Gems Among Shit
It's always important to look back at your work as an artist to see where you've come from. It gives a certain gauge, I think, of your progression and growth in a particular medium.
Recently, I undertook an operation to completely organize all of the Fontosaurus legacy files. During that process, I had the opportunity to start looking through many of my past efforts -- some that had seen the light of day, and some that had not.
Given my lack of record-keeping, I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to get a decent timeline sorted out and could see my development as a font designer.
While I was surprised at the amount of progress I made in 2-3 years, I was also painfully aware of how I was limited by my lack of knowledge of the craft. That's something that, during my hiatus, I have endeavored to resolve, and I think that my future works will reflect that.
The other thing this has done was to put me in a position where I need to decide what's going to happen to some of the legacy fonts. Some are so bad that they are going to be "lost" -- I'll deep archive them and never touch them again. And some are gems, which I'll need to cut-and-polish before offering them up to the world.
It's those that flounder in mediocrity that I am unsure about. While I want to put my efforts toward cutting and polishing the gems, I can't help but think about the rocks of mediocrity that might just have an agate or a geode inside them.
And It’s Live
For years now, I've looked for ways to get my font site back and running, with a low cost of entry for an e-commerce solution, and a low impact on my free time. Writing the engine proved impossible, various open source technologies were a failure. But I finally found the right one and hit it out of the park.
Fontosaurus is back on the web and lives again. This makes me giddy.
Yes, there's some tweaks that need to be made.
What’s Goin’ On?
So I've been noticeably quiet for awhile. And you may be wondering what's been going on.
Then again, you may not -- I suspect that my only regular reader is Kate, and she lives with me. So that would negate the question.
Whatever the case, here's what's up. I've been getting my Fontosaurus site back up and running. It's an arduous task, and I'm not quite there yet, but by the end of the week, I should have a functioning, e-commerce enabled, font foundry back on the web.
That's been the big thing. Also, I've been reading a lot -- been burning through the fiction works and slowly digesting The Four Hour Workweek, and taking to heart a lot of the things in there. Part of my goal for 2009 is to get to a point where, in 2010, I can opt to work in an office environment if I'm so-inclined. To that end, I have several ideas, which I'll be powering through over the course of the next 3 months.
Beyond that, not much else. Kate and I have been turning the new apartment into a home -- we're on the cusp of having everything done, which is great. Just need to drop some stuff into storage, do a fuckton of laundry, and we should be good.
The novel (working title: Bubble) is still in that weird state where it's simmering -- I've started putting stuff in the pan while I'm still contemplating my ingredients. I think it'll be okay -- because unlike real cooking, I can go back and modify things during the second draft.
What's new with you?
Life Update
- Observed this weekend: a white Toyota Prius with a "carrying handle" spoiler (much like the WRX STi, circa 2005), ground effects, expensive rims, and red-orange flames down the side. The lesson learned here is: if you're going to go dorky, go big. Also learned: I need a quick-draw holster for my camera (and to carry it at all times).
- Got a good ride in last night after the bike shop. On the outbound leg, I kept noticing that I was slowing down and feeling shitty. This of course called my form into question -- and rightfully so, as I haven't been riding much. Well, turns out it wasn't that so much as it was the loss of pressure in the rear tire -- I hit a small bump and got a nice pinch flat out of it. Replaced the tube and turned for home. The inbound route was headwind the whole way. Go figure.
- Had a nice time hanging out with Kate, Matt, Jenni, Wendy, Cindi, Wendy's girl, and others, on Friday night. Matt and Kate both sang at karaoke. I refused to humiliate myself. (I couldn't hit one note in twenty, even if you held a gun to my head.) Kate and I bailed on going out to the 90's on Saturday night because we were both exhausted and not in the mood for crowds. One of these years, maybe.
- Have discovered some issues with the Fontosaurus payment gateway and e-commerce engine not liking each other very much, so I will probably be making the switch to Paypal (*gag*) for the immediate future.
- Finished reading Mirrored Heavens this morning before work. Pretty enjoyable -- it has a very cyberpunk feel to it, but it makes Gibson's characters look like a bunch of pussies. I've got a whole stack of new books sitting on my desk that I've been dying to get at...the hard part is going to be choosing what to read next.
An Update of Sorts
Last night, as we were falling asleep, Kate admonished me for not updating here since last week. I retorted by rubbing my stubbly legs on her and then admitting that it had been awhile. So here's what's up:
Writing. Not much time for it these days. But I did have two cool ideas for books yesterday. The first is a non-fiction work, and the second is a sci-fi re-telling of a modern history story. Both would be a lot of fun to write.
Cycling. If I don't have to work at the shop tomorrow, I'm going to get the Surly out for a shakedown cruise. Work the kinks out, so I can make with the commuting. Johnny Surprise and I are going to try to get out and hammer this weekend, too. Haven't seen the dude in a dog's age.
Fonts. Also stalled. Need to get re-focused on getting the e-commerce engine running, converting some of my old fonts to OpenType and getting them back online for sale. I can always use more money.
Social Life. Picking up a bit. Going to have Jenni and the Cashbox, and some other peeps over for poker night this coming Wednesday. Liz is back in town for, like, a week or something before she heads off to her medical residency in Buffalo, NY, so there's some drinking, maybe some biking, and some Rock Band in the immediate future.
Moblog. I'm working on a version of this blog for the iPhone/iPod Touch -- one that will fill the screen nicely so you don't have to zoom around like mad to make things quasi-readable. I'll probably release the Wordpress theme as a free download, too.
Videoblog. I'm working on the first videoblog, and it's coming along. Hopefully finished this weekend. I need ideas from you guys for topics on upcoming blogs -- what sorts of stuff do you want to see?
Challenge #2
Amy J asks, "How do you get inspired for fonts?"
Even though I've got a category for it, I don't often discuss my font design work on here, which is odd, given that the design of such things is such a strong part of my identity. I always carry a Moleskine and a source of black ink with me, and am often doodling in the notebook.
The source of my inspiration has actually changed over the years. When I first started designing fonts, I was inspired by a lot of external sources -- mostly the work of other font designers. The last few years, however, my inspiration has become much more internal, and in reading an article about it, I've come to the realization that my creativity (at least where fonts are concerned) has become something like the thought process of a jazz musician.
I've learned to shut off my self-censoring. Like a jazz musician's framework of the "rules" of music, I have the framework of legibility that I must work within. I'll give myself a few more rules -- for example, I'll plan on a "handwriting font, comic book style, with an odd flourish", and then I'll just start doodling. I let the sketches mutate and evolve as I go on -- I don't try to make a perfect font right out of the gate anymore. And I keep the evolution process going until it "feels right" and that's what I codify.
What I've noticed is that as I've started becoming more internally-driven is that the quality of my work has increased significantly. Whether this is because my work is less derivative of external influences or because the self-editing process has been put on hold is hard to ascertain.
Writing, Biking, Life, Fonts
So I've figured out the markets I'll be submitting these two new stories to -- the first one I started is going to start the Grand Tour of Rejection at Strange Horizons, and the second will start the journey at F&SF. I will have to do the smart thing and create a spreadsheet to track all my rejections, and I'm okay with that, because as a project manager, I'm a big fan of spreadsheets.
I'm hoping to have my rough drafts done by bedtime on Monday the 14th. Revisions and clean-up on the weekend of the 19th and 20th, and in the mail on the 21st.
Writing, Bike, Etc.
On the writing front, I seem to have lost momentum via the day lost to the dead logic board in my Mac Mini. That's kinda sucky, but I'm going to force myself to sit in front of the 'ol text editing program for an hour tomorrow -- either I'll write, or I'll waste an hour. One or the other.
On the bike side of things, Zipp finally got my wheels back to me. Only one minor issue -- a dust seal on the cassette hub body was folded over onto itself, exposing the internals -- and I was able to correct that in less than five minutes with a pair of 5mm allen wrenches and a dental pick. Tonight, I'm going to scrub the cassette clean before I re-install it, and get everything back on the Salsa. It looks awfully sad, hanging in the living room with no wheels.
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Why does everyone assume I'm in my twenties? #helpidontunderstand [fontosaurus]
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Beat. 3 hours on bike. 8 hours at shop. 2 hours rearranging. Day's not over yet. Contacts pick-up and the Northeast Palace yet to come. [fontosaurus]
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Checked in at SuperAmerica - Lynlake
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I'm at SuperAmerica - Lynlake (801 W Lake St, Aldrich Ave S, Minneapolis). http://4sq.com/5GaQUl [fontosaurus]
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I'm at Penn Cycle Uptown (710 W, Lake St., at Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis). http://4sq.com/7Xn9Ev [fontosaurus]
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Checked in at Penn Cycle Uptown
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Shared 2 photos.
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First day back at @penncycle. Excited for another season at the shop. [fontosaurus]
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I'm at Surdyk's Liquor (303 E Hennepin Ave, at University Ave, Minneapolis) w/ 2 others. http://4sq.com/6n6XNM [fontosaurus]
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Checked in at Surdyk's Liquor
