Product Description

Pattern can be derived from many sources if we remember to look closely. While patterns have been around forever there's a recent movement a tendency among designers to allow patterns to animate their work with colorful and exuberant complexity. Over and Over: A Catalog of Hand-Drawn Patterns collects groundbreaking work from fifty of today's most talented designers who create patterns by hand and use them in their work in inventive and innovative ways. From Deanne Cheuk's patterns that adorn current fashion to those of Robin Cameron that explore her interest in art to Garrett Morin's patterns that arose from an exercise for a character called Eloie the examples in this book push the boundaries of the traditional concept of what a pattern is. The selected works are often not an end result but the beginning of something else of something bigger and broader. While the computer is sometimes involved in the production of patterns the hand-drawn element is always evident in the uniqueness of these works. Featuring more than 250 vibrant and exciting patterns Over and Over explores this magic on every single page and will inspire designers everywhere.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #247683 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Today, notes contributor Jim Datz in his intro, drawing patterns with the fallible human hand is an art perched at the treacherous meeting place of authentic human craftsmanship and a world largely defined by trendsetting and online consumption: ideas, "almost at the moment they begin, are lifted, collated, named, and marketed in a willful act of pattern recognition by today's cultural curators." Though many of the patterns collated here were designed for commercial purposes (turned into t-shirts, skate boards and other product by hip designers), they make a strong impression as art-for-art's sake. As Datz further notes, "we are pattern seeking animals," and these selections are strangely gratifying, sometimes even meditative. Many designers share the aesthetic of popular contributor Jeremyville, clearly influenced by graffiti, cartoons and Keith Haring; others, like Deanne Cheuk, opt for retro colors and a hint of kitsch. Artists like Mario Hugo and Kirk Hiatt show a sparse, modernist approach, while Dan Funderburgh creates traditional floral wallpaper designs tweaked with, say, fire hydrants and parking meters. This makes a fitting following up to Perry's well-received catalog of hand-drawn letters, Hand Job; not only does this fun roundup help define a growing subgenre, it's also a rousing introduction to more than 50 young artists.
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Review
Demanding a close inspection of every page, the catalog naturally encourages numerous reads and designers of all facets are sure to be coerced into tearing free the pages and tacking them to inspiration boards...The strength in all the work in Over and Over comes from the innovation and excitement of the artists making it. --AmericanCraftMag.org, July 2008

Some images are engaging, like Maxwell Paternoster's mélange of digital machinery and Lung's doodle patterns, which look as if they were made with colored ballpoint pens while the artist was waiting for the caffeine to wear off. Others are delightfully silly, like Jeremyville's pattern of buzzing bees suckling compliant flowers. The common denominator in all these designs is complexity, which Datz suggests may be a "response to a decade of restraint, when a strain of austere Swiss modernism rose up to dominate the design world" -- although I could have sworn that was 20 years ago. --New York Times Book Review, July 27 2008

With only a brief flip through the 256 pages that make up Mike Perry's new "Catalog of Hand-Drawn Patterns," the reader is hit with a mountain of eye candy. As Perry's follow up to his critically acclaimed Hand Job: A Catalog of Type, Over and Over presents a jumble of colorful fragments from 50 of today's most exploratory pattern makers.

The strength in all the work in Over and Over comes from the innovation and excitement of the artists making it. Like most creative pursuits, as Perry points out, "Sometimes they [patterns] are the end result, and sometimes they are just the beginning." The open-endedness of this statement--and in turn, the entire book--is what makes it so much fun. --American Craft, July 24 2008

Customer Reviews

Mike Perry will never let you down.
Mike Perry is amazing. This book is another must-have for your art-inspired bookshelf. He pulls together intricate patterns/designs from different artists to build a true array of hand-drawn art. It's a great mixture of inspiring patterns and tells the story of each artist as well as the importance of hand-drawn art and illustrations. The art of handmade was getting left behind by the digital age, but artists like Mike Perry are helping to show everyone the importance of pen and ink...

To put it simply: hand-drawn is where it's at.

Cool patterns
I preffer other Perry's book "Hand Job: A Catalog of Type" but this is a great book too. There are a lot of work hand drawn and repiting by computer to obtein a pattern

Excellent inspiration
For artists who work with pattern this book is a must have. I didn't think twice about ordering it and it's full of inspiration that will have you rushing for pen and paper. Textile artists would also benefit.