The World is round again

From cbc today
With Globalization the world was flat for a while but now with the oil shortage and high gas prices the world is round again. (ie. people are becoming aware of the actual distance products need to travel) This is a good thing.

Mr. Boddington's Studio

Inspiration for both writing and design: Mr. Boddington's Studio
http://mrboddington.com/
Through Design Sponge discovered this fantastic and very unique stationary company
which brands itself as Couture Correspondence.
They design and produce stunning personal stationary, wedding invites, baby announcements and "calling cards' many with very witty copy.

The copy on the website also includes several witty surprises .
(am too tired to think of another word for witty)
For eg. When the first page loads "WHERE TO FIRST? pops up on the screen
and when you click on the Contact button It reads "PLEASE DO". cute.

The real Mr. Boddington is Rebecca Schmidt-Ruebensaal.

Graham Roumieu

Illustrator/writer Graham Roumieu
was on Q (on cbc) today promoting his new Big Foot book

one of the few illustrators who also writes.
he explained that Big foot represents all of us who feel at odds with society
I think his strengths are
capturing the feeling of modern day alienation and
skewering pop culture. (black berries, facebook etc)

New sketches: Incorporating fabric

Inspired by Quilter Denyse Schmidt and Spanish Illustrator Begona Chezz I am experimenting with adding real fabric to my illustrations.
Here's the Real simple sketch with paisley fabric.

Denyse Schmidt

Denyse Schmidt quilter extraordinaire never fails to inspire.

Her new line of fabrics called katie jump rope have the vintage charm of flea market finds combined with a distinctly modern appeal. The collection includes lots of happy dots and cheerful floral patterns.

Sketches for Real Simple Opener

for an article on dressing for every occasion
am attempting a cropped off figure similiar to my bellboy illustration
as i think the cropping adds a level of sophistication

Sketches for Real Simple Magazine

Sketches for An article on How to dress for every occasion

New Work: Icons for the Globe and Mail

Published last Saturday April 19th in The Style section of the Globe
Earth Day Special : Waste Not, Want not!

New work: Real Simple Magazine

5 Page story
Published in the March 2008 issue of Real Simple magazine

ALSO Design, Animation, Illustration and Video -wow.

Through Illustrator Julie Rotham's site I discovered her other company Also which specializes in Animation and Web design.
www.also-online.com
It's a three person company consisting of Matt Lamothe, Jenny Volvovski + Julia Rothman- all of whom met at the Rhode Island School of Design. Their work is really youthful + fresh and full of whimsical details and quirky sound effects (like a vacuum cleaner and leaky taps!)
I love all their work but my fave is the animation they created for Etsy.
The illustration is reminiscent of The Triplettes of Belleville and the music + whistling is hilarious.
And the dancing girl at the end - too cute!
One of the freshest companies around methinks.

So many websites - so little sense o humour subtitled remember to not take yourself too seriously

So i have finally -and i mean finally started working on my website tonight
Was inspired by the sites of Illustrator's Debbie Powell and Harriet Russell (those brits - always funnier!!) and American
F Chimero
All are full of quirkiness and do not take themselves or their website too seriously

eg. Debbie Powell's Ist page has a pair of legs that say Come on in!
F Chimero's bio reads "He wished he travelled more"
and instead of "Links' he uses 'Brothers and Sisters in Arms'. Hilarious, Refreshing and something to aspire to.
Hmm i think i wrote this before concerning Number 17 Design firm.
definitely a pattern here.

New Work: Wired kids 24/7

New piece for Macalaster magazine.
Experimenting with a much more limited palette.
To carry this out means sacrificing realistic colour. (ie making hair navy blue) which is fine with me - hope the AD feels the same way.
Also experimenting with incorporating pattern - the orange dots pattern.
I think the limit palette works and is more interesting than realistic coloring but
it is a departure from my normal colouring style so ...i'll wait and see if the art director approves it!

Just wondering

Its February 15th. Am I the only one who just poured out their egg nog?

New Work: Facebook girl

Am working on a piece for Macalaster U. called "All teched out". It explores the pros and cons of university kids being wired 24/7.

I drew the sketch very quickly as i was in mad rush to get to a party.
Because i worked quickly the drawing has a nice loose energy to it. Is much better than something i'd work on for hours.
i have to learn this lesson over and over.
javascript:void(0)
I'm going to do the lettering in white and add lots of background elements for interest.

Input: Illustrator and printmaker Nate Williams

Insert 2 images here.
I think Nate Williams is one of the best illustrators working today

His work contains beautiful spontaneous drawings, a very unique colour palette with interesting colour combinationsn fun
inventive lettering and great silk screen like textures. Its also vey strong conceptually.

In addition to being very talented he is also incredibly thoughtful and articulate about his process
On his website he explains that he began a zine called Hola amiga in order to "
nurture and explore the subconscious realm, all in a very low tech way. "

Hola Amiga consists of three main components: Input, Output and Reflection. (sounds like a blog)

Input

are the things going on in my life at that specific moment in time. Input are things ranging from music, environments, letters, emails, cultural learning's to things people say, concepts, observations, food, books, weather, mass media, relationships, inspirational people, experiences, exercise, etc .. basically anything a human experiences.

Output

is Hola Amiga .. the disregarded, impulsive, spontaneous, unconsidered, unplanned, unstudied by-product of life's daily influences. These are my drawing, sketches, thoughts, etc.

Reflection

is something I just do in my head. This is when I try to bridge the gap and explain the relationship between the Input and Output. Most of the time I don't realize why I decide to use specific imagery at the time. Eventually I track down the source/influence. In life a lot of the time you have an idea and then you execute it. With Hola Amiga I do the opposite ... I execute it and then sometimes successfully track down the idea. Really not much different than trying to explain the odd events of a dream.

i think this is all great.
It also blows my mind that Nate took the zine one step further and decided to apply this approach to his life as well as his art.
He wanted to invest in the less tangible things like learning a language, living in another country, learning about history and nature, and most of all, just having the free time to experience, think, wonder, and discover.

so he quit his job, sold his house and moved to South America where he currents lives.

This guys really knows how to LIVE.
Inspirational.

Design Sponge podcast: The woman behind Dwell

Today I listened to Grace Bonney's interview with the two women behind Dwell Studio: Christiane Lemieux + Jennifer Chused. The designers explained that they initially designed bedding to go with the very modern "Boutique hotel" beds going on in the late 90s. They created very clean geometric patterns to go along with the furnishings.
(I remember their big dot duvet made such an incredible impact on me when I first saw it)

Dwell's well known chocolate dot pattern

Some gems from the interview:
When the big companies started ripping off their geometric patterns they didn't worry! They used it as a kick in the pants and decided to "jump off that band wagon and move in a more 'decorator luxe' direction."
They travel the world for inspiration. Christine feels that 'you are a more relaxed when you travel -- so your best ideas come to you then'. "We are always looking for the one piece of fabric at the flea market that contains genius".
Really inspirational interview. Highly recommended.

Ps. Design Sponge has many other great podcasts in their archive including interviews with Thomas Paul, Denyse Schmidt and Lotta Jansdotter. Inspirational and great company when folding laundry!