While everyone feels the newspaper industry is dying, we can still learn a lot from the way they are designed. Part of my duties as a designer was once layout out several newspapers. I’ve learned a lot that has helped me with other projects ever since I’ve started on that. So maybe these tips will help you just a bit.
Newspapers love bold headlines
A lot of “bad” designs are cluttered. There’s too much going on. There isn’t any emphasis or too many things appear emphasized. The idea of a headline, subhead, and body copy can extend to many forms of design. Try keeping the body copy consistent in size and type style. The headline might even be in the same font. A headline is an opportunity to use a second font, but ask yourself why you think this is right and be critical of the results.
Photos and captions
Newspapers often have to deal with different shapes of photos and fit them into various spaces. In the past few months that I’ve done a few days of newspaper layouts each week, the more I see that the layout is a puzzle. Everything has to fit just perfectly. It’s more challenging than it may at first appear. On top of that, you don’t want the captions don’t want to get mixed in with the body copy. Using a rule, box or just enough white space can separate the caption text from body text Keeping photos near their headlines/copy is one tip. Another is to give a lot of space around them. This can work for all kinds of design objects in your layout.
There’s a lot more that you might learn from newspaper design. Look at some strongly branded and well thought out newspapers. Ask what works and what doesn’t
Brian E. Young is a graphic designer and artist in Baltimore, MD.
Learning to draw? The library is probably your first stop if you’re on a budget. But the internet has its own answer with public domain resources such as Project Gutenberg, OpenLibrary.org, Google Books and Archive.org, you have a collection of free drawing books at your fingertips. You can view these online or download it to your Kindle or eReader of your choice.
The Practice and Science Of Drawing by Harold Speed. This book originally published in 1913 takes an expected classical approach to drawing that holds up amazingly well today. Although the techniques are classical, you can benefit from the discussion presented no matter what style you ain for. This is the kind of title that reminds us the power of a well-consolidated book as opposed to the quick-fix approach of internet tutorials. (As valuable as those are.) It’s filled with beautiful sketches to study and serves as both a starting point and a reference book.
Pen Drawing
Pen Drawing, An Illustrated Treatise by Charles Maginnis. Pen and ink drawing continues to astound and amaze the average artist. This bible on the subject would be of interest to the modern comic book inker. The author here has you create a light pencil outline to plan your composition and then you create amazing detail straight to ink. Various styles are discussed and dissected. For the price, it’s worth checking out and playing with the techniques.
Pen Drawing, An Illustrated Treatise by Charles Maginnis.
The Elements of Drawing by John Ruskin. Hailing from the 19th century, this book is written in the poetic language of the time. It’s a practical guide that mentors the beginner or advanced artist in how to improve their skills. It lacks in step-by-step illustrations but instead tells you how to discover and view the world with your own eyes. This book is also available for free from Google Books.
Blackboard Drawing
Blackboard Drawing by Frederick Whitney This one takes on a different subject, blackboard and chalk drawing. And thankfully it’s filled with images to illustrate the unique look of this type of art.
Constructive Anatomy
Constructive Anatomy by George B. Bridgman. Learning to draw the human figure? This book tells you how with over 500 illustrations showing you exactly how to build a figure. This is a must read for the serious portrait artist and one of the most useful and visual books in this list. It’s one of the few books of this type that details and discusses the wrist, movement of each bone and muscles in excruciating detail.
A progressive drawing book for beginners by Philip Henry Delamotte. The first half of this book is text and the second half illustrations for careful study. Perhaps a good place to start if the other drawing books mentioned are overly advanced or technical for your taste.
“I CALL this little book ” The Essentials of Perspective,” because it seems to me that it has as much information about the science of which it treats as the artist or the draughtsman ever has occasion to make use of, except under the most unusual conditions. “
Book of a Hundred Hands
Another free drawing book is George B. Bridgman’s Book of a Hundred Hands which I recently reviewed. Bridgman writes:Â “It is the purpose of this work to present the hand not only to the eye but to the understanding.”
A Handbook of Illustration by A. Horsley Hinton who writes “Every artist or draughtsman, be he beginner or expert, must draw for himself and according to his own feelings and promptings. In every department of art the successful have had their imitators, and these again their imitators, and at each successive stage the further one gets from originality, the more trammelled, the more impotent and hopelessly beyond the possibility of really great work.”
There are also several drawing books available as online only versions at Open Drawing Books.
Know of any other public domain artist resources? Let us know in the comments! I’d love to keep adding to the list.
Brian E. Young is a graphic designer and artist in Baltimore, MD.
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