The Melbourne International Animation Festival snuck in to town this week, I almost missed it if it wasn’t for a small article in the paper - but thankfully I made it to one of the sessions and was blown away by the talent that is festering around the world by those very talented and bleary-eyed animators - this is not a dying art - it’s blooming and booming and growing in strength each year.
What was refreshing about the animations on show was that most were hand crafted - using expressive hand drawn line-work, charcoal, some subtly integrating 3D computer modeling.
The stand out for me was “Rabbit Punch” by recent Royal college of the art, UK, graduate Kristian Andrews - you can find a short of it here A fantastic use of line drawing and computer 3D integration showing just enough visuals to tell the story.
Another stand out was Satiago ‘Bou” Grasso’s “The Employment” - it’s a shame I couldn’t find a short of this one online but this image will give you the crux of the story line
And finally, “Jazzed” by Anton Setola, which I could find a short for! enjoy!
Melbourne band Temper Trap’s film clip for their recent hit ‘Science of fear’ - great use of video and animation fused together to to create a film clip that exudes the passion of the song.
So often on my travels through cyberspace I come upon some amazing and inspiring animation work, and from here on I will be posting them - not only to entertain and inspire you but so that I remember where they are!
Apple’s OS 1 - the very first graphic user interface for Apple’s operating system that appeared in 1984 in its new computer called the Machintosh - all 124Kb of RAM, 8Mhz of processor speed, 3.5″ floppy, 9″ black and white monitor - we may chuckle about it now but this was big back then.
Though I wasn’t there for system 1, I was introduced to the Mac at system 6 (which appeared to have changed little other than introducing multi-tasking) - it was revolutionary - designers were now able to unleash full control over how type was layed out, rather than having to spec up artboards for typesetters to prepare - this is where it all began.
And Photoshop! wow, even back then at version 1 - being able to scan in a sketch and modify it - though at the time there were no layers and only in bitmap, it still gave designers increased control and began the liberation of design as we know it today.
It’s good to pause and recall where it all began as it is so easy to take for granted with the proliferation of software and computer technology. Give it another 5 years and were likely to chuckle about what we have today! - “Remember hard-drives and RAM” I’m sure will be muttered.
The International festival of the poster is held in Chaumont, France, now in its 20th year. It’s on a list of graphic events that would be great to visit - despite and excuse to visit France. The festval showcases 100-120 posters from over 40 countries that have been submitted to the theme-based competition and they also run poster design workshops.
This year the festival took place between May 16 and June 14, 2009. The prize money: First Prize : 7500 €; Second Prize : 4500 €;
Third Prize : 3000 €
Gustave Dutailly was an avid collector of posters and prints dating back to the early 1900s which included works from Toulouse-Lautrecm Chéret, Grasset, and many images from the birth of graphic design. A resident of the Chaumont, he bequeathed his collection to the town - and in the early 1980s the town staged a festival and put these works on display.
In 1990 the town inaugurated the first “Rencontres Internationales des Arts Graphiques”. the aim of this festival is to echo the artistic production on the field of visual communication on and international scale.
Finding out information on the event proves challenging without understanding French, but you can find out more at their official site: www.chaumont-graphisme.com.
I wanted to make mention of one of the outstanding designers/Ilustrators of the last century, Milton Glaser - and with the release of a new documentary on his life and work I thought this would be a good time.
Milton Glaser was one of the most influential designers that came out of the 1950s, his style was defined by simplicity, orginality and directness of idea. He was responsible for some very iconic graphics, some of which are in the gallery below. Discover more insight into Milton Glaser at his website www.miltonglaser.com
The documentary on Milton Glaser is titled To inform and to delight and was released this month. Not sure if it will make it to cinemas here, but give it time and you’ll find it on Amazon, I’m sure!
I also wanted to point you to a talk Milton gave in 2001 where he discussed 10 things he has learned - it’s a very insightful read.
Ten Things I Have Learned
Part of AIGA Talk in London
November 22, 2001
1 You can only work for people that you like
This is a curious rule and it took me a long time to learn because in fact at the beginning of my practice I felt the opposite. Professionalism required that you didn’t particularly like the people that you worked for or at least maintained an arms length relationship to them, which meant that I never had lunch with a client or saw them socially. Then some years ago I realised that the opposite was true. I discovered that all the work I had done that was meaningful and significant came out of an affectionate relationship with a client. And I am not talking about professionalism; I am talking about affection. I am talking about a client and you sharing some common ground. That in fact your view of life is someway congruent with the client, otherwise it is a bitter and hopeless struggle. Continue reading
The Melbourne Museum of Printing held a fund raising open day yesterday and they could not have been more please with the turn out - “a thousand times more people than we normally get!”. It was shoulder to shoulder throughout the museum - housed in a modest workshop in Moreland Street, Footscray, Melbourne. I’m sure for a lot of us this was our first visit, and I have always been meaning to go, but it took their cry for help to get myself there - and I’m pleased I did - it’s fantastic to see a place like this operating and demonstrating the printing process of the not too distant past.
They are currently under threat of eviction after 25 years - after the success of yesterday I hope they have managed to raise enough funds to keep this treasure running.
Here we are again in our endeavor to give you an insight into common printing processes that are often taken for granted but understanding them in detail can help appreciate their capabilities and limitations.
Die-cutting (also known as forme-cutting) is the process of cutting or punching shapes from sheets of paper or card by pressing a shaped blade into one or more sheets.
The process uses sharp blades that are folded and cut to shape either by hand or by computer controlled machinery and then knocked into a laser cut plywood backing board - this is known as the die-cutting tool. The tool is then inserted into a press, sometimes an old letter-press machine, and under pressure is pressed into a pre-printed sheet of paper or card and the shape cut out - also known as blanking.
The blades can be sharp for cutting, dull for creasing or toothed for perforating.
Some of the better videos we found that demonstrate how the die-cutting tool is made.
You could watch this machine run all day - mesmerizing! But this video will give you a good understanding of the relatively simple die-cutting process - the blades are pushed against the paper under force, and like a cookie cutter, cuts the paper.
