Linotype The Film

"Thomas Edison called it the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” Without it, there would be no daily newspapers and few books. Even the internet owes it a debt. This is the surprisingly emotional tale of one bewildering machine that revolutionized printing and society, and of the people who fight to keep it alive today."

I have just been to watch the excellent "Linotype The Film" by Douglas Wilson at Hebden Bridge Picture House tonight a special event organised by Urban Cottage Industries. Not only was the showing free but we all got a letterpress ticket for the film, we also got to print our name on a postcard. Printers who had worked with linotype machines were on hand to answer questions, help us print our own individual postcard and then we all wanted to know (now we know) who was:

ETAOIN SHRDLU



A lovely documentary film that charts the rise and fall of a piece of technology - as someone said; like steam engines for type nerds...The movie is a loving portrait of the machine that revolutionised the typesetting and therefore the publishing and design industries loooong before the computer. Even in my day it was an almost forgotten technology. However the film made in the U.S. shows enthusiasts that collect the machines, renew them and still use them even though they spew molten lead!

The film was part funded by Urban Cottage Industries as a kickstarter project (see their website one of the best uses for the internet I have seen for a long time).




Some information from the filmmakers website:

In 1886 a German watchmaker named Ottmar Mergenthaler changed the world by inventing the Linotype machine.

Suddenly, newspapers could be printed daily, books could be produced faster and cheaper, and one typesetter could do the work of six men composing type by hand. The Linotype sparked an explosion in communication that can only be compared to the invention of the internet today.

Although these machines were revolutionary, new technology began to supersede the Linotype in the 1950s, and over the following decades they were scrapped and melted down by the thousands. Today, very few machines are still in existence.

The highly skilled operators of the Linotype are in a battle against time. If their skills are not passed along to a new generation of operators, the machine will die out completely. This stalwart group of former operators, historians, book printers, graphic designers, and concerned folks are doing everything they can to save the Linotype from the scrap yard.

Some see this as a fool’s errand, or as a hobby for those remembering their glory days. And some say it’s more than that...

"Linotype: The Film" is about the history, lovers of, and future of this incredible machine that was once the lifeblood of printers all around the world.

This film is about a machine from the past, but that does not mean this is a sentimental fact-film lamenting the loss of a technology. We are compelled to dig deeper, and find what the Linotype has to say about the present and future.

Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award

Well done to Preston Illustration's Craig Atkinson for winning the UCLAN Vice Chancellor's award for excellence in learning and teaching on Friday 7th December 2012.

This was the second annual Vice Chancellor's awards for excellence in teaching and learning. Each School submitted the names of their Excellence in Teaching and Learning (ETL)award winners to the selection panel for the 2012 Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for Outstanding Practice in Teaching and Learning.This year a total of nine awards were made in the five categories. In addition to the title, all category awards will receive £1,500 to use for their development.

The award was given for excellence in teaching delivery and intellectual stimulation of students:

Craig facilitates UCLan students’ annual participation at the Leeds, Bristol and Glasgow international arts events which provide opportunities and experience of: working in a professional industrial context; networking with artists, galleries and collectors; and, selling work to major international gallery and museum collections, including the Tate Library Special Collection.

Spotted in the First Year studio on the windowsill behind the blind

V&A Illustration Awards 2013

Entries are now being accepted for the V&A Illustration Awards the deadline is 10th December.

The V&A Illustration Awards celebrate the best illustration published over the last year. Original artwork from the best illustrated book, book cover, editorial illustration and student illustrator of the year are recognised.
There are three published categories: Book Cover, Book Illustration and Editorial.
The winner in each category receives £2,000 and a trophy and the judges select an overall winner of the V&A Illustration Awards who will receive an additional £2,000.

There is separate Student Category: Student Illustrator Award 2013 - Student Illustrator of the Year entries are welcomed from anyone who has attended an illustration course in the UK at any time during 2011or 2012. The brief is open. Students may submit material set as coursework by their tutors or they may define their own brief.

Third Year students should have a look at the students entries as each stduent entry has a brief alongside it!


The Student Illustrator of the Year will receive £2,000 and a trophy.
The runner-up will receive £1,000.
How to enter Entrants may submit up to three images of their work.
Entry into all categories of the V&A Illustration Awards is via online entry only.

Student category online entry
Please read the Terms and Conditions of Entry carefully.

The closing date is 10 December 2012
Winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on 3 June 2013

AOI Images 36

The new Association of Illustrators annual Images 36 is out, and out on tour. The show is in Blackpool at the moment at Blackpool College until the 14th of December. The work selected for the annual this year includes five former Preston illustrators Liam Derbyshire, Nick Brokenshire, John Hamilton, Andy Thomson, and Jay Taylor. The distinguished Judges of Images 36 were Noma Bar, international Illustrator, Sue Buswell, Deputy Publisher Picture Books, Random House Children’s Publishing, Lisa Dickinson, Director, The Art Buying Company who judged the Advertising, Children’s Books and New Talent categories; Anrick Bregman, Director, Unit 9, Jo Cochrane, Art Director, G2 at the Guardian; Gareth Howat, Creative Director, Hat- trick Design who judged the Design, Editorial and New Media categories; David Foldvari, Illustrator, Alasdair Oliver, Art Director, Hodder and Stoughton General, and Michael Salu, Artistic Director, Granta Publications who judged the Books and Self-promotion categories.  Well done to all of our alumni for their selection in the best of British Illustration annual. One day soon the AOI might even send us our copy so we can see them!

Liam Derbyshire

Nickolas Brokenshire

John Hamilton

Andy Thomson

Jay Taylor

Lizzy Stewart lecture & workshop Monday 5th November

It's always a pleasure to get people to come into prestonillustration and talk about their work but when their work is as beautiful as Lizzy Stewart's we are very fortunate indeed. Then you discover that she is both down to earth and honest about the business of making pictures, and yet also very passionate about making her work. From her commissioned work for the New York Times or Folio Society to the self initiated and self published projects she is involved in we got an insight into her drive to create.

She uses quite everyday tools; pencils, paints etc. and she has books printed and loves the smell of ink and the turning of a page in her hand. At the same time she also utilises digital media with a delicate touch, uses the web in all its current guises, blog, website, tumblr as a publishing platform too, but manages to keep the digital elements in the background.

Lizzy strikes me as a very literate illustrator someone for whom reading and the book is prized. She produces zines, books, blogs, and collaborations with writers, illustrators and designers, and she is also studying for an MA at St Martin's. You can see more of her work at her website About Today (see the illustrator links to the right). She is also creating an illustrated diary Solo here.

Lizzy kindly set this short brief and worked with some of the students on it:

5th November 2012

ONE DAY BRIEF

“The real definition of illustration is a figurative art form based on storytelling”-Marshall Arisman.

Illustration is all about telling stories; using pictures to explain what might not be so neatly

summarised with words. Being able to tell a story clearly is a valuable skill and one that takes

practice.

Today you have a single page of A4 (210mm x 297mm) with which to tell any story you like. It

can be familiar (from a book, song or film) or from your own head. You might choose a news

story or a traditional children’s story perhaps. You can use your page however you want- split it

into comic strip style panels, divide it into two, fold it to make a book or stick to filling the page

with a single picture (but that picture must tell the entire story).

Consider-

-Stick to something manageable- don’t try and draw a whole novel, just one scene or even a few

lines of dialogue will do!

- Think about time. Would working entirely by hand be quicker than using a computer?

-You may use a larger piece of paper if you like but please only fill an A4 space

-Check with one another that your image/images are communicating the story you’re trying to

tell.

I will publish some of the student's exploits in the near future, as the brief led to some very interesting solutions.

Here are a few examples of her work from her folio:

"The Men who built Magnitogorsk",

The zine "Nomads"above, and below the Folio Society's illustrated "Mrs Dalloway".

Visiting Lecture by Lizzy Stewart on Monday 5th November