Vermont author Mark Gonyea discusses his art and design books with Paul Larson of Mountain Lake Journal Extra. Gonyea’s works include “A Book About Design,” and “A Book About Color.” He is also the creator of the Mr. Oblivious series. Producer Paul Larson says “Author Visits” explores the inspiration behind books, the story of their creation, and insight into the writing and publishing process.
Author Bio
Born in northern New York seven years before he saw Star Wars for the first time, Mark spent the better portion of my early life watching tv, going to movies and playing video games. Little did he realize this was to be the essential groundwork for a career in cartooning and graphic design.
Book Info
A Book About Design: Complicated Doesn’t Make It Good
takes a most creative approach to introducing young (and not-so-young) readers to the fundamental elements of design. Using simple shapes, lines, and a sense of humor, this book explains why complicated doesn’t make it good-and why that matters. Mark Gonyea opens up the world of design and makes it accessible to young artists and non-artists alike.
Another Book About Design: Complicated Doesn’t Make It Bad
In A Book About Design, Mark Gonyea taught us why a complicated design does not necessarily mean a good design. Now he’s back in super-heroic form to demonstrate that the beauty of “complicated” can be found in its underlying simplicity.
“Mesmerizing to look at and easy to understand, this book breaks down more design concepts and lets you see through the eyes of a graphic designer.”
A Book About Color
Beginning with the six houses on Color Street—red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple—and concluding with the introduction of the color wheel, in this follow-up to A Book About Design Mark Gonyea explains how artists visualize and choose colors. A Book about Color uses simple building blocks of color, shape, and design to introduce young artists to the world of color theory.
A Wish For Elves
The holiday season can be stressful, even for a kid. But when one boy makes a wish for a little holiday help, he gets more than he bargained for. And what will Santa do without his elves? Mark Gonyea uses comic-strip styling to great effect in this clever picture book.
If You Have to Ask…
“Does this dress make me look fat?”
“Are we there yet?”
“Would you like a million dollars?”
What do you think? If You Have to Ask… takes life’s most ubiquitous—and annoying—questions and reveals that the answer is always “Yes” or always “No.”
Refreshingly simple illustrations and tongue-in-cheek text combine to provide an amusing perspective on dealing with common situations and the obvious questions we encounter every day. Each spread features a universal question, a graphic “Yes” or “No” checkbox with a pithy (and often sardonic) punchline, plus wonderfully quirky and original illustrations.
Web Resources
Website: http://www.mroblivious.com/
Blog: http://www.mroblivious.com/update.html
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/MrOblivious/135006578892
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MarkOblivious