Mark Giglio / PencilPencilStencil
Posted by Amy on Thursday December 22, 2011
Love the work of Mark Giglio, a designer, illustrator and photographer living in Portland. He recently had an exhibition at the Curiosity Shoppe, which just ended not too long ago.
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Girls Rock Rhode Island
Posted by Amy on Wednesday December 21, 2011
If you’re a rocker, you definitely want to get in on this.
Girls Rock! Rhode Island is a program that seeks to help girls and women to empower themselves through music, and they just published Women Who Rock Coloring Book. The book celebrates a variety of female musicians, from those who paved the way to the ladies who are influencing today’s vibrant music scene. An eclectic mix of performers are represented in its pages, including Cyndi Lauper, Patti Smith, Nina Simone, Yoko Ono, Joan Jett, Esperanza Spaulding and many more.
This first edition features 22 original works of art by local artists including Jen Corace, Allison Cole, Marissa Paternoster of Screaming Females and Delia Kovac, who generously donated their work to the cause! (The book can be purchased here!)
The program has done great things, such as offering full scholarships to 10 girls from schools to attend an awesome week-long summer camp to learn guitar, bass, drums, vocals, or various other instruments; among other things! You can read more about the initiative by heading to the Girls Rock! Rhode Island website.
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Review: Let's Make Some Great Art
Posted by Amy on Friday November 18, 2011
So I have a confession to make.
When I first saw Marion Deuchars’ book Let’s Make Some Great Art, I was originally looking for a creative gift for a friend’s kid. But the more I flipped the pages, I was hooked. I wanted one all for myself. Besides, why should kids have all the fun?
Title: Let’s Make Some Great Art by Marion Deuchars
Paperback 224 pages
I don’t have any children (not yet anyway!) and I’ve always been amused when I see parents pack an activity kit for their kids to take along for trips – be it a vacation or even a short jaunt to the mall. Because I’m just like that as well – only I pack for myself. I make sure I have a notepad or a sketchbook and a pen ready for when inspiration strikes, a book if I find myself in situations where my attention is at large, and if nothing else, there’s always my iPhone (that acts as a digital sketchbook and notepad, more often than not).
The thing is, I would totally carry Marion’s book with me, if only I didn’t raise eyebrows while I try to paint a smile onto Mona Lisa or ink my thumbs to create little animals between its pages when I’m waiting at the checkout line. Created by Marion for her kids, the book is a fascinating one, veering of being part history book and lots of art-making techniques and tips in between. I find the most wonderful of all though is the creative spirit and energy that is in the book, brought alive by Marion’s free-spirited drawings and lively tone.
From Pablo Picasso to Mondrian, Leonardo Da Vinci and Andy Warhol, Marion’s quick, breezy explanations (save for the one of Van Gogh, which I thought was rather bizarre!) along with her beautiful illustrations add lots of meat to the book. Page turning exercises, invitations to make your mark on the page and even a useful guide on what materials you can gather to use on the book makes this THE activity kit for artists of all ages.
It also depends on how you look at it, but I find that I learned new things while I went through the book. While I always kept an open mind when I went through books for children, Marion’s book just blew me away by how “grown up” and yet relaxed it is. Already I see things in a new light, and this in turn helps me think creatively – a skill that I have learned (and am reminded) from time to time that can be applied in many areas of my life.
And if indulging in my creative side does manage to raise some eyebrows? I say bring on the crayons.
You can get a copy of Let’s Make Some Great Art by Marion Deuchars over at Amazon.
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If you like reading my book reviews, you can see more over here. And with that, have a lovely weekend folks! :)
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Monster Riot
Posted by Amy on Wednesday September 7, 2011
Catherine and Jason’s Monster Riot website is making me smile! I love their cheery illustrations, and there’s a few plushies for you to grab as well. I had a chance to talk to them a little further about what they do, so enjoy!
Tell us a little more about yourselves — how did you guys get started?
We met at University in 2004 and started dating (we’re now married). Catherine was studying Illustration and I was studying Animation. When we graduated we kind of fell into regular day jobs that didn’t particularly use our creative skills. So out of boredom and frustration Monster Riot was born. We have concentrated on it more this year and are getting really positive feedback and support which makes us work harder and create better stuff!
How would you describe your style?
It’s quite graphical, but has a slight retro feel. Catherine’s creatures are based on rough sketches I produce and then they evolve when she starts cutting the fabric and seeing how they would work as a physical object. But ideally we are character design focussed, the more cute/absurd/quirky the better! We try and limit the colour use and see where we can get, ending up with a final piece that’s different to what was first thought of.
Does your style and work seek to communicate a particular message?
We try to make people laugh and generally feel happy when they come across our work. There’s a lot art out there that takes itself too seriously and we try to do the opposite. We aim to produce eccentric and quite British feeling pieces, trying to capture an era that’s starting to disappear.
Who would be your dream client / Who would you like to collaborate with?
There’s so many. We love the work of Gemma Correll. She has such a great sense of humour and has become a cult legend within the illustration industry, her work looks great on anything and she really deserves how popular she’s become. I’m (Jason) also influenced by artists like Pete Fowler, his work has been just about everywhere and he’s a great inspiration to up and coming british illustrators and designers. I’d also love to collaborate with Rex Crowle (Rexbox) and Nate Wragg as they’re both hugely talented and would just love to see how they work!
Dream client would be either would be getting approached by any large store who would want to sell a range of plush or screen printed prints (like John Lewis or Ikea). I also like what Orange (mobile) do with their campaigns. They use illustrators a lot with their ads and they always look amazing!
Our next step is developing more items for our etsy store and starting to look at selling items at craft fairs…. the future is bright and bold!
{Thanks guys!}
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