illustration

Annette Simon sent over two lovely books that I’ve been meaning to post. The first is Mocking Birdies which is the story of two fun loving birds that love to copy each other’s words and whistles. The birds are having a real hoot till a couple of “copycats” come along. Its’ a really funny ending so, you have to read the book to find out what happens. I love how she chose to illustrate the book. The bright colors and simple shapes really catch your eye.

Annette also sent a very touching book titled This Book is for all kids, but especially my sister Libby, which her 5 year old son Jack wrote. The book contains Jack’s thoughts and questions as he struggles to understand the death of his real life sister Libby. Libby died when she was three and half years old due to a rare disorder. Jack’s questions are honest, frank and often humorous. For parents and young ones that are dealing with a similar situation, I’m sure this book leads to some thoughtful discussions.

You can purchase either book at Amazon by clicking on the links above.

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Lots of Bots c2008 - Text by Kiki Thorpe - illustrated by Ben Butcher

Ben Butcher of Pixar recently stopped by to give us a preview of the new WALL-E picture book Lots of Bots which he illustrated. The book is the precursor to the film, which is due to hit screens this summer. In the interview below, Ben discusses his thoughts and process in the making of this beautiful book. Where it was possible, we’ve included Ben’s original artwork alongside images of the finished book.

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El Gran Robo Del Tren De San Trinian - c1968

I recently received an email for this great new blog that focuses on Cuban posters. The site is a wonderful resource for posters produced by ICAIC, OSPAAAL, COR, Casa de las Americas and other cultural, political and social agencies in Cuba.

Mar Hernández aka Malota aka really cool designer living and working in Valencia, Spain, offers an extremely fun and inspiring collection of work for our viewing pleasure. Mar’s style is really bold and graphic, but very detailed and complex at the same time. She has a nice range of work — from very flat, computer drawn images, to a sketchier, looser, hand drawn style.

Check out the video entitled “Greenville.” Very cool motion graphics.

Cool work from Brooklyn based illustrator and designer Stephen Kelleher aka Frankenstyles.

Richard Erdoes - Policemen around the world c1967

Richard Erdoes was an author and illustrator. He was born in Vienna, Austria in 1912 and later immigrated to the United States. The book above is one of a 3 part “around the world” series. The other two books were Musicians of the world and Peddlers and Vendors of the world. Both of which, were produced around the same time in the late 1960s.

It looks like Erdoes’ used a combination of Pen/ Ink and gouache to achieve the finished look found in the images above. This reminds me of the work of Miroslav Sasek who I believe used gouache as well.

Many thanks to grain edit reader Thorsten Schmidt for sending the following Richard Erdoes link in:
Richard Erdoes magazine illustration

If you like Richard Erdoes you might be  interested in our post on Ryohei Yanagihara.

Marcus Walters, a designer and illustrator from the UK, loves washing machines. A lot of his work is similar to the above image — which reminds me of putting felt onto a feltboard as a kid. They have that very flat, semi-dimensional quality to them which I love.

Marcus is also a part of New Future Graphic, which is more graphic design-oriented (posters, ad’s, books, etc).

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while. I first came across Tyler Lang a few months ago when his Universal Demand poster for Ringling School of Art and Design was making the rounds on select blogs. His portfolio is filled with great work, I just wish I could see more. I especially like his logo system for the Sarasota Design Summit and the Ford piece seen above.

Israeli environment stamps - 1975

Beautiful stamps addressing both noise and industrial pollution.
Be sure to check out this modern stamp from Israel as well.

Wayne Pate runs GoodShapeDesign, a Brooklyn, NY based design shop and all around fun place. I’m really into his “Flock” series — if you’re a fan of our feathered friends, now you can have 18 on a single poster!

Also check out his artwork section for some really inspiring collages.

I’m just in awe of Canadian comic book creator and illustrator Pascal Blanchet’s work. It was tough to decide what image to post, everything is so good.
(Many thanks to Julia at Book by its cover for passing this along)

Concepts - Promotional book for US Steel c1961

Industrial designer / illustrator Syd Mead is well known for his vehicle designs and backgrounds for classic science fiction films like Blade Runner and Aliens during the 1980s. Long before these projects, he produced a series of conceptual illustrations and paintings for US Steel. The futuristic automobiles, diagrams and environments were published in several promotional books during the early 1960s.

These books are intense to look at. The full page spreads are over 2 feet wide and heavily detailed. Keep in mind when viewing the images above, that this work is very early on in his career, as he had recently finished his studies at Art Center in Pasadena.

Invisible creature has a slew of great design and illustration work at their site including the album art for the latest Hawk Nelson record.

Design Studio/ gallery Wonderful Union have an upcoming exhibition of work from brothers Don and Ryan Clark (better known as Invisible Creature).

The Exhibition is entitled Haven: An Exploration of Domestic Life and opens on Saturday, April 12th, 2008. The art work highlights the tension between modernism’s smiley-faced rejection of things past and their own coming of age domesticity from an autodidactic, punk ethos point of view.

Details:
Saturday, April 12th, 2008, 6-10 PM
The Wonderful Union Gallery
2221 NW 56th St. Suite 201, Seattle WA 98107

For more details check out the Wonderful Union gallery.

Frank Chimero is having a great time, apparently. His portfolio is full of super fun, exciting work. As a design student, it’s always thrilling to see work that is equal parts vision, humor, inspiration, and a snappy idea.

He also has a cool blog, and a flickr.

The Futile Vignette is a design studio run by Mick Marston, out of Sheffield, UK. Mick’s work is a fun combo of contemporary and vintage illustration styles. Lots of rabbits, cats, girls with pig noses, hands holding things, and 2 George Saunders book covers! (Anyone know if those are in print?)

Bonus points for an interesting website, too!

Vårt svenska samhälle - by Sixten Björkholm c1963

Cool book cover illustration by Staffan Wiren. Great example of swedish modern illustration from the 1960s.

On a sidenote, just talked to my friend Joe Beats and he’s got a killer mix online that he put together for designer vinyl toy store Munky King. Listen to the mix here.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

(Staffan Wirén book cover via David at the Klockarp institute)

Leonardo Hss comes to us all the way from Flickr. I couldn’t find any info on him other than what is on his Flickr page. Lots of different styles represented here. Corporate, logo, and some more playful graphic work (like the above image).

Be sure to check out his experimental work as well.

Letterpress cityscape print by lab partners

Ryan and Sarah aka lab partners sent me a sweet print. My wife and I have been wanting one of these, so we were super excited when the package arrived at the doorstep.  I didn’t realize it was letterpressed till I opened the mailer. That really blew me away. I can’t stop touching it! ha

If you like the print above, then you have to stop by the lab partners ETSY shop. Gocco prints and goodies for everyone. Also be sure to check out their wonderful design and illustration work as they post it from time to time on their blog.

Hello Freaks are based in Paris, and led by one Jerome Castro (who has a cool blog, in French.) Their illustration work is really impressive, and includes lots of mouth-watering type. Be sure to check the motion work as well. It’s a nice departure from the standard motion reels we’re used to seeing all over.

Thanks to Sharon for the heads up on Hello Freaks.

Un Sedicesimo issue #2 - Italo Lupi

Last week we looked at the first part of a package I received from Italian publisher Edizioni Corraini, which included a copy of the Pino Tovaglia book. Today we’ll look at the second part of the package.

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Cover illustration/typography for the Yale University Art Gallery spring catalog

Garrett Morin does great work. He draws lots of type and makes people happy. You may have seen his works in the likes of Mike Perry’s Hand Job book. If you click on over to his site, you’ll find lots of happy characters, t-shirt graphics, corn-cob pipes, animated GIFs, skateboard graphics, magazine covers, and a great animated spot for Death Cab for Cutie / MTV.

Garrett’s also a member of the Rad Mountain collective, which recently did some yummy illustrations for Good Magazine. Check it.

Jesse Kaczmarek is a one-man, super-clean design shop located in NYC. His clients include BMW, Sony, Pepsi, HBO, and on and on. The work remains consistently clean, sophisticated and fun — all at once! Just look at those happy families in their Hertz rental cars!

Also, bonus points for a super slick website.

Silkscreen Print for a Drama magazine sponsored show at Nonesuch Gallery

Cool design work from Wyeth Hansen (Casual Aesthetics). His website includes t-shirts, posters, type faces as well some motion design. I’m loving the type work above.

(Via Wrong distance)

Many thanks to Laurent for sending me this animated short. After watching it, I couldn’t believe that it’s a student film. It looks like something straight out of PIXAR. Laurent mentioned that films, cartoons and design from the 1960s were the inspiration for the project. Excellent animation and great use of James Bond soundtracks to set the atmosphere.

View Zoudov on Youtube or check it out on the official Zoudov website.

Have a great weekend everyone!
Speaking of which, after getting a tip from my friend Wes I decided to rent “King of Kong”. Thats on the playlist for the weekend. Anyone else seen this?

“Documentary” directed by Justin Leibow for Superfad

It’s friday and what better way to celebrate then by watching a good ole animated short.

grain edit reader and rad guy Justin Leibow sent in this animated film he directed for the Seattle Film Festival. Nude skydiving wee hoo!!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Christopher David Ryan is a “Brooklyn-based graphic artist, daydreamer, pseudo-scientist, wanna-be astronaut and untrained intellectual.” His work shows a similar range of experimentation — photography, collage, illustration, found images, etc. Why! He even makes pillows! On his personal website, Ryan is posting at least one image of his work per day for every day of the year. Busy, busy.

Some great book covers in the Dick Bruna Flickr group.

(image via onno de wit)

Alain Gree - l’electricitie c1969 vintage kids book
Published by Casterman as part of the Cadet-Rama Collection

Woah! Pastel overload! Someone went crazy with the pink crayons. I love it though. Alain Gree’s illustrations are great. I can’t get enough of the bubble heads, mod clothes, pop colors and psychedelic scenery. In this book, Alain looks at electricity and how its used. It’s filled with teal buses, pink trolleys and mustard colored sewing machines.

On a related note, I have to give a birthday shout out to my friend Sean. Sean introduced me to Alain’s work so this post seemed fitting for today.

I love when people send me packages, especially when they contain cool design work. Comic artist and designer Jonathan Bennett recently sent me a fat package of goodies including not one, but TWO Gocco prints! In addition, he included several magazines that feature his cartoons. I enjoyed his work, I just wish he had a website so I could see more.

MOME Winter 2006 features one of Jon’s cartoons. You can pick up a copy at Fantagraphics Books.

In this card designed by mr.mannun, business ties are flying in the wind as this beast rips down a small patch of Christmas trees all while holding a flock of fudgesicle shaped birds. This is great! One of my favorite finds on Flickr. My top pick in the genre of groucy card design.

You can browse the rest of mr.mannun’s design / illustration work on Flickr. He also has a few poster samples on Gig posters.com

1961 Neste Oy Corporate annual report designed by Olli Stelander. Great use of limited color.  This was when drilling for oil was hip, the indie rock (Get your shale on!)  of the energy industries. This annual probably doubled as their tour poster.

For more design work from Finland check my post on Finnish book design.

Just found this great polish blog called pantuniestal. They put together a small collection of polish maps from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. You can see a preview above. Check out the fish that guy in the yellow rain suit caught. That thing has some crazy sharp triangle teeth. Do they have Piranha in Poland or something?

Besides the maps they have some great examples of mid century modern ephemera. Browsing the site I found Czech matchbox labels, vintage cameras, hotel luggage labels etc. In addition to the Polish, there is an English version of the site so you can follow the conversation. Tons of eye candy here.

(via FFFFound!)

Belgium stamp - 1970s - Lots of hair!

Happy New Years!
I hope everyone had a good time last night. Unfortunately, it was a chill night at home for myself, since I picked up a cold over the weekend.

We have some exciting new interviews and features that we will be posting over the next few weeks and months. Stay Tuned!

One of the notable things that has come out of producing this blog has been the opportunity to speak with designers I respect and admire. Bo Lundberg is one of those designers. Several months ago we posted some of his work. Since then Bo and I have been exchanging emails which eventually led to this interview. Here he shares a few thoughts on inspiration, as well as his creative process.

Bo’s work has been featured in Old Type/ New Type by Steven Heller, Illustration Now! published by Taschen, Illusive: Contemporary Illustration and its Context by Hellige & Klanten, as well as other publications. His clients include Wallpaper magazine, Elle, Vogue, Neiman Marcus and Scandinavian Airlines.

Without further ado, I’m proud to present Bo Lundberg.

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Damien Correll is a Brooklyn, NY based “designer/maker/illustrator.” I first came across his work in the fabulous book Hand Job, by Mike Perry. I really love seeing the intersection of graphic design with his DIY hand-drawn aesthetic. This work is difficult to pin down, but it’s quirky and full of personality.

Illustration by Fred Mcnabb c1956

Well here it is, the “house of the future”. Mom’s making oven fresh algae, grand pa is chilling in the living room in his chocolate love suit and grand ma is cleaning up the kitchen in her finest elf garb. For the house of the future it looks a lot like the house of 1956. I realize not every house in 1956 had steel beams and case study furniture or a garbage disposal unit that spits out freshly pressed Victorian lacies. I guess I was expecting something a little more “futuristic”, like some sort of flying magical orb.

(great illustration via Plan59)

Check out these super cool modern Christmas cards that Jo at design to inspire made. The deer and the type for the word “Christmas” came straight from our Holiday clip art gallery.

Seems like everyone has been talking about Tavis Coburn lately and why not? His work is great. A beautiful marriage of vintage illustrative styles and images with contemporary techniques. This makes perfect sense in light of a recent interview with Josh Spear where he admitted to being “obsessed with anything from the 1940s - 1960s”. I was excited to find out that limited edition prints are available at Tavis Coburn’s online shop. Each print is signed and numbered.

Luggage label for hotel de l’ours - Geneva, Switzerland c1950s ?

This is exactly how I wanted to be greeted if I ever make it to some fancy Swiss hotel. I want freshly shaven polar bears with bow ties grabbing my luggage!

Spike Press is the monikor for one John Solimine, a Chicago based designer. In a world overrun by gig-poster designers, it’s refreshing to see someone with a little originality and illustration sense. These posters are fun, whimsical, and full of narrative — each poster has a very engaging mini-story that will pull you and your wallet right in. Enjoy!

Just found this mural. Sweet mother! This is good. I’m not sure if Maria Keil has grandchildren, but if not she can adopt me. She could teach me how to make murals and I could teach her how to throw sheep on Facebook.

(via amnesia)

As far as I know this is the only kids picture book illustrated by designer Saul Bass. Saul provides a 60s pop color backdrop for the text written by Leonore Klein. The book was published by Young Scott books in 1962.

Henri’s walk to Paris is the story of young boy who lives in Reboul, France that dreams of going to Paris. One day, after reading a book about Paris he decides to pack up a lunch and head for the city. Along the way he gets tired and falls asleep under a tree. This is when the story really gets good. I’m not sure if I should spoil the end for you, but lets just say it involves a pencil stealing bird with a band aid on its face.

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Great match box label from Czechoslovakia. The label is from the late 1970s. We will be posting more labels from our collection over the next week.

Sticker for Bundesgartenschau Stuttgart - 1961

The post earlier today was inspired by a sticker (seen above) I found over the weekend. I wasn’t sure what to make of this sticker when I first saw it. It looks like a giant albino bird sitting on top of the Toronto Needle. After researching the event (Bundesgartenschau) I now believe its an illustration of a weathervane. Since Bundesgartenschau is a garden/ landscaping show it would make sense that the bird’s tail feathers are flowers.

Visit the previous post (Get your Bundesgartenschau on!) for more information regarding this garden show and the graphics behind it.

What did they feed these kids in the 60s? Their HUGE! They have no chance of riding the funliner considering their heads are bigger then the whole plane. I don’t think they want to ride in it though, I think they want to eat it.

Cool kids activity book from 1964 produced for United Airlines. Illustrations by Dick Flor. Includes a tragic tale of some campers getting their precious hamburger buns stolen by some juvenile chipmunks. Great stuff!

The Little Polar Bear who didn’t want to learn to swim c1964. Text by George Theiner with illustrations by Rudolf Lukes. This is one of the tougher kids books to find with illustrations by Mr. lukes. The drawings of the Bears and seals are locked into the book by some sort of sliding paper system. As you you turn the pages the illustrations pop out of the page and bring the characters to life. This book was featured in The San Francisco Center For the Book’s exhibition entitled Show Me a Story: Children’s Books & the Technology of Enchantment.