final book spreads 21-23

final book spreads 11 - 20

final book spreads 1 - 10

bruce lee animations continued.

click these ^

i made three more animations from bruce lee diagrams. The first is a series of a trip/sweep and the second two are loops of the first two that I made. In this series Lee not only takes down his opponent, he also helps him immediately back up, then takes him down again and this continues forever.

bruce lee: the hip toss

click on this^

So I have really been needing to gather new imagery for my book to accompany the text that I plan on using. I wanted to try and use some imagery that I had gathered from an old fighting book written by Bruce Lee. His original images are simple sketches depicting a sequence of events in order to complete this move, a hip toss. I cropped out these images and attempted to create an GIF animation, the first in a series of two animations. In connection with my beliefs on design I think that his illustrations serve as a perfect diagram. Initially in the book they are displayed without even a caption, and they don't need it. He keeps things simple and is able to demonstrate quite plainly a fairly complex movement. This movement would have been much more difficult to describe using words, as well as more difficult for the reader to understand. Lee bypasses this issue and communicates the concept through visuals. I initially didn't even realize how accurate these simple drawings were, until I began to line them up for animation. They flow together as though they were meant to be frames. His proportion is pulled off fairly accurately and his figures are simplified. I really liked this series in its initial context and think that it works well as an animation.

odin's runes

I have been a long time fan of norse mythology. A friend of mine that I grew up with got me interested in it and I have since researched the specifics of it that interested me. He had a particular interest in Thor, as I became more interested in his father (and the allfather of the Norse mythos) Odin. Odin interested me for a number of reasons, one being his wisdom. Odin traded one of his eyes for a drink from Mimirs well of knowledge. With this drink he obtained all knowledge. He was determined to share this knowledge with man and god alike only he wasn't certain of how. He tied himself to a tree for 9 days. At one point his body failed him and he died. While he was dead he learned of runes and glyphs to document his knowledge and share with the world. This was the first alphabet.

I found this to be a perfect connection between design and my other passions. While simply a myth the story tells of the importance of our profession as well as reminding us of our true goal. Design to me is in two parts. One part being the artistic and aesthetically pleasing, something to grab attention. The other is the basic communication. One of the most helpful books I have used here at Ringling was "The Mac is Not a Typewriter" by Robin Williams. This book stressed the later portion. It discussed the importance of type/layout in terms of the best way to communicate. The communication of ideas in an effective way is a very powerful skill that we learn as designers.

This face itself is a redesign I did of Odin's Elder Futhark. I wanted to create a digital version of the runes as well as modernizing them. I tried to make them all of similar weights and size so that the font would look cohesive, despite its more barbaric origins. I also added a serif to the face, again trying to take what are a simple arrangement of lines and making them into what is seen more often in what we consider a typeface.

sampler camera trip.

I documented a trip that I took to the park with my girlfriend. I have had this sampler camera for quite some time and it seemed like the perfect way to document for this book of explorations. The camera has no viewfinder therefore each image has a very energetic feel. The camera also has four lenses. When the button is pressed each lens opens in sequential order to capture four separate images onto a single exposure that span the period of a few seconds. In this way I was able to capture time within the images. Almost all of the pictures were taken on the ride there or in the parking lot, the park itself was wooded and the camera is only capable of taking photos in sunlight. The images themselves help to demonstrate the entire notion of the explorations. They don't allow you to control the end result, only the experiences themselves. Of a roll of 24 most of the time I can get a good dozen pictures that turn out neat. It follows the idea that you are capturing the beauty in what you are doing. You are unable to determine what the picture itself is, both because of the lack of a viewfinder and the passing of time, however, one is able to assume that if the experience itself is enjoyable that perhaps the images will be. This is the best bet in capturing nice images with a sampler camera. Certain images it is almost impossible to tell what the subject matter is, however because of the sampling of time a pattern is created and despite this uncertainty it is still visually interesting.