lectures and discussions mostly focused on letterpress and bookarts.

It was interesting to attend a conference like this as an academic, while still feeling like a working professional. The way I think and feel about Printing (not printmaking) is in the context of making magazines, running jobs for design clients, and preparing my students to do the same. The idea that most of the folks at the conference seemed to have is one of printing in the context of rare books and fine arts and, in some cases, craft. Letterpress printing as a niche craft carried out by antiquarian enthusiasts trying to keep a dead technology alive. In the world of living technologies for printing; digital offset, web presses, etc., the technologies give way to newer methods out of necessity and cost-effectiveness.

I don't see why both cannot legitimately exist and coexist, there always being the right tool for the right job. I do wonder why so much bookart is designed so poorly. By labeling it as Art it becomes like the kids work on the fridge, the process justifies any slapdash techniques or terrible end-product because of the precious nature of it's Art/craft context.

I think I'll need to expand this a bit more later.



This is "TMI" - monogram for Internet abbreviations.



My first initial, natch.



Monograms for JLN, ECN and a few miscellaneous ones.



Stacking monograms.

The repeat pattern is almost done

Happy 60th Anniversary to the Peanuts

The Peanuts comic strip was a big part of my childhood and it is now 60 years old! The collected strips were published by my Pop's publisher, Holt Rheinhart & Winston (as it was then) and his editor, Don Hutter, always sent him back home with a few books for us. I saw something about the 60th anniversary yesterday and immediately drew this. Nothing too special or interpretive here, but just looking at it makes me smile.

Bunnybear splodeyface

new bunnybear:
Splodeyface

drawn in Illustrator, from a pencil sketch I scanned

Beginnings of a repeat pattern

Making a new background for my twitter page, and this is the start. I think I want to keep adding large and small details to make it more kaleidoscopic. I saw this today and feel like I should bite some of this style, too. I like how there's something lozenge-like about how these fit together in this pattern. Maybe I can work some sort of Akira/Kaneda imagery into the background as well.

Drawing From the News

Striking factory worker in today's Times:

It is definitely not a great drawing, but it's an ok drawing. Drawn in a 9x12 moleskine, using a koh-i-nor mechanical pencil with HB lead only. It just feels good to be doing some freehand work and that it looks somewhat like the original source.
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2010/08/04/business/jp-paycuts.html