Laurie Hastings
Posted by Amy on Wednesday September 1, 2010
Laurie Hastings is an Edinburgh-based illustrator, and I’m really fascinated by her use of cool colors for her work. There’s lots of blues in there, but they work beautifully for each of her commissions.
She’s collaborated with with poet David Troupes, has done book covers for Random House, magazine illustrations and also runs a small online shop, which you can find silk screen prints and other little bits and pieces such as cards, matchboxes, cotton shoppers and purses!
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Pepa Prieto
Posted by Amy on Thursday August 5, 2010
I sometimes get asked about how I find the illustrators that I feature over here on Pikaland. Truth is, there is no set formula. I get submissions every day (you can do so on the contact page — don’t be shy, I know there’s a lot of fantastic people doing fantastic things out there!) and I also do a lot of clicking around the internet, which leads to more clicking, until I get a random surprise and then there’s the eureka moment where I have to share my findings with you. It’s all very compulsive, really. (And of course, if I find my inspiration in other people’s blog post, credit is given — I suggest you do the same!)
This is how I found Pepa Prieto, an artist born in Granada. From her bio, it mentioned that her love for colors and texture grew into the vast array of paintings, drawings, and installations she creates today. Her mix media pieces are beautiful — her recent works are akin to stories immortalized by time. I almost wish that they could come alive as a video game of sorts — wouldn’t that be fantastic?
While waiting for that to happen though, you can check out her shop where she has limited edition silk screen prints up for grabs.
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uberkraaft
Posted by Amy on Wednesday April 7, 2010
Matt Williams works under the moniker Uberkraaft and has an interesting portfolio consisting of doodles and illustrations. He’s experimenting with new styles of illustrating, which he blogs about as well. {good tip: make a composition of your drawings in tiny thumbnails so you can see how the overall layout works, before you commit to paper. See here}
See more of him over at Society6 and also his flickr stream.
Ugbot
Posted by Amy on Tuesday April 6, 2010
Groovy hand-pulled screen prints by Gavin Edwards aka Ugbot. I think there might be a few out there who does this – but he is the first one I’ve seen that actually made a commercial of his design studio that I feel could have just aired on television! Very cool!
Review: Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine?
Posted by Amy on Friday April 2, 2010
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Did you know that BUST started off as a zine, before being the big magazine that they are today? As a simple start off point for wannabe publishers, making a zine is surprisingly simple, yet effective. Staple together (or fold) a stack of papers with your idea in it and you can get your message across to any audience you wish!
As one who came from the glossy publishing world of magazines, I loved the smell of paper hot off the press. I loved flipping through pages of my hard work and seeing the eyes of others lit up as they consumed each page. As I struck out on my own however, I thought that would mean the end of publishing as I knew it.
Boy was I wrong.
Although I knew that zines already exist, I thought that it was only for the cool kids who wielded the pen masterfully, or for those who were stellar storytellers. Not true at all — it turns out that anyone can put together a zine. Even lil ol’ me!
And the book that changed all that? Whatcha Mean, What’s a Zine?: The Art of Making Zines and Mini-comics from Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson awakened the low-laying zinester within me!
CLICK HERE to read the full review!
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Rand Renfrow
Posted by Amy on Wednesday March 3, 2010
Quirky illustrations, zines and posters from Rand Renfrow. He hit the nail on the head with It Seems Like It’s Missing Something — an illustrated book of quotes collected from people’s humorous encounters with outsiders to the design and art world; a collaboration with Shaun Fox. I bet the designer who has these sort of clients are tearing their hair out instead of laughing when told the same thing!
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Karolin Schnoor
Posted by Amy on Friday February 26, 2010
Absolutely loving the simple and effective illustrations of Karolin Schnoor, an illustrator based in London. She just opened up an Etsy shop, lucky us!
{Sent in by the awesome Jealous Curator, thanks love!}
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Vanilla Bug
Posted by Amy on Wednesday February 3, 2010
How adorable are these finger puppets? They’re three French hens screenprinted onto calico fabric (with wonderful little touches like rosy cheeks and a necklace touched up by hand!) The trio fits handsomely into their own pouch, and were all handmade made by Amy Borrell, a freelance designer + illustrator based in Australia –- check out more handmade items in her Vanillabug Etsy shop.
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Emilio Santoyo
Posted by Amy on Thursday January 28, 2010
Emilio Santoyo seems to be having lots of fun, and this shows through in his work. He dabbles in lots of things – editorial, comics, and even sewing. Take a look at his screen-printed pocket pouches. YOWZA! His website is a treat, so make sure you head over and take in all the happy vibe.
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DoroHuber
Posted by Amy on Monday November 9, 2009
Beautiful screenprinting action from DoroHuber. She’s from Berlin, and sadly, that’s all I know about her at the moment!
UPDATE: Her full name is Dorothea Huber and here’s her website! {Thanks Alexandre!}
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