I've been playing around with types of fonts to use for the Midsummer books. I definitely wanted to stay within my existing style, but also wanted a little throw back to traditional Fairy Tales. I primarily use heavy sans serifs in my work. I love that they are bold, simple and clean. And I have a strong dislike for most serif fonts.
I could play this game all day long! It has actually been banned from my phone….
But Serifs are one thing, blackletter is a completely other matter. I took up Calligraphy last year and while I don't get to play around a whole lot, it did give me a much better appreciation for Gothic Script so I wanted to incorporate that into my books. I mean they were used in most early editions of published Fairy Tales and they are so dramatic, perfect for pulling out important parts of a story! I also found them really easy to play around with as they already have a highly illustrative quality.
So, I played around with some. This one is the front runner so far!
You remember those books you got in elementary school, the ones with all the lines to help you practice your letters with? I still love those books, and they've become even more useful to me know as I've taken on the task of learning Modern Calligraphy. I found this amazing class through Skillshare (what you DON'T know about Skillshare -> go look now!) I really want to start working more hand lettering into my work so need to up my skills.
January has been a tough month. Still trying to reclaim all the spent energy from the Holiday. It seems that sometimes once you stop and take a moment it can be hard to get back into a groove. At least for me. And so many distractions!
I've got a couple of new collaborations in the works that have helped to get the creative juices flowing. And all this time spent getting the house & studio back in order were accompanied by great tunes. I love just putting random music on and was getting bored of my same old itunes selection, so I headed over to Songza (if you don't know it you must check it out) Being that I love most things Nordic and Scandinavian I decided to search to see if there was anything under either of those categories. Gold Mine! I found this amazing Scandinavian Folk mix. I'm not really a fan of any one specific genre and really the only folk I like is the more modern Of Monsters and Men and Mumford and Sons style. So I was a bit skeptical, but it also listed Bjork on the playlist and I love her quirky tunes.
One thing I do tend to lean towards in my music is dark and moody lyrics. Might surprise some, considering the style of a lot of my work, but there it is. Along those lines I found a couple of great new bands that are great for working to, just getting lost in the words and melodies, so I thought I'd share them.
First up is First Aid Kit, a Swedish girly duo. So pretty and moody and you just kind of want to lay in the grass and stare at the clouds all day music. Did I really just say that???? Listen for yourself
Next up is the adorable Jens Lekman, who is also Swedish but his record label is called "Secretly Canadian" so you have to love it for that even if you don't like his music ;) He's a bit more pop jazz??? Not sure what to call him, but he's cheeky and I like it. He's got a song called "Some Dandruff on Your Shoulder", of course I'm going to like him!
He doesn't seem to have any videos that I can find so this will have to do. Turns out this was actually on the Whip It soundtrack (bonus points for that because that movie was rad - still trying to bring that word back ;) And he may remind you of a certain British singer….
It seems with all this Swedish music being thrown into my universe I may have to actually add it to my big 40th birthday trip itinerary.
Any new tunes you've recently discovered that you want to share?
