WEEKLY MONSTER 115
Good morning. How are you doing? Is the week treating you politely? I’ve been working away at the final book revisions. As you know, I’m hand-lettering all the pull quotes, which makes for a crampy right hand, and a growing callus on my middle finger. (I do it gladly in the pursuit of beauty, of course. :^) My publisher also asked that I redesign the layout of a few of the pages. Too much small type on too long a measure. They’re not wrong, so I’ll have to tackle it. (Dammit. :^)
Here is a close-up view of the first few pages of lettering:
This week’s Monster is a simple creature—simple in the way it came out. Sometimes they just appear almost fully formed and need nothing more from me than a beak, a belly, and some tail feathers. But I’m sure that 115 has a rich inner life and a busy schedule. I’m counting on you to help me illuminate both. I can’t wait to hear what you have to tell me:
You may remember that Monster 113 was a special Birthday Creature for Doyald Young. Many of you left birthday greetings for Doyald, and he just sent me this image by way of Thanks. Click on the image to download the PDF.
Two weeks from now I’m going to give a talk about the Monsters at the AIGA Conference in Denver as part of Steven Heller’s Works in Progress: What We’re Working on Next session. I’m on at 11am on Friday, so if you’re attending the conference, please come and say Hello. I’ll only be at the event for my session and to host one of the Adobe Roundtables right afterwards, but even I have to make this one a hit-and-run, I still have some fun things planned for you. Why? Come on… you know why! Because 344 LOVES YOU
Born in a wallpaper factory, this young monster spends its whole life dipping that beautiful tail in black ink and flying up and down the rolls of blank paper…..*whack* *whack* *whack*
It’s become the company’s best selling pattern. If you’d like to purchase a roll, it’s only $49.95….called ‘Ster.
The mischievous bird of dark,
was determined to make his mark,
on the dull world of green and pink,
and the land that will eventually sink.
He flew all around seeking a place,
where everybody would remember his face (and his mark).
And after days and days he finally struck gold,
when he realized he’d just turned the whole world into mold (the black mold).
P.S.
Later in his life he molted and regrew as a bluebird.
I think it’s super phenomenal how you wrote all of those pull quotes BY HAND. Too bad it’s a difficult thing to be ambidextrous…
“It sure is hard to keep smiling when I have these flames coming out of my rear.”
It’s a Pterosaurisomnium, the dreambird monster. He plants pleasantly complex thoughts into your brain just after entering the REM state. Originally discovered by Robert Stickgold in the early 60’s, we now know more than ever about this elusive creature.
__________
Your hand lettering looks great! I don’t think the words “porn-star” have ever been given such typographic attention to detail before.
Isn’t it funny that that word just pops out? Maybe it’s the male eye… :^)
It’s also smack dab in the middle of the page. A little from column A, and a little from column B.
Middle of the image I should say.
Ooo, Home Run Script & Young Finesse Ital. My name never looked lovelier! Thanks, Doyald.
And Stefan, good luck @ the Denver conference!
Must be a guy thing. I had to go look for the words after they were pointed out. The ones I noticed most were the large ones. =P
I have been crazy busy for so long, that it was so wonderful to take a break this morning and catch up on monsters. Thanks for my morning wake up!
I’m sorry, I can’t come up with a nice story for this monster. There is no happy tale.
“Ever since that damned Sam took the job for Kellogg, we’ve all had to find jobs!” grumped Wallace. “Sure, that’s all well and good for him. He gets the glamorous job! He gets to be a TV star in bright colors that all the kids love. But what about the rest of us?”
“Psshh,” Amelia scoffed, “You’re just jealous of his beautiful beak. Just remember, he has a horribly stubby tail, and it all gets better.”
“No, you’re wrong!” our monster cried. “I’m not jealous, I just hate being a chimney sweep. It’s not fair, I tell you!”
Nicht geteert und gefedert sondern getuscht und und stilvoll geschwungen…
So will sie ihn verführen, den Prachtvogel ihres Herzens.