When In Doubt: Bother People!
Grunge-Mail [Issue 01] - Talking Poker Face, playing with my new scanner, and the ocassion I spoke to David Carson...
Welcome to the very first wave of GRUNGE-MAIL!
Hello traveller, happy Pride! And welcome to the first issue of Grunge-Mail, colloquially shortened to G-Mail. Home to me: The Grungiest Bunny’s deep and sentimental words on graphic design and what’s been going on with me lately. As well whatever other deep dives I want to go on. To introduce myself: I’m a South African emigrated graphic design student (for better or worse) based in England. I have a big love for pop culture, which I’m pretty transparent about in my personal work.
To understand the type of person I am, when I found out who David Carson was during my a-level studies and was asked to replicate his work in class I sent him this message upon getting mediocre feedback:
I got cold feet and didn't send him anything beyond asking if university would be worthwhile and he never saw the messages… But mind you, it sort’ve instilled my philosophy that's helped me in my design journey and life in general thus far. That being, dont ask and never receive. Or rather, don't prompt: Receive no answer.
The polarising (great) response to my Poker Face poster series:
Since watching Poker Face (2023), I’ve been wanting to find the time to make poster designs that honour the show. With loose ties to one another, but more importantly highlighting the overall vibe of each given episode. All of these so far have been shared out from my tiny audience of ten or so followers to around 150 thousand people thanks to support from Rian Johnson and Natasha Lyonne among other generous people boosting the designs on their social feeds. The director of Star Wars and a person on the Time 100 most influential people in the world this year. They have both looked at my work with their cool eyeballs. Because I tagged them and their show (as well as some of the talented writers and crew from Poker Face too!)
The point is, besides the lightning in a bottle luck and being in the right place at the right time. None of this would have happened if I didn't reach out and ping them about my work. Never sleep on trying this. I can't promise it’ll find you or me in success the majority of the time if at all. - But if you don't try you’ll never know who’d have seen your work. Why not right? Theres never harm in trying!
I got a Scanner! And its pretty neat:
I won't shut up about it. But I copped this Epson XP-360 printer second-hand for only 10 quid (around 12 dollars) on Olio. The only painful part was my legendary walk across town, through the misty mountains, Mordor and Greggs to go fetch it. But once my scrawny arms had lugged this baby home I had no regrets. If not for printing, as I’m pretty broke and ink ain't cheap. Then for scanning textures! Which I’ve already been experimenting with en-mass for the two days I’ve had it.
Admittedly I might have just gone overboard with my excitement and (potentially?) overtextured my most recent Poker Face design JUST A TOUCH. Do I regret that? No. Paper was made to be poured over with coffee, spat at, then stamped on by my foot and crumpled into oblivion. Naturally… I think it looks cool anyways.
Go ahead and check out the rest of my backlog of Poker Face poster designs on my Posterspy page in a nice high quality or find ‘em on my other socials!
OOoo, And my current work in progress..
Image collection for Poker Face: ‘Time of The Monkey’ poster is underway. Sourced using this site. Nothing too scientific here. I just pick out frames that are crisp and I can build a little narrative with, without spoiling too much for new viewers. COMING SOON…
A little sneak peak at my next design — Speaking of the Spider-verse…
What my eyes and ears have been absorbing…
Spider-Man: Across The Spiderverse (In theatres now!) - It goes without saying that this film succeeds in raising the creativity even further through the roof than the original. This series really is in a league of its own in terms of heart around the board from everyone involved. My theatre audibly groaned on opening night when it hit to black, and I imagine you will too when you watch it!
I’ve also been listening to it’s soundtrack by Daniel Pemberton non-stop since.
Vinland Saga (1st season on Amazon Prime) - I was sleeping on finishing the first season of this anime for a while, but after some convincing I quickly binged it. Vikings. Murder. Comedy! If you like revenge stories with a little more nuance this is one to check out for sure. Do note. Season two turns into a peaceful slightly homoerotic farming anime.
World’s Beyond Number (Podcast) ‘The Wizard, The Witch, and the Wild One’ - An audio-only Dungeons and Dragons podcast dm’ed by Brennan Lee Mulligan and featuring three players: Lou Wilson, Erika Ishii and Aabria Iyengar! As of right now there's around eight episodes out plus preludes for each character. The show is a very digestible way to dip your toes into actual play if the long run times of Critical Role are too jarring. I recommend headphones, as it has fantastically immersive sound design and music. It's a ghibli movie for your ears. With giant bears and non-terfy wizard schools.
Cool Stuff Corner:
The Lemming - A neat DIY magazine in Manchester with a lovely aesthetic.
The People’s Graphic Design Archive - A Excellent pool of unique inspiration!
That’s all for today folks see you next week!
I’d appreciate hearing your thoughts on things if anyone ends up reading this far. Over the next few weeks I’ll likely adjust the format and mold this newsletter to a place I’m happiest with. I’d also love to highlight other small designers and creators and their work on here! If that is something any folks would be interested in, poke me on about it… Alright, catch ya later!
Find me out in the wild:
For inquiries - grungiestbunny@gmail.com!
Everything else: https://beacons.ai/grungiestbunny