Arthur Szyk

. . .a.k.a master of minature, crazy-detailed illuminated art. If you’re in SF within the next 10 days catch Arthur Szyk’s show at the Legion of Honor. Thank goodness for patience, passion and magnifying glasses!

Illustrator Extraordinaire

. . .David Roberts, one of my long-time favorite children’s book illustrators. His characters capture that charming balance of quirky imperfection, English humor and feisty charm—plus, a good helping of fashion. Yes, please!

Cool Book Alert!

I don't think I've ever seen this many good illustrations in one book: Illusive.

Ooo la la!

I have been perusing the world of fashion illustration lately, researching for a graphic design project we’re currently working on in the studio. And I have to say, as in all fields there sure are a number of duds. What a breath of fresh air Barcelona-based Ms. Sandra Suys was for me. Yes, I am biased towards high contrast art—the marriage of muted monochromatic tones plus brilliant color; expressionistic strokes mixed with crazy photo-realistic details; etc—but I think anyone would attest: these illustration sure are sweet, no?

Calling all typophiles!

Russian-born typographer and quilling expert Yulia Brodskaya:

A monster a day. . .

Just wanted to share this super idea from the fantastic graphic designer/illustrator/creative person-in-general, Stefan Bucher of 344 design: The Daily Monster—enjoy!

Web Comic Book Nook

In this week's cozy recommendation corner, I would like to point you towards one of my favourite webcomics, namely "Shrub Monkeys" by KT.
The artist is a young animator who casts herself and her two siblings (Shagster and Hes) as the main characters in order to share... her life? Her daydreams? Random thoughts? Probably a healthy mix of all three - and then some.

I am always first in line when there's self-deprecating humour to be had, and Shrub Monkeys excels at that. Plus, the artist's style is nice and loose, communicates well, and the colourscheme strokes my soul.

Off to Shrub Monkeys!

Illustrator eyecandy

In the ethically dubious category of "Books I only possess for the artwork‘s sake," The Spiderwick Chronicles by Illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi and writer Holly Black (yes, I had to look her up) takes the semi-glorious first spot.

I just love gazing at DiTerlizzi‘s inkwork. There is no way I can say this to make it sound normal. I love the pretty, pretty realistic drawings. His is a level of skill I aspire to, and I can warmly recommend that you drop by his blog. Or pic up one of the books on your next book run.

I have been lucky enough to find within my circle of friends a huge chunk of talent in illustration, which I can admire and try to match for the months to come, and I felt like sharing some of her work here.

I especially love to indulge in her colour compositions, but that is only one of the many things to enjoy. I heartily recommend that you check out her deviant art gallery as well, if you like what you see here.

Does Retro times Retro make Retro squared?

The idea of taking retro films (at least they are retro to ditzy twentysomethings like this humble blogger) and creating even more retro book covers leaves me with a bit of postmodern whiplash.

But that time I was at the receiving end of a guy crashing into the tail end of a traffic jam sure didn't feel quite as good as looking at these designs. Actually, that felt awful. Moving on.

The graphic designer behind the blog spacesick creates an ever growing collection of brilliant book cover designs for the good, the bad and the ugly in film history, reminding me that the best work can come from projects you do "just because".

Okay, "Shaun" is not retro. It's just awesome.

It also turns out that the the designer is merely a year older than I am.
If you'll excuse me, I'll go play in traffic now.

Illustrations that Wink at You

Introducing the work of New York resident Jesse Kuhn a.k.a. rawtoastdesign.





Along with creating editorial art, posters, and book covers, he has also developed a children’s series of books called The Quirkles, 26 alphabet-based characters (like Andy Acid and Botanist Bert) with a lust for science.

hee. hee.