Monday, July 9, 2007

Almost Done


This is just a preview and I'm awaiting to see if the client likes the captioning before I proceed. I did a mock-up of the text to show what it will likely look like when I am finished. If the way I do my text and the way this text looks on screen seem very much alike, it's because they are. There's a web site, comicbookfonts.com, that sells all kinds of cool ones. I used to base my text on the way Silver Age comic text was generally done, but I found it lacked pizzazz. Study the text on a Lichtenstein, for instance, and you'll see it's actually kind of boring. I went out searching for the perfect font to base my text on and after trying a number of free fonts, I stumbled upon this site. They really do great work. This font is called "wildwords," and it's maybe the best $129 I've ever invested, though I can pretty much now do the font free-hand from memory.
The painting is not done since there's a bit of roughness here and there, and the text is a bear to put in. It requires a lot of measurement and planning and lightly sketching out. Believe me, it's a nightmare.
It turns out that the individual commissioning the painting wanted something poking fun at Democrats. Fine. I don't have a problem with that. I find your stereotypical leftist to be as a (word deleted) as your stereotypical right-winger, so I don't have a problem poking at the excesses of either party. As I wrote in my blog description, I think Republicans have inherently more comedy value. The stereotype of rich, greedy and bourgeois is a lot more easy to make fun of than the stereotype of weak-willed, overtaxing do-gooder. I mean, at heart, Democrats are thought of as well-intentioned but misguided while Republicans are thought of as pragmatic capitalists. To be philosophical, Democrats are guided by virtue while Republicans are guided by efficiency. I don't know, to me, making fun of people who are trying to be nice can come off as cruel. "Compassionate Conservatism" aside, Republicans never claimed to be nice. Is the Vice President nice? Rush Limbaugh who calls himself "The Most Dangerous Man in America" and has "talent on loan from God?" Jerry Falwell? Newt Gingrich earned his reputation as a bomb-thrower. Tom Delay's nickname was "The Hammer." Oh sure, Ronald Reagan was personable and had a nice smile, but his economic agenda was motivated by a drive for efficiency and his foreign policy was not based on a policy of politeness towards the Soviet Union.
I can get some play out of the "spineless sissies" or the "untrustworthy" angle, for Democrats, but I have to work harder.

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