Adrift Color Theories -or- A Salute to Mr. Letness

I made a sympathy card today.

But this story actually begins elsewhere, for you see, in the lobby of the theater I work at there are 3 paintings. They're of Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, and Clark Gable. They were painted by a man named George Letness. And sadly Mr. Letness passed away this past Thursday.

While those paintings might just seem like a bit of decoration to most people, I've been working at this theater for almost 3 years and thus they mean a little bit more to me. After all, I'm pretty sure I've spent more time looking at them than I have any other piece of artwork. And while I never had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Letness, I would always think about him (or an idea of him at least) whenever I'd look at his paintings.

Why those three actors? Did he do others and these were just the three the theater liked best? Were they commissioned? How did he decide what colors to use when his reference photos were in black & white? And so on and so on.

I never really thought I'd get the chance to ask him (or would even have put myself out there enough to do so if I did), but at least it was still possible. And now it's not. What's worse is that now he can't even make any more art for me to selfishly enjoy.

Thus here I am: down an artist, full of questions, and left knowing that these tenuous feelings of loss I have are insignificant to the ones of those that knew him personally.

Since I have spent a lot of time pondering these paintings, I figured it was the least I could do to send his son a card. Especially since his son is my boss and—more importantly—one of the nicer people you could hope to meet.

But anyways, here's what I drew for the card's image:

I was really quite pleased with myself over this design, but sadly no one I showed it to understood what it was supposed to be. Even though they had all worked at the theater just as long or longer than I have.

But I'm being rude. For if my own coworkers couldn't decipher it, what chance do you have? Here's the answer:

Make sense now? Still no? 

I guess I'll have to explain.

Since those paintings are what I think of when I think of George Letness it only seemed fair that they should take center stage. And you see my favorite thing about those paintings is that they aren't just three paintings; they're a set of three paintings. The artistic style is consistent across each of them. But the most impressive way that they display their kinship is in their use of color. They each have 3 distinct areas of color.

1. Background Color

The backgrounds are composed of a prominent single color. For instance, in Greta's case it's Orange.

2. Clothing Color

They're all posed from the shoulders up. So you have the background color on the top, which then juxtaposes with the color of their clothing on the bottom. In Gable's case the Yellow of the background nicely sets off the Blue of his suit.

3. Unique Color

Finally, they each have a bit of colored flair that's unique to their picture. Greta's Turquoise ring, Gable's White & Red polka-dot tie, and Marlene's Green ring.

I wanted to do something that'd harken to these paintings, but it seemed impersonal to digitally arrange photographs of the paintings, and yet sacrilegious to just draw each of them in my own style (not to mention they'd just end up looking amateurish in comparison). So I tried to get the essence of them by just distilling each painting to those three base color areas: Top Background, Bottom Clothing, and Unique Flair.

But apparently I'm the only one who's spent heaps of time considering the color compositions of these paintings, because none of the my coworkers got it until I pointed it out. And to think I even attempted to take measurements from pictures so I could get the proportions of the color section somewhat accurate to the originals in order to make them more recognizable!

(sometimes it's hard trying to be an artist, isn't it?)

However, perhaps the problem doesn't lie with anyone else at all. They just illuminated the fact that I've paid an extraordinary amount of attention to these paintings. And I can't help it! There is just something about them that seems to combine “high” art with comic art in a really interesting way.

And what's really interesting is that you just know that there was a reason for all the artistic choices that went on in this pieces. I can just imagine someone sitting down, really thinking about it, and crafting these characters with colors.

I mean Clark Gable's color scheme has these bright primary colors that give it a sense of energy and fun. Marlene's framing between Black & Magenta which gives her such a powerful and vibrant energy. And finally Greta's over there with a very warm and comforting combination of similar earthy tones, yet with these little accents of intense color contrasts coming from her blue eyes and turquoise ring.

Or at least these are the stories that come to my mind. They're just my theories. I'm left wondering if the way these colors frame their subject's persona is just something that I've invented, or was it intentional? If it was intentional then what were his opinions of these actors that led him to those choices? Or perhaps I'm just way off base and the intent was completely different from my interpretations?

But that's just how art is, isn't it? It has a life independent of the artist. Long after the artist has left the world of the living, their art continues on, leaving us to wonder about what kind of a spark brought it to life.

So I salute you, Mr. Letness. You may have left this world, but you have certainly left it in a better state than you found it in: more beautiful, more interesting, and more full of life.

And when it comes right down to it, that's really all you can ask from a person.

I'll leave you now with this excerpt from David Michaelis' Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography:

“They were known as “Bureau's drawers” (Art Instruction shared the building with its parent graphic arts colossus, the Bureau of Engraving). Naturally, in such a competitive group, one unquestionable “top drawer” had to establish himself; this proved to be the reserved, smart, handsome George Letness, whom David Ratner had dubbed “the hottest artist in our class,” by universal consent the best draftsman and oil painter at the academy. He had arrived at the desk adjoining Schulz's in 1949, displacing Sparky as the shyest man in the room. Both were simultaneously reticent and competitive, displayed comparable senses of humor, and eventually became the “two best friends” among the younger instructors.”

-Page 183

Sketch-a-Day: Week 1

Last week I decided that I needed to draw more. But I'm a very lazy person and that tends to make things difficult. So I thought to myself, If I promise to post a picture a day on Facebook I can harness the power of peer pressure to force me to draw. But that just didn't seem like a promise I would keep. So to make things simpler I've just been posting quick sketches instead. That way I it still forces me to do some sketching everyday, but doesn't mean I have to obsess over them looking perfect. On a similar note, that's why I always sketch in pen. The second I have the option to erase things is the second I'll start to obsess over things looking perfect, which kind of defeats the purpose of sketching.

Anyways, I think I'm gonna try to keep this Sketch-a-Day thing going for a while. You can see them as they arrive every day on Facebook. Or you can just wait until next Sunday when I'll post the week's assembled batch. It's up to you!



1. Half-fish

This is my attempt at mocking an absolutely awful line from the movie Dark Shadows. The real line is terrible and deserves to be mocked by all.

2. Confused Pokemon

I like the idea of a Pokémon being confused in the normal sense of the word. "Now...what am I supposed to do again? Scratch...bubblebeam? Do I know how to bubblebeam?"

I was trying to draw the original Pokémon starters from memory, but I couldn't for the life of me remember what Charmander looked like. In my defence I've never in my life used used a Charmander. #1 Because Charmanders aren't nearly as cool as Squirtles and Bulbasaurs, and #2 Because Charizard sucks. Fire-Flying—in my Poké-pinion—is a really shitty type combo.

3. Rebellious Teen Adventure Time

It's Princess Bubblegum and the Earl of Lemongrab! This won't make any sense unless you're a fan of the show Adventure Time. But I am a fan...and I think this joke is brilliant...*toot toot*...that's my horn.

4. Dapper Greg

My friend Max created a character named "Dapper Greg" based on our broworker Greg. I figured I'd take a shot at interpreting the character.

5. Sparrow

I never draw birds. I am not very good at birds. I should probably try to draw more birds.

6. Tina Belcher

Tina is my favorite character on the amazing TV show Bob's Burgers. I should do a legit drawing of her sometime, because she's a fun character to draw.

7. Irresponsible Children

I drew this super quick because I wanted to read instead of draw today. TAKE THAT PRACTICE!

Book List 2012: Part 8

Ah, here we are again for yet another round of books.  Well, I say books, but it looks like this round is actually 50% comics. But that's fine with me, because I love comics.




[GN] = Graphic Novel/Comics Anthology

84. & 85. [GN]

Cul De Sac:

Cul De Sac & Shapes & Colors

by. Richard Thompson

Collections of the comic strip Cul De Sac.

Do I need to describe the set-up to comic strips? I don't really feel that I need to. If you've never heard of it before I'd strongly urge you to go check it out.

Anyways, Cul de Sac is my one of my all-time favorite comic strips and my #1 favorite currently running one. It has a really great cast of characters and a really endearing sense of humor. I think this quote pretty much encapsulates the Cul de Sac sense of humor that I love so much.

“

“My name is Alice Otterloop, and I'm 4 years old. I live in Cul de Sac, a suburban community ringed by a mighty wall and girded by a moat of stagnant traffic. It's placid exterior hides mysteries to chill the blood!

Yonder stands the Haunted Gazebo, where no one ever dares set foot. Yet, on Midsummer's Eve, it's suffused with a spectral light, and the murmured prayers of ghostly Druid priests can be heard!

Or the Uncanny Old Lady, a throwback to a time before Cul de Sac! From her kitch-filled yard she beckons, seeking to turn the unwary into small yappy dogs with her dire magic!”

“What'd she say?”

“ALICE! Stop being silly and come talk to your Grandma!”

”

from Cul de Sac's 09/16/2007 strip

86.

Sister Citizen:

Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America

by. Melissa V. Harris-Perry

A look into the stereotypes of black women in America and the effects those stereotypes have.

The premise of this book intrigued me. After all, as a white male I really don't have a clue what it's like to be a black woman. Thus I figured I'd enlighten myself a little bit. It's always nice to read something once in a while that'll rattle loose some stereotypes that might have gotten lodged in your thinking without your realizing it.

It's a well done book. It does a great job showing what the major stereotypes are, where they came from, and what effects they have. It's one of the most clear discussions about stereotypes that I've seen and I found it to be a really interesting read.

The most intriguing part for me was when she spoke of the stereotype of "the strong black woman" being one that black women created themselves in response to the other negative stereotypes. While it was intended to be a positive and supporting idea, Harris-Perry effectively shows that even positive stereotypes can have detrimental effects.

Here's a link to an interview with the author from when she was a guest on The Colbert Report. It's what got me interested in reading the book in the first place.

“

The strong black woman serves as a constructive role model because black women draw encouragement and self-assurance from an icon able to overcome great obstacles. She offers hope to people who often face difficult circumstances. Independence and self-reliance can be crucial to building and maintaining a positive image of blackness in a society that often seeks to negate and vilify it. African American women do not define themselves as Jezebels, Mammies, or Sapphires; instead they call themselves strong and proudly drape the mantle of self-denying independence across their shoulders. This itself is a triumph of emotional and political resistance because black women have consistently demanded a right to name themselves. But there are dangers to allowing this symbol to remain unchallenged at the center of African American understandings of womanhood. When black women are expected to be super-strong, they cannot be simply human.

What begins as empowering self-definition can quickly become a prison. By adopting and reproducing the icon of the strong black woman, African American women help craft an expectation that they should be autonomously responsible and self-denying caregivers in their homes and communities. This means that they are validated, admired, and praised based on how they behave, not on who they are. Loss of social standing is an ever-present threat for individuals whose social acceptance is based on behavioral traits rather than unconditional human value. Any mistake, bad act, or bad outcome can be translated into a global sense of failure. While all individuals are publically judged by their actions, the strong black woman imperative is unusual in that it requires tremendous personal fortitude from a group with few structural resources. It thus exposes black women to more opportunities for shaming. African American women hold up the strong black woman as a shield against shame-inducing negative stereotypes of the crooked room. To protect against always being being seen as inferior, they declare themselves uniquely capable, but this strength is a shield full of holes; it sets up new possibilities for being misrecognized.

”

pg 184-185

88.

The 50 Greatest Love Letters of All Time

edited by. David H. Lowenherz

A collection of famous love letters.

It's hard to read letters without thinking to yourself about how sad it is that no one writes them anymore. I highly doubt we can expect to see any collections in the future titled "The 50 Greatest Love Texts of All Time” (or at least, I hope not).

There's a mythos that gets created around celebrities. Not just around today's movie stars, but around all forms of celebrity; whether it's an author, a historical figure, or any other person of note. They become a character instead of a person. And that's what I really liked about this book: it shows off people's humanity.

An example? Well, take President George H.W. Bush, for instance. I'm sure we've all built up these ideas of what kind of a person he is, based solely on the things we've heard in the news and learned about in school. And I think it would be safe to say that most people wouldn't attribute words such as Loving and Tender to him. But you can think of nothing else when you read this in a letter to his wife,

“Goodnite, my beautiful. Every time I say beautiful you about kill me but you'll have to accept it—”

pg 36

Or how about Mozart? Perhaps your idea of him is that of a rather stern-looking musical genius. But would you ever think of Mozart in love being rather similar to a gigglish schoolgirl?

“Dearest little wife, if only I had a letter from you! If I were to tell you all the things I do with your dear portrait, I think that you would often laugh. For instance, when I take it out of its case, I say, 'Good-day, Stanzerl!—Good-day, little rascal, pussy-pussy, little turned-up nose, little bagatelle, Schluck and Druck,' and when I put it away again, I let it slip in very slowly...and then just at the last, quickly, 'Good night, little mouse, sleep well.'”

pg 16-17

There's all sort of little gems in here. One of my favorites being an extremely drunken letter from Jack Kerouac to his 3rd wife's brother Sebastian Sampas:

“Sebastian you son of a beetch!

HOW ARE YOU?

I AM DRUNK!

Do you hear me? Do not die, live! We must go to Paris...”

pg 68-69

If I had one complaint with the collection it is that it doesn't include infamous physicist Richard Feynman's beautiful letter to his dead wife. But alas, you can't have everything I suppose. So I'll have to instead leave you with another of my favorites from the book.

“

“...I am reduced to a thing that wants Virginia. I composed a beautiful letter to you in the sleepless nightmare hours of the night, and it has all gone: I just miss you, in a quite simple desperate human way. You, with all your undumb letters, would never write so elementary a phrase as that; perhaps you wouldn't even feel it. And yet I believe you'll be sensible of a little gap. But you'd clothe it in so exquisite a phrase that it would lose a little of its reality. Whereas with me it is quite stark: I miss you a good deal. So this letter is really just a squeal of pain. It is incredible how essential to me you have become. I suppose you are accustomed to people saying these things. Damn you, spoilt creature: I shan't make you love me any the more by giving myself away like this—But oh my dear, I can't be clever and stand-offish with you: I love you too much for that. Too truly. You have no idea how stand-offish I can be with people I don't love. I have brought it to a fine art. But you have broken down my defences. And I don't really resent it.”

”

pg 60, Vita Sackville-West to Virgina Woolf

“

“Look Here Vita—throw over your man, and we'll go to Hampton Court and dine on the river together and walk in the garden in the moonlight and come home late and have a bottle of wine and get tipsy, and I'll tell you all the things I have in my head, millions, myriads—They won't stir you by day, only by dark on the river. Think of that. Throw over you man, I say, and come.”

” 

pg 62, Virigina Woolf to Vita Sackville-West

89. [GN]

Essex County, Volume 1:

Tales from the Farm

by. Jeff Lemire

A 10 year old boy named Lester has to live with his uncle on a farm in Southwestern Ontario after his mother passes away. He feels separated from the world until he befriends local gas station owner, Jimmy LeBeuf, and begins to come to terms with his new life.

Another quality Joey Comeau recommendation. Well, technically he never recommended it, he just mentioned he was planning on reading it and I beat him to the punch.

Tales from the Farm is a rather short, yet thoroughly heart-warming comic. The fact that is is able to tell such a beautiful story in so few pages (only 112 of them) is really a testament to its quality.

I really don't know what else to say. It most definitely gets my seal of approval and I would highly recommend you check it out. It's got a little bit of everything: humor, reality, fiction, sadness, beauty, and more.

“

“...You live here then, with Ken?”

“Yeah...

“My mom died last year. She had cancer.”

“That's fucked up man. Where's yer dad?”

“I never had one.”

“You gonna tell yer uncle I said the 'F' Word?”

“...No.”

“You're a good man chief.”

“My name's Lester.”

“Cool.

“My name's Jimmy.”

“I know. My uncle told me.”

“Oh yeah? What else'd he say about me?”

“He said you played for the Leafs, but you got hurt and you're different now.”

“DIFFERENT!?!”

“...Kinda slow.”

“Slow!?! That fucker! You think I'm slow Lester?”

“...No.”

“well, there you go then!”

“I bet he never told you I scored a goal too, did he? Everybody only remembers that hit I took. Nobody ever remembers that I scored in the first period. Your fuckin' uncle ever score a goal in the NHL!?!”

“No. He just farms.”

“HUMPH!”

”

90.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

by. Aimee Bender

A young girl discovers she has the ability to taste people's emotions through the food they prepare. However, it turns out to be something of a curse when she finds herself unable to escape from learning things about her parents that she never wanted to know.

I stumbled onto this one when I was working at the library. Aimee Bender is the author of a collection of short stories that I loved (Willful Creatures) and also of a collection of short stories that I found incredibly disappointing (The Girl in the Flammable Skirt). So when I saw that she had written a novel I was intrigued. After all, her short stories tend to hinge on highly imaginative and fanciful ideas, which tend to work better as short stories, because then you can just provide a glimpse without having to thread a continuous storyline.

Admittedly, when I first started reading this book I wasn't impressed at all. It seemed like it stole the premise of the comic Chew* and then took out all the action. But as the story developed I began to get really invested in it. Bender was able to create some really intriguing dramatic elements to the story.

My only big complaint is the main character's brother. I really enjoyed all the bits about the main girl, but for a while the story focuses way too much on the brother. I won't spoil anything, but her brother has a power too...and it is impossibly weird and frankly kind of stupid. So yeah. As I look back on it, I don't mind it so much, but as I was reading it it was bugging me something fierce.

Despite the bizarre element of the brother, the story really does have a lot going for it. While I can't say that book as a whole is amazing, I will say that a large amount of it is. In fact there are a number of scenes that were really touching. I mean, just really beautiful moments. And the main character is really likable and well developed. It's a short read, so if you're in the mood for something light and little unusual this could definitely be something you might want to look into.

“

The pie, sitting on the counter, with two big brown slices cut out of it.

What is it? Rose? It's the pie?

You feel so bad, I said, to the floor tile.

What do you mean? she said, touching my shoulder. Are you talking to the floor? You mean me again, Rose?

You're so sad in there, I said, and alone, and hungry, and sad—

In where? she said.

In the pie, I said.

In the pie? she said, flinching. What do you mean, baby?

Not baby, I said. No more baby.

Rose? she said, eyebrows caving in. The sheet of tears came down over me again. Blurring. I clawed at my mouth. What are you doing? she said, grabbing my hands. Honey?

I pulled away from her. I taste it, I said, pitching.

But, Rose, she said, tasted what—

I TASTED YOU!, I said.

”

pg 75-76


*[Chew is a dark-comedy comic book series about a man who can psychically tell the past of anything he eats and uses that ability to solve murders by eating dead bodies.]

91. [GN]

Sweet Tooth, Vol.1:

Out of the Deep Woods

by. Jeff Lemire

A young boy with deer-like features lives in the woods with his father. A virus has been scourging the planet for years slowly killing more and more people. Even stranger is the fact that all the children born after the virus struck have been born with the features of different animals. When the boy's father dies he's forced to journey out into this frightening world for the first time and it seems that not everyone is as nice to the animal children as his father was.

What can you say about a post-apocalyptic story starring a deer boy who loves candy bars? One that USA Today describes as being "like Mad Max with antlers."

Since I liked Tales From the Farm so much, I decided to check out Jeff Lemire's other work. While Sweet Tooth isn't as poignant a story as Tales From the Farm, it's still an oddly enjoyable tale.

It's really hard to describe what I liked about this one. I think it comes down to the fact that its bizarre nature is in perfect equilibrium. It's just weird enough to be intriguing, but not so weird as to be confusing or off-putting. So you've got a story about plagues, and roving bands of survivors, where food and guns are the big items to trade. We've all seen that story before, right? But then you add in little animal hybrid kids running around and suddenly you've made the story so much more unique and interesting.

“

There was five golden rules. My dad made me write them over and over until I knew them like I knew my own name...

Number Five: Never have a fire in the daytime, 'cause people could see the smoke and come and get us.

Number Four: If I ever see anyone other than my dad, I run, and keep running.

Number Three: Always say my prayers, so as God don't get mad at me and decide to come make me sick too.

Number Two: Never forget to pray for my momma, 'cause she was the best and prettiest lady God ever made.

And Number One: Never, ever leave the woods. 

”

pg 71

92.

Salmonella Men on Planet Porno

by. Yasutaka Tsutsui

A collection of bizarre short stories.

I read this one because Yakutaka Tsutsui is the author of the novel Paprika. Since I loved the animated movie that was based on the book, I figured I should give the book a try. Unfortunatly the library didn't have it. They did, however, have this book of his.

I'm really at a loss for words when it comes to this collection of stories. I'm quite certain that I would not be able to properly describe this book to you even if I tried my very hardest. I will say that being memorable is one of the things I look for most in a good short story, and these stories are definitely that. To give you a sense of the oddness I'm talking about I'll give you some descriptions of a few of the stories in the book.

“The Dabba Dabba Tree”: A couple buys a magical tree that's said to give the owner's erotic dreams. But because the dreams are so real everyone loses grasp on what's reality and what's a dream world and give in to their hedonistic urges.

“Rumors About Me”: Inexplicably the media starts giving in-depth reports about a local man. And their constant intrusion into his privacy begins to drive him a little crazy

“Commuter Army”: The story of a country who decides to create a commuter army, where being a soldier is just a job you commute to at the beginning of the day and go home from afterwards.

“Hello! Hello! Hello!”: A strange moustached man bursts into a married couple's house and gives them advice on living frugally. Then continues to show up any time they do anything that could hurt their savings. As you can imagine it starts to freak these people out.

“Salmonella Men on Planet Porno”: A group of astronauts on the Planet Porno must journey across the dangerously perverse landscape to find the cure for a plant that has made one of their team members pregnant.

“

From that day on, the moustache man visited us with increasing frequency. Sometimes, I might feel like eating something special, and I'd come home with some sea-bream sashimi, for example. Then he'd invariably appear at our kitchen table, and glare at me through narrowed eyes. Sometimes he'd even take the food away with him, or beat me hard on the back with a length of washing-machine hose. What's more, he would always, always appear, however carefully we locked the front door or the French windows on our veranda.

“Hello, hello, hello! Here I am, here I am, here I am! Tanaka, Tanaka, Tanaka's the name!”

Sometimes he'd enter the kitchen from the next room, which has no other means of access. If we were in our bedroom, he'd emerge from the built-in wardrobe. I thought he must be getting in through the ceiling. All the apartments in our block share a communal loft space — he must have been using that. So I nailed up the ceiling panels above the wardrobe. Then he appeared in the toilet.

”

pg 122

93. [GN]

The Complete Peanuts, Vol 1:

1950-1952

by. Charles M. Schulz

The complete collection of Peanuts' strips from 1950 to 1952.

What can I say? The original Peanuts strips are hilarious. I mean, holy crap are they ever funny. The strip has a totally different vibe than the Peanuts we're all used to: Snoopy doesn't talk or fly planes, there's no Peppermint Patty or Pig-Pen or Woodstock or pretty much any of the usual lineup, and Charlie Brown isn't as much of a sad sack.

Some of these strips are so good I might even go as far as to say that they surpass Calvin & Hobbes. And Calvin & Hobbes is my favorite comic strip of all time! But these old Peanuts' strips are cartooning at it's very best. There are no excess lines or excess dialogue. Schulz just goes at it with this very simple art style and these incredibly concise jokes, which is extremely hard to do, and once he finds his stride he just consistently knocks them out of the park.

If you're a fan of comic strips you have to give these a try. They are some of the best ones I've ever seen. I personally prefer reading things in print, but if you don't mind digital you can find them all online. Although, the downside of reading them online is that they don't have the Sunday strips in their archives. Another downside to looking at them digitally is that the print collection features a foreward by Garrison Keillor in addition to a great interview with Schulz at the end of the book.

“

“Well! Here comes ol' Charlie Brown!

Good ol' Charlie Brown...yes, sir!

Good ol' Charlie Brown...

How I hate him!”

”

from Peanuts' 10/02/1950 strip

94. [GN]

Skullkickers, Volume 1:

1000 Opas and a Dead Body

writer/creator: Jim Zub

artists: Edwin Huang & Chris Stevens

Two mercenaries, a dwarf and a human, love to fight and drink. They also have a particular knack for getting into trouble.

I kept hearing mentions of this one popping up here and there so I figured I'd see what it was all about. Unfortunately though I didn't really find it all that interesting.

It has some comedic moments which were pretty fun, but overall it sacrifices comedy in favor of action. And, unfortunately, when it's an action comic it's just incredibly unoriginal.

 “

POST-VIOLENCE

“Thank you, I think.”

“Yer welcome.”

“We are but humble merchants traveling these dirt roads. We have little in the way of coinage, but you have my eternal--”

“A horse, food and money.”

“Well, my guards here would beg to differ.”

“$^&# YOU. Just give 'em what they want or they'll kill us too.”

“I...see.”

”

95.

Typography Sketchbooks

edited by. Steven Heller & Lita Talarico

A look at the sketchbooks of type designers.

I have rather mixed feelings about this book. On one hand I did enjoy getting to see the sketches of famous type designers, but on the other hand I didn't like everything else. For some reason or another the book felt that just showing all these cool sketches of all sorts of different styles wasn't enough. So for each designer they insist on going through the same style of paragraphs: A description of who the designer is and what they're known for, followed by a paragraph about what that designer thinks about sketchbooks.

I love sketches and sketchbooks, but let us be honest here, there isn't much you can say about them. Everything you can say is painfully obvious to anyone who sketches. Oh, I sketch to work out idea. Ah, I sketch to get a feel for an image before I commit to doing a final piece. What do you know, I sketch as a way of keeping records of my thoughts. Really? Never before has the word Duh seemed so appropriate.

And yet they insist on doing it for every single person, and it's a fat book, there's a lot of people featured in it. So inevitably you get to read the exact same things about sketches again and again and again.

If you like type design I would thoroughly recommend you take a look at this book. However, take my advice and don't bother to actually read it. Just look at all the cool pictures. You'll be much better off for it.

“

Kevin Cornell

Kevin Cornell, an illustrator and designer based in Philadelphia and founder of the website Bearskinrug, uses a sketchbook to figure out “how I want to handle a specific word or phrase — usually the title of a coming, or a logo or something. But pretty often I just get a hankering to play around, and I'll write out gibberish just so I can explore the letterforms.”

He notes that “what I think is attractive about sketchbooks (and sketches in general) is that most of the time they communicate almost everything you'd look to communicate in the final piece.” He further offers the theory that “most illustrators use sketchbooks to help figure out visual problems, and so, on the same spread, or across spreads, you might find the same thing drawn from different perspectives, or perhaps a couple of options for how to treat a piece of text. They're just filled with lovely little vignettes. I rarely use sketchbooks that way. In a sense, these are more akin to a diary than a sketchbook. Just a guy unloading the crap from his head.” The book shown here is from spring 2005.

”

Book List 2012: Part 7

 Oh, dear. It seems I've fallen quite a ways behind on my book listing duties. It's always better to stay on top of it, because otherwise the books aren't fresh in your mind. But what can you do.

Anyway, there's a pretty good spread of genres going on in this edition. Also, I should warn you that last one on here (#83) starts out as a review and quickly devolves into me cursing at the author...so there's that.

*=reread
[GN] = Graphic Novels
[CB] = Children's Books

74.

To The Nines

by. Janet Evanovich

Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter extraordinaire, is on the case of a visa bond who's gone missing. But when she starts investigating she finds herself the target of a dangerous group with a demented sense of the word "game".

You know what? I'm 9 books into this series so I think I've earned the right to really half-ass these reviews. So here's the what I wrote for book 8. It applies to this one as well.

“None of the mysteries in these books recently have really been up to snuff. But you know what? As long as there's a decent bad guy, and I'm still having fun while reading it and getting some solid laughs, then I don't care. This one had those elements and thus I quite enjoyed it.”

“

“Hey, we should make a stopover at the mall. I could get a new purse and then just for the hell of it we could go into Victoria's Secret and see if Tank follows us in. That's how you tell what a man's really made of. It's one thing for a man to be big and brave and kill a spider. Any man could do that. Trailin' after a woman when she's shopping for thongs and push-up bras is a whole other category of man. And then if you want to see how far you can go with it, you ask him to carry one of those little pink bags they give you.”

”

page 136

75.

Just My Type:

A Book About Fonts

by. Simon Garfield

It's a book about fonts.

On one hand I'd like to say that this would be a great book for someone who wasn't already interested in fonts. It talks about the history of different fonts and also shows how fonts affect people and make the news. However, if you really have no interest in typography then I think the flowery way he describes letterforms might be hard to take.

But who cares about you? I think typography is interesting and I'm willing to overlook rapturous descriptions of letterforms if the rest of it is interesting. And it was interesting. I learned all sorts of interesting things. I learned that the shape of an ampersand (this lil fella --> &) comes from a stylized writing of the letters "et". I learned that the guy who created Comic Sans also created Trebuchet (Fun Fact: Trebuchet is what I use for author's names in these booklists). I also learned that the type designer Eric Gill was a world-class pervert...I mean, Damn, was that guy ever into some messed-up shit.

It's chalk full of interesting information like that. I also liked that he'd often write a font's name in the actual font. Although it spoiled me and thus I fond mylself annoyed any time he didn't. And sometimes he'll be waxing poetic about the subtle curve of some font's capital G or something and he wouldn't have an example to look at, which was annoying. (I realize that these issues were probably due to copyright restrictions and thus weren't the authors fault. But I still feel they're issues worth pointing out).

So yeah. It's not perfect by any means, but I like it. It took chances and tried some interesting stuff that you usually don't see in font books. Sure, it didn't always pull everything off, but I like that it tried. It did a great job at showing that fonts are interesting, and artistic, and that they matter; whether you've realized it or not.

“

At the end of August 2009, an unusual thing happened in the world: IKEA changed its typeface. This wasn't so strange in itself — big companies like to stay fresh, and this is often the easiest way to do it — but the odd thing was that people noticed.

Most customers didn't like the switch. There was rudeness on websites. Newspapers wrote about it in cutting ways, and there were frank exchanges on BBC radio. It wasn't a revolution on the scale of Gutenburg's printing press, but it did mark a turning point, one of those moment when a lot of people found they cared about something they had never cared about before.

One walked around IKEA and felt a little queasy — or rather, queasier than normal. The place still offered meatballs, and the IKEA sign was still up there on the side of the building in its yellow and blue proprietary IKEA logo. But there was something unfamiliar about the signage and catalogue. IKEA had abandoned its elegant typeface Futura in favour of the modern Verdana, and the switch had caused consternation not only among type geeks, but real people. Suddenly there was a font war.

” 

page 73

76. [GN]

Fairy Quest:

Outlaws

Written by. Paul Jenkins and Humberto Ramos

Art by. Humberto Ramos

Every time someone reads a fairy tale the characters of that tale have to act it out. The same thing every time. Again and again and again. Or else Grimm comes and takes you away. But Red has become friends with the Wolf and she's sick of having to pretend otherwise. So now Red and Wolf are on the run through the land of stories trying to escape Grimm and make it to the real world.

Humberto Ramos is one of my all-time favorite artists. I adore his work. It has this slick cartoony quality to it that I just love. The last time him and Paul Jenkins got together it was for a comic called Revelations. I thoroughly enjoyed that one so I was super excited to hear about this one.

Too bad this one is incredibly hard to get a copy off. They haven't had any luck selling it to a distributor so they've had to do it themselves. But I finally found a copy on ebay.

My only real problem with it is that it's much too short! I want to know what happens next!

“

“CHARACTERS OF FABLEWOOD!

You know me to be a hard taskmaster—

—but have I not always been fair?

I ask only for unquestioning loyalty to your stories—

—and you are otherwise free to live peacefully.

There has been a betrayal: a defiance of our rules—

—one of our loyal agents has uncovered evidence of a group of deviants living among us.”

“Oh, no!”

“Bring forth the prisoner!”

“Grimm's lying to you! You can be free of his tyranny! You've all got to listen to me—!”

“SILENCE DEVIANT!

You have violated the fair and equitable rules of storytelling—

—and as an enemy of Fablewood you will be forcibly rehabilitated.”

” 

77.

The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian

by. Sherman Alexie

A kid named from a Spokane Indian Reservation puts himself in the center of two worlds when he starts going to a high school off the reservation. Now he's the only Indian at school, and his community at home treats him like a traitor.

This really is an amazing book. It's aiming at a young adult audience, but it's done so well that I think anyone can enjoy it. Well, not everyone. Apparently it's gotten banned in a number of places.

Personally I think it is ridiculous that schools would ban this book. Yeah, it talks about poverty. And yes, it does talk about alcoholism and dysfunctional families. Guess what? A lot of kids can relate to that. Guess what else? Trying to pretend it doesn't exist won't make it go away.

The entire thing is just so well done. It's funny, it's poignant, it's even a little sad. And above all it is just done with so much heart and honesty.

“

“ I used to think the world was broken down by tribes,” I said. “By black and white. By Indian and white. But I know that isn't true. The world is only broken into two tribes: The people who are assholes and the people who are not.”

”

pg. 176

78.

The Show That Smells

by. Derek McCormak

Fashionista vampires battle in the mirror maze of a carnival and a married couple is stuck in the middle of it all.

I honestly cannot describe this book. It is just so utterly unlike anything else.

Let's make it simpler. You see, I get a lot of book recommendations from an author named Joey Comeau. He's on the website Goodreads which let's me see all the stuff he's read and is planning on reading. And it is there that I first heard of this book. Here's his review of the book:

“This book is insane. I didn't know books could be like this. It is a mirror maze of a book. It is a string of dead baby jokes and high fashion references. it is a vampire love story, loaded with gay sex and the monster hunting, gospel singing Carter Family. I have never read anything like it.

I think Derek McCormack is easily the best writer in Canada.”

As I was reading this book I had a number of problems with it. But afterwards I started to think about it. And the more I think about it the more I start coming around to the idea that it's actually kind of genius. I think my problems with it were mostly due to the fact that it was so far removed from my expectations that it took me completely off-guard. And I wasn't able to completely change those expectations before it ended (it's only 120 pages).

It's so short that I definitely think it's worth taking a look at. Just don't go in expecting a traditional story. If you do it'll be like going to a museum wanting  to see Monet's and getting Mondrian's.

Actually I quite like that comparison. This book strikes me as a literary Mondrian painting. Take from that what you will.

“

“At my vampire carnival, the gent at the Guess Your Age game will guess your age within a hundred years—or you win a prize!

“At my vampire carnival, I will not give away goldfish. Play the Fish Pond and win—a baby! Play the Milk Bottle Toss and win—a baby! Boy babies, girl babies, arranged on prize racks, screaming their lovely lungs out!”

”

pg 80.

79. [GN]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

Change is Constant, vol.1

Story by. Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz

Script by. Tom Waltz

Layouts by. Kevin Eastman

Art by. Dan Duncan

The beginning of a retelling of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

You may have noticed that I listed a lot more of the people involved in this comic than I usually do. For space reasons I tend to gloss over the work of the letters and the colorists and the inkers and all the rest (my apologies to their fine work, but I don't often meet people who'd read a comic because of its inker). But this time there's something important to note in all these names: Kevin Eastman has played a significant role it the making of this comic.

For those of you who don't know, Kevin Eastman is one of the original creators of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. So the fact that he helped create the story and did the layouts means that it might be being given a update, but its roots are going all the way back to the source.

And I think it succeeds! I loved it. It's a great new take on the story. They've made a few changes, but I feel the changes have strengthened the story. For instance April O'Neal is now a scientist instead of a bimbo reporter. Raphael's anger and rebel spirit? That's because he was separated from the others right after they got exposed to the ooze so he was on his own for the first part of his life. Casey Jones' aggression and vigilante spirit? He comes from an abusive home where the only help he's gonna get is from himself.

There's all sorts of clever little twists that really work to give the story a solid framework. And (unlike the original) I feel this one is a lot more accessible to a younger audience as well.

“

The storm has broken—

—its wrath unleashed.

And each of us must face torrential rage in his own way.

Our individual techniques are as unique as each new crash of thunder.

Coldly analytical and deliberate.

Militantly disciplined and precise.

Absurdly unorthodox and carefree.

Wretchedly misguided and vengeful.

And with the bittersweet experience of the centuries.

I have defeated Old Nob before.

Then, as now, the battle was fierce.

But once was solely a fight for survival has become very personal.

Eventually the tempest subsides.

And what began with a ferocious roar ends in uncertain silence.

It is simply the calm before the next storm. 

”

80. [CB]

Extra Yarn

by. Mac Barnett

illustrated by. Jon Klassen

“On a cold afternoon, in a cold little town, where everywhere you looked was either the white of snow or the black of soot from chimneys, Annabelle found a box filled with yarn of every color.”

Did I read this book just because Jon Klassen did the artwork?

Yes. Yes I did.

And I will continue to do so because his stuff always looks fantastic.

The writing was good. It wouldn't rave about it, but it was fine. And a decent story paired with absolutely fantastic artwork makes this something that's worth giving a look.

81.*

Taggerung

by. Brian Jacques

An otterbabe is kidnapped from the peaceful Redwall by a clan of vermin and raised to be a killer. However, when he grows up he decides that this isn't the life for him, defies the clan, and sets off in search of the home he's never known. But his old clan isn't about to let him go that easily.

You know what? Terry Pratchett might be my favorite author, but I have to admit that Brian Jacques is the author I most consistently enjoy. I can't think of a single Redwall book of his that I didn't like. You can always be sure of what you're going to get when you pick one up: adventure, songs, poems, delicious descriptions of food, and an interesting cast of characters.

I could do without the fact that certain species of creatures are always inherently evil, but I can understand why he does that. It's just how the genre works, isn't it? I don't go around complaining that Tolkien's Orcs and Trolls were always evil do I? So I have no ground to stand on to complain that rats and weasels are always evil and should probably just keep my trap shut about it.

I don't think I even need to describe too much about the book. Like I said, the man is consistent. All you need to know is the description to set the scene. And you already know what you're going to be getting and you know it's going to be really good. I mean, sure, there's an argument for wanting something exciting and new that takes chances and all that. But you know what? We all have our favorite meals.

 Sometimes it's fun to taste new dishes and try something you've never had before. But other times? Other times you just want your go-to dish. You want something comforting where you know what you're going to get and you know that you're going to enjoy the heck out of it. You want that classic hamburger. That Thanksgiving dinner. That sesame chicken combo with rice.

Redwall books are my literary go-to meal.

“

Boorab stood to one side, striking a fine dramatic pose, one leg behind the other, ears laid soulfully back, paws bent at chest height in true hare singing fashion. Casting his eyes over the contents of the carts as the servers trundled them up to the tables, he coughed politely and launched into a speedily delivered verse.

“How can one count the praises of the vittles at 

Redwall?

Oh pure delight, oh wondrous night, I'll sing to one 

and all.

Thaaaaaaat blackberry pudden looks such a good 'un,

All covered in meadow cream.

And the hazelnut cake, well for goodness' sake,

I hope it's no jolly dream.

That huge apple pie, oh me oh my, the crust is pipin' hot,

Good creatures be nice, an' save me a slice,

Or I'm sure I'll die, wot wot!”

Foremole Brull nudged a cart with her footpaw. It rolled gently to rest, right under Boorab's nose. The hare tried bravely to carry on singing with a hot mushroom pastie, dripping onion gravy, simmering under his nose.

“What rhymes with pastie, I'll try to sing fastly,

My nose tells me 'tis wrong,

This soon will grow cold, if I may make so bold,

Pray excuse a chap endin' his song!”

Unable to stand it any longer and disregarding cutlery, the gluttonous hare hurled himself barepawed upon the pastie. “Grmmff, I say, sninch grrmm, rotten ole mole cad, grmmff grrawff, put me off my ditty completely, grrmff snch, bounder!”

 ”

Page 55-56

82.

Forgotten Bookmarks:

A Bookseller's Collection of Odd Things Lost Between Pages

by. Michael Popek

A collection of things a bookseller has found in old books.

I don't know what I was expecting from this one, but whatever it was, it didn't deliver it. I was really excited to read it, but it was just...dull. I mean, sure there was a few interesting things. And I liked how he'd show what book the items came from. But in the end it was all just rather dull.

If you want to read a book about interesting found items I'd suggest you forget about this one and just go read Davy Rothbart's Found: The Best Lost, Tossed, and Forgotten Items From Around the World instead. It's much more interesting and a ton more fun.

“

Seven Razor Blades inside a book called Stenciling With Style

”

pg.149 

“

“Today is the first day of the rest of your life.”

FOUND ON PARCHMENT PAPER: LOOKS TO BE PRINTED RATHER THAN WRITTEN.

Found in Sex Without Guilt by Albert Ellis, PhD. Published by Lyle Stuart, 1958

”

pg.113

83.

Stephen Fry in America

by. Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry takes a journey across America to learn about this land through its individual states.

I don't like this book.

I really don't like this book. In fact, it actually makes me rather angry just thinking about it. I wanted to like this book so badly, but it is just awful.

He sets up his journey like that of a modern-day Alexis de Tocqueville, but it isn't. For those of you who don't know, de Tocqueville was a French man who was sent to the US in 1831 by the French government to study the American prison system. However, de Tocqueville used the opportunity to study American society instead. He used his findings to write a book called Democracy in America.

So here's my point: de Tocqueville went around America and wrote about what he saw. He had his own biases, of course, but he was an intelligent guy, a historian, and was capable of putting the things he saw together into poignant observations and predictions.

Stephen Fry acts like he's doing the same thing, but he's not! He's spends barely any time in each state, goes on a couple of bullshit set-up tourist excursions and then thinks he's entitled to make generalizations about the states and the country as a whole.

Even worse is that he goes on all these stupid "events" but half the time they involve doing some shit he hates. He's a complete pompous atheist type and yet he meets with every fringe religion under the sun. Why? Why would you go out of your way to do something you don't like? If you were just road tripping across America and seeing what you came across it would be one thing, but you set these things up in advance! It's completely fabricated and yet you think it entitles you to expound on America as whole!? Honestly!

And the whole time he just reeks of arrogance. A number of times he talks about how Americans don't know anything about cheese, wine, and tea. Guess what? We can tell the difference. We aren't some fucking tongueless simpletons. The thing is that most of us just don't give a shit about those foods.

I am perfectly capable of noticing that a fancy cup of tea is better than the tea bag stuff I drink, but I just don't care. The difference just isn't worth the bother and the expense. I am CAPABLE of noticing the rubbery nature of the cheap-ass cheese I get at the grocery store. But I just don't care enough to go for the pricey stuff. "Can't tell" my ass. Fuck you very much, Mr. Fry.

But maybe some of you are thinking, "Oh, Jesse, maybe you just had problems with it because you're an American and he had some unflattering things to say about your home."

Right?

Well, bullshit! de Tocqueville had plenty of unflattering things to say, but most of the time his unflattering things were quite true. He had the experience and the knowledge needed to make those kinds of claims. He didn't just show up, go to Disneyland, eat a hot dog, shoot a fucking gun, and then go home to write a book.

You know what? I'm going to just end this review here, because I'm all riled up.

But Fuck you, Stephen Fry. I generally love your work and I bet you're a super nice guy and I bet you'd be really fun to hang out with in person, but your book is fucked up. So up your ass with glass for writing this.

I'm going to go listen to some Frank Sinatra and try to calm down.

P.S. If you want to read something that looks at America from a British lens, or something that looks at Britain from an American lens, check out Bill Bryson's I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away and Notes From a Small Island, respectively.

“

Mind you, Mount Rushmore itself isn't exactly the Parthenon or the Sistine Chapel either. After the naive daftness of the Crazy Horse monuments, I find the pompous idiocy of those four presidents somehow more risible still. Wishing to show respect or feel a vicarious thrill of admiration or pride, I can only giggle. For which I am very sorry. Any loyal American reading this who feels outraged and insulted is free to explode with derisive snorts or laughter at any British equivalent. 

”

pg.209.

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt are pompous idiots? Are you out of your fucking gourd?! Seriously? Are you mentally ill? Washington and Jefferson kicked your fucking elitist asses to the curb during the revolution and established an entire friggin' country. Lincoln prevented an entire country from ripping itself apart. And Roosevelt did a number of great things, but most of all he established national parks, effectively protecting some of the world's most beautiful natural wonders from being destroyed. You can't go around praising a national park one second and then go around dissing Theodore Roosevelt the next. So how about you show some G-damned respect you fucking choad.