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 

A sexy song and beautiful type design

The sublime type foundry House Industries has a new video that’s a visual treat. You’ll see many of the fine fonts, books, posters and other products by their designers. There are scenes of the designers in action. All the visuals are timed to the catchy, slightly 1960s sounding Polite Dance Song by the duo of Inara George and Greg Kurstin — better known as The Bird and the Bee. Kurstin, is a music producer and keyboardist that has worked with Lily Allen, Barenaked Ladies, The Flaming Lips and Beck.

The fonts in action

Hand lettering

Book design

Ink work

The movie title stills collection

His Girl Friday (1940)

Rear Window (1954)

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

American Graffiti (1973)

Almost Famous (2000)

The opening design of a film — the editing of the first scene, the music and title sequence — sets the mood. Here’s a web site with many title slides organized by year.

Short documentary “Influencers: How Trends & Creativity Becomes Contagious”

The short documentary Influencers: How Trends & Creativity Becomes Contagious looks at people who have influenced music, fashion design trends, and pop culture over the years. It’s interesting take on how creative people are inspired by creative work in different fields.

Keep a sense of wonder

Oh my goodness! It's a pony in the Apple store!

Following is a link to an essay on keeping a sense of wonder and magic. It’s also a good observance of the people in an Apple Store. It’s a great read. (If it’s not true that a woman brings a pony  into the Seattle Apple store… well, I don’t want to know.)

Frank Chimero’ essay: “There is a Horse in the Apple Store
What the hell? A beautiful little pony, with a flowing mane, the likes of which my sister would have killed to get for Christmas when she was 7 or 8. And, NOONE is looking at this thing. I wondered: if there were kids in the Apple Store, would they notice? “Yes,” I say. “Yes, they would.” ”

Frank Chimero is an illustrator and designer.

Gizmodo has another photo of the pony: Yes, That’s a Horse Inside an Apple Store

The squealing at Cute Overload (OMG! Pony!)