Tattoo dictionary

Hello dear readers, as you may have noticed this blog has been on hiatus for a while now.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I was taking part in an exhibition Planet Fun Fun in Kerava art museum with my Official Ball-point Pen Tattoo Dictionary Project. In finnish it's "kuulakärkikynätatuointisanakirjaprojekti" which is a nice word. The exhibition went very well, some nice reviews in major papers included. I collected all the words I drew in Flickr sets, many with some notes and at least some info should be coming to all the images later. Take a look!

Official Tattoo Dictionary in Flickr.

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Tattoos made in the Planet Fun Fun -exhibition

In other news, I'm back to freelancing after a bit over five years in Sulake. Thery were having some layoffs for typical "financial reasons" and I managed to be one of those. I did actually talk with my boss about volunteering to go, so this is not a bad thing. Five years anywhere is quite long these days, and I have stuff of my own to work on. On the other hand, I have to start arranging meetings myself now, just to keep the headlines coming for this blog. Anyway, I'm available for freelance projects now.

I did already get a new laptop and am now waiting for the CS4 Master Collection to arrive via UPS. So after I get that installed, look for more lettering entries in the blog.

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This week's posting is also an advertisement for an exhibition opening a week from now. A group of ten artists, including myself, have a 6-week engagement in Kerava art museum. I did mention it in an earlier post. Image of the invitation here, crop marks and all. I'll be doing my ball-point pen tattoo dictionary project and also another thing that also has to do with typography. Welcome to see it! The image has the name of the exhibition written . The shading was a bit unfinished like my part of the exhibition actually is too... Though hopefully everything will get finished in time. Made with felt-tip, ball-point and gel pens. Original size about 9,5 x 5,5 cm.

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OK, back from vacations, could have lasted a bit longer though... But I've still got some holidays waiting fortunately. This week's post was made probably in July - August. The company I work for has a new product out and I was making banners to advertise it. I was also along in designing the logo (because of this blog, actually) but that was earlier this year. The headline is from a brainstorm as it says (in case you are feeling too lazy to rotate your head. The script and blackletterish letterforms work quite nicely together and there's a slightly kinetic look to the whole thing. Script words could maybe benefit from smoother edges, but since these are all quickly made I didn't bother to polish that too much. Made with felt-tip pens with a touch of gel silver. Original size about 12,5 x 9,5 cm.

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Today's update has something in common with the previous post, namely the black letters with silver detailing. The style is different enough so I thought it's not a crime to post this. I was testing some letters with ornaments inside, similar to what I sometimes draw outside the words. It looked quite OK, so I figured I'd try to make the word itself in similar roundish forms so there would be sort of a double ornament. Word is cut to three rows to form a square shape. Notice how the horizontal line of the t goes through the line of the p descender instead of the loop. This is probably showing my buried aggression. Made with black felt-tip and silver gel pens, original size bit below 7 x 7 cm.

I'll be heading for a drive up north (Lapland etc.) for one and a half weeks so I will be skipping at least one update, perhaps two. So, later then!

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I just managed to finish (hopefully) some banners at work so this posting is honoring that little advancement in my week. The above headline doesn't actually have anything to do the banners I finished but hey, banners are banners, you know. There's some similarity in letterforms to an early blog post, though this one has more depth in the lines. The paper was too narrow to contain all the letters in the same style so I switched to smaller letters. And in the end circle to even smaller letters. But this works quite ok still. Made with felt-tip, ball-point and silver gel pens. Original size about 10 x 7 cm.

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This week's entry is from my sketchbook instead of office notes. It's a headline image from a note page dealing with my upcoming exhibition (or my part in a group exibition to be more accurate). The name of the exhibition will be Planet FunFun but since I wanted to keep it a secret at the time I wrote this unbreakable codename instead. The exhibition will have typographic & lettering stuff also, so I will probably post more about it later.

There's a strange glitch in the upper middle part of the picture, maybe some scanner thing or somesuch. Anyway, I'll keep it to myself. This was made with ball-point pens (red text) and paint + gel pens (center text). Original size about 13,5 x 10 cm.

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This is a not an actual meeting headline but some typographic testing made during some meeting. I suppose there's not much difference though, except I don't have to worry about any work secrets. The stripe thinking could probably have been taken further, it might be good to keep in mind to do that. The blue tones of this one are similar to the previous post but I'll try to pick some different ones for the next week. Made with the usual tools, original size is about 7 x 5 cm.

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I missed two postings again (two weeks ago because I was going to London for a little vacation & a week ago just by the power of forgetfulness), but since it's summer and the weather was nice too I doubt anyone noticed. Now that it's cold and raining again I managed to return to the blog. Let's see how it goes next week.

This entry is a new one in the Excel series (previous ones: 1, 2, and 3), might even be the last one that I have scanned. Our excels at work often have lists of upcoming projects etc. so that counts as Krazy Stuff, I guess. Maybe I'm being ironic but maybe not! Anyway, this was made with the usual stuff + blue paint pen. Original size about 11 x 8 cm.

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Today's image is again pretty general in tone. I forgot when this was made, I'd say probably slightly after the Japan spring trip since the background gray is from a paint marker I bought there. I definitely forgot the context and am not even guessing that. There are some old skool glitter effects anyways! Small blue text in the bottom is more legible in reality but I suppose the scanner light angle flattened it somehow. Sorry about that. Made with the usual tools + the paint marker. Original size about 9,5 x 5 cm.

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The Excel series continues (earlier posts here and here) with another blackletterish version. The lines at the letter endings on the upper part were possibly supposed to give more of a spiky look but it does look a bit hairy. Fortunately the lower word has amazing 3D shadow effects to take the attention away from the hair. I kind of like how the uneven letter heights and placing gives the words a slight expressionist typography look. Made with felt-tip, ball-point and gel pens. Original size about 8 x 6 cm.

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It's time for the fabulous 30th posting. How time flies! Because of yesterday being team day at work this is a bit late from the usual schedule. On the other hand, there have been so many lapses from the usual schedule that I'm not really certain it exists anymore. Anyway, the word was made quite recently, I forget the original context though. The word itself doesn't give any clues. It's finnish and means "yes". The letterspacing is a bit uneven for such a short word but I promise to do better in the future. Made with ball-point and gel pens on top of very nice Posca paint marker (or what the word is for those). Original size about 10 x 6,5 cm.

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Sir Spend-A-Lot Returns once again! Earlier posts here and here and here. These aren't chronological, this one is from 2006, I believe. Probably from a trip to Barcelona and Lisbon. There are some other markings on the bottom of the page to show some hint of how the page looks in the actual sketchbook. I had to clean up the page a bit too (because of markings on the other side of the sheet seeping through), but hopefully it's not too noticeable. Made with ball-point and gel pens. Original size about 13,5 x 6,5 cm.

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I don't remember exactly what was the source of this word but it would probably be top secret anyway so no big loss there. In this word I went to a chiseled sort of look, but it might have been a bit too blocky after all so I added the green stuff soon afterwards. All this has very little to do with the game of football. Made with felt-tip pen on the base and gel + ball-point pens for the details. Original size about 7,5 x 6,5 cm.

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This week's posting is the first one made on a post-it note if I remember correctly. The text contains the names of myself and a friend from work in a nicknamish form. This was drawn during a team assignment at some sort of big team meeting day, we had a two-person team. The ends of the words were the same so they have been connected. The red slogan was "inspired" by some Pepsi Max video that tried to be tough but didn't dare to actually use curse words. Original size is the same as a post-it-note of that shape. Made with felt-tip-, ball-point and gel pens.

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To continue the Excel theme that started two weeks ago, I now post a second image in celebration of that wonderful program. There are a few more Excel-letterings still waiting for posting after this. This one has a blackletter shape but apparently I thought flat letters would have been too boring (though the letterforms themselves do look pretty nice) so some dimensionality has been added with the colors. Made with felt-tip and gel pens. Original size about 6 x 3,5 cm.

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This is the 25th handmade lettering -posting to the blog, tadaa! So the image this time is one I'm quite happy about (and have been saving a bit actually). It's from my Feb 2006 Berlin trip and inspired by a visit to the Filmmuseum in Potsdamer Platz and the nice Metropolis film posters there. If I remember correctly this one took some time so I was already back in Helsinki when I finished this. Or maybe I started this after the trip. Well who knows. The original size is about 14 x 13 cm. Made with ball-point pens.

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So then, I managed to miss two postings in a row. Oh well, at least I managed to use the previous wednesday for useful purpose: moving to a new flat. Still in the same neighbourhood, very nice 7th floor views (sort of 7th even though it says 6th on the wall) and much more light.

On to the posting then! This was made after the Japan trip so quite recently. I have heard of some other work places use Microsoft Excel too, so the main word here might be familiar for some readers. We probably were looking at some plans from an excel file so the word comes from there. The Someone is left anonymous on purpose. The color scheme is green-blueish for a change, many recent ones have had red-black so I figured some variety couldn't hurt. Made with same ol' same ol'. Original size about 6 x 4,5 cm.

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This week's post is late again, this time I can't even use the same excuse as last time. I'll think of a good excuse and post it later. This scan is from a Berlin trip 2006 (first one of that year). The drawing was too close to the wire binding so I couldn't make a symmetric border all the way around the text. The wire binding holes are visible in the left in case you didn't believe me. Original was quite small so the look may be more rough as some other works. This continues the black-red color theme from the previous post. Made with ball-point pens only. Original size about 4 x 4 cm.

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Oh dear, this week's entry is late! I should blame something for this. Maybe I didn't transfer my workfiles to my new laptop yet? Sounds beliavable. Anyway, on to the image: I may have mentioned that I sometimes I just pick up semi-random words from conversations and draw those. This time I picked "Thing" which reminded me of the horror film by John Carpenter (IMDB) and the 50's movie it was based on (IMDB again). So the word has traces from old poster lettering (in my mind at least, I didn't bother to check the actual posters for the films mentioned). Made with a red ball-point pen and a drying black felt-tip pen. Original size was quite small, about 4 x 3 cm.

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Güüti ist zurück! The Japan trip went very nicely, though there wasn't too much extra time and/or energy to draw lots of nice headlines. Some were done anyway, probably they will be seen in the blog in the future. Lots of nice new pens and stuff now though.

The actual post is an older one this time but keeps within the classic theme of "Paltsu". Might even be two years old or more. This was done on a separate sheet of paper without any other text so the actual date may never be determined. What an exciting mystery! Anyway, I like the different-from-usual limited color palette, should do this kind of thing more. Done with felt-tip, ball-point and gel pens as always. Original size about 10,5 x 7,5 cm.

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Sir Spend-A-Lot returns once again with a sequel to a previous post (here), made on 2007 Berlin-Copenhagen-Hamburg-Berlin trip. The red-orange text may not be as fluorescent as in reality since the scanner couldn't handle it or optionally I'm not good enough with scanning techniques. Same orange was in the prequel image too. The letterforms seem to be inspired by old signage, "August" may have some german old school grotesk type inspiration. Of course I've actually forgotten whether I had some actual influences here or if I just pulled these out of my head. Original size about 12,5 x 9,5 cm. Made with the usual things except felt-tip pens.

Güüti is going on a vacation this Saturday, off to Japan for three weeks! But don't worry, after that the regular updates will resume normally. There's new stuff to scan and old stuff waiting for upload. And probably Japan will offer plenty of nice visuals to be later seen here too. See you then!

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Valentine's Day is very soon so I use the opportunity to publish a suitable headline. This one is from work where we were planning some campaign materials for the occasion. The larger letters are a bit hairy, but I assure you it's due to the paper quality, no hidden meanings should be connected to that look. Made with the usual tools, see previous posts for details. Original size about 6 x 5,5 cm.

Enjoy the day in question!

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Well, I'm in a flu at home but managed to remember the update still. This is from late-ish autumn when it wasn't yet freezing and we were planning a small local sightseeing trip to Sipoo (a county next to Helsinki). The drawing was on the paper in the same angle so I left it the same way here also. Original size about 9,5 x 7 cm, made with the usual tripet of ball-point-, gel- and felt tip pens.

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Some blackletter style this week plus some other styles thrown to the mix. This is made either just before or just after New Year as the text may reveal. The "H" in Neue Jahr would probably look better with a thinner right column but that's the way it is now. Sprint still refers to the project managing thing. This is made with ball-point, felt-tip and silver gel pens. Original size is about 11,5 x 6 cm.

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Well, I seem to have missed the Wednesday deadline because of tehcnical problems. Blame goes to my non-working connection at home and not myself for updating earlier when it was still working. Anyway, today's scan is again from a Monday meeting, the actual date is surprisingly included. Sprinting does not refer to the form of movement but to a project planning system used at work. So maybe I'm repeating myself there. The handmade block type looks nice in longer texts than in just one line. Legibility might not be so great but that's how it goes sometimes. Original size about 9 x 4,5 cm. Made with felt-tip, ball-point and gel pens.

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Picture of the week is from... well, some meeting. Clearly from a very important one! Looks like the meeting was long enough for me to spend a bit of time with details. Although the darkest line looks a bit like an old school telephone cord it doesn't necessarily mean the meeting was a conference call. "Meeting" has a similar style to the first lettering post of this blog, though with less overlapping parts. Made with the usual set of ball-point-, gel and felt-tip pens.  Original size about 12 x 7 cm.

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New year and new posts. This one is from autumn, I think, and has something to do with organizational changes within the company I work for. More scripty feel here than in some of the previous ones. I made a slight mistake with the year there but in the name of honesty decided to not photoshop it out. Made with ball-point pens only. Original size is about 10 x 7 cm.