Christina Wodtke, 2017

I used to be able to sketch really well in high school and college, but what I really dreamed of was cartooning. Years later I discovered Illustrator. My cartooning dreams came true and I never picked up a pencil to draw again.

Until now.

I'm planning to work as part of a design team whereby communicating ideas requires quick sketches, mock-ups, and white boarding. Fortunately I came across this gem of a book. It walks you though steps, from simple lines and geometric shapes to text & lettering, drawing basics, and building a library of design ideas. Very nice.

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平泉 康児, 2018

Illustration 2018 features 150 illustrators from all over Japan, showing off what they’re doing right now. Just tune out and let the images overwhelm you with all of the talent, color, lines, contrast, and imagination.

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Sandu Publishing, 2017

A fascinating look at how designers in Asia stylize their pictographic languages for various markets. It’s a outside look at type design without interference of actual (Latin-based) words, experiencing something between letters and iconography. For me, it’s fun to flip through the images, decipher the shapes and meanings, and imagine how they might influence our world of font and icon design.

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