PLUS

The Picture Licensing Universal System (PLUS), a non-profit coalition of companies, associations, and industry experts, recently came together with the mandate to "...clearly define and standardize the core aspects of image licensing and its management." Their aim is to create a more transparent and fairer licensing process for both image creators and image buyers. With the increasing complexity of image usage these days, more clarity can only be a good thing. Find out more about PLUS here.

Book Covers Blog

A wonderful blog dedicated to the art of the book cover. I found this on the Ace Jet 170 blog under the favourites, and now it's on my list of favourites as well. Shown here is Thomas Pynchon's novel Against the Day, published this year by the Penguin Press.

2010 Advertising Rates

Hello! The automatism blog is where I share what I find inspiring, interesting or simply beautiful in decor, the visual arts, design, literature and more. Automatism readers are interesting and creative people, with a true appreciation for great design. If this sounds like the kind of audience and exposure you'd love to connect with, read on!

Getting an ad on automatism is simple. The rate is $25.00 (Canadian) per month for a 160 pixel wide x 60 pixel high ad, like the one here:



I accept payment through PayPal. Once you've paid (and supplied your ad), up you go! For first time sponsors who book an ad mid-month, you are eligible to have the rest of that month free, with your paying ad beginning on the following month (i.e. if you book an ad on January 15, you'll have the rest of January for no charge, as your paid month will begin on February 1). New sponsors will have a launch at the beginning of the (paid) month, introducing you to automatism readers. And for each month you renew your ad, you'll have the opportunity to participate in a Sponsor Spotlight around the middle of the month, which highlights a new item or event that you'd like to feature (i.e. a new line of cards in your shop, or if you're in an art show). If you're interested, email me and we'll get started!

If you'd like to book your ad for more than a month at a time, I offer the following ad runs at a discount:

3 months: 5% discount ($75.00 less $3.75 — your total cost is now $71.25)
6 months: 10% discount ($150.00 less $15.00 — your total cost is now $135.00)
1 year: 15% discount ($300 less $45.00 — your total cost is now $255.00)

Please note that I am only able to accept files in the following formats: JPEG and GIF. There are no additional fees for Animated GIF ads. Animated GIF ads should be no more than 50K in size, so that they can load quickly and easily for viewers.

I'm pleased to announce that I am now offering a larger format square ad measuring 160 pixels wide x 160 pixels high, at a rate of $50.00 (Canadian) per month. This size is also eligible for a discount if it's run for 3 or more months in a row:

3 months: 5% discount ($150.00 less $7.50 — your total cost is now $142.50)
6 months: 10% discount ($300.00 less $30.00 — your total cost is now $270.00)
1 year: 15% discount ($600 less $90.00 — your total cost is now $510.00)

And for those who have inquired about this before, I am now accepting carefully selected text-only (text links) ads if they are of particular interest to automatism readers. Text-only ads appear below all other ad banners. Their size is a maximum of 30 characters per headline and a maximum of 50 characters per description, with a rate of $15.00 (Canadian) per month. Please note that text-only ads are not eligible for ad launch or Sponsor Spotlight posts.

Thanks so much for considering advertising on automatism — have a lovely day!


P.S. If you're new to advertising online and would like to learn more, I highly recommend the fantastic Advertising 101 For Small Business Owners by Design*Sponge.

Hallowe'en Postcard

This is a Hallowe'en email promo that I sent out to various clients and friends last year. As I didn't have a blog then, you get to see it now...

David Carson

For some reason it's only now that I've thought to look for the website of David Carson, the iconic (and much imitated) designer. I picked up his book (at left), The End of Print, years ago, and I still find it the most open and liberating take on design around--ten minutes of flipping through and any creative block you have is completely gone, as you find yourself radically rethinking your design preconceptions. These days he's as busy as ever, working, lecturing, traveling, and getting new generations excited about visual design. Check out his website here.

What's in a Credit Roll?

Article on how the design of film credits is increasingly being done by independent graphic designers, as film companies try to capture a more contemporary feel to their films. The recent film Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola (and her earlier film, Lost in Translation, both with credits by designer Peter Miles) is one example, but it's not a new trend--brilliant freelance designer Saul Bass is known for his iconic credits thanks to the enlightened support of Hitchcock and Preminger. Read the rest of the article here. There's a slide show, too.

Ace Jet 170

Great blog by an English designer working in Belfast, with lots of interesting stuff about design, typography, print, and other such visual preoccupations. Highly recommended.

Cubism Exhibit

There's a new show in Paris of Cubism, called "Au Temps des Cubistes" ("The Cubist Days"), but one quite different from the usual exhibitions, which tended to focus mainly on the scene in Paris. Cubism was an influence throughout Europe, and on view are works from Swedish, Russian, German, Czech and Hungarian Cubists. The exhibition is at the Galerie Berès at 25 Quai Voltaire and 35 Rue de Beaune until Jan. 27 2007; otherwise, you can see some of the work in the slide show accompanying the article by Souren Melikian. The painting on the left is "Still Life with Bottle" (1917) by Marie Vorobieff Marevna.

Scrubs Up Beautifully

Story by Steve Rose of the Guardian about how the Brunswick Centre in Bloomsbury went from forlorn to happening, thanks to finally (after 40 years) being painted, as per the architect's original instructions. Read about it here.

Canadian Culture Fight - Round 2

From the CBC website:

"The fight to restore announced funding cuts to Canadian museums is being stepped up.

A vote Tuesday night in the House of Commons called for funding to the Museums Assistance Program to be restored.

The Conservative government has pledged to cut $4.6 million over two years from the program, which funds exhibits, restoration and other programs in regional museums across the country.

Members of Parliament debated the plight of Canadian museums for more than three hours in the House of Commons Monday.

On Tuesday, they adopted a motion calling for funding for the MAP to be restored to $12 million annually, reversing the reduction of $2.3 million scheduled for this year. "

Read the rest of the story here.

Atomic Art

The curators of some of the biggest museums in Europe and the US have used nuclear science for a while now to determine the age and provenance of the art in their collections. Now United Nations unit The International Atomic Energy Agency, best known for fighting the spread of nuclear arms, is moving to make access to such tools globally available. Read the New York Times story by William J. Broad here. Be sure to check out the sidebar, "The Case of the Headless Apostle", too.

Run Rabbit Run

Creepily fascinating animated short based on English 1950's educational book illustrations for children. Created using AfterEffects. Thanks to Jim of Clutch for forwarding this along...

The Biology of B-Movie Monsters

This is what happens when biologists relax -- a fun essay that is also informative. Read Michael C. LaBarbera's exploration of monster sizes here. That's Mothra busily terrorizing Tokyo on the left.

Musée des Arts Décoratifs

The Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris recently reopened after ten years of renovations -- read more here. I was disappointed not to see it when I was in Paris two years ago -- it's on the list of must sees for the next trip. Don't forget to check out the slide show, too.

When Words and Images Collide

Great essay by Mark Walston on the AIGA Voice site, about the conflict between the written word and the visual (that is, illustration). Here's a quote: "Why is it then, given the quantifiable and undeniable persistence of visual messages, that pictures are so often regarded as mere supplements to the text? Why, for centuries on end in Western civilization, has the word lorded over the image in the hierarchy of communication?"

Heaven Postcard 2

This is the second postcard piece done for the Clutch "Heaven" show at Santé. See my earlier post below for the background info...

Illustration Friday

Just heard about the Illustration Friday website, which is "... a weekly illustration challenge. A topic is posted every Friday and then participants have all week to come up with their own interpretation. Topics are picked each week from a list of suggestion that have been emailed by participants." The site (and concept) was created by the illustrator Penelope Dullaghan. I see that this week they have an interview with illustration great Anita Kunz, too.

Graphic Design vs. Illustration

Interesting article by Adrian Shaughnessy on the Design Observer website. Here's the intro:

"Someone emailed me recently to point out that illustration isn’t included in Design Observer’s list of "categories" — the list you can see below, on the right of your screen. Art, typography and photography are there, but not illustration. Is this omission a simple oversight, or does it tell us something significant about the current state of illustration?"

Heaven Postcard

This is one of the pieces I created for the Clutch group show at Santé. Besides the theme of Heaven, the idea (as with every show we do) was completely open. Considering what an abstract concept heaven is, it was a little daunting. I thought about how humankind has spent a millenia attempting to define what it's like (and developing a staggering variety of views in the process). Then I thought about what it would be like if things were a bit different -- if heaven was a more tangible place, one where we were able to get postcards from family and friends, even if we couldn't go there ourselves (yet). So here's the final result of all that pondering -- with a hefty influence from some 19th century French postcards of Paris I've been looking at lately, too.

Clutch Show

Clutch, the art collective consisting of Clare Brennan, Alain Brunet, Jim Kohan, Michael Zavacky and myself, have another group show in the offing. The theme for this one is "Heaven," and opens at the Santé eatery/gallery on October 23. Clare did the poster for the show, seen here on the left. More info on Clutch can be found here.

Reach For Your Gun

There's an acerbic review by Jonathan Keates of John Carey's new book "What Good Are the Arts?" in the Times Literary Supplement this week. Judging from what Keates has to say in his (well written) piece, I won't be reading Carey's book anytime soon. Not if I don't want to angry up the blood, that is...

Read the Keates review here.

Lego My Drink

Lego is now offering ice cube molds, for those who want something a little retro (as in childhood) in their glass.

I wonder if you could build ice sculptures with these...

Monster Fossil

The BBC reports that a big treasure trove of 150-million-year-old giant marine fossils have been discovered by palaeontologists from the University of Oslo's Natural History Museum on the Arctic island chain of Svalbard - about halfway between the Norwegian mainland and the North Pole. Read about it here.

And check out the cool painting here by Tor Sponga, too, of his interpretation of what these gigantic creatures would have looked like. There's a fascinating and specialized branch of illustration, if there ever was one. You need to be part scientist, part naturalist, and part artist in bringing bones to uncanny life.

Let's Get Lost

Profile of Adrian Fisher, professional maze designer, in the International Herald Tribune. Be sure to check out the slide show, too. Quote from the article by Alice Rawsthorn: "Fisher has not simply mastered the art of maze design, he has reinvented the maze as a form of mass entertainment. In an era when millions of people are hooked on puzzles - from newspaper Sudoku to video game riddles - the three-dimensional puzzles of Fisher's mazes have bolstered the financial fortunes of historic houses, theme parks and farms." The maze on the left is the Longleat Hedge Maze in Wiltshire, England.

Bookshelf: Inside the Business of Illustration

After years of hearing rave reviews, I've finally ordered myself a copy of Steven Heller's book Inside the Business of Illustration, which is fast becoming a classic in the field. More on that when it arrives...

The Dashed Line

Absorbing discussion about the use of the dashed line on the Touch website. The example on the left is from the book Open Here: The Art of Instructional Design, by Paul Mijksenaar and Piet Westendorp.

Strange Clouds

Fascinating website of odd cloud formations, which will have you walking around staring at the sky all day afterwards. The lenticular cloud (as seen here on the left) is often mistaken for a UFO. You can see where the inspiration for the film Close Encounters comes from...