The Comic Sans theme!

Finally! A song about a misunderstood, and deserving, font...

No... wait... That's...
I see what you did, there.

To the Sky...

From the great minds of the past to the coming genius of the future; the owrds of Carl Sagan still are as inspiring, and as important, today, as they were in his time...



Meanwhile... in art class...

Mask, Mug, and The Bottle makes Three by Charlie Irons
Charcoal and pencil on paper

Just in case you thought I'd stop being all artist like in my non-design class. We just started perspective, so expect something wacky and fun, soon.

Soviet blocks...

Unclear about the history of Russia's workers revolt, and the rise - and fall - of Communism? Let Tetris teach you, comrade...

First Look! Galactic Gun: "Twisted Case of Station 77"

You know, I'm good about waiting for Xmas or birthday presents. And I've been very loyal in keeping confidences. But, when it comes to the things I work on for the comics, I'm horrible about about sitting on exciting stuff...

So, here is a rough, first look at the location for our next adventure with Justin Bailey and the crew of the No.7; Galactic Gun: The Adventures of Justin Bailey in The Twisted case of Station 77 from Neverland Transit Authority starting Friday, June 1st, 2012...

I know I'm excited!

A post from the Nowhere...

So, as you can see - or not see, since there's been nothing new to see, for a while - I've been a bit busy, here at Neverland Transit Authority's Grand Central, to keep up with postings at My Office. Something I seek to rectify in the coming days.

But, what, you may ask, have I been busy with? School...

This little marvel is my first full outing using Adobe Illustrator; the dreadful craptastic program that's the standard in Graphic Design, these days. (Care to ask how I feel about it?)

The assignment was to create a self portrait illustration based off a photo of yourself. So, tell me; how'd I do?

Eh... it's my first Illustrator piece, and that's an old picture, anyway. Meanwhile, in my typography class, we're playing around with letters as design. A lot of my fellow classmates went for regal stuff. Me? I ended up a little off the beaten path...

Taking an upper case "C" in the font "Micro Stencil", I spun a set of four at 90 degree breaks, grouped them, then repeated the grouping down a diagonal path. Then, I repeated the path across the page.

The result, here, is a chain like pattern. Initially I was playing off the stencil breaks to create a path like design. Of course, that's before I noticed that the "C" isn't, exactly, symmetrical.

Oh well, at least I'm happy with the result; which looks a little 1970's style decor texture. (Seriously, I think my mom had a purse with this design in a gold pattern relief.)

In the next couple of days I'll have a slew of posts, including a review of the latest comic news, music reviews, and some other random art. Hopefully, by next quarter, things will have settled down enough where I can get back to doing these things more regularly.

Hopefully...

Listen to this: Beats Antique

Beats Antique is a band local to the San Francisco bay area - specifically the Oakland East Bay, and probably one of my my favorite bands I had discovered while treasure diving in the Rasputin's fifty cent bin. (A total mistake that it was there, I'm sure, but a lucky strike for me.)
And why, you ask, are they so esteemed and revered in my musical library? Well, besides their unique blended fusion of old world sounds and new world beats, the produce some amazing videos:

NSFW:mild nudity

Beats Antique sprung up a while go from the underground SF music scene, and have a kinetic stage presence and musical sensibility that not only stands out as cultured and refined - a finger on the pulse of the tribal roots of musical expression - but set them apart so far from their contemporaries as to nearly see them into their own unique genre; a feat, indeed, in the age of blended musical sound.

The trio of David Satori, Zoe Jakes, and Tom Cappel hail from many different bands and backgrounds, collectively; forming in 2007 when Jakes approached her manager for a concept album designed around her dance styles. They were an international sensation, and have expanded into a full fledged group, and experience. Beats Antique enjoys A-level play list status on Neverland Transit Authority's Grand Central Stationhouse Radio; finding its way into regular rotation, often.

The band's discography is available on Antique Records, and at better retailers. On the general rating system of Conductor IronChuck, Beats Antique receives 4 out of 5 shots of whiskey. A must have for any serious music connoisseur.

Tea time!

So, there's a new meme making its way around the interwebs...

Too fast? Okay...

Maybe a little more epic? Okay...

Not quite epic enough? Okay...

Still not quite epic enough? Okay...

Couldn't get any more pic? Okay...

Remind me to never have Alan Rickman over for tea...

Penciled in...

Letter ART by Charlie Irons
pencil and charcoal on paper

So, in my art class, we've been working with charcoal and graphite pencils to create line, volume, and values. It's been so long since I've used this particular medium...

Some, twenty years, now, to be honest...

... that I've had an interesting time getting the hang of it, again. However, I think I'm finally getting the hang of it, again; evidenced at the left.

These are actual objects that were set up to draw in class, this week; large letters and balls light by spots to create tone value and highlight perspective. We then did a pass to give a neutral gray over the page, and used layering and erasing.

Some of my sclaes are off, but my teacher was impressed when I was finished. Me? I was rather pleasantly surprised this didn't go down like a flaming bag of poo...

Justin Bailey by Charlie Irons
art pencils on paper

Has all this playing around with pencils affected me, any? Well, take a look to the right, here, and tell me. Usually, when I draw my comics - or almost anything, these days, to be honest, I throw down with a loose blue pencil, first. Then I go back and fill in with ink. But, this afternoon, I thought I'd give Justin Bailey, from Neverland Transit Authroity's Galactic Gun a go in pencil; something I haven't done in damn near three years.

Sure, it's rough. But then, as I finished it, that I kind of miss the old rough look. Not that I'm gonna kick down to this look on any regular basis. Just that it's neat to see, every now and then.

Who knows; maybe it'll show up in a sotry, somewhere...?

Just skating by on this project...

Happy Little Skatebaord
by Charlie Irons

Well, well, well...

The second of two Adobe Illustrator projects due this week at school.

For my Studio class, we were given of template for a skateboard deck and were supposed to create a design. This was part of the "emphasis" lesson that really had very little to actually do with emphasis.

But, hey, what am I to do, right? So, here is a simple, yet smile provoking deck, in all it's green grinning greatness...

It may look simple. And, in fact, had I had the option to creat this in, say, Photoshop, it would have been. But, what you're looking at is a week of frustration come to fruition by learning to use Illustrator more like Photoshop; time consuming, messy, and roundabout as it was.

You'll see me say this alot, here; Illustrator is a horrible program. Oh, I'll learn it, because I have to. But, let me tell you, every chance I can find to avoid it, I'll probably take.

But, truth be told, this was - minus Illustrator - a fun project. I may goof around with the template and make a few more... Providing I can find something other than Illustrator to do it in.

Gutenberg-Textura

Gutenberg-Textura by Charlie Irons
Adobe Illustrator

Okay, so, as you've already read, below, I had to do a small research project for my Typography class, and chose Johannes Gutenberg - the father of modern Typography - to do my research on.

And, here, to our left, is the net result of that research; a poster featuring his particular font.

In making this, I was going for hints of illumination with an attempt to capture the other-worldly feel of the literature texts from the 1970's; where I first saw this font.

Like Gutenberg, in his time, the trick here was to get the middle text to line up in a center justified text block; requiring a lot of tweaking to the kerning on letters, as well as the tracking of lines.

Of course, the biggest challenge was just making the damn thing; we were required to use Adobe Illustrator. And, as we've all come to know, from following me on Twitter, I hate Adobe Illustrator.

Well, maybe a little less, now. But, don't get me wrong; we're not going out to pick curtains, or anything, just yet.


Character Building

With the next story getting ready to get under way at Neverland Transit Authority, in June, I'm already working to build up characters, settings, and script on the next story after that; tentatively titled Galactic Gun: The Advetures of Justin Bailey in Wedding Bell Blues.

While I can't really share the particulars of the story - the who, what, why, where, and when, I can show off a little something I'm very proud of...

This is a high ranking priest of  a religious school of thought that the crew of the No.7 will be encountering, down the road. In constructing him, I had a lot of fun coming up with the various reasons why he dresses the way he does, where the religious philosophy started, and all that.

These kind of considerations may seem a little over involved, especially since the reader may never get to learn of every nuance behind what they see. But, giving these characters a substantial history adds weight to their believability; even if they are a member of a fictitious space clergy.

Wedding Bell Blues will follow The Twisted Case of Station 77 and the Galactic Gun short that follows it. Hopefully it'll start Spring of 2013.

FIRST!

Yo Gabba Gabba!

Ladies and gentlemen, riders of Neverland Transit Authority, I give you the World's Greatest Niece, and her very first comic book! Courtesy of her Uncle IronChuck and Free Comic Book Day!

Today is a very special day, indeed.

No... it's... it's okay; it's just unusually dusty in my office, today, that's all.

Johannes Gutenberg - The Father of Modern Typography

Scratch board portrait by
Michael Halbert

Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg– simply known as Johannes Gutenberg – was born cira 1400 to Freile Gensfleisch and his wife Else Wyrich in Mainz, Germany; being one of the patrician families of the town. The last name of Gutenberg is taken from the patriarchal family estates.

Little to nothing is known of Johannes' early life, except that he migrated to Strasburg in March of 1434; supposedly for political reasons- an uprising against the patricians had taken hold in 1411. There he would join the higher ranks of the patricians, as well as become a gold smith; also teaching gem polishing, production of looking glass, and, eventually, printing.

Legend has it that the idea of the press and movable type came to Johannes “like a beam of light”. Others have speculated that he had gleamed the entire process from knowledge of other techniques already in use. Whatever the case may be, his combination of pressing techniques, unveiled in 1440, led to the European inception of the printing press, and, most notably, modern typography. It was his use of lead based alloys to create cheap, easy to manufacture letter punches that could be made quickly, affordably, and with relative uniformity – much more durable then wooden block letters – that lead to the rise of modern typography and the printing revolution.

Page of Gutenberg's 42 line Bible
with illumination. Such decoration depended
on how much the buyer spent.

Though his first projects were Latin and German readers of the time, he's best known for the undertaking of, what would later come to be known as, The Gutenberg Bible; partially funded by Johann Fust and his son in law Peter Schoffer.

Many trials and adjustments would come to pass in the creation of his Bible. Most notable were his abandoned first attempts at multicolored two pass printing - later replaced with single pass and hand illumination, and the ability to increase print lines from an initial 36 lines to, eventually, 42 per page. (In some cases, Gutenberg's Bible is referred to as the “42 line Bible”.) His Bible was completed in 1452.

Johannes created a font type later to be known as Textualis (Textura), or also Schawbacher; characterized by straight, vertical strokes, horizontal lines, and varied line weights, to create a woven like structure throughout the text. To make the justification of the type stronger to the eye, he would vary font sizes, line spacing, and utilized “hanging punctuation”; allowing punctuation to pass beyond the justification lines of the paragraph borders.

Study of Textualis; spaces would be left for
hand illumination of lettering during the
printing process.

Though a skilled craftsman, Johannes was a poor business man. In 1456 legal issues and money disputes between Johannes, Fust, and Schoffer would see Johannes bankrupt, losing his Bible making business; though, later, he would, again, set up another print press, and continue his work. In 1459 a Bible was printed in the city of Bamburg with Johannes supplying the type; though no official credit is given to him.

In 1465, after sacking Johannes' home town of Mainz, archbishop Adolf von Nassau, in recognition of Johannes' work, bestowed on him the title of “Hofmann”; gentleman of the court. He is believed to have lived there, under the stipend of his title, until his death in 1468; his accomplishments relatively unknown to the general public. His grave, in the Franciscan church of Mainz, was lost when the church and cemetery were destroyed in 1742.

Portrait of Johannes Gutenberg;
believed a reconstruction as no
known portrait exists in antiquity.

It wasn't until 1504 that Johannes is publicly recognized as the inventor of typography in a publication by chancellor Ivo Wittig of the University of Mainz, declaring; “who, first of all, invented printing letters... by which art he has deserved honor by the whole world.” In 1567 Johannes' portrait was added to Heinrich Pantaleon's biography of famous Germans.

Batman: Deathwish

Yet another shining example of how comicdom knows itself so well. Maybe Warner Brothers and Nolan should watch more Youtube... Someday I'll get my real Batman movie.