Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog

I just added a bunch of new prints to my online shop. The above print (of the Mile End neighbourhood in Montreal) was originally commissioned as a bookbag for Drawn & Quarterly. And below is another one that a lot of people like. Check out my shop to see more prints.

All the pieces are printed with super-expensive Epson inks on archival watercolour paper. Each print is titled, numbered, and signed and shipped in a protective sleeve and shipped priority mail. You can also buy the prints from my Etsy shop if that’s how you roll.

Have you ever heard of Evaline Ness? She was an illustrator of many children’s books during the mid-20th century period. At a time when most illustration was still being done in a style of literal realism, Ness was among that group of stylistic pioneers whose work still influences the look of illustration today.

She also has the unusual distinction of having been married for a time to the famous FBI agent, Elliot Ness.

The Bloombury Auction House in New York has an upcoming auction featuring a collection of children’s books signed by Evaline Ness, her Caldecott medal for Sam, Bangs and Moonshine and some never before seen sketchbooks and dummies all of which come from her family collection.

The sale will take place at Bloomsbury Auctions New York on Wednesday, December 9th, but those who won’t be able to attend can view nearly a dozen pieces from the Ness collection in my Evaline Ness Flickr set.

Clients from Hell is “a collection of anonymously contributed client horror stories from designers.” It’s aggravating, cathartic, and very fun to read. A recent highlight:

“I understand that you prefer to use photoshop, but we don’t feel like that program is universal enough. If you could do all of the design work in Microsoft Paint it would be easier for us to edit what you do and give you an idea of the changes we want.”

I haven’t simultaneously shuddered and laughed this much in a long time. You can also follow along on twitter.

Romanian illustrator Matei Apostolescu creates amazing and colorful toys out of polymer clay. See more of his work here.

(via Super Punch)

This compelling image, from Spacesick’s previously blogged “I Can Read Movies” series, is available for a limited time in t-shirt and poster form from Nakatomi. Can you name the film without clicking this link?

Designers Camile Orillaneda and Leon Hong make up One Bit Wonder. Their papercraft creations are not only delicate and artful but, they say, made with construction paper, Elmer’s white glue, and child-safe scissors. So, though they don’t offer any step-by-step instructions, let their work serve as inspiration for some snowy-day activities with the kids this coming winter.

Nuthin’ But Mech promises robots, and robots is what it delivers. The group blog features mech, robots, and automatica drawn by almost two dozen different artists, including Jake Parker, who work is shown here.

Children’s book illustrator extraordinaire Dan Santat was inspired by old 1960’s Japanese monster movie posters and vintage sci-fi magazine covers when he created the cover for his soon-to-be-released book OH NO! (Or, How My Science Project Ruined the World). Dan talks about the cover (which turns into an actual movie poster if you take the jacket off and turn it over!) in depth on his blog. A very fascinating read for a very fascinating cover. Here’s a spread from the book. Looks great. Dan says:

The intent was to make the artwork resemble an old Japanese 1960’s science fiction movie so I added dust, and film scratches with an aged feel around the edges. I had originally proposed to have Japanese subtitles underneath the text but that was shot down.

Click image above to view larger.

I love how he drew himself and the writer, Mac Barnett as people in the crowd, running away. Dan, with the evil professor eye patch, of course.

What a nice surprise to discover the autobiographical comics of David Libens. His Badaboum Twist boasts an enviable spontaneity and looseness.

(via James Sturm)

After publishing two volumes of his Chickenhare title as black and white graphic novels with Dark Horse Comics, Chris Grine turns the focus of its third volume to the Internet. Chickenhare Vol. 3: Fish & Grymps has debuted as a full-colour webcomic, free to all.

I enjoyed the first Chickenhare book, though haven’t read its immediate sequel. Chris has created a world of odd misfit animals unlike any other, and I’m looking forward to following this latest chapter online.

If you’re unaquainted with Chickenhare, you may know Chris Grines from his work at Shoebox, specifically his series of odd robots for their blog,165 Bots With Stuff.