Hey hey Deviants!

This is going to be perhaps the most biggest issue about Text Art I've ever posted so far. So... Prepare!
Take a cup of tea, coffee, energy drink whatever, put some music on and enjoy!


The following subjects will be in this issue:

- What is Text Art? _{in my eyes}
- Meet Typoholics! (a new art group)
- #textart chat event (yes, there will be prizes for you to win!)
- Misplaced Twilight deviations
- Daily Deviations (also a bit outside the gallery)
- Interview with ~skryingbreath

- Text Art features for this month!

--

What is Text Art?

There won't be a single day when you won't see text. Every day, on almost every place there is text: newspapers, television, advertisements, calendars... just to name a few.

Text is important, to make something clear. Think of an advertisement: it won't be clear without the text telling what it is about.
But to catch the attention from people, the text needs to fit nicely. Graphic designers think about the little details, perhaps you'll never notice that: must there be space? What kind of colour(s) fits with the rest of the image? Which size? Must it be bold or just regular? etc.

Graphic designers take their time to make the text perfect for the rest of the image or for the vision.

A lot of the Text Art pieces , and I'm sure you noticed that on deviantART, have a ''concept''.
Most of the time a Text Art piece consists not only text, but also a meaning behind it... a concept. What does it tell you? And also the font is very important in that matter.

There is also ASCII (text) Art, less popular here on dA than Misc. Text but also very interesting, no doubt about that. I copied this to explain the best what ASCII Art is from wikipedia.com: ASCII Art is an artistic medium that relies primarily on computers for presentation and consists of pictures pieced together from the 95 printable (from a total of 128) characters defined by the ASCII Standard from 1963 and ASCII compliant character sets with proprietary extended characters (beyond the 128 characters of standard 7-bit ASCII).

Text Art is a way to communicate, to get attention and recognition.

You can make Text Art in any digital art style! Vector, painted, pixel art... You name it.
Just like poetry there is a lot of freedom in creating text art. You can say anything you want in Text Art, but please keep it nice! You don't want people to get offended with your Text Art piece.

Meet Typoholics! (a new art group)

Yes!
We have a new typography art group!:
And it's getting bigger and bigger every day!

They plan on collecting awesome work at dA like:

digital typo
calligraphy
stencils
editorial designs (i think it belongs there too)
fonts
graffiti art

And supporting you guys a lot
They also have a chatroom:
#TypoholicsTalk

How to join and more information about their art group, please spend a visit!

#textart chat event

Soon there will be a Text Art Trivia night in #textart!

Yes yes. Means prizes to win, chatting with other Text Art/Digital Art fans and to get to know your GM more. I'm not that horrible you know...well, just a bit

I'm still planning everything out, so please be patient and keep your eyes open!

Misplaced Twilight deviations

Lately I'm seeing a lot of Twilight deviations in the Gallery...
Please remember what Text Art is about.

It's TextArt. Yes, your deviation has text like ''I want to be a vampire''.
But there is nothing artistic about it, it's just text on a background without effects. Those deviations should be in scraps, not in Text Art.

That doesn't mean that twilight deviations inside the gallery are forbidden... Just add something artistic to it. Make the text nice, put something on the background... Or have a look at the features in this article.

Thank you ^^

_{If you have any questions about that your work got moved into another gallery, note me please}

Daily Deviations

_{Copy and past:}

''A Daily Deviation is strictly a feature, that an admin felt should be seen on a larger scale, which lasts a mere 24 hours. A DD is not in the slightest an award. If you have an issue with the fact that a certain deviation received this feature, it is in no way the fault of the artist. If you have an issue with any DD please see
FAQ #873: What do I do when I disapprove of a Daily Deviation feature?'' Or contact $Moonbeam13 (= Director of Community Relations)

Whatever you do... NEVER flame the artist.
And ignore the people who do.
The artist never asked for a DD. Calling artists names, saying that an artwork is disgusting is not allowed here.


Everyone here is different, everyone here has a different taste but... We all have 1 thing in common: We all love Art ♥



If you have suggestions or questions about Text Art Daily Deviations, note me. I will read every note and will always answer your questions.

Please also take a look at:


FAQ #61: What is a Daily Deviation?
FAQ #18: Who selects the Daily Deviation and how is it chosen?
FAQ #873: What do I do when I disapprove of a Daily Deviation feature?

Interview with ~skryingbreath

I know Jonathan for a while now... His work is very well known in the gallery. He has an unique style, never is too lazy to chat or to help you out. It's a great honour to interview him, so I hope you'll enjoy it!


^Sander-Seto: '' Please introduce yourself a bit to us!''

~skryingbreath: ''My name is Jonathan Haggard (~skryingbreath). I live in California, USA. I am 19 years old and have been creating digital artwork since 2004. I am set to attend the Academy of Arts University this coming summer to get a degree in Computer Arts and New Media. I've been formally trained in traditional elements such as drawing, painting, sculpture and high-fire ceramics.''



^Sander-Seto: ''How did you got interested in Text Art?''

~skryingbreath: ''I began using text in my late Winamp skins - You can find some of these in my gallery. After I matured my traditional skills I sought to improve my digital designs. My significant other gave me the perfect boost by introduction of Scott Hansen's (ISO50) incredible art. After finding a few nice textures from =bashcorpo and cursory knowledge of Arial Black I tried my hardest to imitate Scott's style. Of course these pieces are very embarassing for me to look back on, and I'm most likely accusable of outright concept stealing.

This was unfathomably valuble in learning how to manipulate text to illustrate a specific message. I learned about kerning, tracking, leading, x-heights and various other text-speak via wikipedia and bumming around in Borders. It was important to me to learn this so that my work didn't look completely amateur and I continued experimenting until I got my first client. I could tell I was onto something that interested people, and was completely enjoyable.''

^Sander-Seto: ''Client heh? Interesting. Who was your first client and what did he/she asked from you?''


~skryingbreath: ''My first client was Gabe Mercury Clothing. I was commissioned to create a T-shirt design based around space and piracy. The bad news for me is that the client needed it to be designed in Illustrator - I had been solely Photoshop based for years and learning a new program frightened me. After several tutorials I felt I finally had this beast at least somewhat under control. I researched contracts, billing, paypal and best practices of Freelance Graphic Designers...after a few weeks of bating ideas and sketches back and forth I finished the job with a proud grin on my face and handed the files over. It was a really great rush, my first client! I couldn't believe I had survived. I figured if I could get paid for this type of thing I might as well try to make a career out of it.

You can see the design here: [link] ''

^Sander-Seto: ''Looks nice! What's your favourite font? The font you use often?''

~skryingbreath: ''Futura Condensed Extra Bold with tight kerning. Not too tight, don't let them touch! I use this typeface a lot in my propaganda-esque works. The entire Futura family is my favourite. There's something sublime about the basic geometry of the letters. You're absolutely guaranteed to be able to read anything set in Futura. Plus you avoid being a trendwhore by staying clear of Helvetica and its weird cousins.''



^Sander-Seto: ''What is your favourite Text Art piece from your own gallery?''

~skryingbreath: ''I tend to like pieces I make when I have other people in mind. It's not my most popular piece but I have a strong attachment to "HEAL":



My mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer and was justifiably frustrated with the situation. I felt the need to do something to cheer her up, to keep her going. After making this piece I had it printed at 16x20, framed it and surprised her one afternoon. It was incredible - partly due to the catharsis in making the design but mostly seeing her reaction. My mother still has this hanging in her living room so that she can see it every day.''

^Sander-Seto: ''Wow... very good concept, really and I'm so sorry for your mother...''

~skryingbreath: ''She is doing great.''

^Sander-Seto: ''So... A lot of people love your text art pieces. Can you share us a technique of yours? A trick?''

~skryingbreath:''Most of the things I do are very simple and are very easy to figure out by looking at the pieces. One thing that I've noticed that improved my pieces: After I'm done working and have the textures set, the design is complete I put a "Levels" adjustment layer above everything and drag the right-most point a little bit to the left to brighten the piece. This is especially effective when you print, as there are no light shining through pixels on a piece of paper.

I also share a lot of my illustrator files, as it was such a pain for me to learn: [link] ''



^Sander-Seto: ''What kind of Text Art do you like the most? Just words or words that make an image?''

~skryingbreath:''To me "just words" text art is poetry that takes too long to load even though I'm guilty of doing it many times. I love it when text looks good and is provided in a cogent and creative manner.''

^Sander-Seto: ''What is your favourite Text Art piece outside your gallery at dA, and why?''

~skryingbreath:''I love the work of
*mrgraphicsguy, more specifically "Ways" [link]

He's brilliant with textures and typography in general. This piece is my favourite due to it being split in two and the subtle variances in the orientation of the many Whos.''

^Sander-Seto: ''In your eyes, what are the DO's and the DONT's in Text Art?''

~skryingbreath:
''DO:
- Limit yourself to a few typefaces until you learn what you're doing.
- Apply text to places it usually isn't.
- Hide things in letters, it's very fun.
- Create different document layouts for your essays you turn in, resumes, books.

DON'T:
- Make portraits from letters.''



^Sander-Seto: ''Anything else you wish to say?''

~skryingbreath: ''Ask your favourite designers how they do things, or if you can look at their source files. It's a great way to learn new techniques and best practices.

And thank you Sander for interviewing me. Hopefully I wasn't a bore!''

^Sander-Seto: ''You weren't. Thank you too ''

Text Art features for this month!

Some Text Art pieces who caught the attention from the suggesters or me. Please take a look, I'm sure you'll enjoy them as much as I do

























Previous Issues:

Text Art Issue - #8
[link]

Text Art Issue #7 - Peace for all humanity!:
[link]

Text Art SPECIAL big Issue #6!:
[link]

Text Art Issue #5:
[link]

Text Art Issue #4:
[link]

Text Art Issue #3:
[link]

Text Art Issue #2:
[link]

Text Art Issue #1: [link]




And that was it people.
Till the next time!