British Comic Art

A couple of weekends ago I went to the Rude Britannia exhibition at the Tate Britain in London. If you're thinking of going and expect just a bit of Beano or Spider Man comic history then you will be in for quite a suprise. This exhibition will definitely make you squirm a little and be conscious of who's around you... Gasp, cringe or just laugh out loud it will definitely cause a reaction.

The exhibition has been put together by some of the best-known cartoonists and comedy writers and explores British comic art from the 1600s until the present day.

I was so suprised how far satirical and comic art went back, with one sketch of a Lord saying 'Kiss my arse' created in the 17th century! I was impressed by the sheer variety and range of British comic art exhibited, including paintings, sculptures, film, photography and of course graphic art and comic books. It was interesting to see how it all started out and was brought forward by artists like Hogarth. Artists grabbed hold of the greed and self-delusion which characterised their modern consumer society and ridiculed it with no shame.

It was great to see how the art of caricature developed over the centuries. It is now a very widely used art in British public life, with politicians, royalty and celebrities being mocked in magazines and newspapers. There were many pieces of satirical art based around recent politicians. These were very interesting because the artists picked up on those characteristics that make each politician recognisable and exaggerated them to create humour. They picked on specific events and situations and used them within the joke. It is very impressive how caricaturists can express someone's emotion and personality in such a simple drawing. I would love to develop this skill myself...

I really recommend this exhibition if you fancy a bit of giggle, and enjoy naughty British humour.

Calling all type geeks!

Hyperactivitypography from A to Z is an activity book for typographers. The nostalgic vintage style illustrations give it a sweet and childlike look. It takes you back to those classroom days and makes you feel young again, just if our GCSE textbooks looked like this!

The book is packed with activities, ranging from silly to hard core nerdiness so why not take a look and see how much of a type geek you are?

Out of season

First post, here goes nothing...

Had a spare half hour at work today so was just faffing around on the web as you do and fell across these fantastic illustrative Christmas cards created by Tad Carpenter.

It may still be summertime (even if it is pouring with rain in Leeds right now) but it's never too early to stock up on your Christmas cards, especially when they're this awesome. I normally make all my cards, but these I may actually buy.

Each year Carpenter tries to design a new series of cards which are silkscreened onto chipboard. I love the untraditional colour palette, the use of metallic grey with bright yellow is a bold move that's really paid off. I admire anyone that can make Christmas graphics look this good, not an ounce of red or green anywhere... Nice one.