DIRTY FINGERNAILS

By SCOTT MURRY

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A ONE-OF-A-KIND COLLECTION OF GRAPHICS DESIGNED BY HAND
JOHN FOSTER

ROCKPORT PUBLISHERS
10.1.09

Here's a reminder to designers that their work should not and does not have to be solely created with software (the hand-rendered type on Juno being a popular example).

In Dirty Fingernails, some of the most impressionable graphics show why a little imperfection can make a design truly special. Grid lines and Adobe's Creative Suite are great tools, but they don't allow the same level of satisfaction or chance that you get with putting your mitts into the mess. "Happy accidents" occur sans computer, and utilizing a loose, physical application can enhance a meaning with the viewer. Completing the CD cover for Search the City, Ryan Clark emphasized, "I wanted to convey a peaceful innocence in the cover image, which required a hand-drawn aspect." Clean, computer graphics can't always reach the audience the way we aim to, so as artists we need to reach into our core of creativity to make something inimitable. The Brooklyn design duo Morning Breath is one of the dominators of design as creative leaders for numerous music, lifestyle and gallery projects. Their style involves a lot of chance and layers that make each piece impossible to replicate. The textures and end result are their own. The tactile application represented in Fingernails empowers the modern artist to remember the fun of digging in their roots and taking time on chance.

However, this isn't a license to paint on your mother's walls—that's still frowned upon.