Off Book

Remixing the World With Photoshop.

PBS has released a new Off Book video on YouTube, talking about how Photoshop has changed imaging, culture, and the way we interact with images. I use Photoshop 7 days a week. Anyone in a visually creative occupation probably does. The video is just over five minutes long, and at times feels like a great big ad for Adobe’s flagship product. None the less it’s worth watching, for the amazing examples of work, the commentary from artist, designers and photographers, and the ideas that it evokes. I say the ideas that it evokes, because in many ways this short film is spot on about how Photoshop has changed imaging for forever, and how it has had a global impact on how we perceive our world. Frankly, I’d like to see a feature length documentary on Photoshop, but then again, I am a design geek.

Photoshop has completely revolutionized our visual culture. Artists now use Photoshop to create complex imagery that would have been impossible 20 years ago. It has also profoundly changed the art of photo retouching, turning a labor intensive process into an artful and often controversial digital workflow. But possibly the most current and expressive influence can be seen in meme culture online. With the ability to alter any image in the media landscape, everyday people now have the means to critically comment on culture and spread their ideas
virally, leveling the playing field between traditional media creators and consumers. Photoshop has changed the way we communicate, the way we express ourselves, and the way we view the world and each other.

Featuring:
Jeff Huang, Art Director & Illustrator
Laurent Le Moing, Picturehouse NYC
Don Caldwell, Know Your Meme

Photographers Featured:
Matt Jones
Chris Buck
Robert Maxwell
Txema Yeste
Matthias Vriens

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PBS, Off Book, on Illustration.

Thank you PBS, and the Off Book series for creating this wonderful short film on Illustration, and what Illustrators do. This seven minute short film is worth watching whether you are an illustrator, designer, artist, or anyone that is interested in the visual arts at all. It features Steven Guarnaccia, Sean Murphy, Yuko Shimisu, and Molly Crabapple.

Illustrators articulate what a photograph cannot. Using an array of techniques and styles, illustrators evoke stories and meaning in a variety of mediums, from editorial illustration in magazines and newspapers, to comics books, to activist media. And as their tasks over the years have become less informational and more expressive, their individual voice as artists becomes all the more critical and beautiful, revealing an exciting and awe-inspiring age of illustration.

Featuring:
Steven Guarnaccia, Professor, Illustration Program at The New School
Yuko Shimisu, http://yukoart.com/
Sean Murphy, http://seangordonmurphy.com/
Molly Crabapple, http://mollycrabapple.com/