Richard Bell's nature sketchbook since 1998
For a cover illustration for Wakefield Women in History, I’ve gone for three of the more dynamic characters which, of course, includes my dynamic mother-in-law Betty.
I’ve drawn twelve subjects, which should fit into the format and length of my booklet.
Katherine Waterston’s character Daniels, has all the kit she needs to terraform a lush alien planet. What could possibly go wrong?
As I’ve mentioned, my approach to page design is normally to cram as much as I can on a double-page spread but after all the books on typography and graphic design that I’ve read recently and (see previous post) the cereal packets that I’ve studied, I’m trying for a calmer, clearer page layout for my Wakefield Women in History.
I’ve just started reading Helen Gordon’s Notes from Deep Time and the classic page layout struck me as being a pleasure to read, so I’ve been using my layout ruler to measure margins, indents and leading (the space between lines) in the handsome hardback, published by Profile Books.
I’d normally go for a familiar, tried-and-tested, roman typeface like Garamond or Baskerville but an article by typographer Dan Rhatigan on Adobe Creative Cloud persuaded me to try a new ‘warm, fairly classic’ alternative for a book typeface, Dolly Pro, designed by Underware. It looks good to me but the test will be when I print a page on paper.
Good to see Michael Rosen smiling again in last week’s Radio Times. This time last year, he was in an induced coma with a 50-50 chance of surviving Covid-19. In his latest book, Many Different Kinds of Love A story of life, death and the NHS, he recounts his near-death experience, illustrated by Chris Riddell.
this is a beautiful book about love, life and the NHS that celebrates the power of community and the indomitable spirits of the people who keep us well.
Waterstones’ website
I’ve been reading up on graphic design and typography recently, so I couldn’t help noticing that Kellogg’s recently revamped the carton of their Just Right breakfast cereal.
I thought that the shape of the pack had changed too, because its got a calmer, less cluttered look, but it’s exactly the same size. There’s been a similar revamp of some of the other Kellogg’s cereals, so they make a distinctive group on the supermarket shelf. I think they’ve pitched it ‘Just Right’ . . . in the Goldilocks Zone. Although she preferred porridge.
In my book design, I like to pack my pages with illustrations, comic strips and maps but there’s a lot of truth in the phrase ‘sometimes less is more’. If I’m reading through a book, rather than dipping into it for reference, I appreciate calm, clear design.
We’ve been chitting our Maris Peer second earlies on the back bedroom windowsill but we took the plunge yesterday and planted them at about a spade’s depth but as an extra precaution earthed the rows up, so that by the time the first sprouts show above ground, there’s a good chance that we’ll have had the last of the frost.
Martin Luther King features in a couple of television documentaries this week, giving me an opportunity to draw him from two small black and white photographs. That rather unusual angle, looking up at his face, might explain why I struggled with proportions in my first attempt.
All the right ingredients. Latest birthday card for Emma, a food analyst (and I bet that you can’t buy such a job-specific card in the shops, even when they open again next week).
“Tonight in The Den: Will a pen-pushing portraitist punter draw a Dragon and persuade ‘his nibs’ Peter Jones to close a deal? Or will he blot his copybook with Deborah Meaden? Will Tej Lalvani ask to see the paperwork or will Touker testily talk about a touch of Tippex? And will TV-marketing guru Sara Davies have an inkling that the portraits would look much better on the radio?”
“Jolly nice meeting you but I’m sorry, you won’t ever make a film because your face is wrongly arranged.”
Director giving Judi Dench advice after an audition in 1960, as recalled in conversation with Richard Eyre on the BBC.
Glad that she didn’t listen to the advice. In Lindsay Shapero’s Red Joan, a spy drama based on actual events, she plays Joan Stanley, accused of passing nuclear secrets to the Russians. So a complete contrast to ‘M’.