Terry Chouinard Needs Your Help!

Terry Chouinard is a master letterpress printer. Letterpress printing is a craft that is slowly disappearing, but there are still some great practitioners out there keeping it alive. Mr. Chouinard has invented a device that will greatly enhance their ability to keep ink colors accurate and consistent throughout a print run—no matter how big or small. One of his followers wrote a really nice piece describing what he’s done on her blog Quince & Quire. He’s looking for small investors to be able to make his “Ink Dial” a reality—and has posted it on Kickstarter.

Terry asked me to donate a piece of art so that he could offer a signed, limited edition, letterpress version of it as a reward to investors, and I gladly offered my piece “Wonderful World”. For an investment of as little as $35 a beautiful hand-printed 18″ x 24″ letterpress version of this art could be yours.

There are 14 other artists who have committed art to Terry to try to help him get his Ink Dial off the ground. Please check out this very worthy project. The more you donate the more prints you could be rewarded with by the likes of Marian Bantjes, Andrew Byrom, Paul Shaw and Jack Unruh. His deadline on Kickstarter is coming up soon—take a look and see if you don’t want to support this very worthy project.

So Why No New Posts Lately?

(In case you’re wondering) I haven’t really been able to post anything of note lately because I’ve just been far too busy with work. Since I decided long ago to do everything myself, if I can’t get to it, it just doesn’t get done. With that in mind I thought I’d just take this free moment to make a quick note of what I’ve been up to.

First and foremost I’ve been working with a new and exciting client in the film industry. I’m not at liberty to discuss what I’ve been doing yet, but suffice it to say that what I’ve been working on will soon be highly visible to anyone living in the civilized world . . . and I think it’s some of the best work I’ve ever done. Stay tuned, because, when I am able, I will be posting “case studies” of the stages these lettering treatments went through–from rough ideas to finished art.

Second…in case you haven’t noticed I’m not the most prodigious of font-makers, averaging maybe one new design a year at best. I’ve had a new script design in the works for quite some time now, and it’s getting close to completion – hopefully within a month or two. Like most of my font work, it’s a completely new design—not a rehash of something from  the past that’s been unearthed. But at the same time many will think that it looks “familiar” without quite being able to place it! So, in the coming weeks, time willing, I’ll be posting some snippets of this new design before it’s official release.

Speaking of fonts, I just learned that Steinweiss Script was voted by Graphic-Design.com as the “official font” of their 17th Annual Fall Fonts Festival. About the choice, Fred Showker wrote that this font was “a masterful creation because of the multitude of special settings, alternative characters, ligatures and frequently used pairs and triads of letters that go together differently than straight typesetting”  and that “the real value of Michael Doret’s fonts is the incredible amount of work he builds into each font. He actually tries hundreds of different settings, looking for problem areas and opportunities for alternates. You’ll only find a handful of fonts out on the market that are this flexible and complete … a half dozen of those are Michaels!” Wow! Thanks Fred!

Alex Steinweiss, 1917 – 2011

Just having returned from vacation, I discovered that while I was incommunicado Alex Steinweiss—one of my heroes and the inspiration for my Steinweiss font—had passed away. So I’d just like to add my voice (belatedly) to the chorus who have recognized him as one of the giants of 20th century design, who has influenced countless people in the design and illustration fields, and brought delight to millions of others through his beautiful work. The world is indeed a lesser place without him. R.I.P. Mr. Steinweiss.

Promotional card sent to Steinweiss' clients, ca. 1952. Image courtesy of Taschen Publishing.