antitype studios

I do not think there is anyone who has not seen the work of Eduardo Recife. His custom designed letterstyles have been used in national campaigns, book covers, and on countless websites. While many would recognize the style, few might know the creator, so it is a pleasure to introduce you to Recife. Use the image above to check out his typographic work and download a few fonts. In addition to the freebies, there are also commercial fonts available.

Please describe yourself (name, location, etc.)
My name is Eduardo Recife and I’m an illustrator from Brazil. I love to draw since I was little… I had notebooks filled with drawings at school…

What is your definition of typography?
Typography for me is so strong because it’s a mixture of both “words” and ”image”. What can be more powerful than that when trying to communicate something?

How did you become interested in type?
Back in 1997 I got really into graffiti. I studied so many tagging styles and different street alphabets… Later on I found the whole new grunge digital typography, and that was love at first sight. I wanted somehow to apply the distressed type from the streets into my digital work.

What is the one thing in life that you did not do, but wish you had?
Not sure… I have no big regrets in my life. Even the mistakes I committed somehow taught me to be someone better I guess.

Do you consider yourself an accomplished artist, why or why not?
I am happy the way things are happening for me. But I’m never satisfied with my work. I always think I still have so many things to learn, improve and change in my work.

Why do you do art?
Because if I didn’t I would probably go crazy. Sometimes I just have an urge to produce.

Where will you be 10 years from now?
Im my house near the mountains… Breathing fresh air… away from the city.

I can dig that, thank you for your time. I wish you continued success in all you do.

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It has been said that sign making is the second-oldest profession in the world. The profession takes its bumps from those outside the industry but for the artists who make their living creating identities for a multitude of clients, there is a bond of kinship that is rooted in a love for the beautiful execution of type. Make no mistake, no one in the industry likes the commercial bozos that only crank out simplistic designs to appease clients at the cheapest price. The admiration is reserved for those who truly rise to the challenge and spend countless hours creating just the right look to fulfill the intended purpose and captivate the visual senses. A sign is just a sign until you go the extra mile to insure the right composition and use materials that will withstand the elements and age with grace. There are some great sign artists in the world and a great place to learn more about making signs is at the signcraft magazine website.

You owe it to yourself to investigate this often overlooked segment of the typographic community.

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This is a site worth visiting if you like free fonts. But there is so much more than just free stuff. There are commercial fonts, custom fonts, design services, interesting links, and many other things relating to comics and type design.

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The art of Pascal Tremblay stands alone as evidence of his mastery of typography. His artful executions captivate the eye with a unique blend of sophisticated composition and minimalism. The most defining characteristic of Pascal’s work is that it takes you to a place where only you can go. This artist will not constrain the viewer with his emotions; instead, he provides the viewer a path to their own.

Pascal has been featured on several prominent art-related websites and additional work can be viewed at his website. As a fellow artist and typographer, it is both an honor and priviledge to welcome Pascal to Antitype Studios for an interview.

Name and Location?
Pascal Tremblay, Montreal Canada

What do you find most satisfying about working with type?
The ability to make something very complex with a basic element like a letter. It’s infinite in what you can explore with it. Type is also a beautiful thing by itself, it often doesn’t need much else to express a thought, an image, or any other abstract element.

Where do you find creative inspiration?
Music plays a big role in my creative process and it’s where I start any project. I have to be taken by it to be in the mood. When I isolate myself with music that inspires me that’s when I can create. Silence just doesn’t do it for me, never has. Music has always been the vehicle I use to pull the thoughts and emotion I put in my artwork.

What is your greatest challenge?
Balancing personal work and client work is a big challenge. It’s hard to be inspired on a daily basis when you have projects to finish, deadlines to meet and financial needs that also need to be met. It becomes even harder when the work you have to do isn’t exactly creative, but rather dull. Ideally I could fill my time with inspiring and creative projects, but as I have found out over the last 8 years, it’s very very hard to do work you enjoy all the time. So finding the time and energy to focus on my art is very hard for me because I am often drained physically and creatively spent. when I started out doing art and design, I barely had any client work so I spent almost all my time on doing art. It was great.

What is your greatest accomplishment?
Kind of ironic but my greatest accomplishment has been to be able to live off of what I do for so long. It’s very hard to reach a level where you feel confident you can pay the bills every month. I’ve been thru really tough times financially before but somehow it all worked out in the end. It takes a lot of dedication and patience to make it as a freelancer, so I am proud with what I have done career wise so far. I know I can do much better in the future though.

 
How do you decide when an art project is done?
One glance is enough to tell me usually. I trust my eye to do all the work, and if I feel a fuzziness inside me when I look at a piece, then I know it’s done. I don’t touch it after.

If you could change one thing about your art, what would you change?
I guess every artist always wants to improve their artwork so it makes me no different in saying I wish I could make it better. I don’t think it has reached its potential yet, but I also think it never will. Art never reaches full maturity, it has to keep evolving or else it becomes very stale and unoriginal.

Thank you.

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The is the official re-launch of Antitype Magazine. The purpose of this site is to promote typography. We will feature invited typographic artists with interviews and exhibitions. In addition to the promotion of type, Antitype Magazine will also include examples of the fine arts. If you would like to be featured in the magazine or know of an artist who deserves recognition, please forward a link to “z_antitype[a]yahoo.com.”

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