Design is Play

3×3 Magazine Profile of Illustrator Gary Baseman

Issue 31 of 3×3 Magazine is out and it’s a beaut! In addition to my profile of Gary Baseman, this issue includes the work of Gerard DuBois, Ori Toor, and Miriam Martincic. Here is the opener of my piece:

Gary Baseman is excited: his eyes shine, and he flashes a mischievous grin. Located somewhere between childlike delight and maniacal zeal, the effect is riveting. Gary’s exuberance has a way of building exponentially, his enthusiasm generating even more enthusiasm as he warms to a topic. One example: “I wouldn’t use ink—it had to be charcoal pencil. Just like my art, it had to be raw, it had to be rough, it had to feel legit. You could smudge it, you could mess it. Ink was a normal ball point pen. Anyone could use that: banks used that, corporations used that. I was an animal! I was human, I was real, I was raw!”

Read the entire profile (as well as prior articles) under Design is Play Articles. [MF]

CCA Design Lecture Series Identity

A fun project we’ve been working on: the identity and promotional materials for the 10th annual Design Lecture Series at California College of the Arts. (Our concept was “Fresh Visions for Spring.”)

Assets include the series identity, poster, and digital brand assets. The banners (last image) weren’t produced, but we still had fun envisioning this application.

See Mark’s original sketch and inkings under Design is Play Process.

Play Press: “Sláva Ukrayíni” awarded Gold in Graphis’ “Designers for Peace”

We are honored to have our poster “Sláva Ukrayíni” awarded Gold in Graphis’ “Designers for Peace” international poster competition. All of the competition entry fees will benefit Ukraine humanitarian aid organizations.

We realize our contribution to this effort is minor. Nonetheless, we are committed to exploring non-commercial ways to extend our design practice. Designing agitprop is one of the ways.

Thank you to Kit Hinrichs, Jury Chair, for organizing this designer effort to support Ukraine.

Image: Antoine Coypel’s 1690 painting “The Baptism of Christ,” courtesy of LACMA.

Typeface: Thalweg Poetica by Ani Dimitrova.

3×3 Magazine Profile of Illustrator Katherine Lam

Out now! My profile of illustrator Katherine Lam in Issue 30 of 3×3 Magazine. Here is an excerpt:

Theatrical lighting is a consistent motif in this work. Most of Katherine’s editorial illustrations are set in the late afternoon, early evening, or at some indeterminate time of night which results in heavy shadows for the late afternoon illustrations and predominantly inky backgrounds for the others. (Or as Katherine put it in a recent social media post, “Damn my images are dark af!”) Somber palettes allow Katherine to articulate space, create depth, and add drama with judicious hits of brighter colors. “I use light and shadow to make my environments feel surreal,” says Katherine. “I don’t see a point in making things realistic or grounded in reality because photography can achieve that quicker and better. Also, my subjects tend to be rather mundane and boring—usually just a person sitting or standing in front of a building or setting—so by lighting a scene in an unnatural but still believable way I can add some interest to my work.”

Although the ethos of film may be its crux, Katherine’s illustrations nonetheless harness the aesthetic cues of traditional media, including visible brushstrokes, roughened textures, and washes of modulated color. “It’s all digital, even the brushstrokes,” explains Katherine. “I don’t like the flatness of digital art so I put a lot of textures back into my work.” The result makes for a surprisingly good marriage between two starkly different aesthetic impulses: cinematography and painting. It is as though Katherine’s work is a digital amalgam of John Ford’s long shots, Citizen Kane’s high-intensity carbon arc lighting, and Edward Hopper’s painterly alienation.

Read the entire profile (as well as prior articles) under Design is Play Articles. [MF]