Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog

BlackYard is an illustration and design collective from Bern, Switzerland comprising Jared Muralt (whose work is shown here), Silvio Brügger, Philipp Thöni, and Christian Calame.

One of my most prized books is the beautiful, and massive Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life. It’s a book filled with Harper’s brilliant modernist nature illustrations, and one that I think belongs in every illustrator’s collection. Two factors otherwise prohibit more people from adopting the book into their libraries: the book’s physical size (it’s so big, mine hides away in a drawer because no bookshelf can handle it, and it’s big enough to be its own coffee table) and its hefty $200 pricetag ($135 on Amazon).

As a book, it’s a work of art itself, and it’s truly inspiring to flip through and be fully enveloped by its pages, but I’ve always wished there was a more accessible showcase of his career for the more casual (and thrifty) fan. I suppose AMMO Books agrees; they have just released a popular edition of Charpey Harper: An Illustrated Life — the same book, but considerably smaller (and bookshelf friendly) and at an affordable $49.95 ($32.97 on Amazon).

So if you have been pining for this collection, but could never justify the price, now you have no excuse. And, of course, if money is no object, there’s always the limited editions from AMMO for $400 that are signed by Charley Harper and author Todd Oldham, and come with a fancy slipcase and one of Harper’s silkscreen prints. Yowza.

Previously: Charley Harper 1922-2007

All the designs on Doublenaut’s site are wonderful, but this one for The Swell Season just floored me with its loveliness and simplicity.

Meet my brother, Guy Latulippe. He’s a garment designer who has turned his full attention to designing some amazing bags, purses, and totes.

When a wise and talented friend remarked on the fact that bags transcend size and shape of body, a new course was set. Inspired by mythology, super-heroes, music, mechanical systems and the wonders of the natural world, my bags are artisanal pieces, that are part of a collection. The bags are to be considered part of the wearer’s ‘armor’ elevating one’s sense of confidence as one sets out into the world.

His attention to detail and passion for his craft have always impressed me. Whether it’s his Pursonalities handbags (above), his impressive messenger bags, or his take on Christmas stockings (below), his creations always turn heads.

Visit his Etsy shop, or stalk him on Facebook, and send him some internet love.

I love Simon Cook’s “Christmas Cheat Sheets” (snapshot above; full sheet below). You can download high-res PDF or JPG versions (one for boys, one for girls!) for your very own holiday shopping needs. Lots more fun stuff on his site here.

Imagine if movie posters were more like book covers. If poster-designers were free from reams of credits.

Check out Graphic Nothing’s Movie Posters for Minimalists photoset on Flickr.

Though… they could probably even strip the word “by” from the posters as it’s fairly implicit.

via BoingBoing

reator Jessica Hische (previously) has launched this brilliant blog: Daily Drop Cap. Jessica will stretch her typographic muscles each day to deliver an original decorative initial cap. And what’s more, she offers the HTML code needed to use the drop caps in your own blog posts.

Josh Brill’s Flora Fauna: Birds Edition print collection, via his label Lumadessa, is a beautiful, modern take on field guide bird illustrations.

When it comes to wildlife illustrations with a heavy dash of geometry, especially birds, it’s difficult to avoid comparisons to Modernist superstar Charley Harper (just look to our recent post on Eleanor Grosch). But I think Josh’s work has enough of its own unique flavour here to set him apart from Harper’s legacy. His shapes are certainly more digital in nature, and these birds look almost typographic in their abstraction. I’m going to go load up my iPhone with his wallpapers now.

I’m not sayin’ that Hollywood doesn’t know how to make good movie posters anymore (because they obviously still do), it’s just the the Ghanaians seem to have perfected the art. In the 80s, when VHS technology became affordable and bootlegs of lousy horror and action films were plentiful, the resourceful folks of Ghana would travel from town to village setting up “mobile cinemas” with nothing more than a TV, a VCR and these spectacular hand-painted posters.

“In order to promote these showings, artists were hired to paint large posters of the films (usually on used canvas flour sacks). The artists were given the artistic freedom to paint the posters as they desired – often adding elements that weren’t in the actual films, or without even having seen the movies. When the posters were finished they were rolled up and taken on the road (note the heavy damages). The “mobile cinema” began to decline in the mid-nineties due to greater availability of television and video; as a result the painted film posters were substituted for less interesting/artistic posters produced on photocopied paper.”

If a trip to Ghana is not in your itinerary, then please wander over to Ephemera Assemblyman or the Affiche Poster Museum to gaze upon more of their glorious godawful goodness. And if you’d like to actually display one of these works of cinematic art in your own home or hovel, then why not stock up over at Ghana Movie Posters? Christmas is just around the corner and you know how much grandma loves her Tiger Cage 2!

James Joyce is a designer and illustrator based in London. He is a distiller. A simplifier. His work reminds me of that of fellow Brit, Olly Moss, as well as Drawn! pal Frank Chimero. Also, his work is much more concise than that of the other James Joyce.

Designer/Illustrator Whitney Shaw has made herself some lovely business cards. There’s already plenty to see on her site, but I’m anxious to see what else will be added in the “coming soon” boxes.

I’m a firm believer in “Keep It Simple, Stupid”, but some design solutions just call for a little more flourish and ornamentation. The Handy Book of Artistic Printing is a lovely celebration of 19th Century letterpress printing specimens and typography.

It’s a the perfect resource for the design/type nerd who’s looking to make their work a little more flowery.