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talkin' about coolness here, graphic design style.
so i found a new book in the library today about chipp kidd, my favorite graphic designer. he specializes in book covers and is probably the most demanded book cover designer in the united states, and everyone knows SOMETHING that he's done.
example: he did the covers for most of michael crichton's books, including jurassic park for which he created the exaggerated image of a tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, which was reused for the logo for the jurassic park movies, merchandising, and theme park at universal studios orlando, making it one of the most recognizable symbols of the 1990's
alot of us (and by us i mean my friends specifically) know mr. kidd best from his debut novel, the cheese monkeys, a book that was entirely written in Quark so he was aware of the book's design as he was writing it.
he's also an insanely huge batman freak. he co-wrote the offical guide to batman: the animated series along with series writer and co-creator paul dini. kidd, of course, designed the whole book as well.

anyway, as i was reading through this book about chipp's design work, i noticed that his favorite and most influential teacher when he was still a student at penn state was one Lanny Sommese, a truly awesome graphic designer (this one specializing in posters) whom i actually met yesterday when he gave a presentation to my design with type class. Sommese's posters make up one-half of the exhibit currently on display at the Center for Innovation and Collaboration, a building on campus that was promised as a new collaborative workspace for students by January 2003 (that's over a year ago, now) and has so far been used only three times to my knowledge, (and never the whole building, just foyer and the first hallway on the first floor) for nights of prestigious art shows expected to bring in people with immense wallets ready to donate to the arts.

Sommese's presentation yesterday was inspiring. it energized my enthusiasm as a designer and as an illustrator.
but after reviewing kidd's gallery of work in this book, i feel even worse. there's no way that i can do as much work as he did or be as insanely awesome at it as he is. the man produces approximately 75 book covers a year in addition to editing a line of graphic novels and co-writing numerous retrospectives.
goddamn, that's a lot of work.

i can't just be good at this. i need to be friggin' fantastic. i don't need to be rich, i just need to not have to worry about money.

i love what i do and i love the arts and i love that i can call myself an artist without having to come up with a skewed vision of art to call myself that and i love understanding and appreciating art, especially since most of my friends are other artists and i love their art as well, but i just...well...i've still got some insecurities about life as an artist.
will i be content making corporate art that allows me to live in a really sweet apartment decked out in the best ikea has to offer with a couple of great computers and a well-stocked kitchen, or would i rather have to struggle at it and not live so sweetly but make those awesome images that stay with people like Sommese and Kidd do?
i'd really like if i could do both...but that would require me to be one hell of an artist...

i've still got a lot to learn.