Hand lettered album art and glass panels

Pencil sketches

Close up of the pencil sketch

The digital art

The final cover

Adding gold leaf to glass

Round glass panel

David A. Smith is a traditional sign-maker/designer. He created the covers for the ‘Born & Raised’ album and ‘Queen of California’ single by singer/songwriter John Mayer.  He also created two decorative reverse glass panels for Mayer’s company. Smith is a true craftsman — it is fun to see his design process.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/60647216]

David Smith Traditional Ornamental Glass Artist 

Why The Washington Post Uses WordPress

Great presentation by Yuri Victor on the use of WordPress at The Washington Post for blogs and special reports.

“This presentation explores the importance of empathy, brainstorming, rapid prototyping, testing and iterating and how to incorporate these methods to build better products, faster.”

The Washington Post hearts WordPress and I heart WordPress by Yuri Victor

A timely data visualization: Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech

This seems like a very good data visualization for this week, the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Nancy Duarte analyzes Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

More on the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom:

Full text of  “I have a Dream” (PDF)

PBS: The March
A new documentary honoring the 50th anniversary of the original March on Washington

Cover via Amazon

Resonate by Nancy Duarte
By leveraging techniques normally reserved for cinema and literature, Resonate reveals how to transform any presentation into an engaging journey.

An Anne Dillard quote I like…

Photo and design by Desiree Perry

Here’s a lovely thought: “Spend the afternoon, you can’t take it with you.”
The quote is from Anne Dillard the athor of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, An American Childhood, The Writing Life and many other books. Her nonfiction 1975 Pulitzer-winning book, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is a favorite of mine. It’s a “sustained nonfiction narrative about the fields, creeks, woods, and mountains near Roanoke, Virginia.”  It also is a study of Theodicy which “is the theological and philosophical studying of the nature of God, in the face of evil in the world.” It’s a lovely, thoughtful book.

More on Anne Dillard:

Good Reads

Annie Dillard Official Website

Theodicy

Pinterest or Delicious

Pinterest home page

Pinterest is all the rage now. It has venture funds and lots of new users. But you have to be invited to join. I’ve signed up and have been waiting to be invited, but so far no luck. If you are not familiar with Pinterest, it’s a visual bookmark site. It seems to be full of DIY ideas, fashion, and recipes. It’s full of pretty photos and Esty-like crafts. However the more I look at it, the more Pinterest reminds me of the new design of Delicious.

How to draw penguins

How to draw... a penguin

Sometimes life does no go as planned. As such, I have not been able to post here on a regular basis. But here’s to new starts….

There is a blog series at the Guardian called “How to draw…” for children. It’s very charming and worth a look.

Oliver Jeffers: How to draw… a penguin

The reader’s penguins

How to draw… bunnies

Music I’m listening to… Walk

Walk— Foo Fighters

“I’m learning to walk again, I believe I’ve waited long enough. Where do I begin? I’m learning to talk again. Can’t you see I’ve waited long enough Where do I begin?”

Achew, Achew!

Here’s a fun illustration on sneezes I did at work recently. Though I think it was type casting. I got this assignment after I had missed a week of work from having the flu. The following 2 weeks I still was coughing and sneezing. (It’s also one of the reasons why it’s been so long since I made a blog post.)

Here’s the story the art goes with:
Researcher defines four categories of sneezers
But did you ever wonder if the way a person sneezes says something about him or her? Turns out, it can.

Music I’m listening to… My Body

My Body — Young the Giant

“Hey, is it my fault that the fallen embers burn down in a spiral, Round your crown of thieves”

The Tadpole

The tadpole

This is a cute animation short with a stylized  graphic style. I like the watercolor look of it and the simple humor. The audio design is nice too, great sound effects and a jazzy sound track. It was created by Passion Pictures, a London-based production company. Passion Pictures is better known for  their work for the animated rock band Gorillaz and the opening and closing animation for The Beatles: Rock Band video game. This year, their film The Lost Thing has been nominated for best animated short film Oscar.

The Beatles: Rock Band

 

 

Beatles: Rock Band

The Lost Thing

Passion Pictures

Gorillaz