Just ordered Michael Holden's book 'All Ears' which contains his articles, the illustrations that accompany them and a map to show where they were heard!
To kick start my 'What is a line' brief I have been looking at illustrative type, which is a possible route to take and one I am interested in, as it relates well to my chosen subject, conversations. I really like the book Hand Job by Michael Perry, the hand rendered type looks very spontaneous and has an unfinished look to its, which I think would work well with an on going stream of conversation.
I particularly like this photograph, which has had type scratched into it. Taking photographs of people, then scratching their conversations on top is an idea I might pursue.
I think that this kind of illustrative type will be good for showing a busy area with many conversations going on at once, a constant hustle bustle and stream of noise.
I have found an article in The Guardian which is by Michael Holden. He records conversations he finds interesting and funny and pairs them with funny illustrations by various artists or designers each week and descriptions of the people to set the scene, here are a few examples...
'You're as selfish as I am ? we've established that.' Illustration: Andy Watt.
Amid the strange confederacy between people who commute together, it can seem that there are some rules which exist chiefly to be broken …
Man 1 "I saw your brother on here last week."
Man 2 "Yeah? How was he?"
Man 1 "I don't know. I er, I saw him and his wife and I turned back and sat in another carriage."
Man 2 "So you didn't have to talk to them?"
Man 1 "Exactly. I mean it's an hour and a half. If you're not in the mood for it …"
Man 2 (laughing a little) "Don't worry. I'd have done the same thing."
Man 1 "That's a relief."
Man 2 (suddenly serious) "What, telling me, or that I'd have done the same thing?"
Man 1 "Both, I guess. I dunno."
Man 2 "You either told me because you thought I might agree with you, or because you thought telling me would make you feel better."
Man 1 (unsettled by the level of inquiry) "You think I should have talked to him?"
Man 2 "Yeah, technically. But I know I wouldn't have done. You might not have talked to me, if I hadn't have seen you get on."
Man 1 (miffed) "I would!"
Man 2 "Well, you say that …"
Man 1 (distressed) "But I always talk to you!"
Man 2 "I don't know that."
Man 1 "You don't trust me?"
Man 2 "No, you're as selfish as I am. We've established that."
Man 1 "We've got something in common. That's why we talk."
Man 2 "We're arseholes."
Man 1 (nodding) "Maybe."
All ears. Illustration: Steve May/Arena
Having failed to visibly outrage anyone by drinking lager on the tube, the four young men sat opposite me seemed anxious to raise the stakes by talking openly about cannabis. First, though, they had a more immediate problem – one born of their initial transgression.
Man 1 (distressed) "I need a piss."
Man 2 "This isn't our stop!"
Man 1 (leaving the carriage) "I can't hold on. I'll meet you there."
Man 2 "What's up with him? He's only had, like, one pint."
Man 3 (looking at his can of lager) "I swam through my brother's sick on holiday. I thought it was coral at first – it was all in my goggles and shit. This was on the Great Barrier Reef. It's a sick country, Australia."
Man 4 "Fuck Australia!"
Man 2 (holding a bit of paper) "Make the roach nice, that was one of the first things I learned about smoking."
Man 4 "What's that?"
Man 2 (rolling it up) "It's my bus ticket, keep the white bit on the outside, you have to twist it. That way you get feedback."
Man 3 "Back in the day I used to think I was the don. I used to get bare stoned and just watch The Simpsons. Nobody knew. I was 13."
There was no reaction to this, so he upped the ante.
Man 3 "That was before I got expelled."
Man 4 "Do you wanna get off and fight?"
Man 3 "I fight Gypsies in car parks – like on that show."
Man 4 "Downgrade your status!"
With that they were off, checking as they went to see if anyone had noticed them.
Love's young scream Photograph: Steve May/Arena
I was hiding my face in a newspaper on a train when I heard a woman say, "I remember when you were conceived." I looked up to see who was poised to deliver this revelation and saw a woman sitting opposite her daughter who was around 25 years old.
Mother (visualising) "It was freezing. Me and your dad had been to the cinema. He had to walk me home."
Daughter (visualising also, presumably with caution) "What film did you see?"
Mother (annoyed with herself) "Oh God. That thing when his hands are like knives … The Freddy thing … you know …"
She didn't.
Mother (like she'd won a quiz) "Nightmare On Elm Street!"
Daughter "Never seen it."
Mother "I hated it. Scared me. That's why he had to take me home. Not cos of the weather. I was jumpy."
Daughter (smiling) "With good reason."
Mother (like 1984 was another era entirely) "That was why you went to the cinema back then."
Daughter "To get pregnant?"
Mother "You know what I mean. We didn't go as much when you was born. I know that."
Daughter "Do you remember much about it?"
Mother "What do you mean?"
Daughter "Like, what you were wearing?"
Mother "I had a big coat."
Daughter "What about dad?"
Mother "Well he would have had a coat as well."
Daughter "That's all you remember?"
Mother "The bloke in the film, he's got a red and black jumper."
I really like the work of Kate Moross, especially the pieces that merge text and illustration together and make them look like one. These illustration will work really well with my what is a line brief and I intend to experiment working with this style, I particularly think that the way the text flows together and works as a whole entire image is relevant to my topic of conversations.
For inspiration for the name of the book, I decided to look up some sayings and proverbs about jokes, fools and pranks. Here are my favourites and the ones I feel are the most relevant to our brief...
Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it.
Even the gods love jokes.
A sense of humor is the only divine quality of man.
Dont just learn the tricks of the trade, learn the trade.
A joke is a very serious thing.
I'm not offended by dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb, I also
I dont mind making jokes, but I don't want to look like one.
Never risk a joke with someone who is unable to comprehend it.
April Fools' Day is celebrated in the Western world on the 1st of April of every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, 1st April is not a legal holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day which tolerates practical jokes and general foolishness. The day is marked by the commission of good humoured or funny jokes, hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, family members, teachers, neighbors, work associates, etc.
Some websites I found full of hoaxes and tips to get inspiration from...
Jo suggested in our last group crit to look into the work of David Shrigley as it is very relevant to what we are currently working on and has a similar tone of voice.
I think that Shrigley's work is brilliant and although it can sometimes be quite morbid, like the 'santa eats babies' piece, it is also really funny. The general humour that he shows in his work is fairly similar to what we intend to portray in ours and overall links quite nicely to what we have been doing so far, especially the notes that we have put up around college.
After our group crit with Jo and Amber we felt that we needed to take our brief in a different direction, focusing on changing well known signs into 'lies'. For example one of the ideas we came up with is 'Don't walk on the grass... run' or 'please tread on the flower bed'. Before elaborating on these initial ideas and creating some designs, I decided to do a bit of research to help with some inspiration. Firstly I looked for some existing signs that would be good to change, and some funny signs that have already been changed by others...
A lot of these signs had me giggling out loud and are definitely of the same tone of voice I want our project to have, something to discuss with the group on Monday.
Also whilst researching I came across signs that are placed around the public by a man who calls himself Craig. Definitely an inspiration to the designs we intend to produce, appropriate tone of voice for our project and seem to be well known and a hit across the internet.
I think these signs are brilliant and very funny. The simple and kitsch designs make them work. I think that when we design our posters to put around college and the public we should keep a similar style so that they mix in with the surroundings and only upon closer inspection do people realise what they are actually saying. Hopefully this will make our lies all the more convincing.
I particularly like this photograph, which has had type scratched into it. Taking photographs of people, then scratching their conversations on top is an idea I might pursue.
I think that Shrigley's work is brilliant and although it can sometimes be quite morbid, like the 'santa eats babies' piece, it is also really funny. The general humour that he shows in his work is fairly similar to what we intend to portray in ours and overall links quite nicely to what we have been doing so far, especially the notes that we have put up around college.
