I printed some crazy business cards this weekend, check out that registration! Can't wait to put these to use. Letterpress is so fun.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
I printed some crazy business cards this weekend, check out that registration! Can't wait to put these to use. Letterpress is so fun.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Here are some spots I did for the April issue of Nickelodeon Magazine. They're seed packets for plants that don't currently exist but would help make the world a greener place. They printed muuuch smaller than this (I think these are about 200% of the print size). Thanks to Caitlin Keegan for this AWESOME project! So fun!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
my art school declared war on all the other major Philadelphia art schools. God I miss Tyler!
Made this for fun (plus I've been trying to figure out if I want to get a type related tattoo, so I am making myself do some experimentation to figure out what I might want). Woo!
Monday, March 16, 2009
We just launched the new Louise Fili Ltd site today! (well technically "yesterday", but yesterday was only 22 minutes ago) GO SEE! Louise, Andy, and I, along with our developer Rowland (link tk), worked really hard to completely redo the site, making it easier to navigate, showing more in depth views of the projects and even starting a blog! Louise and I worked together to completely re-brand the studio, including a new logo that I lettered, fancy new stationery and letterpressed business cards. I'll do a post of this end soon so you can see the full effect! So excited to see this finally go live.
UPDATE! Check out the post Steve Heller did about it on The Daily Heller today! (March 19th)
Thursday, March 12, 2009
These (cat toys) are amazing. Just bought a set from etsy user spellwell. What smart idea. Hope my small monster won't destroy them tooo quickly.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Cover by Happypets
Click here for large image
Check out the newest newest (I think only those with subscriptions have a copy right now, newsstands tk) copy of print magazine! I, along with nineteen other designers, illustrators, and photographers are featured as the 2009 New Visual Artists "Design's Rising Stars". Very exciting!! Make sure you read up on my former studiomate Josh Cochran as well as more brooklynites than you can shake a stick at. Check everyone out here.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
site updated
I just updated the crap out of my portfolio site (jhische.com or jessicahische.com, whichever suits your fancy), mostly just the homepage and illustration section. More updates coming soon! I feel motivated this week! I hate web design.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
This is probably the best thing I have ever drawn. A vargas-esque girl body with the head of the creature from the black lagoon, holding a machine gun, with some grenades thrown in there for good measure. It was a sketch for an article in Arrive Magazine about badmovies.org, a site in praise of B-movies. Here is the final of what they actually went with.
YUM
Best 2-person sharing food combo (for meatavores): Mac & cheese + hanger steak from Dumont in Williamsburg. Goddamndelicious. They had a pumpkin bread pudding as well, which was good, but I am obsessed with bread-pudding and I'm starting to think I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to this dish. Everytime I've really really loved it, it's been the non-flavor-fusion variety.
frequently asked questions
I get asked a series of 10 or so questions from students and professionals a few times a week, so I've decided to answer some general questions here. Enjoy! Don't be annoyed if I direct you here when you email me. If you have any more questions DEFINITELY ask, I'm an open book.
How do you work? What is your process?
Everything I make is made in illustrator. For finals, i export as tiffs but really all the work is done in illustrator, even adding textures and whatnot. For illustration, I do sketches first which are REALLY rough and mostly to communicate ideas rather than a direct composition interpretation, and for the type I sometimes do sketches and sometimes just jump right on the computer and let it evolve by itself. I don't use a wacom tablet (at least not yet), I'm a point and click kind of gal. People are flabbergasted by this but I used to work exclusively on the trackpad on my laptop. I will have carpal tunnel by the time I'm 30.
How do you make type?
I make all the type in illustrator directly. I don't scan my sketches and trace them. I usually work with the grid on, start with a single weight line and then add thickness or ornament later depending on what I'm trying to achieve. I make general decisions at the beginning to figure out what kind of type I want to draw (a script? slanted or upright? thick or thin? sans serif? retro feeling or more modern feeling?). I'm slowly learning fontlab (its pretty intuitive) and hope to make a ton of my alphabets into fonts in the near future (these will be for sale on my typesavant.com website, whenever I get around to actually designing it). If you want to be a good type designer, you just have to make as much of it as possible and look at as much of it as possible. Be really observant. Practice, practice, practice. If you have the patience to keep plugging along at it, you'll be great in no time.
How do you chose your colors?
If you saw my apartment, you would see that all the colors I use in my work are really just colors that I like. I love warm colors. I don't really like the color purple. I am coming around to blue (aside from warmish robin's egg blues which I LOVE). If I could put red/orange in everything I make I would.
What are some of your inspirations?
I am inspired by everything. I work for Louise Fili and her collection of random vintage type ephemera is astounding. I read design blogs and look at images online a lot. I love vintage packaging. I like silly roll-your-eyes-ish jokes. I love talking to strangers. I love interior design and vintage/retro furniture design. I'm inspired by other designers and illustrators all the time, by their motivation and by their great work.
What other designers / illustrators inspire you?
So many its hard to say. I have a major design crush on Marion Bantjes and a brain/concept crush on Christoph Niemann (you should reread the illustrated article he did for Print a few years back (2005? 2006?) on being an illustrator). Of course Louise Fili is a major inspiration. I have a really talented group of friends that also keep my motivation high. I see work every day on sites like ffffound, the dieline, etc. that makes me seethe with jealousy. Envy can be a big motivator.
Why did you start drawing type?
Really, out of necessity. I was broke in college and couldn't afford to go on an awesome font spending spree and didn't have the time to pour through the free font sites for something actually worth using. I noticed in school that my hand drawn type would make the project feel more cohesive and special, so I tried to make custom type as much as possible for projects. Now, almost everything I make has hand-lettering in it. One major disadvantage to being good at hand-lettering is that I am TERRIBLE at picking out fonts for projects. Every time I've needed a crazy display font for something, I've just made it myself because it takes me less time to make it than it does to scour the internet for something good. Don't ask me to recommend a similar font to anything I've made, I won't know what to tell you and then I'll feel like a lame designer.
What fonts do you like?
I have short love affairs with certain fonts, most of them coming out of H&FJ. I had a torrid affair with Archer a few months back. I can't stop using Gotham on everything I make (for the tiny type that isn't worth hand-lettering). I also love Coquette, though it can be a little funky. The numbers are GREAT. I bought Paperback from House Industries last year and used it on a few projects, it's a fun serif, a little less formal than some of the others and comes in a bajillion styles for different type sizes. Bulmer is a great text type which has an AWESOME italic. Neutraface's italic is really good too.
How long does it take you to make things?
Really depends on the project. Ribbon type takes FOREVER compared to other kinds of work, but for the most part I'm pretty quick.
Which do you like best, design, illustration or typography?
Definitely typography. I don't even know why I love it so much, it's just a really enjoyable process for me. I like to keep a good mix of design, illustration, and type. I think I would lose my mind if i had to do only one for the rest of my life. I do like to consider myself a designer/illustrator rather than an illustrator/designer. I think if people know design is your strong suit they trust you a bit more on things like book covers. A lot of illustrators are savvy about type and what fonts would look good with their work, but art directors can be a little slow to trust artists that don't have a strong design background.
Where did you go to school?
Tyler school of Art, which is part of Temple University, in Philadelphia. I have a BFA and don't plan on pursuing an MFA anytime soon. I think I'd rather spend 80,000 on a 2 year personal project spree a la Stefan Sagmeister.
Why did you chose to be a designer?
I didn't know what graphic design was until I went to college. I took some classes in it and loved it, but wasn't really sure if I loved it more than every other class (Glass-blowing is fun! Sculpture is fun! Painting is fun!). I went to school thinking I would be a painter. In the end, I was procrastinating from my painting/sculpture/everything-else work by doing graphic design. I think a good way to figure out your passions are to look at what you do when you're procrastinating from everything else. I found out too that I didn't really take myself seriously enough to be a fine artist. I didn't like working in an extremely self-expressive way. I liked how in design you were solving problems, that there were rules to follow, that the point was for people to GET what you were trying to communicate (unlike in fine art, where if people get it right away, you're probably doing something wrong).
Can I meet you for coffee to pick your brain?
Yes, totally. Email me, I'm around.
How do you work? What is your process?
Everything I make is made in illustrator. For finals, i export as tiffs but really all the work is done in illustrator, even adding textures and whatnot. For illustration, I do sketches first which are REALLY rough and mostly to communicate ideas rather than a direct composition interpretation, and for the type I sometimes do sketches and sometimes just jump right on the computer and let it evolve by itself. I don't use a wacom tablet (at least not yet), I'm a point and click kind of gal. People are flabbergasted by this but I used to work exclusively on the trackpad on my laptop. I will have carpal tunnel by the time I'm 30.
How do you make type?
I make all the type in illustrator directly. I don't scan my sketches and trace them. I usually work with the grid on, start with a single weight line and then add thickness or ornament later depending on what I'm trying to achieve. I make general decisions at the beginning to figure out what kind of type I want to draw (a script? slanted or upright? thick or thin? sans serif? retro feeling or more modern feeling?). I'm slowly learning fontlab (its pretty intuitive) and hope to make a ton of my alphabets into fonts in the near future (these will be for sale on my typesavant.com website, whenever I get around to actually designing it). If you want to be a good type designer, you just have to make as much of it as possible and look at as much of it as possible. Be really observant. Practice, practice, practice. If you have the patience to keep plugging along at it, you'll be great in no time.
How do you chose your colors?
If you saw my apartment, you would see that all the colors I use in my work are really just colors that I like. I love warm colors. I don't really like the color purple. I am coming around to blue (aside from warmish robin's egg blues which I LOVE). If I could put red/orange in everything I make I would.
What are some of your inspirations?
I am inspired by everything. I work for Louise Fili and her collection of random vintage type ephemera is astounding. I read design blogs and look at images online a lot. I love vintage packaging. I like silly roll-your-eyes-ish jokes. I love talking to strangers. I love interior design and vintage/retro furniture design. I'm inspired by other designers and illustrators all the time, by their motivation and by their great work.
What other designers / illustrators inspire you?
So many its hard to say. I have a major design crush on Marion Bantjes and a brain/concept crush on Christoph Niemann (you should reread the illustrated article he did for Print a few years back (2005? 2006?) on being an illustrator). Of course Louise Fili is a major inspiration. I have a really talented group of friends that also keep my motivation high. I see work every day on sites like ffffound, the dieline, etc. that makes me seethe with jealousy. Envy can be a big motivator.
Why did you start drawing type?
Really, out of necessity. I was broke in college and couldn't afford to go on an awesome font spending spree and didn't have the time to pour through the free font sites for something actually worth using. I noticed in school that my hand drawn type would make the project feel more cohesive and special, so I tried to make custom type as much as possible for projects. Now, almost everything I make has hand-lettering in it. One major disadvantage to being good at hand-lettering is that I am TERRIBLE at picking out fonts for projects. Every time I've needed a crazy display font for something, I've just made it myself because it takes me less time to make it than it does to scour the internet for something good. Don't ask me to recommend a similar font to anything I've made, I won't know what to tell you and then I'll feel like a lame designer.
What fonts do you like?
I have short love affairs with certain fonts, most of them coming out of H&FJ. I had a torrid affair with Archer a few months back. I can't stop using Gotham on everything I make (for the tiny type that isn't worth hand-lettering). I also love Coquette, though it can be a little funky. The numbers are GREAT. I bought Paperback from House Industries last year and used it on a few projects, it's a fun serif, a little less formal than some of the others and comes in a bajillion styles for different type sizes. Bulmer is a great text type which has an AWESOME italic. Neutraface's italic is really good too.
How long does it take you to make things?
Really depends on the project. Ribbon type takes FOREVER compared to other kinds of work, but for the most part I'm pretty quick.
Which do you like best, design, illustration or typography?
Definitely typography. I don't even know why I love it so much, it's just a really enjoyable process for me. I like to keep a good mix of design, illustration, and type. I think I would lose my mind if i had to do only one for the rest of my life. I do like to consider myself a designer/illustrator rather than an illustrator/designer. I think if people know design is your strong suit they trust you a bit more on things like book covers. A lot of illustrators are savvy about type and what fonts would look good with their work, but art directors can be a little slow to trust artists that don't have a strong design background.
Where did you go to school?
Tyler school of Art, which is part of Temple University, in Philadelphia. I have a BFA and don't plan on pursuing an MFA anytime soon. I think I'd rather spend 80,000 on a 2 year personal project spree a la Stefan Sagmeister.
Why did you chose to be a designer?
I didn't know what graphic design was until I went to college. I took some classes in it and loved it, but wasn't really sure if I loved it more than every other class (Glass-blowing is fun! Sculpture is fun! Painting is fun!). I went to school thinking I would be a painter. In the end, I was procrastinating from my painting/sculpture/everything-else work by doing graphic design. I think a good way to figure out your passions are to look at what you do when you're procrastinating from everything else. I found out too that I didn't really take myself seriously enough to be a fine artist. I didn't like working in an extremely self-expressive way. I liked how in design you were solving problems, that there were rules to follow, that the point was for people to GET what you were trying to communicate (unlike in fine art, where if people get it right away, you're probably doing something wrong).
Can I meet you for coffee to pick your brain?
Yes, totally. Email me, I'm around.
Prints
Hi hi. So, I've been getting a slew of requests lately for prints, so I'm hoping to set up a store in the near future with a limited run of a few prints for sale (plus maybe some fun letterpress goodies). If you want prints before this happens, I can make some, though I'll warn you, they won't be as cheap as I hope to make them in the future (when I have to color match prints one at a time through my warhorse of an epson 1280, it's a little too time consuming for me to be able to make 'em for super cheap). So stay tuned! Goodies to come!
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