Dafont ain't da devil!!!

Ok so since I started in graphic design I have heard few things despised so much as Dafont.com. I have heard so much bad press from this site that you would think it should have a "For Mature Audiences Only" sign stapled to the homepage. I hear so many times things like "These ****ing kids need to stay off Dafont.com. This piece sucks." "I know that font, I have seen it so many times!" "Stay of Dafont. It's the devil and it rots away the design lobe of your brain."

Okay so maybe I'm stretching it a little on the last one but you get my drift. So many people really don't like this site and it is a shame because it can be such a great resource.

-Note- I said CAN be.

I say can because the problem I see so many times is a font that either doesn't fit with the overall composition or it is a font that I have seen many many many times. For example there was a levi's commercial that aired a little while ago that was using a font called, Bleeding Cowboys. I immediately recognized the font and was a little surprised that they would use a font that was quickly becoming very common. It was featured on the cover of a Photoshop Magazine in December and I am sure that it has been seen elsewhere. While a type face might be great keep looking because if it is overused it isn't going to look good it is going to look cheap.

If you really want to be taken seriously take this next tip and apply it right now.

USE THE RIGHT TYPEFACE FOR THE RIGHT JOB.

I'll say it again. Choose your typeface clearly. When doing any composition, as some of you may know, death can certainly be in the details. The font definitely goes into this. When there is a bad use of a typeface and there are a lot of poorly used typefaces out there (http://vccgraphics.wordpress.com/2006/10/13/10-tragic-typefaces/) just resist temptation. KEEP LOOKING FOR THE RIGHT FONT!!! The key to any good composition is taking a holistic approach. You wouldn't mix bad colors would you? You wouldn't use boring compositions or elements would you? Well then don't flake out on your type. Don't do it!! If you do you may ruin your piece and end up with not only crappy type face but a crappy piece that will demean not only itself but you as an artist.

Want to learn more about typography? Check these out

For typography basics:
http://typies.blogspot.com/2006/11/15-tips-to-choose-good-text-type.html
http://ilovetypography.com/2008/02/28/a-guide-to-web-typography/

For professional type effects:
http://www.tutoriallounge.com/2009/08/25-astounding-typography-tutorials/
http://techpp.com/2009/03/10/22-stunning-typography-tutorials-photoshop-text-effects/

Book Review: Drawing Cutting Edge Anatomy by Christopher Hart

Well it isn't too often that some things come into my life. Two of those things are Time and Money. It seems like in school I have at least one project or test or sculpture or drawing or something like that taking up all my time. This obviously leaves a fairly limited amount of time for fun projects. This weekend was one of those rare times though that I was able to finally get some time to myself and get some reading done.

I hopefully will be able to get you guys a lot more resources like this one.I wanted to refer all of you to a book that is really helping me with my anatomy. The book is called Drawing Cutting Edge Anatomy. If you are looking for a great reference on how to draw the human form like a pro then this book is gonna become your friend. On Amazon you can take a quick look through the book and see what I am talking about.

I picked this book up from my Local Library (which is a totally awesome force for evil but a different blog entry all together) but anyways, I picked it up and even through this weekend have found some of the principles in it making my drawing improve significantly over just the last few days. I highly recommend it!!  Absolutely!! I'll get some pictures of my drawings uploaded to Deviantart as soon as I can. If you have any specific questions let me know. I am in the process of writing another review for my US History class that is five pages so if I go any deeper than saying that it is fantastic I am gonna break the internet bandwidth.

It's worth the risk. The approach to the book is nice and straight forward and gives examples on many different styles from a few great illustrators/artists. It really talks predominately about the Muscular system and what it is made of and not so much on how to draw it which makes it an incredible reference for poses and understanding the musculature of the human body but skims a little less on the instruction side of things. But as the title states it is the "ultimate Reference" for the comic artist. So there is a level of artistic aptitude that is required to get the most out of this book.

Ok so that is my little spiel about this great book. go get it it is worth it! Enjoy!

Alex

Question of the Week: What is the hardest part of Art School?

This weeks Question of the Week is all about what is difficult for you. What makes you want to pull the hair from your head and break every pencil you own.For me I have been struggling through Anatomy and the proper portrayal of the human form. It kills me every time.

The key to these things though is learning. Don't try an solve all of your own problems by yourself. it won't work get some books, some critique anything that will help you to move on and grow.

So to summarize this two part question.

Let us know...

1. What is the most difficult thing for you?

2. How are you improving on it?

New work and New features

Well I just posted new artwork to my Deviantart account and I have some new Ideas that I am kicking around for the Blog.

The largest of which is a featured Section. I want to get Ideas from around the Community and see what survival tips you have.

if you want to be reviewed for a feature Let me know on either

Twitter: @Surivethearts

Or

Email: Artschoolsurvival@gmail.com

Survival is an option
Alex

Question of the Week: Halloween Costumes

So with the halfway milestone quickly fading into the distance and the new semester quickly approaching the question for this week is simple.


What are you going to be for Halloween?

yeah pretty pic I know. If you got some great ideas let us know because I am sure there are a lot of people who still have no clue what their costumes for Halloween are going to be.

A Need to Feed.

Ok so here we are another great morning to be an student. Surviving is really difficult I find when you have no survival tools. So I am here to describe a great tool that some people might not know about it. It is called the RSS feed.

It is that little icon that to the right of my posts. Looks like 1/4 of three concentric circles. Yeah that is called an RSS Feed icon. RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication. Basically it is a subscription service. It allows users to subscribe to a website,blog, or really anywhere that offers information that is updated like videos, news, posts, articles, photos and stuff like that.

The reason this is so helpful to us as art students is that it puts the knowledge of experts and professionals right at our fingertips. If you are a user of iGoogle (which I highly recommend) then your RSS feeds will post directly to your homepage ready to view at anytime.  These are all automatically updated whenever the site adds content, which means that you don't have to go looking all over the net to find that Typography tutorial you saw or the really awesome free vector pack. It will all be cataloged right in your Feed Reader ready to go.

Subscribing to these feeds is as easy as clicking on the Feed Icon on the site. It may come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors but they all do the same thing. After you have clicked on it you then have to tell the feed where to go, kinda like your address on a magazine subscription. There are many places to put feeds. I already mentioned iGoogle but Windows Live, myYahoo and Newsgator all have Feed readers on them and they will help you tremendously.

I want to wrap up this Entry with a short list of some of the Feeds that I use and that have helped me to grow and keep up with all the craziness involved in surviving.

GoMediaZine - A great site that posts tutorials and articles that pertain to Graphic Design and illustration

Psdtuts+ - The Photoshop arm of the Tuts+ network of sites. They provide top notch tutorials from some the best in the industry.

Freelance Switch- Information on all of the ins and outs of freelancing

FreelanceFolder- Another great freelancing site. They literally wrote the book.\

Do any of you have any RSS feeds that you subscribe to? Let us know!

Survival is an option.

Laughter is the Best Medicine

Well sorry that it has been so long guys but I have been swamped with geuss what? Art work!! Yeah

It really isn't too bad but it does weigh on me sometimes. I was up until 3am a little while ago working on a project for 3D Design. Not the most fun but I think I am finding my groove. Last night I was working on a project that was a strict follower of Murphy's law. I was painting on foam-core/ foam board and I was going for a stone texture with a silver corner. My plan was originally to spray the entire piece silver and then mask, spray with texture, remove the tape and be done. But no the masking tape began to peel the silver off of my corners. The texture paint I found was detrimental to the structural integrity of foam board. It was peeling the upper layer of paper off of the foam center. It also somehow made my hot glue corrode and become nonadhesive. So I am in the middle of crunch time and my sculpture is falling apart. What do I do? I work through it and just let it go and laugh.

In class this morning I was tired and not really wanting to be there. But the only thing to do is find the best in the situation. How? Laugh. not any one thing in particular but just find your own humor. If I can lighten a mood then it helps everything go smoother and keeps the tension of a critique down.

So today do yourself a favor. Laugh.