Tag: inspiration

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inspiration

Stuart Patience Illustration

Another illustrator highlight on the bookleteer blog, courtesy of Stuart Patience. His drawings based on the Ragnarok, a book of Norse mythology, are spectacular. These highly detailed, surreal illustrations, contrasted against vast blank space, are the iconography of vivid, prophetic dreams; fitting considering the apocalyptic saga they were inspired by. What really spurred me into featuring his work however, are the images from his sketchbook, as Mandy, Radhika and myself are currently embarking on regular expeditions around the city, capturing public scenes through sketches, poetry and photographs. His seemingly hasty, broad lines, manage to convey a surprising amount of facial features and character traits, and are surely something to be inspired by. I can’t get any direct links to the pieces I’ve just mentioned, so you’ll have to forage around his site to find them – I’m sure you won’t mind stumbling across his other drawings in the process.

A breathtaking Christmas card by Stuart Patience

 

 

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inspiration

Treasure Zine

Time for me to feature some staggering artwork from illustrator Helen Vine now, taken from her zine “TREASURE”. A 15 page, saddle-stitched, illustration / photography zine inspired by “cemeteries and taxidermy museums”. Thankfully I share this slightly morbid fascination towards various creatures of the rigor mortis persuasion. Her work is amazingly intricate and captures the beautiful patterns and textures of natural geometry found in animals – it’s mesmerising. I was so engrossed in the cover, I didn’t notice at first glance what appears to be a flamingo made out of leaves, subtly camouflaged amongst the other birds, or the wood-grain effect beak of some unknown majestic creature, one weary eye peeking out.

You can view a preview here. To get a copy (assuming she hasn’t run out, which wouldn’t surprise me) e-mail her at helenvine@homail.co.uk.

 

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inspiration

Diffusion Archive Highlight: A Sort Of Autobiography by Warren Craghead

I mentioned this set of Storycubes briefly in one of my first ever blog posts, “Comics, Cubed”, but it’s elaborate concept deserves another shout-out. Warren Craghead, an artist and curator, created ten Storycubes depicting a fictional autobiography, each representing a decade of his life (the last, in a touch of dark humour, simply shows an urn). Starting with his birth in 1970, and ending with his “death” in 2060, the cubes are drawn in different style and tones, the surreal, abstract illustrations portraying the world view and imagined future of a man who, in his own words, “is constantly drawing”. Warren’s cubes have received some pretty positive reviews from the comic scene as well – Matthew Brady described it as “a sweeping, fascinating portrait of a life” on his blog.

Download and make “A Sort Of Autobiography” for yourself here.

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inspiration

Computational Architecture: Cardboard Columns

 

Another gem which has been featured on www.fastcodesign.com, and something my brain is still trying to recover from. Created by Michael Hansmeyer, and constructed from 2700 laser cut sheets of cardboard with wooden cores, these columns were spawned by an algorithm fed into a computer, forming “computational architecture”, with up to 16 MILLION facets. It’s absolutely staggering. After being cut out, the sheets left behind form a negative, empty-space column. The image of this is unreal; it looks like the hallucinatory imaginings of an alien spacecraft, mechanical yet almost organic, something that wouldn’t be out of place from the trippy sequences in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Blow your mind here.

 

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events

Observational sketches – Field report

The other week I mentioned an impromptu City As Material expedition with Mandy and Radhika, to Victoria and Waterloo stations. Despite it being FREEZING, we captured some interesting moments (fingers glove-bound) from the trip. I found just being still and observing whilst people whizzed about, quite relaxing, and it inspired a completely different way of seeing and thinking that is neglected when we’re commuting. It also a chance to watch people who were waiting for trains, their quirky mannerisms and subtle interactions with others becoming more apparent as time went by.

In the studio the day after, I assembled a quick eBook from Mandy’s sketches, Radhika’s photographs, and my writing. Designed to showcase a selection of the material created on the day, it’ll be hosted on Diffusion soon with our other efforts.

Tomorrow we’re journeying to the British Museum for more observations, comparing the contrasting locations and further developing what form these trips will take. I’ll probably be Tweeting some snippets of stuff as we’re doing it, so follow bookleteer on Twitter for a peek.

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inspiration

Diffusion Archive Highlight: Icons of Rijeka

During research visits to Riejka, Croatia, Andrew Hunter of Dodolab took the photographs of signs and graffiti that adorn this set of four double sided Storycubes. Accompanying the Icons Of Rijeka eBooks, they display some peculiar and amusing images, and are given a bold physicality by the three dimensional form of the cubes – almost as if someone has excavated a chunk of wall! I particularly like the sign which shows several figures appearing to clamber over a car, but what it denotes I have NO idea.

Download, make and decipher them for yourselves here.

 

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ideas & suggestions inspiration

Keep track of it… bookleteer it!

I feel people tend to go to the gym and expect to see results immediately, which is obviously not the case. It’s a matter of being committed and, if you’re anything like me, recording and keeping a track of the results.

Creating a book on Bookleteer is a great way of doing this. Using the book to record weekly weight loss and keep hold of vital statistics such as original weight, height, measurements etc.

Additionally I tend to ask for advice on the types of food I should be eating. It would be great to have a section in your own ‘health planner’ about what sorts of foods can be eaten and how much and even recipes that contain these foods. An easy way to remember and handy enough to keep with you, so whenever you spot that ‘powerfood’ on the supermarket shelf, just jot it down in your food planner, so you don’t forget for next time.

Take a look at my examples of a health planner I created…

This would be a great way to stay healthy, amongst all age groups! A fun and active way for kids to stay fit and healthy and keeping a record of their activities can be something fun for them to do on a weekly basis.

It’s easy to create your very own health planner with Bookleteer. Get creative and healthy at the same time!

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inspiration

Hours Zine

The first issue of Hours, a monthly photography Zine is available now, and apparently issue 2 launches tomorrow. Convenient of me to have just seen it now, eh? Each month, someone is chosen to take 24 photographs in 24 hours, using only a manual camera. Hours then develop the photos and publish the results. It’s a nifty concept, costing only a quid, plus the cover and minimalist design looks great as well. It could be a good idea to do something similar, combined with the spirit of our recent Pitch In & Publish series – each person takes an eBook’s worth of photos and makes their own document of the trip.

It’s available here.

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case study education examples news publishing on demand

CCI’s Library of Traces


Back in September Frederik posted a case study of Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination‘s use of bookleteer. They’ve continued using it as a creative and documentary resource, and in doing so have created a Library of Traces – a series of eBooks which enable both participants in their professional development workshops, and others, to follow the traces of their experiences and share reflections and observations.

To help CCI widen the audience for their work we’ve posted 7 eBooks on our diffusion.org.uk library and will be making others available there as they are created. All are welcome to download and share eBooks from the Library of Traces.

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examples ideas & suggestions

Holiday memories in your back pocket

Hi, I’m Radhika, the Marketing Assistant at Proboscis. You’ll see me pop up weekly, as I’ll be writing posts on ideas and suggestions for using Bookleteer in new and inventive ways. Take a look at my first idea…

Going away this summer?? It’s a great feeling, once you’ve booked that holiday and start counting down the weeks to a get-a-way, somewhere beautiful, adventurous or even laid-back and relaxing.

Exploring the craziness of New York’s Time Square, the hustle and bustle of Abu Dhabi’s Souks, the calmness of Maldives serene beaches, the list goes on…

Coming back with all those memories and stories that you can’t wait to tell everybody! The only problem I have is remembering the name of that fantastic coffee shop I went to, or that busy vibrant market where I got my dazzling shawls from or even the restaurant where I tasted the delicious local food. So if someone asked me to recommend places to go and see or where to eat, sure I could get their mouth watering describing the succulent chicken and thirst quenching cocktails, but I couldn’t actually tell them the names of these places… because I had forgotten!

I’m always in need for a scrap piece of paper to jot things down. Having a book that can easily fit into a pocket or a handbag would be most ideal. Creating a book on Bookleteer gives me this exact opportunity, to easily print and assemble and take with me.

It’s also useful to jot down other little things you come across on holiday such as the local language. Maybe how to say ‘hello’ in Mandarin or ‘thank you’ in Greek.

Have a look at the mock up book I made, to give you an idea of what can be done…

A handy book that can easily fit into your back pocket or your handbag and taken with you everywhere on your holiday! Now you don’t have to struggle to remember everywhere you went, just scribble it down in your own Bookleteer book!