Old is New

 

I'm sure you've noticed the current design trend leaning towards the retro theme of the 40s, 50s & 60s.  Fast food and family style restaurants, insurance commercials, car advertisements, you name it; you'll see that old is new again. I am a big fan of retro design and like to use this style whenever possible. How do you like it?

Some cool retro font sites to get you started on a retro-istic journey:

The Font Diner

Lost Type

Sign Fonts.com

Give this style a try if you already haven't. Illustrators and artists: put some of this type into your artwork for a different twist. You may have some clients that like this and will appreciate an option from your usual art style. Let me know what you think, and keep it retro, dude!

Richard Huante Design & Illustration

More Life Drawing

 

Keep going to your life drawing sessions.  Life drawing not only helps you practice seeing values, but helps you remember anatomy correctly when sketching from memory. This becomes invaluable when commissioned to illustrate a figure with a unique or unusual pose.

 

Some courtesy tips when attending open studio/life drawing sessions:

• Turn your cell phone off or keep it on vibrate. Disrupting other artists while they are concentrating will make you lose popularity points.
• Don't go around critiquing the other artists. Nobody asked you to. Plus you might get your ass kicked.
• It's ok to strike up conversations with a neighbor, but only do it during breaks.
• It's usually a no-no to take pictures of the undraped model without permission. If you really want to take a snapshot for future reference, be sure to ask the model first and even offer him/her a few bucks for doing so. Cash has an unusual power of persuasion.

 

Well, I hope this little blog will encourage you to go out and do some life sketches. Grab your charcoal and/or pencils and get to it, son!

Richard Huante Design & Illustration

Sites Seeing

My fellow designers and designerettes, here are some links to sites that I frequent. Perhaps you'll enjoy them like I do.

The Font Feed is a site for all you typography nuts. Lots of interesting posts on this one.

The Deeply Graphic DesignCast is a podcast featuring 3 designers talking about, what else...graphic design! I'm actually listening to it as I type this.

The Graphic Design Forum features many discussion topics, including Resources, Business Issues and the ever popular Crit Pit (where it says to wear your heavy sweater!).

Logo Design Love showcases different logo designs for inspiration. I like visiting Logopond too, but their site appears to be down at the moment.

Well, hopefully you give these sites a try and find some useful to you. Let me know how you like these or if you have a favorite site to recommend. Til then, happy designing, my friends!

Richard Huante Design & Illustration

Hobo of the Month

So, the next time you are standing in front of Ramiro’s admiring the typography on their sign, why not step inside and pick yourself up a tasty order to go? I recommend the chorizo plate with beans, rice & tortillas. Yum. Eee. You’ll probably want to go sooner rather than later, before Sherriff Joe & Company decide to raid the place.

Well, Bs & Gs, hope you enjoyed this month’s thrilling installment of “Hobo of the Month”. Mark your calendars and set your watches for the next time, when we will once again feature your second all time favorite typeface, Hobo Standard! 

Richard Huante Design & Illustration

Buying Better Brands

 

When painting or drawing with traditional media, it’s always a good idea to use high quality materials. In the example above, I used cheaper, student grade Sap Green watercolor on the left. On the right, I used professional quality Holbein watercolor in the same color. Notice the difference in vibrancy and clarity. This becomes particularly evident when the colors are dry.

The obvious drawback to purchasing name brands is the higher cost. However, these paints are so loaded with pigment, you will almost always have to tone down the color, as it is too powerful straight from the tube. This means using more medium and less paint, saving you money in the long run. It also gives you a good reason to charge higher prices for your artwork. If you suddenly find yourself making too much money from your commissions, go ahead and send those extra funds my way; don’t worry about any inconvenience it may cause me. 

Richard Huante Design & Illustration 

Hobo of the Month

We'll reserve this space for images of your 2nd all time favorite typeface, Hobo Standard, in use. Your number one favorite, of course, is Papyrus (you know you love it).

This one was found at a Walgreens in Glendale, Arizona.

Richard Huante Design & Illustration

The Logo Process

I thought it'd be interesting to show the process of how I create a company logo. With the kind permission of my outstanding client, Quality Pickets, I will do just that.

After taking notes during the initial discussion with the client about their vision and ideas of their identity, I sketched up around 75 thumbnail designs. Here is a sampling of them.

 

From these thumbs, I narrowed it down to 5 rough designs for them to choose from. I kept everything in a dark value gray, so we could focus on the design element at this stage. We'll worry about color later.

The client liked the first design, but asked for a slight modification of the "I" and "picket" combination. Here are the variations of design #1.

 

1B was chosen. If you'll notice, I slightly thickened/stroked the word "PICKETS". I did this because I did not want the thin, negative spaced "E" to get lost when printed at smaller sizes. A minor detail perhaps, but I wanted to make sure nothing was overlooked. Now on to color:

 

I used Adobe Kuler to help me find appropriate complementary and analogous color schemes for the logo. Client liked C4, and after a slight alteration of the "I"-picket bevel, we arrived at the finished product. Let me know how you liked this demo. Again, a big thanks to Quality Pickets for allowing me to post this quality blog. Pun intended.

 

Richard Huante Design & Illustration

 

 

Podcasts

I don't really watch a lot of TV or movies. I can't tell you which contestants are left on the X-Factor or what happened to Snookie last night. However, I do enjoy listening to podcasts that I download. This may make me the most boring person that you know (or don't want to know). Eh, what can I say?

I like to listen to design and illustration related podcasts, especially when I'm...designing or illustrating. It's a nice change of pace from listening to the same old songs or when there's not a ball game on to listen to. Some of the podcasts I enjoy are:

Ninja Mountain Scrolls. A group of artists talking about the field of illustration. They give out the occasional critique, too.

36 Point - The Reflex Blue Show. An informative and insightful podcast on the graphic design industry. I find this program educational and a good listen, although one of the hosts has a bit of a sailor mouth.

InDesignSecrets. Lots of tips and techniques relating to everything InDesign.

The Illustration Underground. A couple of professional freelance illustrators sharing their experiences and advice.

These are a few of the podcasts that I am familiar with (all free by the way). Give them a try; you may find them interesting and worth a download or too. But hey, if people start calling you boring, don't blame me...

Richard Huante Design & Illustration