CGPGrey

CGPGrey is by far one of my favourite "Youtube-ers." A lot of people think that Youtube is used just for looking at cute cats and various other animals, and while that is not entirely false, Youtube has an entire world of intelligent beings sharing their knowledge on the internet. 

CGPGrey is a perfect example of an icon who contributes to the artistic and knowledgeable utopia the internet can one day become. (Was that sentence grammatically correct?....I can't tell). He talks about certain topics while using images and animations that help to understand the topic at hand.

CGPGrey's videos contain great content. However what makes his videos amazing is the way he executes them to help the viewer retain more information. The visual effects he uses are make his videos some of the most descriptive and interesting I have ever seen. 

I find his videos very helpful, informative, and engrossing. I find that CGPGrey is able to capture the viewers attention within seconds, even if he is discussing dull topics. Maybe it's just me, but I think his videos are universal and anyone can watch them to gain more knowledge. 

Click here to check out his Youtube channel! 

Sticky Note Tetris Stop Motion Video

In all honesty, I think one of my favourite things to do is look at stop motion animations, and when I see some that only use very simple tools but still look professional, I get very happy!

I particularly like stop motions that take something ordinary and make it extraordinary. For example, the makers of this video took a video game that everyone knew about and mixed it up - giving the viewer something to relate to and something new that they'd want to see. The way the squares break apart and how the entire frame breaks and scatters on her at the end is very well done. I am very impressed with the overall planning and execution of this stop motion.

Portfolio Comparisons

Ben Kling:

In Ben Kling's portfolio, he added in some mouse over flash functions, which is not only fun but it gives the user control. Once he adds these in, the user's attention is immediately caught. There is nothing too distracting from the main point on the webpage and nothing looks out of place.

 Ben Kling also uses white space very effectively. He divides everything up using the negative area. If you click on the link, you'll see that there is a lot of empty space on the webpage. This works very well because he kept everything simple. He used large buttons and pictures to communicate where each link would take the viewer.
If you go and click on one of the tabs, a few of them are divided into sub-categories. This is also very helpful for the viewer to find what they are looking for. He never plays with the user's patience, everything on his website is clean and simple.
Overall, Ben Kling's web portfolio is easily maneuverable and simple, which is exactly what the viewer wants.

Ken Wilson:

Ken Wilson's website has too much going on to look good, and that is honestly the main reason I find it to be terrible. The colours make it worse too of course. Nothing on the webpage catches the viewer's eye immediately. The negative space is not used effectively at all, everything is too crowded and the overall quality of everything on the website is terrible. I find it difficult to look at. The website contains far too many page tabs. The ones at the bottom should be the focus, not the 'who/what/where/when/why/how.' The viewer has to think of what they want to see on the website, which is not the idea of a portfolio webpage.
The pictures are a big part of the problem as well. There is no unity on the site that ties everything in together. The text on each page is spaced and formatted differently, which causes for more uncertainty from the viewer.
Ken Wilson's website is not simple enough which makes it difficult for the viewer to find what they are looking for.

Typography in Flash

I found the link to this video again while I was looking for various Flash tutorials. Even though I had not used it, I wish I had! It is so much easier than what I had done for that writing affect. Though I guess that's just part of the learning process. If I ever need to to anything along those lines again, I know where to go! 

However, before I found that tutorial, I found this one. This was very  helpful because after I had brought the layers from Illustrator to frames in Flash, the placement and sizes were very awkward and they didn't look quite right. I am very happy I found this tutorial, it helped a lot with what I needed in my project. 

The Periodic Table of Typefaces: Popular, Influential & Notorious

I was on StumbleUpon recently and came accross this - The Periodic Table of Typefaces. Besides being amazing and helpful, the maker of this tried putting similar typefaces in the same group/period, sort of like the  elements are grouped in the actual periodic table! Sans-Serif fonts are in the first two groups/periods. As you continue looking down, the typefaces become fancier and the script fonts are introduced. I thought the whole concept was very clever!

The creator tried to display the top 100 fonts used by designers. He included the creator of the typeface as well as the year it was made. It's interesting to see similar typefaces together thought they were made at completely different times. 

Anyway, just thought this was a good find. I highly encourage everyone to check it out. Click here for the website! 

made me laugh :P

Su Blackwell: Book Sculptures!

Su Blackwell is a very unique artist who sculpts using books. She depicts scenes from stories in a three dimensional sculpture using the paper and words from the book itself.

Here are my two personal favourites: 

Little Red Riding Hood

Alice in Wonderland 

She also created a set for the theatrical production of "The Snow Queen" at The Rose Theatre in the United Kingdom:

I'm always mind boggled whenever I find an artist like this. I just keep wondering where the inspiration would come to make something like this and how one would begin with the execution. It would take several days of planning - imagine wondering how much you need to cut out and where the shadows would land and the different layers. What would be in the background and in the foreground. I think Little Red Riding Hood is one of my favourites because she has lighting included in it. She also framed it in a glass case. It gave it the 'frozen, snow globe' effect (as I like to call it). 

The British artist's work is enchanting and inspiring because of several aspects. She uses stories to make figures tell their stories. Her talent combines different arts together - the writing influences the charming visual sculptures which is made out of the physical story itself. Reading expands the mind and creates wonderful images in the brain. Su Blackwell re created these images in an interesting way using the same material that created the physical story. 

Making something similar to one of these would be insane. I may just try it one day.

Su Blackwell's website.