Gloria Roubal's Daily Hand Generated Type Phrase #76

When my partner, Paul Sabuco, and I started writing songs, we also resurrected a few of songs each of us had written individually years ago. One of these was a song I remembered from decades ago when Paul was in a band called The Mystery Dots. I had always loved the song, and I suggested that we add it to our repertoire... so we did. And I love it more today than ever! We don't perform it all that often, but it's always so special to me when we do, especially because I love how he sings it.

This piece reflects the words as the lyric line in the chorus, not the title, which I'm only saying to clarify the way I used upper and lowercase letters. :)

Gloria Roubal's Daily Hand Generated Type Phrase #75

This is for someone... you know who you are.

Gloria Roubal's Daily Hand Generated Type Phrase #74

Brendan Gamble is a friend of mine, and a damn fine musician and songwriter to boot. I have always, always loved one of his songs called, "I Don't Need December." It's incredible moving and sad... and beautiful. So today's phrase is a line from that song. Thank you, Brendan.

Gloria Roubal's Hand Generated Type Phrase #73, July 28, 2015

A band I really loved in the eighties...and still do!

Gloria Roubal's Daily Hand Generated Type Phrase #72, July 27, 2015

I came across this Polish proverb and had to use it for today's phrase! What a great way to say, "Not my problem!"

Gloria Roubal's Daily Hand Generated Type Phrase #71

I've been getting into creating lettering for music lyrics and titles as well as movie quotes. Each day my choice just depends on what I am thinking about at the moment I sit down to work. Lately I've been listening to Neko Case's Middle Cyclone CD, which is beyond brilliant. I had the pleasure of seeing her live in concert at the Canopy Club in Urbana a few years ago, and I was absolutely blown away. I already had a couple of her older records, but the tour was promoting Middle Cyclone. One of the other songs that is probably my favorite of her songs, period, is called, "Vengeance is Sleeping." However, I decided to use "This Tornado Loves You" for my daily project. It's probably my second favorite! I love the lyrics. They are so imaginative!

Here is my piece, and below are the lyrics to the song and a link to a YouTube video of a live performance!

God, I LOVE this song!

THIS TORNADO LOVES YOU—link to live performance on YouTube (on Letterman)

by Neko Case

My love, I am the speed of sound
I left them motherless, fatherless
Their souls dangling inside-out from their mouths...
But it's never enough
I want you

I carved your name across three counties
Ground it in with bloody hides
Their broken necks will lie in the ditch
Till you stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it

Stop this madness!
I want you

I have waited with a glacier's patience
Smashed every transformer with every trailer
Til nothing was standing
Sixty-five miles wide

But still you are nowhere, still you are nowhere, nowhere in sight
Come out to meet me, run out to meet me
Come into the light

Climb the boxcars to the engine
Through the smoke and to the sky
Your rails could always outrun mine so I

Picked them up and crashed them down
In a moment close to now

Cause I miss, I miss

I miss, I miss

I miss, I miss,

I miss, I miss

How you'd sigh yourself to sleep
When I'd rake the springtime across your sheets

My love, I am the speed of sound
I left them motherless, fatherless
Their souls dangling inside-out from their mouths...
But it's never enough

My love, I'm an owl on the sill in the evening
But morning finds you
Still warm and breathing

This tornado loves you

This tornado loves you, 

This tornado loves you

This tornado loves you, 

This tornado loves you

What will make you believe me?

This tornado loves you

This tornado loves you, 

This tornado loves you

This tornado loves you, 

This tornado loves you

What will make you believe me?

Gloria Roubal's Daily Hand Generated Type Phrase #70!

Sling Blade is one of my favorite movies. I can't even begin to describe how well everything was done and what an incredible piece of art it is. My musical partner and best friend, Paul Sabuco, does an AMAZING impression of Karl. He has the voice DOWN!!! I laugh so hard when he does that voice! Mind you, the movie is overall sad, but there are so many things about it that are hilarious!

Anyway, I decided to use a Karl quote for this piece, my 70th Daily HGT phrase. I found the perfect photo on Unsplash.com to use as the background. I hope you like it!

And, if you have never seen the movie, by all means, SEE IT! You must!

Gloria Roubal's Daily Hand Generated Type Phrase #69, July 24, 2015

So, in case you haven't picked up on it, besides being a graphic designer, I'm also a musician and music lover!

I love Feist, and today's phrase is the title of a song by Feist. Leslie Feist's voice is magical to me. "We're All in the Dance" is a song I hadn't heard until today. It was in the soundtrack from the movie Paris Je T'Aime, and it is partly in French and partly in English. A moving song. Very much about the human condition.

I also found out that Feist gives ALL proceeds from music and concert sales to charity. Pretty awesome. :)

Gloria Roubal's Daily Hand Generated Type Phrase #68

I love Chris Cornell (lead singer in Audioslave and Soundgarden and more). His first solo album, Euphoria Morning, is my favorite of his works, bar none.

"Wave Goodbye" is one of my two favorite songs of his, so here you go!

Gloria Roubal's Daily Hand Generated Type Phrase #66

I got interested in the word ephemeral today.

Gloria Roubal's Daily Hand Generated Type Phrase #65: FIONA APPLE SONG

I LOVE me some Fiona Apple! She is right up at the top of my list of favorite musical artists. I discovered her early in her career right when Tidal was released, and I've loved her music ever since. She has never failed to disappoint me! I don't think there's a single song of hers that I don't like! As a songwriter, I wish I could write songs like Fiona's. And I absolutely love her voice. Okay... enough love!

Today's piece honors Fiona all the way through her career, beginning with a song from Tidal called "Slow Like Honey."

Gloria Roubal's Daily Hand Generated Type Phrase #64, July 19, 2015

I love the Dalai Lama.

Gloria Roubal's Daily Hand Generated Type Phrase #63: MEGAN JOHNS!

I first heard Megan Johns at the Artists Against AIDS benefit art show where she was performing before me (they had live music at the opening). She was only about 16, and I was impressed!!! Then my friend Andy, who had a recording studio, told me I should listen to the CD she had just finished. This was right about the same time or shortly after. I loved her music so much! Very unique and innovative, and it just drew me in. Since that time, I have had the honor and pleasure of sharing the stage with Megan at various songwriter showcases. I am such a huge fan of this artist (and yes, she is also a visual artist!). Here mom, Kristen Johns, is also an amazing woman, shooting videos of local music shows and posting them on her site, Champaign Underground.

For whatever reason, I thought of Megan today. She doesn't live here any longer, but thankfully still has family here and will be back on occasion, hopefully booking some shows here when she does.

She's a real special talent and super cool person. I love Megan as well as loving her music! (She is also, by the way, a killer guitarist!)

This piece is a tribute to Megan Johns. (Photo is from her video for "Hey Lonely")

Please visit her music page and give a listen to her songs! https://meganjohns.bandcamp.com/

Check out her "Hey Lonely" video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmrUTugnP2s

Champaign Underground Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/champaignunderground


Thanks, Megan, for sharing your wonderful music with the world!!! xoxoxo

Gloria Roubal's Daily Hand Generated Type Phrase #62

Today's phrase is simple but true.

Gloria Roubal's Daily HGT #61 July 16, 2015

Yesterday (or was it the day before?), I saw a photograph on Facebook of a baby elephant lying on his dead mother and weeping, grieving. I have been crying about it on and off ever since. It is horrific, unbearable. I've read that almost 100 elephants are killed every day by poachers. I feel so helpless.

One thing I can do is express this through my work. I used a photo from a great travel blog (I asked permission but haven't received a reply yet, so I will remove it from everywhere on the internet if the photographers request it), and I live-traced it and added effects, then placed my lettering on top of the image.

The photographers and their blog URL are on written on the bottom of the image.

Please help put an end to poaching in any way you possibly can. Don't ever buy ivory. Spread the word.

Thank you.

Gloria Roubal's Daily Hand Generated Type Phrase #60!

Love this band.

Gloria Roubal's Daily HGT #59, July 14, 2015

Happy Birthday, Paul Sabuco!

Gloria's Daily HGT #58, July 13, 2015

When I was a kid, we always had raspberry bushes. They were amazing and always provided bowls and bowls full of raspberries! I have distinct memories of putting up with mosquito bites to be out there collecting them, only to go back in and eat the whole bowl in one sitting! They were slightly warm from the sun, and they were oh so sweet!

This year I got two young raspberry bushes at a garage sale. They are growing rapidly! I won't get much fruit from them for awhile, but I'm excited for them to get bigger over the next few years! I did get two berries this year, and they were wonderful.

When I saw this photo on Unsplash.com by Glen Carrie, I knew I had to design a phrase to go on top of it! Hope you enjoy.

Gloria Roubal's Daily HGT #57 (plus cats!)

I heard something similar to this somewhere recently, or read it... it's not an exact quote, but it's an expression of love... like saying, if I were a cat, I'd spend all of my 9 lives with you because that's how much I love you. I thought it would be fun to draw some cats for the background and then place the type on top of them. So that's what I did! With all of the drawing and hand generated type, this one did take me kind of a long time, but it was fun as always, so I don't mind! Hope you enjoy!

Gloria Roubal's Daily Hand Generated Type Phrase #56

Title of one of our songs from the CD Paul & Gloria LIME DROP:

Gloria's Daily Hand Generated Type Phrase #55

The inspiration for this phrase comes from Buddhist teachings by Pema Chödrön and other important spiritual teachers. I don't think I need to explain what it means, but please respond to me if I'm wrong and you would like to know more about it. Thank you!

Gloria's Daily Hand Generated Type Phrase #54

Just DO IT! :)

Gloria's Daily HGT #53

Forgot to post this yesterday.

I again used a photo found on unsplash.com, this one by Marta Pawlik.

Gloria's Daily Hand Generated Type Phrase #52

I read the book, Steal Like An Artist, by Austin Kleon several months ago as a textbook for an advanced graphic design class. This little book is a gem, filled with wonderful advice and practical exercises to increase creativity. The subtitle of the book is, "10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative." I highly recommend this book to all artists, writers, musicians, designers...or to anyone who wants to be more creative!

This is a great quote from the book:

Gloria's Daily Hand Generated Type Phrase #51

Yesterday's experiment didn't satisfy me... The process was fun but the outcome was not what I wanted. Oh well! Today's outcome, to me, is so much better!

There's a great website called Unsplash.com that has free high-resolution photos for artists to use. No license, no fee. In fact, they are putting together a book that will have lots of art that used photos from the website by lots of artists, designers, etc., and I am hoping to get a couple of things in it! What a great idea! There aren't tons and tons of photos, but there are some really unique and very interesting shots. Lots of nature. Lots of images that can be used as backgrounds like I did with today's project. So be sure to check it out!

Unsplash.com

The phrase is a lyric line from a song I wrote called SHATTER ME. I have only recorded it in demo form but hope to record it professionally some day. It's a rather sad song, and this lyric line is particularly sad, if you choose to look at it that way. I chose a photo that captures the mood of the line from the sad perspective. Please leave comments on this and other posts! I would really appreciate the feedback! Thank you. :)

By the way, the photo I used is by Tirza van Djik. Must credit photographer! Great shot!

Here you go.

Gloria's Daily Hand Generated Type Phrase #50!

Well, I've reached the 50th!

This turned out to be a strange one. The concept I like. The execution didn't quite work, in my opinion, but I spent a great deal of time on it, so I decided to just be brave, not start over, and put it out there.

Gloria's Daily HGT #49

My favorite Elvis Presley song.

Did the effect I added make this too "blurry?" Not sharp enough? Wanted a soft look.

Gloria's Daily Hand Generated Type Phrase #48

I was listening to Nikka Costa today, and I decided to create something in her honor!

Gloria's Daily HGT #47

My music partner, Paul Sabuco, told me he thought this would be a cool name for a band. I definitely agree!!!

Gloria's Daily Hand Generated Type Phrase #46

I am enjoying experimenting with Illustrator's effects once I have designed the lettering!!!