Hasta La Ideas

Designer Jon Daniel has curated a show of 50 Jamaican stamps at the Stanley Gibbons shop in London as part of the wider celebrations marking 50 years of the country’s independence…

Coinciding with Black History Month in the UK, as well as the ‘JA50’ anniversary, Daniel’s second exhibition with Stanley Gibbons brings together stamps from Jamaica (his first show looked at stamps from the African diaspora). The 50 Jamaican examples will be on display at the London dealership until October 31.

The exhibition features stamps from Daniel’s own collection, alongside examples from the Stanley Gibbons’ archives, displayed on a large panel in the shape of Jamaica. In addition, artist Peter Mason‘s portrait of Jamaican performer, Grace Jones, which is made up entirely of stamps (below), also features.

Daniel set up the JA50 brand with designer Kofi Allen in order to further promote Jamaica’s cultural reputation around the world. He also curated the recent Jamaicons exhibition in Brixton, which we wrote about here, and designed the identity for the area’s Splash festival.

Stanley Gibbons’ shop is at 399 Strand, London. More details at stanleygibbons.com and at the dedicated Facebook page for Daniel’s first exhibition, African Diaspora Stamps. More of Daniel’s work at jon-daniel.com.

CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month. Try a free sample issue here

CR in Print
In our October print issue we have a major feature on the rise of Riso printing, celebrate the art of signwriting, examine the credentials of ‘Goodvertising’ and look back at the birth of D&AD. Rebecca Lynch reviews the Book of Books, a survey of 500 years of book design, Jeremy Leslie explains how the daily London 2012 magazine delivered all the news and stories of the Games and Michael Evamy explores website emblemetric.com, offering “data-driven insights into logo design”. In addition to the issue this month, subscribers will receive a special 36-page supplement sponsored by Tag celebrating D&AD’s 50th with details of all those honoured with Lifetime Achievement awards plus pieces on this year’s Black Pencil and President’s Award-winners Derek Birdsall and Dan Wieden. And subscribers also receive Monograph which this month features Rian Hughes’ photographs of the unique lettering and illustration styles of British fairgrounds

Please note, CR now has a limited presence on the newsstand at WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at train stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your WH Smith store or a local independent newsagent can order it for you. You can search for your nearest stockist here. Alternatively, call us on 020 7970 4878 to buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 970 4878 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

To create the artwork to fill its first publication, Manchester-based illustration collective Foursight (comprising the talents of Dominique Byron, Jordan O’Brien, Matt Bray and Kris Sale) paired up 20 illustrators and asked each duo to do battle…

Foursight then selected ten pairs of “binary opposite words” such as war and peace, analogue and digital, and big and small, and gave each duo of artists one of the word pairings to interpret.

The resulting artworks appear in the publication, entitled VS, in the form of ten double sided tear-out prints – the idea being that the viewer becomes a referee in the each of the ten included ‘battles’, ultimately deciding which side of each print to tear out and display.

And so we find Foursight’s Dominique Byron illustrative interpretation on War on one the first page…

with Sam Caldwell‘s response to Peace on the reverse:

And Jordan O’Brien‘s Brain illustration…

is backed by Guy Mckinley‘s Brawn:

High by Ben Jones

Low by Matt Bray

Big by Kris Sale

Small by Rob Flowers

New by OWT Creative

Old by Tom J Newell

wearefoursight.tumblr.com

CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month. Try a free sample issue here

CR in Print
In our October print issue we have a major feature on the rise of Riso printing, celebrate the art of signwriting, examine the credentials of ‘Goodvertising’ and look back at the birth of D&AD. Rebecca Lynch reviews the Book of Books, a survey of 500 years of book design, Jeremy Leslie explains how the daily London 2012 magazine delivered all the news and stories of the Games and Michael Evamy explores website emblemetric.com, offering “data-driven insights into logo design”. In addition to the issue this month, subscribers will receive a special 36-page supplement sponsored by Tag celebrating D&AD’s 50th with details of all those honoured with Lifetime Achievement awards plus pieces on this year’s Black Pencil and President’s Award-winners Derek Birdsall and Dan Wieden. And subscribers also receive Monograph which this month features Rian Hughes’ photographs of the unique lettering and illustration styles of British fairgrounds

Please note, CR now has a limited presence on the newsstand at WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at train stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your WH Smith store or a local independent newsagent can order it for you. You can search for your nearest stockist here. Alternatively, call us on 020 7970 4878 to buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 970 4878 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

If one exhibition about LOLcats wasn’t enough for you, we have news of another cat-centric exhibition, this time featuring a whole host of designers, illustrators and photographers who have created their own take on the LOLcat theme.

Over at The Photographers’ Gallery at the moment is For The LOL of Cats, an exhibition of feline photography that offers a survey of the internet’s ongoing cat memes, and their historical starting points. LOLcat: Teh Exhibishun takes things a step further, collecting together work from various designers, illustrators (work from Murray Somerville shown above) and photographers, all of which has been specially created in response to the LOLcat phenomenon. There’s even contributions from a selection of poets and writers, including Neil Ayres, and Nick Asbury.

There’s a charitable element to the exhibition as well, with 50% of the proceeds going to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. Curated by Soapbox & Sons, the exhibition is on at The Framers Gallery in London from January 23 – February 15.

Soon, by Daniel Gray

Biggest Cat in the World, by Manuel Archain

Jezuz Cat, by Delme Rosser

Hypno Kitteh, by Peter Hawkes

Morphism, by Martin Parris

Nyan Cat in Sydney, by Matt Harvey

Keyboard Cat, by Charlie Farncombe

Katnip Cuds, by James McKenzie

CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month. Try a free sample issue here

CR in Print
In our October print issue we have a major feature on the rise of Riso printing, celebrate the art of signwriting, examine the credentials of ‘Goodvertising’ and look back at the birth of D&AD. Rebecca Lynch reviews the Book of Books, a survey of 500 years of book design, Jeremy Leslie explains how the daily London 2012 magazine delivered all the news and stories of the Games and Michael Evamy explores website emblemetric.com, offering “data-driven insights into logo design”. In addition to the issue this month, subscribers will receive a special 36-page supplement sponsored by Tag celebrating D&AD’s 50th with details of all those honoured with Lifetime Achievement awards plus pieces on this year’s Black Pencil and President’s Award-winners Derek Birdsall and Dan Wieden. And subscribers also receive Monograph which this month features Rian Hughes’ photographs of the unique lettering and illustration styles of British fairgrounds

Please note, CR now has a limited presence on the newsstand at WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at train stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your WH Smith store or a local independent newsagent can order it for you. You can search for your nearest stockist here. Alternatively, call us on 020 7970 4878 to buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 970 4878 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

Mokita‘s second illustration symposium is taking place next week on Tuesday October 16 at London’s Somerset House and will explore the theme of sentimentality in contemporary illustration…

Organised jointly by University of Brighton, Camberwell College of Arts and Kingston University, the one day symposium runs from 10am to 5pm. Speaking at the event are illustrators Sanna Annukka, Rob Ryan, Jasper Goodall, Laura Carlin and Jonny Hannah, who will be joined on the day by Roderick Mills (who is co-founder of the Mokita Illustration Forum,deputy chairman of the Association of Illustrators, not to mention a senior lecturer at the University of Brighton) and John O’Reilly, editor of Varoom Magazine.

Tickets are priced at £55 which includes lunch and refreshments. To find out more and to book tickets, visit somersethouse.org.uk/learning/mokita-2-sentimentality-symposium

CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month. Try a free sample issue here

CR in Print
In our October print issue we have a major feature on the rise of Riso printing, celebrate the art of signwriting, examine the credentials of ‘Goodvertising’ and look back at the birth of D&AD. Rebecca Lynch reviews the Book of Books, a survey of 500 years of book design, Jeremy Leslie explains how the daily London 2012 magazine delivered all the news and stories of the Games and Michael Evamy explores website emblemetric.com, offering “data-driven insights into logo design”. In addition to the issue this month, subscribers will receive a special 36-page supplement sponsored by Tag celebrating D&AD’s 50th with details of all those honoured with Lifetime Achievement awards plus pieces on this year’s Black Pencil and President’s Award-winners Derek Birdsall and Dan Wieden. And subscribers also receive Monograph which this month features Rian Hughes’ photographs of the unique lettering and illustration styles of British fairgrounds

Please note, CR now has a limited presence on the newsstand at WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at train stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your WH Smith store or a local independent newsagent can order it for you. You can search for your nearest stockist here. Alternatively, call us on 020 7970 4878 to buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 970 4878 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

For this year’s Virgin Media Shorts contest for up-and-coming filmmakers, Creative Review commissioned illustrators from the Handsome Frank agency to create a poster for each shortlisted film

Since 2008, Virgin Media Shorts has been giving up-and-coming filmmakers a platform to show their work not just to leading figures in the industry but also to the general public. Each year, filmmakers are invited to upload two minute 20 second short films to the VMS website. Shortlisted films are shown across the Picturehouse network and other independent cinemas around the UK for a year.

In addition the films are also shown on Virgin Media’s on-demand service and its Shorts TiVo and iPhone apps.

This year’s panel of judges, including actor Julie Walters and director Phyllida Law, will choose one overall winner who will receive £30,000 to make their next film plus mentoring from the British Film Institute. The winner will be announced at an awards night at the BFI Southbank in London on November 8.

For this year’s competition, Creative Review thought it would be an interesting idea to give each of the shortlisted films its very own poster. We teamed up with illustration agency Handsome Frank to commission posters inspired by each one. The illustrators were given free rein to create their posters in whatever medium or style they saw fit having first watched their chosen film and, if they wished, spoken with the director.

Alexandra Bruel’s poster is for A Brush With A Bee, directed by Joachim Malan and Katie Parnell, an animated film in which a struggling painter does battle with a bee to protect his final masterpiece from the insect’s tiny hands.

Bruel works in modelling clay, creating beautifully-textured surfaces which are photographed toproduce the final image. These work in progress shots show how the final poster was developed.

The poster for Little Larry, directed by Andrew Lee Potts, was created by Andrew Joyce. The film relates the tale of a mid-20s, professional, single man who still feels like a child inside.

Here are some of Joyce’s initial sketches and roughs for the poster

Jennifer Sheridan’s Rocket features a small dog with big dreams – like building a spaceship in its front room. Poster by Helen Musselwhite in her trademark cut-paper style.

And here are some of Musselwhite’s initial roughs, working in felt-tip until the final design is traced to make templates for the cut paper.

The other posters in the set are as follows:

Andrew Joyce illustrated the poster for Super Fast Samosa, the story of the gingerbread man reimagined Bollywood style by director Sundeep Toor.

Dan Castella’s Mourning Rules features June, a professional mourner, who attempts to teach her sister Izzy the tricks of the trade. Andrew Lyons created the accompanying poster

In Man Up, directed by Carolina Giammetta,  three men sneak off to the pub to discuss their ploys for ‘handling’ women. Emma Kelly designed the poster.

In Amanda Boyle’s film, Skirt, a modern day Odd Couple first annoy, then charm each other in a tale of opposites, with a poster illustrated by Jeffrey Bowman.

Jonathan Burton designed the poster for The Best Medicine, directed by Dan Smith. A sinister chemist helps a girl deal with her annoying laugh. Or not.

Not with a bang but a whimper, Thomas Guerrier’s The Plotters tells the tale of the Gunpowder Plot as might have been. Matt Murphy illustrated the poster.

Sarah Maycock created the poster for Without Saying, directed by Paul Dingwall, in her trademark watercolour style. The film is a touching tale of a boy struggling to express his love.

Alice Seabright’s Dream Girl features an unexpected encounter on an early morning journey on the Paris Metro. Poster by Stephen Cheetham.

Sprockett, directed by Hazel Meeks, tells the story of a group of kids who dare one of them to go inside the workshop of Old Man Sprockett. Design: Tim McDonagh.

See more of all the featured illustrators’ work at the Handsome Frank site.

In addition to the 12 shortlisted films, this year Virgin Media Shorts has added a ‘Lucky 13th’ to the shortlist – PJ, Tiny Planet Explorer, which is the film that has been shared online the most.

Virgin Media Shorts is running a competition to design a poster for this Lucky 13th film, the winner of which will receive an iPad and have their poster displayed in Picturehouse cinemas around the UK. Details of the competition are here. Entrants are asked to tweet a link to their design using the hashtag #VMShortsPoster. Deadline: October 15.

See all the shortlisted films and vote for the People’s Choice Award here

CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month. Try a free sample issue here

CR in Print
In our October print issue we have a major feature on the rise of Riso printing, celebrate the art of signwriting, examine the credentials of ‘Goodvertising’ and look back at the birth of D&AD. Rebecca Lynch reviews the Book of Books, a survey of 500 years of book design, Jeremy Leslie explains how the daily London 2012 magazine delivered all the news and stories of the Games and Michael Evamy explores website emblemetric.com, offering “data-driven insights into logo design”. In addition to the issue this month, subscribers will receive a special 36-page supplement sponsored by Tag celebrating D&AD’s 50th with details of all those honoured with Lifetime Achievement awards plus pieces on this year’s Black Pencil and President’s Award-winners Derek Birdsall and Dan Wieden. And subscribers also receive Monograph which this month features Rian Hughes’ photographs of the unique lettering and illustration styles of British fairgrounds

Please note, CR now has a limited presence on the newsstand at WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at train stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your WH Smith store or a local independent newsagent can order it for you. You can search for your nearest stockist here. Alternatively, call us on 020 7970 4878 to buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 970 4878 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.