Modern Use of Illumination

When looking for a modern example of illumination I wasn't really sure where to look. I haven't seen any usage in any of the products or media use as a consumer. So Google became my friend this afternoon. Browsing Google Image Search I stumbled upon a beautiful art piece.

Hayat Gul, Pakistan/Canada/US. Al Mussawir, 2009, mirror, glass and mixed media on canvas. An example of a modern interpretation of calligraphy.

Going to the page linked to the image I came across Muslima: Muslim Women Art & Voices. The art posted on this brief page was breath-taking. I really enjoyed all of it. Following are a few of the pieces shown on the page.

Sana Naveed, Canada. The Maze of the Verses of Sincerity, 2010, Acrylic and soot ink on tea dyed paper. “Say: He is Allah, the One and Only! Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not nor is He begotten. And there is none like unto Him.” Written in Kufic style, originally designed for a book cover of the tafsir (exegesis) of Surah Ikhlas or Chapter of Sincerity. An example of a fusion of classical calligraphy and a modern approach to ornamentation.

Elvira Bojadzic, Bosnia. From the Harf series I, 2000, acrylic on paper. A vivid, modern approach to calligraphy.

The pieces range from classical style to very modern and a few even blend the two. I cannot decide which is my favorite.

Word Play

Doing this assignment was interesting. I was unused to the Word List way of brainstorming. With some help from the class I was able to get a good wordlist going. The word list can be found here. Then upon sketching I also stumbled and was thinking too simply.

 After speaking with the instructor and the other students I was able to come up with some better ones.

 I ended up enjoying the magnetic pull idea the best and went through with it.

I used Candra font due to the slight weight change along the san serif font. I wanted the letters to be heavier on one end than the other so they would realistically "fall" the way I placed them. I then lengthened the letters as a shape to fill the space and make them more top heavy. I very much wanted a cartoon magnet so I created the U magnet instead of altering the U letter of the Candra font. The placement of the letters on top of the magnet is reminiscent of Wooly Willy's metal filings and how they react to the magnet.

Assignment #1

I didn't want to post the whole list of terms to my blog. It seemed clunky and gross so I used pastebin to just post a link to the whole list. Here is the list.

Post #2 Letter Form

I picked a letter form that was one from DaFonts.com's decorative category, kitty face. I love font with personality. This one struck me because it was so cute and instantly gave me giggles. I picked the upper case over the lower case due to the face involved. The lowercase looked like the cat was looking away.

Post #1 About Me

So this is a blog for my typography class. I am not sure what to post here. I'm new to blogging. We also had to post a picture. Yay! I'm not one for posting online much so this will be very new and out of my usual comfort zone. Hopefully I'll be better once I am posting about other things besides myself. I like words, text, and writing, so maybe this class will show me new side of those thing I've not seen before.
I am going to school for a Bachelors of Fine Art, Graphic Design. I have been working on this four year degree for 5 years, this semester starts my 6th school year. With working towards this degree I have used Adobe to create my projects for class. (Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator.) I would have to say Illustrator and InDesign are my favorite. InDesign for it's paragraph styles and Illustrator for just existing.
Outside interests include reading (mostly fiction/fantasy), video games (Nintendo is my fav) anime, and Lisa Frank. I will always love "nerdy/geeky" things I cannot hide it. Bright colorful things (also shiny things) will always attract my attention. And that's me.