Eric Hanson: Brain moving exercises

Eric Hanson

Eric Hanson

Love this quote by Eric Hanson:

[quote] I have an exercise I do sometimes, to get my brain moving, to get the ideas from my head to my hand to my pencil. I draw a face. I draw an oval, or I draw the arrangement of features. Why are they always arranged the same, like a place setting? There’s no law about that, so I rearrange the furniture, put the ear where the nose usually is, or insert a spoon or an automobile in its place. What is it saying to me? Usually nothing, but it opens a door to resemblances that we train ourselves to ignore. Rule-breaking is the first rule of art. The world isn’t two dimensional but the paper is. The offbeat equations we make don’t need to be outright surreal to be interesting. The brain is who we are, so why not draw it into that space? Is he asleep, or thinking, or dead? Sometimes the best drawing is inconclusive. ~ Eric Hanson [/quote]

He makes a lot of great points about thinking on paper, and his blog is a treasure trove of thoughts and snippets of his own processes that’s absolutely priceless.

Pikaland’s 2013 wall calendar + 3-day special!

You’ve read right folks – this is the reason why there’s been a bit of excitement over at Pikaland HQ. And I’m not talking about a PDF download or just a desktop wallpaper. I’m talking about something real that you can stare at on your own wall. After several years of just highlighting awesome calendars from around the interwebs, we’re making our very first wall calendar! And I’ve roped in 12 fabulous illustrators to each create an illustration for the calendar with the theme “On my Desk“. But wait, it’s Pikaland after all, so you won’t just get a calendar – you’ll also get a zine to go along with it, with interviews with the artists about their work, process, and of course, what’s really behind their desk.

Pikaland wall calendar 2013: inside pages!

The regular price for the calendar + zine will be USD$25. BUT. Here’s the good news: while the calendar + zine is being printed, I want to reward you guys with super pre-order specials:

  • For the next few days, I’m going to be offering the calendar + zine set at a super special starting pre-order rate of USD$18 ;
  • Beginning Thursday (8th November) it will be USD$20 for another week before it will stop at the regular price of USD$25. (click here to buy!)

This calendar + zine set is only available in a limited edition of 500 copies and would make a great Christmas gift!

More details:

The calendar: 12 months, A5-sized, wire-bound, wall-hung (there’s a hole for you to hang it up), portrait sized, full-color.

The zine: 12 illustrators, A5 size, staple-bound, black & white

This item will ship out by the middle of November! Click here to see the works of all the illustrators and to buy the calendar + zine set!

 

Microcosm Publishing

DIY Screenprinting & Home Sweet Homegrown | Microcosm publishing

Microcosm is a small publisher based in Portland, where zines are du jour and their belief is as refreshing as publishers go. They specialize in DIY (Do-It-Yourself) goods that teach self-empowerment and their website offers up a slice of what they do – from giving out transparent and accessible financial records (their minimum wage is USD$9, capped at $13) and a sliding-scale pricing for all their wares (yes, it’s true!). I’ve requested a couple of books for review, and for those who are very much into DIY (and not just crafts, mind you), I think you might just feel as though you’ve hit gold.

[quote] You determine what you can afford to pay for the items that we publish ~ Microcosm [/quote]

Home Sweet Homegrown | Microcosm publishingHomesweet Homegrown: How to Grow, Make, And Store Food, No Matter Where You Live by Robyn Jasco shows you how easy it is to sustain yourself with a garden. And if you don’t have one, create one instead with the space you have. The topics run from the basics: how to cultivate your seeds, irrigating your garden with an old hose, recipes for those delicious freshly picked greens and even the topic of fermentation; with lots of information in between that’s neatly organized between chapters.

DIY Screenprinting | Microcosm publishing

DIY Screenprinting Handbook by John Isaacson is an instructional book on screenprinting in a quirky comic book format. Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of the concept – between these pages (and the strips) there are lots of information that’s delivered with a wittiness that makes it all that much easier to digest. There’s also interviews with other screenprinting artists in between that offers a break in the comic book sequence. The dissemination of textbook information into a storyline – with Isaacson playing the lead role – makes for a lively read out of mere instructions.

See more books over at Microcosm Publishing!

Have a lovely weekend folks!

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