Being in the cover book business for 20+ years I have seen many things change and evolve within it over the years. When I started, illustrators still created art on boards, sometimes using slow drying paint and crystal varnishes they would have to blow dry to make a deadline. Then in the early 90s, computers took over type specing, Letraset, blue ink pens and mechanicals. Illustrators still did their work on boards, but scanning replaced what used to be a color slide to give to the printer.Then slowly, traditional Illustrative mediums like paint, gouache and pencil where mostly replaced by Photoshop and photographic digital imagery –sometimes made to look painterly.The quickness of Photoshop and other software programs gave art directors more flexibility in finding solutions to their covers.
The invent of the iPad and various e-readers has created another way for books and their covers to evolve and grow, with interaction. It’s already happening in magazines. Click on a flower and watch it bloom. Being that books are stories, the possibilities for visuals are endless, both on the cover and throughout.
I recently came across this article about a new interactive book app from William Joyce, animator/illustrator who has worked with both Pixar and Dreamworks. I think it’s really well done, and who knows, may be the next level for childrens’ book illustration?
I have seen a few postings of this latest trend online recently, QR codes used on memorial sites and tombstones. While I think the idea is good, with technology changing at such a fast pace, I’m not sure how permanent these codes will be 20+years from now. Perhaps in the future, rather than a simple photo or website, families will be able to call up holograms of their loved ones to interact with.
QR codes were created by Toyota roughly a decade ago to help with their car assembly lines. They are now used by businesses to in a variety of ways to show a website, video instructions, coupons and contact information. Yes, even resumes.
Archives at the Maison Europeene de la Photographie
At the Maison Europeene de la Photographie, I had a chance to browse through first edition books on photography by such masters as Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Doisneau, and Kertesz. Housed in an old mansion, the museum along with it’s archives are open to the public throughout the year. Maison Europeene de la Photographie 5/7 rue de Fourcy 75004 Paris.
Welcome to the new melodycassen.com! It’s been about 7 years since I last upgraded my site, a bit overdue for a change.
Being that my target audience is primarily art directors and buyers who are super busy people, my main priority was a clean site with snappy load times. I also wanted to embrace the newness (at least to me) of all things social media and with that, a blog. Thanks to the patience and mentoring of social media expert Melea Seward, I’ve been able to embark on just that.
So here’s what’s new about the site. - Easier navigation. Mini thumbnails now bring up each image. This way I can have images load quickly and are easy accessible. When you scroll over a loaded image, in the upper left, small icons appear. The arrow icon allows you to open as a separate page to download from or serve as it’s own link. The middle icon is for slideshow. The mini screen icon allows you to see the image enlarged on a plain white background.
- I’m experimenting with a new Stock section. A combination of unpublished works and my own personal projects, they can be used as is or as a starting point upon which I can customize further for a project. Please contact me for usage rights and fees. Use without written permission is forbidden.
- Social media is rapidly becoming ever present in our way of doing business. I wanted to incoroprate this into the new site. I’ve set up twitter, facebook and rss links to stay better connected and you can now tweet, facebook or email any link or image within the site. I also wanted to have a website that wasn’t flash reliant and could be accessed on an iPhone.
- Blogging. This is where I get to tell you little more about my projects and process, and share with you things, places and people I find interesting and hopefully helpful to other creatives.
It’s all a work in progress, and I’m super excited to see how my new site evolves and engages with others. A huge thanks to Cody McBurnett for getting this site off the ground. She’s a WordPress genius.
Welcome
Welcome to Melody Cassen Photo Illustration blog!
This is a place of sharing recent work projects and exploring various happenings within the commercial and fine art communities.
