May 21

Brecht Vandenbroucke: Trial and Error

Posted in: Uncategorized

From Adventures of Robert Nothing

Artist and illustrator Brecht Vandenbroucke is showing work at the Ship of Fools gallery in The Hague this week. Expect dark humour delivered in bright colours, and a painterly take on the ways of the web and digital culture…

Antwerp-based Vandenbroucke works in a range of media from inks, to film and sculpture, but he will be showing a range of new paintings at his Trial and Error show at the Ship of Fools gallery in The Hague from Friday.

Art for Humo, 3740

Robert Finds True Love

His illustrations have previously appeared in The New York Times, De Standaard, Vice and Rekto Verso, while his comics strips have been included in issues of Humo and NoBrow.

On And On And On And Wrong

Vandenbroucke’s show Trial and Error is at Ship of Fools, Korte Voohort 20, 2511 CX The Hague, The Netherlands from May 25 until July 20. More details at shipoffoolsgallery.com. Vandenbroucke is represented by the Lezilus agency and blogs at brechtvandenbroucke.blogspot.co.uk.

New Visions 2/6

Garden Aesthetics

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May 20

Surtex: Day 1

Posted in: Guest Post

Work by Tracy Walker, represented by i2i Art Inc. Tracy is also one of the artists in Work/Life 2: the UPPERCASE directory of illustration.

Shelley Brown reports from NYC:

After 25 fantastic years repping illustrators for everything from advertising to design and publishing, the economic crash in 2008 was a real catalyst for the already shifting business of ‘traditional’ illustration. There has been a growing trend towards illustrators producing art suitable for applications to surfaces on everything from greeting cards to household products. To this end, Surtex is a trade show offering artists an opportunity to introduce their work to a variety of manufacturers and retailers.

I attended the show back in 2006, but over half a decade later, I am noticing that the calibre of art is changing, as more and more illustrators are entering this market. Just imagine how exciting it is for an illusrator whose work is normally applied to a printed brochure or used in a campaign that has a shelf life of 4 weeks to suddenly see their work applied to a tea towel, a rug or a stationery package!

DAY 1

Today I attended three seminars:  Basics of Art Licensing, Parts I + II, and Understanding Legal Basics: Contracts and Copyrights.

If you are an illustrator or designer thinking of pursuing surface design, I would recommend that you visit Surtex, which takes place in New York city every May. The conference program includes sessions where industry pros help give you a foundation in licensing your art.

I’m happy to report that although about one third of the surface design industry may still sell the art outright for a modest flat fee (where the artist relinquishes their copyright), there is a growing appreciation for the value of the usage and the aritst’s rights.

More to come after day two tomorrow!

Shelley Brown
Principal + Artist Agent
i2iart.com

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May 20

Surtex coverage!

Posted in: Guest Post

When Alanna Cavanagh offered to be the UPPERCASE correspondent at Surtex of course we said yes! And even better, Alanna’s rep from i2i Art Inc, Shelley Brown, will be sharing her experiences as well. The two have travelled to NYC from Toronto and will be sending in their daily recaps. Surtex is THE place to go to buy and sell licensing of art and design and I know that many of you aspire to be represented there some day.

To set the mood, here are some of Alanna’s pattern designs:


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May 19

National Stationery Show: Happy Cactus

Posted in: Uncategorized

The National Stationery Show is the ultimate destination for a lot of small papergoods companies. At the show, they’ll be exposed to buyers, media and potential partners from across North America—contacts that could determine the future of their creative business enterprise. Happy Cactus Designs is a new company, less than a year old, and this is their first time at the big show. Proprietor Brannon Cullum has a good post on the Happy Cactus blog about her road to the NSS.

The name of a stationery company can go a long way in helping the success of a brand. The name should communicate the aesthetic style, appeal to its audience and denote quality. The Happy Cactus name suits the friendly illustrative style of their cards. Brannon explains the name:

So just where did the name for the design studio originate? While living in New York City, Brannon bought a tiny one-inch tall cactus to remind her of her Texas roots. With loving attention (and a lot of sunlight), the little cactus grew into a thriving plant…a very happy cactus indeed! Now in Texas, the happy cactus is enjoying the warm Texas sun. Just like the plant, Brannon’s goal for the studio is to take her tiny seed of an idea for a paper goods company and grow it into a line of products that bring color and happiness to everyone. 

Best wishes, Happy Cactus, and all the new companies debuting at the show!

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May 16

ITV1 in charming Royal Jubilee design shock

Posted in: Uncategorized

Studio AKA director Steve Small has designed and directed a refreshingly charming hand-drawn ident to precede ITV1’s upcoming Royal Season of TV programmes which trail the Diamond Jubilee

Double click the image below to play the ident

Before the more cynical of our readers start reaching for the ‘meh’ button, just imagine how awful this could have been – it’s for the Diamond Jubilee! Just think about how much awful junk is already going round to tie in with that happy event. And it’s for ITV1 – not exactly universally renowned as the home of great creative work.

Instead, Small’s hand-drawn, colour washed design has something of 60s Ealing era film titles about it, perhaps even of the late great Ronald Searle in its many curlicues. Whatever, it’s unexpectedly fun, if very short.

 

 

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
The May issue of Creative Review is the biggest in our 32-year history, with over 200 pages of great content. This speial double issue contains all the selected work for this year’s Annual, our juried showcase of the finest work of the past 12 months. In addition, the May issue contains features on the enduring appeal of John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, a fantastic interview with the irrepressible George Lois, Rick Poynor on the V&A’s British Design show, a preview of the controversial new Stedelijk Museum identity and a report from Flatstock, the US gig poster festival. Plus, in Monograph this month, TwoPoints.net show our subcribers around the pick of Barcelona’s creative scene.

If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

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May 11

A pack of ace illustrators

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52Aces is a pack of playing cards, each one sporting a design by a different illustrator. The really great thing about it is that mostly it avoids the ‘usual suspects’ and has introduced us to some image makers we weren’t hereto familar with…

Without further ado, here’s a selection of cards that caught our eye and links to the portfolio sites of the artists that created them:


Polish artist Roman Klonek is a fan of the woodcut. See more of his work at klonek.de


The four of diamonds is illustrated by Cape Town resident Bia van Deventer


Tel Aviv-based artist Jonathan Lax, aka YONIL, illustrated the “six of ‘mother f**kin’ clubs”


Pale Horse (from Tampa Bay, Florida) created this Chinese Dragon-inspired piece


Based in Berlin, illustrative duo Attila Szamosi and Lars Wunderlich are collaboratively known as Peachbeach


The nine of clubs was illustrated by London-based illustrator Helen Lang


And the nine of spades was designed by Chinese designer and illustrator Nod Young


Illustrating the Ace of Spades fell to British artist Pete Fowler of monsterism.net – one of the few illustrators in the pack who’s work we were already familiar with

The pack is actually the second in an ongoing series created by design publisher Zeixs in collaboration with Mannheim-based design studio 12ender. It has been produced in an edition of 999, comes packaged in a tin box as shown above and is priced at €28. Find it (and see all of the card designs) at 52aces.zeixs.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
The May issue of Creative Review is the biggest in our 32-year history, with over 200 pages of great content. This speial double issue contains all the selected work for this year’s Annual, our juried showcase of the finest work of the past 12 months. In addition, the May issue contains features on the enduring appeal of John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, a fantastic interview with the irrepressible George Lois, Rick Poynor on the V&A’s British Design show, a preview of the controversial new Stedelijk Museum identity and a report from Flatstock, the US gig poster festival. Plus, in Monograph this month, TwoPoints.net show our subcribers around the pick of Barcelona’s creative scene.

If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

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May 09

Steve Simpson’s illustrated chilli sauce bottles

Posted in: Uncategorized

We’re big fans of illustrator Steve Simpson‘s branding and packaging work for Irish chilli sauce company, Mic’s Chilli. He’s just delivered two new bottle designs for the brand’s latest additions to its range of fiery condiments…

“Mic’s Chilli was a start-up when they approached me in 2010 to design their labels,” says Simpson who has designed all of the company’s packaging since it launched its very first products at the end of 2010. “It’s always nice to get a completely open brief; no brand guide lines to fight with,” he continues.

“I wanted to approach the project from the illustration angle, making the design fit around the illustrations, rather than shoehorning illustrated elements in afterwards,” Simpson explains of his approach to the labels. “The inspiration for the designs comes from the folk art of South America (Mexican ‘Day of the Dead’ and Inca/Mayan art), as well as traditional Chinese designs for the Sweet Chilli. I particularly enjoyed designing the barcodes which feature related graphics.”

Here’s a look at Simpson’s previous bottle designs for Mic’s Chilli:

And the full range:

micschilli.ie

 

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
The May issue of Creative Review is the biggest in our 32-year history, with over 200 pages of great content. This speial double issue contains all the selected work for this year’s Annual, our juried showcase of the finest work of the past 12 months. In addition, the May issue contains features on the enduring appeal of John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, a fantastic interview with the irrepressible George Lois, Rick Poynor on the V&A’s British Design show, a preview of the controversial new Stedelijk Museum identity and a report from Flatstock, the US gig poster festival. Plus, in Monograph this month, TwoPoints.net show our subcribers around the pick of Barcelona’s creative scene.

If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

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May 08

Author and Illustrator Maurice Sendak Dies at 83

Posted in: Uncategorized

Maurice Sendak, Caldecott-winning author of classic children’s books such as Where the Wild Things Are, died this morning due to complications from a stroke. He was 83. His most recent book was Bumble-Ardy (HarperCollins), the tale of a mischievous pig named Bumble who has reached the age of nine without ever having had a birthday party. He takes matters into his own hands (well, cloven hooves) and invites all of his friends to a masquerade bash that quickly gets out of hand. In discussing his widely beloved work, Brooklyn-born Sendak was always quick to credit his mentors, the late Ruth Krauss (The Carrot Seed) and her husband Crockett “Dave” Johnson, who wrote Harold and the Purple Crayon. The most valuable lesson they imparted to the budding children’s book author, whose big-headed kids were initially rejected by publishers for being “too foreign-looking”? Be truthful. “If there’s anything I’m proud of in my work—it’s not that I draw better; there’s so many better graphic artists than me—or that I write better, no. It’s—and I’m not saying I know the truth, because what the hell is that? But what I got from Ruth and Dave, a kind of fierce honesty,” Sendak said in a 2005 interview, “to not let the kid down, to not let the kid get punished, to not suffer the child to be dealt with in a boring, simpering, crushing-of-the-spirit kind of way.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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May 04

Boat’s A-Z of London Street Food

Posted in: Uncategorized

Included as an insert in Boat magazine’s latest issue devoted to all things London, we came across this A-Z of London Street Food leaflet, designed by Kate Hyde…

Once unfolded, one side of the folded A3, four colour risograph leaflet has illustrations of various street food vendors and their vans, carts and stalls, all placed to hint at their location in London.

Flip the leaflet over to find info compiled by Christine Gilland about 26 different street food vendors, one for each letter of the alphabet, from Anna Mae’s (which serves a pulled pork sandwich called The Notorious P.I.G.) through to Yum Bun which serves stuffed rice buns, broths and soups at Broadway Market and also at Eat.St in Kings Cross.

Also listed are a host of London’s best foodie markets from Battersea Food Market through to Whitecross Food Market – a very handy resource!

This is one magazine insert that is destined to live in this food lover’s jacket pocket for many a month. To bag a copy, pick up a copy of Boat’s new London issue:

Alternatively you can order a copy of the A3 folded leaflet from Boat’s Big Cartel shop at boatstudio.bigcartel.com. £2 a pop.

boat-mag.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
The May issue of Creative Review is the biggest in our 32-year history, with over 200 pages of great content. This speial double issue contains all the selected work for this year’s Annual, our juried showcase of the finest work of the past 12 months. In addition, the May issue contains features on the enduring appeal of John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, a fantastic interview with the irrepressible George Lois, Rick Poynor on the V&A’s British Design show, a preview of the controversial new Stedelijk Museum identity and a report from Flatstock, the US gig poster festival. Plus, in Monograph this month, TwoPoints.net show our subcribers around the pick of Barcelona’s creative scene.

If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

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May 04

Oozy Suzy, We Meet Again: Garbage Pail Kids Return

Posted in: Uncategorized

Remember Gooey Huey or Leaky Lindsay? Wondering what became of Sewer Sue or the elusive Adam Bomb? Reunite with these and 202 other disgusting old friends in the pages of Garbage Pail Kids (Abrams ComicArts). The book celebrates the beloved sticker trading cards, produced by Topps in the 1980s with a creative team that included Art Spiegelman and John Pound, who have penned the introduction and afterword, respectively. “We all worked anonymously, since Topps didn’t want the work publicly credited, presumably so we could easily be replaced by other hands,” Spiegelman has said. “I was annoyed at the time, but my book publisher, Pantheon, was very relieved. The first volume of Maus was being prepared for publication while the GPKs were near the height of their popularity.” Along with a trove of rare GPK images, the book includes four previously unreleased bonus stickers. Just keep them away from Up Chuck and Heather Shredder.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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