So here is another monogram study for a very good friend and regular contributor to this project, Shannon. Shannon is bright, kind, inventive, cool, smart, technologically proficient, creative, and a lot of fun to be around. In short, she’s amazing. I wanted to capture some of her qualities in these monograms. Hope you liked it, and thanks to Shannon for asking for it!
I’ve received a strong response of interest (maybe jealousy?) in the “friend monograms” sketches, and I’m saying right here that if you ask for one, I’ll make every effort to make you one, or in this case, 12. I think letterforms and their relationship are art. I got a lot of help from fontographers on these, but the kerning, custom nodes, placement and relationship, etc., is mine. Thanks for asking, Dan! That’s what this project is all about.
So this was inspired by the recent sketch of my longtime monogram as well as a conversation with Sarah Badawy about how some combinations of letters work better than others. In order to do each of these, I went through the same workflow in Inkscape each time:
You can do it. You can also extend this methodology to any string of text to make logos, wordmarks, and text based art and design.
So this came out of a recent discussion with one of my oldest friends, Roch. He’s a great artist, and one of my lifelong inspirations. This sketch celebrates just one example of why I love him as a friend and mentor. He told me a few years back about an art project in which the focus was on a single phrase that could be taken in more then one way, but could also potentially be seen as a way of life.
As I understand it, Roch’s idea, “Just (t)ask”, is a play on words that indicates that as long as the thing you’re asking for is just (reasonable, not hurtful, helpful, etc.) I’m more than willing to consider helping you to do it. Just ask, just say the words, help me to understand that you want to do this thing, and let’s do it. Together.
Much love, Roch, and thanks for the inspiration for all the time I’ve known you.
It’s fairly easy to make a custom Twitter background in Inkscape. My advice is to find one you like, right-click on it and choose view background image, then save it as a starting point. If it’s anything like most of the ones I’ve seen, it will be in the range of 1000 pixels high by 1800 pixels wide. There are places for certain elements, such as a side banner, which are covered if it extends too far to the right from the left. With Inkscape, you can experiment with placements, or as I suggested, start with someone else’s. So in Inkscape, either start with a new 1800×1000 pixel image or import your saved exemplar twitter background then create a rectangle of the same size, and then use your imagination. Calligraphy tools, effects, masking, and the new 0.48 Spraypaint tool all work great! Hope you have fun with it.
If you like this image, please share it. If you use it, please attribute me, and thanks! (cc-by lemasney)
lemasney, twitter, background, design, open source, creative commons, cc-by, typography, poster, Inkscape, GIMP
Look at my favorite images from this project on the My Favorite Pieces page
So here is another collaboration with my great and longtime friend, Sam Pinola. Sam sent me a bitmap traced SVG of his band, and we discussed over email the idea of his band fighting Godzilla, and possibly a 3D movie effect. In the end, turning Sam into a city wrecking, bass playing iconic monster won out for me, and I modified his SVG to make this image. I hope Sam likes it, and I hope you like it too!
If you like this image, please share it. If you use it, please attribute me, and thanks! (cc-by lemasney)
lemasney, design, open source, creative commons, cc-by, typography, poster, Inkscape, GIMP, monster, rock and roll, guitar, guitarist, bass
Look at my favorite images from this project on the Portfolio page