art design ideas

HELMO is a creative collective made up of Thomas Couderc and Clement Vauchez and these coloured smoke photographs by the French duo are just breathtaking.

They also make me appreciate a bit more of the beauty found in winter and it being fucking freezing every morning when I have to get up for work.

Two beautiful videos, both equally inspiring in different ways. What they do have in common is a weeny bit of murdering :S

Black Bones from Rhett Dashwood on Vimeo.

Jonathan Boulet - Community Service Announcement

Stina Persson is an illustrator based in Stockholm, Sweden whose clients include Coca Cola, Absolut Vodka, Sony and DKNY.

I love how her use of colour and tone work uniquely to create quite a striking graphic feel, something which is softened gorgeously with the use of varied brush strokes.

She has also worked for some of my favourite magazines Vogue Nippon, Harper's Bazaar, Flaunt, Elle UK and Nylon amongst others.

Photo credits: http://fabricmag.com/fabric-magazine-art/lillian-bassman-haute-women/; http://jessicahart.net/blog/?p=340

This is a cool concept for a skate video and features some epic tunes, the last few minutes in particular (before the credits) are beautifully shot.

Wizard Smoke from Salazar on Vimeo.

Gig posters are nearly always brilliant, here are some great ones for Sonic Youth I found here.

3rd and last day in Hong Kong...I have enjoyed just wandering around because I am saving my $$$ for London and Paris!!! But I do want to check out the fabric markets because in 3rd year, the head teacher takes all the students to HK to buy supplies for their final collections and I want to get an idea of what kind of stuff they stock here. Lol, I'm so optimistic to be thinking that far ahead.

Photo credits: http://etc-alltherest.blogspot.com/2009/08/38.html

Tomorrow I head overseas for 2 months but I have pre-posted some pretty things for you so you don't miss out while I'm away! And hopefully I'll get the chance to share some photos along the way. (It might mean that comments will take awhile to appear though - sorry in advance.) Ciao!


Photo credits: http://stockholmstreetstyle.feber.se/art/168200/maryna_linchuk/

This is the first color illustration I've done that in the end I actually liked! And ironically the original photo was in black and white... Drawing comes more easily to me than designing, but it's still just a bit of a fun to me - nothing serious, or seriously awesome, like Decade Diary, Igor + Andre or Birdy & Me to name a few. :)

Photo credits: http://fashiongonerogue.com/2009/11/vogue-uk-december-2009-malgosia-bela-by-josh-olins/; http://justfad.blogspot.com

Photo credits: http://fashiongonerogue.com/2009/11/before-print-constance-jablonski/#more-15676

Ornaments & Nativities in Clay, Wood, Wool, Glass & More! at the Orchard

Artists from around the region show off their holiday spirit! Our ornaments will be the hit of your holiday tree or ornament exchange! All are made by American artists. The very popular wool ornaments by Ohio artist, Madeline Jordan are back...horses, giraffes, polar bears, llamas, cats & more! Blown glass ornaments by Larry Mack (see below) are great for the holiday tree & will bring cheer all year round! Ornaments made from gourds by Sue Westhues & local artist, Alison Adams. New this year: wooden puzzle ornaments by Russell Greenslade. Jerry Krider, of Columbia City, brings us his finely crafted wooden nativities. And, the cutest little clay ornaments around are by Wabash native, Sue Scamihorn.

Other holiday themed items include: porcelain dinnerware in Holiday patterns by Kimberly Rorick of Ossian. Hand thrown and painted in her studio. Felted stockings by Roanoke's, Janie Calwell are made of recycled sweaters...and will hold lots of goodies!

When: December 1-31, 2009

Orchard Gallery Open House will be Saturday, December 5 from 10am to 5pm

The artists of The Orchard Gallery invite you to our annual Holiday Open House. Meet the artists, enjoy refreshments and find handmade gifts as unique as the people on your gift list. As a thanks to our many loyal customers, enjoy a 10% discount during the open house. Everything in The Orchard Gallery is handmade by American artists, including 19 local artists who run the gallery. We WILL make your holiday shopping FUN!


Orchard Gallery Hours:
Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat: 10-5
Tues & Thurs: 10-7
Open Sundays: 12-5 Thanksgiving though Christmas.
CLOSED: Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

Where: The Orchard Gallery of Fine Art
6312-A Covington Road
Fort Wayne, IN
260-436-0927
www.theorchardgallery.com

Cost: No Charge

Lol! "We were worried about applying the powder, but they were so vain they loved it." - Tim Walker.

Photo credits: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/jun/12/bestshot.tim.walker#

I got batch of cover designs in today and immediately regretted that the one I liked the best, visually speaking, would never fly for the cover. In this case, with good reason — it looks great but isn’t quite suited for the audience. Luckily, there are others in the batch that also also very good and more appropriate for the book.

Also today, I got sketches in for another book. Here we are clearly we are making the less interesting choice because it more closely resembles familiar territory. The artist is no dummy and will likely reuse the pose on someone else’s very successful book cover. (And I will be jealous!)

This happens a lot in the job. Many times I agree with the final outcome, in some cases I don’t. Below are two older examples of covers that “got away.”

The Mystery of Grace
Illustrator John Jude Palencar and designer Peter Lutjen have been the dynamic duo beyond many many Charles de Lint covers. It’s amazing how well their sensibilities work together, even more so when you consider that Charles, Peter, and John have never met.

When Mystery of Grace came up, when we knew a general outline of the story. John Jude sent in a series of sketches and I was blinded by how much I loved this puppeteer drawing. It makes for a great painting, and even a great cover, but when the author and editor brought up the fact that it was much too dark for the book, it was hard too fight it. It certainly is macabre. This is not the artist’s fault. If I had been thinking more clearly, I would have asked for other sketches. In this case we got as far as printing Advance Reading Copies with the puppet cover before we were able to about-face and start over. (I’m told you can find those advance reading copies on eBay every now and then.)

Since we do have such a long and wonderful history of Palencar covers on de Lint books, there was never a question of what to do — I went back to John, described the book more fully, and gave him a clearer understanding of how we wanted to position it. It was a whole second commission for him — a pricey mistake on my part but, thankfully, not one that I make too often. In the end, the second cover is just as lovely in a different way.


Blood Groove
In this case, it was tough to get the marketing tone right. The initial copy and the title made it sound a bit campy and hipstery. When talking to the editor, the book sounded much more gritty than that, and it sounded much more grisly than the current slew of hot Twilight-y vampires. Designer Jamie Stafford-Hill went to town on the idea of a truly horrific, old school vampire. What you can’t see here is, he even requested a slightly textured varnish to make the cover just a tiny bit pebbly your hand. We did an advance run on the jackets and they looked great. Really great. In the end, though, Sales and Marketing felt that we should try to hit larger audience an go with a “movie-poster” style cover.

Selling more books is good for everybody — everyone from the author, to the bookstore clerks, to the truck drivers moving inventory around — so it’s difficult to say that going more commercial is a bad thing...But truth be told, this was example where I wish we could have stuck with something that was a bit more unique and engaging. While I certainly like the re-do, quite a bit actually, I’ll always wonder which cover really would have performed better.

Kris Kuksi
Beast Anthology
548 West 28th Street, 3rd Floor, NYC
Nov 21 -- Dec 19, 2009

Last night I attended Kris Kuksi's Beast Anthology opening at the Joshua Liner gallery. I had seen pictures of his work over the past year and was anxious to view them in person.

Kuksi takes bits and pieces of action figures, toy soldiers, tank models, and a seemingly endless selection of other figurative found objects and creates scenes that, seen as a whole, are reminiscent Eastern temple wall sculptures. Chaotic on the micro level but ultimately forming organized symmetrical shapes. The soldiers' poses and tanks create a kind of steampunk inspired monstrous momentum -- evoking elements of imperialism and industry. The religious and/or post apocalyptic effect is often enhanced by an "underworld" side to the work.

I'll admit, it's not work that effects me emotionally but if you're looking for a true "Holy shit, that's awesome!" experience, it's well worth the effort to go see them. It is easy to get lost in each one for quite a while. The longer you stare and the closer stand next to them, the more you can reduce yourself to their scale and become overwhelmed by their momentum.

[MY FUZZY PHOTOS HERE]

For this illustration, we could only use vertical strokes. It was quite a challenge but I'm happy with how it turned out!

Photo credits: http://fashiongonerogue.com/2009/10/from-dusk-til-dawn-egle-tvirbutaite-by-will-davidson/#more-13234; http://justfad.blogspot.com

Trailer for Art Out Loud, Vol 3 from Kate Feirtag on Vimeo.

A little set-up tease for an upcoming DVD of the September 12th's Art Out Loud at the Society of Illustrators with:
James Gurney
Sam Weber
Charles Vess
Donato Giancola
Greg Manchess

Earlier report of the event here. I'll give a heads-up when the DVD is available, of course.

Hmmm..makes me want to start another Art Out Loud.....

Two Demos at ARTWORKS Holiday Art Gallery


Jewelry Demo by Virginia Nance
Saturday, November 28 from 12-3 PM

Threadography Demo by Two Sipsters Studio
Sunday, November 29 from 1-4 PM


On Saturday, November 28, 12-3pm: visit with jeweler, Virginia Nance, as she works on a piece of bead embroidery that will be a part of a necklace/neck collar, as well as a couple of examples of bead weaving for ropes for necklaces.

Then, on Sunday, November 29, Beth Wheeler and Lori Marquette of Two Sipsters Studio will be working on a Threadography® piece in the window of Artworks, 1:00-4:00. Each piece of Threadography begins as a photograph, is altered on the computer, and printed on fabric. Beth then "paints" color and texture on the fabric with the sewing machine. While Beth is stitching, Lori will be printing on fabric and answering questions.

ARTWORKS Holiday Art Gallery is back for a second year. Nestled in cozy Jefferson Pointe, next to Barnes & Noble. 25 artists from the area will be selling their work and running the gallery for the next 8 weeks! Choose from a wide variety of paintings, photography, pottery, jewelry, wood, clothing, glass & more!

ARTWORKS is Open all Mall Hours through DECEMBER 31, 2009.

OPEN: Mon-Sat: 10am-9pm & Sun:12-5
Cost: No Charge

ARTWORKS Contacts:
Gallery: 260-432-6419
4150 W Jefferson Blvd (Jefferson Pointe next to Barnes & Noble)
Fort Wayne, IN 46804

Ah, Friday. I'm just a screen print design and a couple of folios away from freedom!


Photo credits: http://fashiongonerogue.com/2009/11/dutch-glamour-sophie-vlaming-by-annemarieke-van-drimmelen/#more-14669

Greg and I talk through the process of creating the Tor.com logo.

Backstage at - where else? - Chanel!

Photo credits: http://tig-fashion.blogspot.com/2009/10/backstage-at-chanel-pretty-hair-tiaras.html

ART-A-MENT! - Saturday, December 5th from 6-9PM
www.artament.org
$20 includes admission to the silent auction from 6-9 PM; free first drink and free movie at 9 PM (or free movie pass).
RSVP to 260.426.3456 or movies@cinemacenter.org

IO9 compares various jackets for classic SF novels.

And SF Signal aks a number of publishing folk what they consider the most memorable sf/f cover.

AW 2008/09 Rodarte - inspired by Japanese horror films, with red dye intended to evoke the look of blood in water.

Photo credits: http://fabricmag.com/fabric-magazine-art/museum-at-fit/