Trace exercise part III

vector trace of rusky stamps

So again i stumbled within the addictive myriad of traceable examples over on Ffffound. When I finally surfaced I had a folder filling to the brim with beautiful stamp illustrations from the 1960s. Most of these stamps heralded from the eastern part of Europe, but the ones that stood out over the rest were the beautiful cosmonaut themed sets. The ruskies really pushed an agenda of technological advancement during this time as is exhibited on their postal currency. Needless to say I very quickly and aggressively traced these forms, an original of which can be viewed here. After a quick Flickr search I discovered even more examples waiting for an Illustrator treatment.

New trace/logo project

The vector version of an analog sketch

This is a prime example of taking this new-found habit of sketching analog work in the vector format. The interesting aspect of this undertaking is the collaborative nature of the chosen material. J Dubz has started a new style that is a beautiful fusion of his own unique style with my own developing doodle sketches. The above is the first attempt of desigining a header for the all new and all-encompassing J dbuz blogfolio, much like this one. We will see what happens.

a J dubz sketch

Trace exercise part II

I cannot seem to stop myself tracing these bottlecap designs. After getting lost at the very addictive Tumblr blog Fffound I finally stumbled upon a collection of bottlecaps on a Flickr account. I love the things and I have been trying to render some of the older designs in the clean vector style. Check out the super slick Duvel logo, which also happens to be the most tasty of tasty beers conceived.

now if only I could design a knight logo as slick

Trace exercise part 1

I have decided that in order to keep my vector skills up to par, I should begin tracing previous works in order to discover new techniques and forms. This process also informs me on all sorts of goodies that are intrinsic to graphic design. I am not alone in this exercise as I have picked it up from Aegir over at the much envied Ministry of Type.

this example took an extra long time because each character is unique from its hand-done origins

This example is traced from a set of Notgeld. Instead of stumbling over a misunderstood explanation of this currency, here is the Wikipedia blockquote used by the Ministry.

Notgeld (German for “Emergency Money” or “necessity money”) was special money issued primarily in Germany and Austria to deal with economic crisis situations such as a shortage of small change or hyperinflation. It was not issued by the central bank (Reichsbank) but by various other institutions, e.g. town savings banks, municipalities, private and state-owned firms. It was therefore not legal tender, but rather a mutually-accepted means of payment in a particular locale or site.
Wikipedia

I will definitely continue this exercise and hopefully I might actually find my own samples instead of relying on the expert eye of the Ministry. You can find the final version of the trace here.