Martin Lacko
Posted by Amy on Tuesday August 17, 2010
Martin Lacko’s sketchbooks first caught my eye but after looking a little closer, his strange creatures and dark humor has me hooked. The Slovakian illustrator’s bold lines and unapologetic strokes bring life to his characters; while his sketchbooks are a lot more detailed – I wish there were more to see!
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Lizz Lunney
Posted by Amy on Tuesday August 10, 2010
We need more funny artists! Sure, we’ve already profiled a few – there’s Kate Beaton, Claire Murray, Mischief Champion, but here’s a new one to add to the list: Lizz Lunney, an illustrator from Birmingham who draws fun little comics about the most random things. Check out her daily drawings in a section of her website called The Daily Sushi filled with quirky characters acting out all sorts of antics — it’s a hoot!
And if you want to take them away, you can buy some of her comics over in her shop (international customers need to write to her first before purchasing for added postage!)
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Ryan MacDonald
Posted by Amy on Thursday July 15, 2010
Who says there’s a dearth of things for guys to collect over at shopping sites like Etsy? Ryan MacDonald’s prints and cards all feature oddball characters and monsters — my pick would be the one where the protagonist seems to have stuck a box over his head and stormed out of an office and is off to do… odd things.
Of course there’s lots of other characters that Ryan draws — many of which would actually be great to read up in a comic. And no wonder too: he credits his inspiration source as comics, street art, and the sublime colors in nature!
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Maxwell Holyoke-Hirsch
Posted by Jamie Shelman on Wednesday May 26, 2010
Completely smitten with the work of San Fransisco based artist Maxwell Holyoke-Hirsch. The bright colors, compositions, those underwater bike riders! That huge dress! Imaginative and fun, well thought out and loved, find more inspiring images on his website including illustrations from the NY Times, GQ, The New Yorker and more.
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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!
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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.
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Fay Ryu
Posted by Amy on Friday November 20, 2009
So THIS is how snowflakes came to be.
I’m loving the wonderfully offbeat style of Fay Ryu, an artist based in Brooklyn, NY. She’s also a cat person (which also means she’s drawing them obsessively!) See more of her portfolio and hit up her blog for kitty cuties.
The Discontented Bear
Posted by Amy on Saturday August 15, 2009
Loving the visuals for The Discontented Bear; a book that’s about a bear who decides to be a bird. Yes, that’s no typo there. The bear decides to be a bird, he’s not wishing to be one!
Drawn by Stephen Daoud who is an Illustrator living in Bristol, the prints for the visuals are available at his Etsy shop. I love the repetition of strokes and the attention to detail, and of course, the fascinating storyline.
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Jack Teagle
Posted by Amy on Saturday July 18, 2009
Awesome work by Jack Teagle who lives and works in South West England. I love how he makes his characters come alive! Did I mention the humor? Seriously, dead astronaut comics? HA!
From his website:
He enjoys collecting Star Wars, Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, Spiderman, Ultraman, Ghostbusters, and Toxic Crusaders Figures. He also likes reading comics and watching classic horror films.
Aaahh. I can’t say I didn’t see that coming. :)
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I’m away for a few days since Friday, 17th July (and yes, these posts were prepared in advance!) so forgive me if I seem to respond much slower to your emails. Here’s a couple of reads over the weekend that I think would make good food for thought:
- How to get noticed by the blogosphere. I love that it also mentions what happens when you get featured — there’s a trickle effect that will lead to more exposure! (read the article here by Liz and Kegan from DesignGlut)
- And here’s a great article about stretching your boundaries and how to improve your business by doing things differently by Yoola.
Have a great weekend everyone!
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Slugs + more
Posted by Amy on Tuesday June 30, 2009
I always love if there’s a story behind each character that I come across. Take Mike over here for instance. As a resident of Marthaland he is the one that will NEVER be seen without a cheeseburger (and maybe even a beer in hand, if he can grow one!) Each special slug comes with it’s own ID tag when it comes to live with you, so you can put out an APB (?) when it decides to trail off somewhere.
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And here are some more links for you to enjoy this Monday:
+ Carson Ellis has a new website!
+ Mattias Adolfsson has an awesome sketchbook online for you to flip through over at Issuu (be prepared to spend hours over it!)
+ Have you seen Underground Art School’s latest magazine called The Sketchbook Issue??
+ And Sally also has a spanking new website!
Jean Jullien
Posted by Amy on Tuesday November 4, 2008
What I’m doing today: looking through the beautiful pages from Jean Jullien’s ongoing visual diary. He has 50 books so far, all of them about his life, anecdotes, illustrations, quotes, sketches, writing, ideas and his everyday life. His website is a treasure trove of inspiration, and he is truly one versatile artist.
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