I just read that the leading Arabic calligrapher, Khalil al-Zahawi, has been shot and killed in Baghdad.

BBC News report of his death

Reaction to his death on the “Road to Iraq” blog which is where the example of his work (at right) is from. Click the link for more, and larger versions.

Wikipedia entry on Khalil al-Zahawi

Another one found while researching the Japanese advertising poster article, I came across this poster for Japan in the results. The result itself came from Riding Sun, which links to the wonderful collection of travel posters on the Los Angeles Public Library’s site. Some of my particular favourites:

This is another post from the big pile of images I have. Now, I remember finding this, and being disappointed there were no detailed versions of the illustration, which from what I can see should bear closer inspection. Unfortunately yet again I’ve lost the reference to where I found it. No, no I haven’t. I found it through an image search for Japanese Advertising Art while researching this article and I just realised the Google Image Result page is still in my history. W00t.

So here we have it. It’s a page from Canadian Art Magazine about Nicholas Di Genova. Using Google I find lots of pages about him, including a decent quality version of the image used in the article, along with a couple more. Looking at them I realise I’ve seen his work plenty of times in books and magazines. Interestingly I had an entirely different image in my mind when I saw the original page from Canadian Art. I thought it would be a stylised but otherwise accurate drawing of a stag or moose, but it turns out to be some kind of moose-fish hybrid. Ho hum. Still, the inspiration holds. One day I’ll get around to doing my comic book of doom.

This is an extraordinary piece of work. Notice that even though the piece is justified, the colour of the text is even throughout, with no obvious rivers or anything. The shape it makes on the page is gorgeous too. Really quite something to look at for a long time. You can read more about it, and download the PDF of it here.

I found this image of a poster months ago, and I’ve no idea where it was. I’d really like to get hold of a higher resolution image (or a print) and to find out what was shown in the exhibition.

I need to know so much more about the typeface in this image. I found the image in this pingmag article on Dainippon Type Organization, where there’s a little bit of info, but I can’t find anything beyond that. Feed me facts!

Ah, the joy of technology. Posted from an e61 while sat in the pub. Sadly the phone is not mine… It’s bloody good though. I want the successor to it, the e61i. Then I could take pictures and blog those too!

Continuing the Japanese theme, in my collection of inspirational graphics is this little gem, from pingmag’s article on Japanese fonts on sake bottles. If you’re really interested, there’s another feature on their site added recently about sake bottle labels in general. The label was designed by GRAPH, who have an online portfolio of their work online. Go and visit, and drool.

Digging through my collection of pictures I come across this collection of Mon. I’ve been fascinated by these heraldic devices for a while and wondered what the rules were governing them. Well, Wikipedia to the rescue:

Mon (紋?)(plural mon), also monshō (紋章?), mondokoro (紋所?), and kamon (家紋?), are Japanese heraldic symbols. Mon may refer to any symbol, while kamon and mondokoro refer specifically to family symbols. Mon serve roughly similar functions to badges, crests and family crests in European heraldry.

A mon consists of a roundel encircling a design (such as feathers, flowers, or some man-made object). They are somewhat like coats of arms in that they are either associated with a particular clan or family, or an individual who has achieved some variety of public recognition. The designs are usually stylised versions of traditional Japanese themes, such as bamboo. Artists may choose something symbolising their art; a fan design might be chosen by a geisha.

I love Wikipedia. Interesting that people nowadays use the inkan instead. I’ve always wanted to do my own inkan - as it closely resembles the western form of printer’s mark. I really want to have my own Mon too, though. What kind of Mon would a designer/photographer/typographer have though? And would it be considered unforgivably gauche for a westerner to create their own? Well dammit, I want one. Maybe I could just use the crown image from this site…

I love this. I love the way the star and crescent make such clear shadows on the ground. Go take a look at this post on Jan Chipchase’s site for more pics.