Tuesday, June 7, 2011

I'm back in Stephanie's book!

First up, yes, the books are a little out of order as of me. I'll sum up a bit at the end.
1-2 in Biffybeans' Moleskine
Page 1 & 2 in Stephanie's: I really wanted to play with hand-lettering more in this round of the Exchange because I used to really like doodling with letters, words, and phrases, but I never thought about making it the central piece of art until recently. So this is very experimental on my part. Is page two a religious flyer delivered to my door one Saturday morning? Yes. I was raised in that cult, so I took a little therapy out on that flyer and thought it went with the first quote I lettered, "You have all the weapons you need, now fight" (from Sucker Punch). I doodled a bunny because there's a cool mecha bunny in that movie, so it sort of linked the two together.

3-4 in Biffybeans Moleskine
"Sometimes I believe in as many as six impossible things before breakfast" from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

Don't even get me started on "Keep your head" (on the bunny's ear). Ugh. I know full well that the line from the Jefferson Airplane song is "Feed your head", but I was reading the full lyrics to see if there was more material I wanted to work with. I decided to stick with "Feed your head", which I originally planned, but the lyrics I was reading printed it incorrectly and I transcribed it without thinking. In the end, keeping one's head is good advice too.

Closeups in Biffybeans' Moleskine
Closeups. Originally I did four pieces that were all lines from movies, but I swapped two of them out because I thought it was nice to have some relief from all the lettering.

Collab piece with Molly in Biffybeans' book
Completed collaboration with Molly. I didn't see that she posted a photo anywhere else and I forgot to photograph it before filling it in. She started the piece with the red shape descending from the top and the green shape reaching up to receive it from the bottom. I liked the shapes and just filled in with more, which reminded me of a dream I had once of drifting between planets, so there's a little of that too.

I included a little watercolor test sketch in Stephanie's pocket. No photo, but it was a test for the phoenix birds I did in the last book.

Lastly, the books are out of order a bit at this point. I haven't received Aya's or Molly's from Claudia. Molly sent me Ellen's and Stephanie's directly. Since I wanted to send a book on to Andrea as soon as possible, I used the material I had prepared for Molly's book in Stephanie's. Ellen's should have been next (sorry!) but in looking through the two books, the dark pieces with bold colors suited Stephanie's more, so I took the liberty of putting that one ahead. I'll try to keep making pieces however I can and when I get Molly's and Aya's, I'll make those the top priority.

11 comments:

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

These are very impressive--I love the references!!! :-D

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

I mean, super cool allusions!

ballookey said...

Thanks Mary! I'm sure glad to be working in books again... :)

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

YAY!

We've been so swamped with two floods that I ahevn't been able to do much--hope I get a chance to work soon so I don't hold everyone up.

Moleskine.Exchange said...

Your lettering is awesome. I have been working with quotes and words a lot this year in my daily doodles. I always seem to revert to the same "type" though. Your letters are fantastically different, decorative and detailed.

Stephanie "Biffybeans" Smith said...

Everything happens for a reason. You have No idea how meaningful that weapons comment is to me. It means that I don't need anyone else and need not fear moving forward. Thank you!

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

YES! That IS helpful! (But I'm still nervous!)

ballookey said...

Yay, Stephanie! I find that I remind myself of that line from time to time - especially at work. ;) I'm glad it's reached a receptive audience.

Something Different said...

These look really excellent up close Ballookey. Wow!

roma said...

Ballookey, all cool pieces. I'll comment more when I have a chance, but just wanted to say how much I love lettering as art. And words as art. And the street/graffiti quality of your lettering especially. Rocks.

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

Sp true about the street quality! ROCKS!