Free Patterns Online

For those of you who are visually attuned, you'll notice a change or two here (I'm secretly beaming at having been able to figure out enough HTML to make this thing look prettier - maybe building my own website this year won't be such a chore...oh dear, that had the ring of 'famous last words', didn't it?).

The background pattern I used is from Squidfingers, and since he is kind enough to offer 158 patterns for free, asking only for a shout-out in return, here it is.  They're mostly really great, and I'm sure I'll make use of some more in the future.

While we're talking patterns, the aforementioned Vikki (see below) linked to a great site today on her blog:  GoMediaZine.  This page is a tutorial on building intricate patterns in Illustrator (not that you'll need to do that with the Squidfingers link).

*Edit: oh my god, I'm in love.  If you're into patterns, or colour relationships, THIS will knock your socks off!   

Scratch Animation stole my heart!

This weekend I went to the FAVA cinemathon (gorgeous poster here courtesy of superstar graphic designer Vikki), and damn if I didn't completely fall in love with scratch animation.

Tables were set up around the concession area where you could draw on or scratch into 35mm film.  The film scraps were then looped together, and projected onto the screen behind the bands.

The only band I saw was Electricity for Everybody!, and they were great.  Multiple projections of colours and carefully planned lines swirled behind them, creating a truly amazing atmosphere.  I'm completely obsessed with this needing to be done at way more shows, because it really elevated the live music experience.

From Harrison Stark comes this nice piece that pretty well illustrates what was going on. Except - think multiple overlapping projections.

           

For more information on scratch animation and drawing on film stock, the NFB has a nice article, and for those lucky enough to be in New York, the Drawing Centre has an exhibition on it right now.  There are some beautiful images from it here.