Society6 Artist interview: Aurelie Grand
Posted by Amy on Tuesday March 2, 2010
Awhile back I posted about collaborating with Society6 to pick out an artist every month (it’s more like a bi-monthly thing though!), and our third pick this time goes to Aurelie Grand. There were tons of applicants, and while it was no easy decision to make, Aurelie stood out because of her sense of style, and the various media that she uses. Here’s definitely one lady to watch!
———————————————————————-
Name: Aurelie Grand
Location: Montreal, Canada
Website: www.aureliegrand.com
Shop: socuute.etsy.com
Blog: lilyk.canalblog.com
Illustration media: ink, digital, photography, acrylics, fabrics
Tell us a little more about yourself!
I was born in Toulouse «Pink City», France. I grew up in a small village closer to the Pyrenees. My dad has always been an illustrator (though he was also a full time dentist for a while) and I used to spend hours in his studio either watching him or doodling. As far as I remember drawing’s always been my number one occupation. I honestly never stopped. How nerdy is that?
I currently live in Canada with my boyfriend Max who’s also an artist.
Where do you live? What stands out about living where you are, and what is your daily schedule like?
I spent 3 fun years in Vancouver, Canada and I recently moved to Montreal, Quebec because I wanted to experiment the North American East Coast for a while and we have long-time friends here. Montreal is culturally rich, there’s a lot of artists, parks and bikes (and snow), that’s enough to inspire me.
I like to wake up early and start my day by sketching ideas, new projects etc… Then I have to say I’m not very productive in the afternoon so I’m networking, reading, having a nap, or just hanging around . My favorite shift at the studio is 9pm-2am. I guess I get more focus at night. I also like to take the bus home from the studio with drunk people.
How did you get your start in illustration?
I wrote and illustrate a book when I was 9 or 10. It was an elementary school project, a sort of novel inspired by a school trip. It was about 2 detectives (a dog and a hamster) who were investigating on missing horses in a farm. We sold the books to parents and friends at the school annual show. Ha!
I didn’t go to art school right after high school, even if I really wanted to (I wanted to be a graphic designer actually) mainly because my family did not seem to agree with the idea but I know now that I wasn’t ready anyways. So I went to university to study cell biology and animal behavior for 4 years which was seriously interesting but I soon realized life’s too short and I was wasting my time there.
Comments [7]
Review + mini giveaway: Idea Log
Posted by Amy on Friday February 26, 2010
I love notebooks, sketchbooks and boy am I a list person. I’m always hunting for the next best thing in combining the three, and somehow it always involves a pair of scissors and later on, heartbreak at doing a terrible job at massacring modifying a perfectly good notebook.
The people at Knock Knock must have heard my howls of regrets over the untimely demise of the books and sent me the Idea Log – it’s a handy-sized notebook that has a few sections that will make jotting down your next big idea a cinch. My favorite so far is the Idea Log section where you can write down ideas (alphabetically, I kid you not), and also the Sketch Log section where you can actually draw stuff ideas out — which is normally what I do when words fail me.
If you’re as mad about lists and planning as I am, then you’d want to get your hands on a copy for all your creative outbursts. And here at Pikaland, I’m going to make it easier for you!
I’m giving away ONE copy of the Idea Log to ONE lucky commenter who answers this in the comment section:
Describe Pikaland in three words.
You have one week to submit your answers, and this mini-giveaway ends on the 5th of March.
Have a great weekend and I’ll see you on Monday! (also, did you enter Fawa’s giveaway yet?)
UPDATE: Commenting has now closed, thanks so much for participating. The winner of this giveaway is when skies are grey
Comments [67]
Sponsor giveaway: Sweet Harvey
Posted by Amy on Tuesday February 2, 2010
Sweet Harvey Letterpress is a small design studio specializing in original illustration, letterpress printing & graphic design, helmed by artist Brandi Powell.
Brandi is sponsoring ONE Hope letterpress print from her latest collection to one lucky Pikaland reader. Just leave a comment below by 9th February to be in the running!
———————————————
From this year onwards, giveaways on Pikaland will mainly be from our active sponsors; and those that are will be labeled as such. We hope you had a fun time entering our fun giveaways in the last quarter of 2009 — it was our way of thanking our audience and our fellow community members here at Pikaland. A total of 36 giveaways were held, with lovely items worth over USD$1,350 sent to winners all over the world! If you’d like to be a sponsor on Pikaland, please read here for more information!
UPDATE: Commenting has now closed, thanks so much for participating. The winner of this giveaway is Wendi!
Comments [35]
Introducing the Good to Eat flickr group!
Posted by Amy on Friday January 29, 2010
I’m inspired by all things food lately, and with a good rest at the end of the year, it culminated in lots of ideas for the coming months! So the first new project on Pikaland for 2010 is the Good to Eat flickr stream — a fun look at what artists, designers + illustrators all over the world eat! Nothing is more universal than food (besides music!) so share what fills your creative tummy by posting all your food and drinks related illustrations/photos on the Good to Eat page!
{Loving this new blog too: Norwegian food illustrated by an Italian by Vesle Serena, a graphic designer who loves to draw and cook!}
Comments [12]
Pikaland contributor: Jamie Shelman
Posted by Amy on Monday January 25, 2010
Remember last week when I mentioned that Pikaland is going to have another contributor? Well please welcome Jamie Shelman – painter, artist, cat fancier, and cycling fanatic. She loves minimal forms of expression that contain within them an ability to engage the viewer’s imagination without filling in all the blanks, and the best part of all? You can now find her posting about new artists and great design here on Pikaland – her first post will be up tomorrow, so stay tuned!
She’ll be joining our roster of growing wonderful contributors, and you can see who else is on the list over here!
Pikaland Artist Feature // Society6
Posted by Amy on Friday January 22, 2010
Previously known as the Pikaland Exposure Grant, we teamed up with Society6 to offer one artist who garnered the most votes on there, a chance to be on Pikaland as a featured artist with an interview; along with a free advert placement up on the blog worth USD$55.
The bad news: the Pikaland Exposure Grant is no more.
The good news: it now lives on as the Pikaland Artist Feature (got you there, didn’t I?) and is now back up for grabs.
Toss your hat in the ring over here!
{Previous winners: Craig Atkinson and Aijung Kim}
————————————————————
Have a good weekend everyone! I’ll spot you back next week, where I’ll introduce a new contributor and also a new project on Pikaland! ;)
Comments [1]
Plagiarism: Write in!
Posted by Amy on Friday January 8, 2010
The next topic of the Good to Know zine is Plagiarism, and we’ve moved the submission deadline to the 31st of January due to the festivities. So for those who wanted to participate but couldn’t do so last month, now’s your chance! I’d love to hear more about what you think about plagiarism; whether you have been on the receiving end or not, and if you think that there’s a way to better combat it.
Also, Theresa wrote in a few weeks ago with a question, to which I’ve answered her below about the same matter:
Hi Amy,
I was given your info based on a question I have. I am looking at starting my own line of design work. I am concerned about stealing. What is your advice on copyrighting and protecting my work. I don’t know how to stop users from right clicking to do a save pic as… Can you offer me any advice?
Hi Theresa,
Considering how much a problem copycats pose to designers everywhere, I’d say that it’s normal to obsess over this. However, there is no foolproof way to NOT be copied. Right-clicking is only one way. Some may just lift your work on the spot and just recreate it on their own software. If someone wants to copy, they’ll find a hundred and one way of doing it.
My advice? Just begin. Create. And if you’re being copied? It means two things: Your work is fabulous (hurrah!) and you can publicly denounce the perpetrator while creating even better, more magnificent stuff to put out there.
——————————-
What do you think? Send in your thoughts, ideas and critique to amy{AT}pikaland.com to be included in the next issue!
P/S: To make things sweeter, all participants will receive the full PDF of the issue, plus a special discounted rate for the physical copy!
Comments [4]
The Homies Award 2009: Vote Pikaland!
Posted by Amy on Wednesday December 30, 2009
Okay, I think I got carried away a little and entered the blog into the Homies Award 2009, sponsored by Apartment Therapy. It’s an award for best home design blogs, so I was rationalizing to myself that Pikaland does throw up some ideas in that department, even if just a tiny bit (say, how about decorating the walls with illustrated goodies? Isn’t that better? WHY YES!)
One of these days I think I might just slap the side of my head and say “what the heck was I thinking?”, but then again, I know that it’s all in good fun. If that reason sits well with you, then how about humoring me and cast a vote for Pikaland?
p/s: Here’s my list of lovely blogs that I think should win too, in case you’d like to know.
Comments [3]
Season's Greetings from Pikaland!
Posted by Amy on Friday December 25, 2009
From Better Homes & Gardens: Christmas Ideas, 1956. Illustrator: Roy Mathews. Image from Ward Jenkins’ Vintage Christmas set
I was supposed to draw something in time for the coming holidays as a greeting card to send out, but as you can see I never made it. To compensate, I’d like to propose that you have a look through Ward Jenkins’ fabulous Flickr stream and get a feel of some vintage Christmas illustrations — the theme that I wanted to go for if I wasn’t the biggest procrastinator on earth. Oh well, there’s always another year no?
2009 was a busy year here at Pikaland — so I’m going to do a short recap of what I’m thankful for in 2009:
- YOUR support for cheering Pikaland on — we’re going to be 2 years old in February!
- The launch of the Good To Know zine that brought illustrators, artists and designers together to discuss creativity, life and business (or the lack therof, haha!)
- I started accepting advertising on Pikaland, and many of you sponsored that loaf of bread I put on the table, and I thank you tremendously.
- I put the PikaPackage Project on hiatus, but you’ll be happy to know that it will be up and running again early next year with NEW projects in tow. To sign up for news about that, subscribe to the newsletter , and;
- There’s too many to list down here, but I’m truly indebted to the many wonderful blogs and people who featured Pikaland on their websites and publications!
Happy holidays and a big cheer for 2010 — here’s wishing you lots of joy, happiness and warmth from our family to yours.
xoxo
Amy
Comments [5]
Giveaway #29: I Heart the Arctic giveaway
Posted by Amy on Tuesday December 8, 2009
When I first saw the I Heart the Arctic zine by Jacqueline Kari Bos, I was intrigued. It’s an illustrated book about the arctic, Inuit myths, Eskimo hoods, seals, and all things chilly. Jacqueline created the book after completing a year long study on Inuit myths and readings on arctic cultures.
The first print run has sold out quickly in her Etsy shop, and here’s your chance to get your hand on ONE COPY of the limited edition second printing. And as a bonus, you’ll also get a sewn arctic heart ornament to go with the book. Say YAY!
Just comment on this post by 15th December and we’ll pick out a winner after. Giveaways on Pikaland are global – meaning that EVERYONE from ANYWHERE can enter!
————————————————————
P/S: Posting is a little light today, and with good reason too — I’m out to celebrate my birthday today! Thanks so much for all your wonderful wishes and birthday greetings (I’ve had so many messages delivered via Twitter, Facebook and email!)
UPDATE: Commenting has now closed, thanks for participating!
Comments [85]