In celebration of once again missing the circus that is the San Diego Comic Con, I’m posting a long overdue review of an entirely different kind of event.
In June 2002 a buddy of mine, who’s really into comic books and does a lot of design work in the field, dragged me out to this indie comics convention. As I had associated indie with underground (you know, the R. Crumb-type books) I wasn’t too excited to go.
I was pleasantly surprised.
In the world of Comic Books it’s the writers and the pencilers who typically grab the limelight. Oft overlooked are the inkers, colorists, and the letterers - especially the letterers. Only the true comics aficionado can appreciate hand over digital lettering.
Last week at the San Diego Comic Con the humorous video above caught the industry’s attention. Garson Hampfield tells us of the life of the under-appreciated crossword puzzle inker. He recounts the innovations in the profession over the years. And when he talks about the coming of the digital age he acknowledges the speed it has brought to the process, but asks us “where’s the human touch?”
While this is clearly the punch-line of this video - it’s also the quintessential question to all of us that make things for humans. A question and reminder to hang on the wall at work.
The folks over at NPR’s Planet Money decided to throw down last week and have a friendly little peer competition.
The brief was simple: Visit New York’s Fancy Food Show and see who could come back with the most compelling economic story. Oh, and the story needed include a mythical creature.
I have to say that it was both inspiring and entertaining to hear each correspondent’s output. All were unique and hit the mark in their own right. The mythical creature was definitely a challenge, but we can let them off the hook for that.
For some reason we’re all kind of hard-wired to be attracted to these Project Runway-style bake-offs.
The exercise is yet again a testament to the creativity that can emerge under constraints with the right brief and team.
It’s also a great example of how stories can move you. Even ones about seemingly uninteresting topics as food economics.
This one is definitely worth a listen. Check it out.
Massive scale seems to be the theme of this year’s art adventures with the family. Today we ventured up north to Dia: Beacon and Storm King Art Center and were reminded yet again that life does exist outside of the city.
