Meanwhile #082
Meaning, history, value, mechanics and future.
The Look of the Book – Forthcoming book covering book covers from book coverer Peter Mendelsund and David Alworth; “a comprehensive and heavily illustrated exploration of the meaning, history, value, mechanics and future of the book cover”. Yes please.
Why four-panel comics now dominate our screens – Always found it interesting how culture is shaped by its containers, whether it’s the capacity of a CD, the optimum number of films that can be screened in one day, or the viewing window of a social media app. All art goes a square phase sooner or later – this week, it’s comics.
Collection and collaborations – Looking forward to this event at the wonderful St Bride Library, celebrating their collection with a series of collaborations between designers, artists, writers, illustrators and musicians. Expect to come home with an armful of posters.
When your work is also the hobby – In which I rage at the expression “work/life balance” and then contemplate becoming a Viking.
The Hand Lettering Toolkit – Loz Ives (aka Idle Letters) has put together a fantastic collection of Procreate brushes for anyone who enjoys putting pen to glass, full of stipples, prickles and straggles.
The Face – It’s back. So far it’s nothing but a newsletter signup page, but still, it’s back.
Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition – Opening very soon. Did anyone else notice the Design Museum in Into the Spider-Verse? You know, the steps behind Miles when he gets his hand stuck in Gwen’s hair? No? Did I just imagine that?
SET – The non-profit group turning disused buildings into artists’ studios. Lots of arguments for and against this sort of thing, but I think it’s mostly fabulous. Artists are like gentrification colonists, terraforming and caffeinating the urban wasteland.
Float – It’s that old saying, you wait years for a a feature-length documentary about the ultra-competitive sport of elite, stunningly-designed indoor model airplanes to come along and then eventually one does.
To Keep the Sun Alive – Simon & Schuster’s Donna Cheng talks to Spine about designing the cover for Rabeah Ghaffari’s new novel.
ColouriseSG – This deep learning colouriser prototype, originally designed for restoring old Singaporean photos, is a lot of fun. It’s not perfect, and certainly won’t put professional colourists out of the job, but there’s an undeniable emotional kick when you see a bit of colour suddenly appear in old family photos.
Werner Herzog on reading and writing – “Read, read, read, read, read. Those who read own the world; those who immerse themselves in the Internet or watch too much television lose it.”