Happy 1 Year Diversary
Picks from global village bins
Dear carbon-based reader,
You’ve been reading these lists for a year. I’ve been compiling them every second week — slipped only once where I sent it out the following week without leaving the usual break. Anyone caught that?
Hope you enjoy the finds as much as I enjoy the dives. Thank you for reading. Thank you for spreading the news about it. It’s a great when the work finds its people.
So for the 27th time; sift through. Click into what you like. Skip the rest.
“The Objets Trouvés collection is the logical extreme of an industry whose focus has moved entirely towards creating digital simulacra – surfaces that merely allude to actual objects. We value the virtual representation of an object more than we do the object itself ” — Elizabeth Goodspeed writes about the spread, power, and meaning of mock-ups.
Makes me think about decorating designs with digital textures and how often motion designers fake stop-motion techniques by slapping an effect on their wholly digital, 24-fps creations.Flipbook animation about a metal guitar player on XXL scale!!11!!!
The amazing Animation Obsessive dedicates a whole issue to the 2-person studio behind it.I do about one course per year. Too often, they go too long + offer very little actual info + tend to be beginner level. So I’m picky, critical, and hard to please in this regard. All of that said, this year’s choice fell on Alex Grigg’s Animation Basecamp. His youtube channel (#5) is the sole reason I took the course. His videos tend to cover the basics but coming from the pro he is, they are always sprinkled with advanced-level techniques, tips, and tricks. This course is no different.
So much so that I completed all my homework in Blender with 3D shapes, as opposed to drawing them.Speaking of mixing 2D and 3D… enter: The Plucky Squire.
A game where the hero is a book’s main character [2D], who escapes into the room [3D] where said book is read. Even more exciting than that concept is the BTS of the launch trailer [above]. The artists are generous enough to share details in a X-(formerly known as Twitter [never gets old])-thread and video form.
This is just good stuff! Tying back to #1 above, this is real paper that cuts!“What’s the point of pointing?” Japanese rail workers have an argument for it: the action requires and attracts attention. Made me think of the Austin Kleon post about pointing at things; “art is about saying, ‘Hey, look!’”
Speaking of The Kleon, I finally got around to listening to the Tape Notes episode with Four Tet as per his recommendation from long ago. It’s a great conversation about music and music-making where Kieran argues for learning music history vs softwares and plugins.
Sneaky seven: Tape Notes podcast is an amazing way to hear making-of stories about favorite albums. Song Exploder does a similar thing albeit on a song level. There’s a short-lived 2-season run on Netflix as well that’s equally exceptional.
Season 1 trailer. Season 2 trailer.
Until another Friday soon,
Gergo