Friday, May 27, 2011

Claudine Hellmuth exploring with patterns

Claudine Hellmuth just sent us these cool patterns she's recently been playing with.  We think they're bright and fun!

Claudine Hellmuth - kitchen pattern

Claudine Hellmuth - bicycle pattern

Claudine Hellmuth - bird pattern

Claudine Hellmuth - purse pattern

Claudine Hellmuth - chair pattern

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Tee time with Robin Moline

Robin Moline has been working on this year's U.S. Open golf course illustration. The course is Congressional Country Club's Blue course, and this is the ninth course that Robin has illustrated for the U.S. Open.  Go to golf.com to view each hole.

Robin Moline - 2011 U.S. Open golf course

 Here is Robin's illustration of last year's course, Pebble Beach:
Robin Moline - Pebble Beach course for the 2010 U.S. Open

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Charles Glaubitz's Explorations

Recently Charles Glaubitz has been exploring a new style that is a transition from his pure acrylic paintings.  He's been experimenting with merging ink drawings and digital into a mixed media style that incorporates the best of both worlds: traditional and digital illustration. Charles inks his drawings on watercolor paper and then gives them washes of ink to build up the tone and contrast of the image.  He then scans the document to add colors and textures digitally.
Charles has also been experimenting drawing digitally with the help of a tablet. In his own words: "Now I am beginning to draw digitally with a Wacom tablet and with the help of a Comic Book Draw software and emulate the inking of the drawing in the computer...it just is sometimes easier to do any changes of color or composition in the computer, instead of doing it by hand on paper."

Although different from Charles' well known style, we actually like these new explorations. Take a look for yourself and let us know what  you think!

Charles Glaubitz - "Tortuga"

Charles Glaubitz - "Elefante"

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Marco Wagner in Illustration Now! Portraits

Marco Wagner was asked to take part in another soon to be released book by TaschenIllustration Now! Portraits features the portrait work of more than 80 illustrators from all over the world.  The book will be available in June, but here is a peek at Marco's featured work in the meantime:
(More info on the book below images)





About the book from Taschen.com
The art of likeness
The spectrum of today’s portraiture, from caricature to realism

The field of illustration has flourished over the last decade, with professionals working both by computer and by hand. In illustration, the single most challenging and captivating subject has been the portrait, frequently used in editorials, advertising, products, and most recently, being the subject of major exhibitions. The book gathers together the exclusive (and frequently unpublished) portrait work of over 80 illustrators from all over the world, many of whom were featured in Illustration Now!, including Aaron Jasinski , André Carrilho, Hanoch Piven, Anita Kunz, Jody Hewgill, and Dugald Stermer. The book also features an index of subjects and an introduction by Steven Heller.

The editor:
Julius Wiedemann was born in Brazil, studied graphic design and marketing, and was an art editor for digital and design magazines in Tokyo. His many TASCHEN digital and media titles include Illustration Now!, Advertising Now, Logo Design, and Brand Identity Now!

Monday, May 23, 2011

Calef Brown's new books!

Calef Brown has two new books: "His Shoes Were Far Too Tight" by Edward Lear, also known as the father of nonsense poetry, was illustrated by Calef and released in April. "Boy Wonders", a book about a boy who is full of wonder and incessant questions, was written and illustrated by Calef.  "Boy Wonders" will be released in June, but you can read a review of it in the meantime for a preview of what to expect.  Below is some of the super fun artwork from both books - enjoy!


Calef Brown - "His Shoes Were Far Too Tight" cover

Calef Brown - Mrs. Blue Dickey Bird from "His Shoes Were Far Too Tight"

Calef Brown - "Boy Wonders" cover

Calef Brown - "Boy Wonders" spread

Calef Brown - "Boy Wonders" spread

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Charles Glaubitz art for Tijuana showcase film festival poster

Amazing poster art by Charles Glaubitz for the Freak Film Festival Tijuana. The film festival hosts a diverse span of genres from aliens to zombies to serial killing Tijuana zonkeys, all (or most) from young creators in Tijuana. Below the final poster, you will see work process which includes the sketch and final ink versions.

You can also view last year's posters here.

Charles Glaubitz - Tijuana Film Festival poster

harles Glaubitz - Tijuana Film Festival poster - sketch

harles Glaubitz - Tijuana Film Festival poster - Ink Drawing


Kim Rosen's Angry Birds

Kim Rosen illustrated a Fast Company story about Mikael Hed's success with Angry Birds.

From Kim's blog:
Angry Birds are taking over. Not only can people be obsessed with the game, they can now buy plush angry birds, dress up in angry bird costumes, eat angry bird candy and maybe soon watch a cartoon on the never-ending battle. Mikael Hed has been named one of the "100 Most Creative People in Business 2011" by Fast Company.

Here is the final illustration with a couple of the sketches:

Kim Rosen - "Angry Birds" for Fast Company Magazine

Kim Rosen - Sketches for Angry Birds

Kim Rosen - Sketches for Angry Birds


Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Dave Stevenson for The Relic Master

Dave Stevenson recently created a map illustration for a series of books titled Relic Master by author, Catherine Fisher.  The books are being published by Penguin Group, and they tell the story of Anara, a world crumbling to devastation, whose only hope lies in a master, his apprentice, and the mysteriously powerful and illegal ancient relics they collect.  This epic adventure is told in 4 installments, to be released consecutively in May, June, July and August.  

Dave's beautifully illustrated interpretation of Anara will be featured in the series one section at a time, so as each book is released a bit more of the map will be revealed.  We can only show you one small piece of it now, but check back next month for the next reveal...

Dave Stevenson - The Relic map, part 1

The Relic - series + release dates

Friday, May 13, 2011

Chris Buzelli illustrations win German award

We just found out that the series of illustrations that Chris Buzelli created for the German eco-energy company, Entega, have won at the Art Directors Club of Germany's annual awards show.  The art director we worked with at DDB in Berlin was excited to let us know that the calendar project featuring 12 illustrations based on energy fairy tales garnered the agency a Silver Nail award in the Illustration category.  Very exciting - woo hoo!

Chris Buzelli

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Cathie Bleck illustrations for Summa Foundation

Cathie Bleck's illustration work can be found in the Summa Foundation's 2010 annual report.
We love how Cathie's very distinct black and white style contrasts so well with the red of the overall report.

Cathie Bleck - The Summa Foundation - Annual Report 2010

Cathie Bleck - The Summa Foundation - Annual Report 2010

Cathie Bleck - The Summa Foundation - Annual Report 2010


Monday, May 9, 2011

Kim Rosen's Galway Girl

source

Kim Rosen - Galway girl
This illustration for The Pennsylvania Gazette is for a story written by a Penn alum who recounts her summer spent in Galway, Ireland as a waitress. The stresses of school and the unknown future after graduation all vanished when the author Rachel Friedman was waitressing.

Here is an excerpt from the story:
"Yet in Ireland, I had become someone entirely different: a wild girl who stayed out late, guzzled Guinness, told coarse jokes, and said yes to every invitation. I wasn’t going to be that girl forever, I knew, just like I wasn’t going to wait tables forever, but I liked the parts of myself that I discovered in both places. That summer waitressing in Ireland, I existed wholly in the present moment, maybe for the first time in my life. I had no past or future, which suited me perfectly, since, at that particular moment, I did not wish to reckon with either."

You can read the full story HERE

Friday, May 6, 2011

Craig LaRotonda's Covers

Here's a look at some of the recent magazine cover illustrations that Craig LaRotonda has been working on.  It's so cool to see the artwork in the context of the magazine...
The below are for:

1. Bite, a special feature in the Orlando Weekly

Craig LaRotonda - "Bite"

2. Cover illustration for the Palm Beach New Times

Craig LaRotonda - Palm Beach New Times cover illustration

3. Cover illustration for the Houston Press magazine  - The city's only major news and entertainment weekly.

Craig LaRontonda - Houston Press Cover

4. Cover illustration for ISO & Agent, a publication, targeted at merchants, which combines timely news and articles on ways to boost revenue with insightful and relevant analysis of long-term trends shaping the industry.

Craig LaRontonda - ISO & Agent

5. Cover illustration for The Deal, a publication that serves the news, information and idea generation needs of corporate and financial dealmakers, advisers, intermediaries and investors.

Craig LaRontonda - The Deal Magazine

6. Cover illustration for University of Nebraska's UNO Magazine

Craig LaRontonda - UNO Magazine


Wednesday, May 4, 2011

The Eyes of Jen Lobo

Jen Lobo has been doing a lot of drawings lately, and she just sent us these 2 brand new ones.  It's a nice change to see her work in such a raw and simplistic style.  Here's a bit of insight into her approach to these drawings in Jen's own words:
"I always render the eyes first.  It's a little like eating dessert before your dinner, but I like that it feels alive right away.  It feels like it sets the tone for the piece...plus, it can keep me company while I finish the rest of its body."  

Jen Lobo - Bison

Jen Lobo - Bison 2

She also sent along these shots of the work in progress. It's amazing to see the bison come alive through the process...







Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Kim Rosen's Fair Fairy Characters

Kim Rosen just finished a project with CBS Interactive to develop the Fair Fairy character along with three banner ads for GameSpot's Game Market, which is an online marketplace for buying video games.

The guys at CBS Interactive were looking for a sassy character with a little attitude and a rebellious streak. They wanted her to be young and cool, but with a little uh... gaming vibe. So here are some characters that Kim came up with in the initial round:

Kim Rosen's Fairy options 1, 2, 3
Kim Rosen's Fairy options 4 & 5

And the winner is:
 








The end goal was for the animations in the banners to be a bit jumpy and awkward to add some humor to the ads ... the animators did a great job!
See one of the screenshot and links to the final flash banners:


Animation 1: http://cbsiideagroup.com/ff_animation/1303755702.html
Animation 2: http://cbsiideagroup.com/ff_animation/1303755680.html