Chris Crites

Sean and I are actually on our way to the airport for a rather exciting and last minute trip to Chicago - we'll tell you all about it on Monday! And thanks to Blogger's auto-publishing capability, I've post-dated a few posts for you while we're gone. So - more on the trip later. For now - Chris Crites! Chris paints on paper bags rather than on the traditional white piece of paper and has drawn an extensive collection of mug shots (though he also has other work). The artist's statement:

Years ago I saw a book of black and white crime photographs from the past. I found it amazing. The characters and crime scenes looked like surreal glimpses into the history of human interaction. Much more intriguing for me were the mug shots. Portraits of people who had just been caught. Despair, frustration, anger – so many expressions could be read on the faces. Each one of these images has a story. Often times I have no idea what the real story is, but it's hard not to make one up. One of the reasons I paint them is to bring out another possible story, for people to look at and think about. The majority of the images I base my paintings on are from the 1890's through 1950's.

Originally I began using charcoal and white conté crayon on paper bag. The way the wrinkles, folds and texture added to the piece really appealed to me. In 1999 I painted my first 4 mug shots in acrylic on paper bag with a limited palette of 5 colors each. Paper bag has been my main substrate ever since. Brightly colored acrylics have a different effect on the brown bag than on a typical white backing.

I try to bring new life to these practically discarded portraits of criminal and human history. Using an everyday, disposable item as the surface gives new life to the bag as well. It is my hope to get people thinking about the past, their present, and how we all affect both.

Via The Strange Attractor.

Lucky and Peer!

Two very exciting things happening recently...The very awesome Jean of Notcot listed us in this month's issue of Lucky Magazine as one of her favorite design blogs, alongside two of our favorites - Designboom and the Wooster Collective. Huge thanks to Jean and Lucky Magazine for the mention!



Also, Peer, a limited-edition book, collaborative art coloring book curated by Renee Garner of Wolfie and the Sneak just came out, and we have an illustration in it! Renee asked 25 artists to contribute: Kate Bingaman-Burt, Will Bryant, Lisa Congdon, Stephanie DosReis, Camilla Engman, Jessica Gonacha, Frances Hawthorne, Abbey Hendrickson, Jennifer Judd-McGee, Sandra Juto, Kelly Lynn Jones, One Good Bumblebee, Puloverchito, Selflesh, Groundwork, Jen Ray, Justin Richel, Julia Rothman, Model Citizen, Heather Smith Jones, Lisa Solomon, Sub-Studio, Something's Hiding in Here, Oh My Cavalier! and Wolfie and the Sneak. Each artist drew a self-portrait for the book, and Renee labored hard to put it all together. After you have contributed to the artwork with your beautiful coloring skills, each print is easily removed for framing. Also, when you're finished coloring in the prints, you can upload your masterpieces to the Peer flickr group.

Jordan Crane

Jordan Crane is a super talented illustrator and screen printer in LA. His use of color is amazing. I'm showing a few of his books here, but he also has prints and t-shirts available at his website, with originals coming soon.

A Print a Day

Lovely work by Yasmine of A Print a Day. I'm always amazed by the impact colors have on a drawing.

Stefan Glerum

Came across Stefan Glerum's work on One Strange Morning. I really love the drafted quality of his illustrations and the intensity of the pencil lines. These are from a series of drawings Stefan did on the obsessive nature of crate digging (or record collecting for those of us not in the know).

Rubens LP

Beautiful illustration work by Rubens LP. I love the colors and the fluid lines.

Visualizing The Bible

The image above by Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild recently won an honorable mention in illustration for the National Geographic Best Science Images of 2008. The chapters of the bible populate the bottom bar and the 63,000+ cross-references arc between the chapters to make a beautiful map of the interconnections within the text.

Jose Ortiz

I love these illustrations by Jose Ortiz - love the detail in the birds, which remind me a little of Frerk Muller's work.

Via Notcot.

Panos 2013

Panos 2013 is a collaborative project where various artists created fake road signs that were installed around Lyon, France. My favorites (left to right from the top): Cart One, Emil Kozak, Cody Hudson, Stereotype, Kozyndan, Naoshii, both by Mothi.

Via Josh Spear.

Andrea Heimer

Andrea Heimer emailed us about her most recent project, Coveted. I love the simple, clean line drawings and the small bits of color in each print. Check out a great interview with her here.

Vasco Mourão

Vasco Mourão creates amazing architectural sketches of an imaginary world, tending towards intricate mega-structures.

"This is ..." series by Miroslav Sasek

This is Rome, This is London, and This is New York are part of an 18-book series illustrated by Miroslav Sasek. Each book showcases the sights and experiences of a global city for children to learn and enjoy. Originally published in the 1960's, the books are now being re-released by Rizzoli.

Tugboat Printshop

Sean and I are headed out right about now to Seattle for a week and a half. I'm so looking forward to having a break from the city and to being by the water. In honor of that, I'm leaving you with these gorgeous prints by Paul Roden and Valerie Lueth for the Tugboat Printshop. These are all from the Deep Blue Sea Woodcuts series. We'll be back with new posts on August 4th - see you then!

Via Modish.

Pattern Foundary

My friend Betty sent me a link to the Pattern Foundry a while ago:

The Pattern Foundry is an archive of decorative patterns, open for anyone to license and use, created by designers and artists from around the world. The uses of these patterns are not prescribed; they can be applied anywhere and to anything. All patterns must be licensed (payed for) through the Pattern Foundry to be used anywhere.

The patterns are available for use in 3 different ways; digital download, print-per-order and an evolving preprinted range of products.

Total current number of patterns in the foundry is 82.

Unfortunately the prices aren't listed on the website, but there are some great patterns in the Foundry!

Katy Horan

The Shiny Squirrel has some great new prints by artist Katy Horan in the shop.

From the artist's website: Katy Horan’s paintings and drawings are meant to be the long lost folk art from an imaginary world. Based on a wide variety of interests and influences, her work tells stories about the characters and communities that populate this world.

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang is not your typical graphic novel. There are no crazy action sequences, aliens, femme fatales, or any of the standard comic book fare. Instead the book has a genuine take on growing up asian-american with a twist of fate and history. The book weaves the stories of its three separate protagonists together in their fates and purposes. It was a great (albeit short) read and it has won a ton of awards. Teachers have even adopted it as a tool to help teach young adults about multiculturalism. I highly recommend it.

American Born Chinese at Amazon

Dan Hiller

Jean posted the amazing work of Dan Hiller on Notcot...I love the feel of his illustrations - vintage with a twist.

Nick Dewar

Nick Dewar's illustrations exude a retro charm in their linework and blocks of color. The smoothness of the paintings gives them an almost dreamlike quality. Check out the portfolio page and prints available at Thumbtack Press.

Dan Funderburgh at Riviera Gallery

Kitsune Noir has a preview of Dan Funderburgh's show Fellow Traveler at the Riviera Gallery in Brooklyn. The show showcases the work of three Midwestern transplants to NYC - Justin Fines, Dan Funderburgh, and Kevin Devine. According to the gallery's website: "Like many immigrants, they celebrate their shared origins, but are also interested in where their individual paths diverge. Fellow Travelers are not adherents to a school or aesthetic, they are sympathetic allies with a shared perspective that refuse to be limited or defined by geography." Looks like a good show! If you are in Brooklyn you can check it out at 103 Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg.

kozyndan

I've long been a fan of most of kozyndan's illustration work. They have a new show opening on May 30 at the maxalot gallery in Amsterdam called "Beneath the Surface". If you're in the area, check it out! Via Designboom.

Also - because Sean and I are so busy finishing up our prep for the NSS we weren't able to make it to BKLYN Designs this year. But check out Inhabitat for great coverage of the show...

Subliminal: JHill Design

We are very excited to introduce a new feature to the blog: Subliminal, featuring the designers we love and their influences - big and small. Being that I was inspired by this post on Places I Have Never Been - Jennifer Hill of JHill Design's blog, I am excited to feature her in our first Subliminal post.



Jennifer Hill is a Boston-based graphic designer who started JHill Design five years ago. You most likely know her for her paper line called Places I Have Never Been which revolves around drawings of her imaginary vacations. Besides making products, JHill Design also creates logos, websites, etc.



What are you currently working on?
I'm working on a new card collection which follows the Places I Have Never Been theme, but includes holiday, thank you and hello! cards. I'm also wrapping up 12 new patterns for the 2009 calendar.

What are you currently inspired by?
I've been finishing up my new 2008 collection (to be released in May) and there were some great influences. One of the big ones was Balenciaga's Spring collection, all the crazy florals patterns and those great knee high, black and white gladiator sandals. There is a lot of nature in this series and lots of color, maybe it is because of this looooong winter.

What websites can you not live without?
what would tyler durgan do
design*sponge
i suwanee
yourgirlfriendisugly - the funniest blog EVER



What magazine subscriptions do you currently have? (Bonus Q: How many of them do you actually read?)
oh boy.
subscriptions: lucky, domino, sherman's travel, new york, vogue, elle, vanity fair, portfolio, 7x7, gourmet. I know - it's a lot.

I always read new york magazine each week. I don't read lucky and domino that much, I usually go to them when I'm looking for inspiration for something. I adore elle. So I'd say I read 5 out of 10, browse 3 and 2 stay on the shelf til they are needed.

What are your favorite inspirational spots?
Spot 1: in my hammock under a big tree. We are lucky to live on a dead end next to a park in Boston and my hammock lays under a big tree. Of course there are also triple deckers all around me so it isn't that private, but private enough.

Spot 2: my bed. I can lay and look out the window (we have very tall windows) and watch the planes from Logan fly away, I always wonder where all those people are going.





What is your favorite music to work by?
I like a lot of different music. Right now I have been switching between rilo kiely, patty griffith and jay-z. I know, weird.


What books are you currently reading?
animal, vegetable mineral by barbara kingsolver.


Any "inspiring" deadlines coming up?
I'll be showing at the stationary show in May with Sub-Studio!!! Got to finish up that collection...

Thanks so much to Jennifer for being our first in the Subliminal series!

Frank Chimero

Frank Chimero's The States project has already made the rounds but it's worth a mention here - The States is an on-going design project in which Frank recontextualizes the shape of the state to create a new graphic image.

Denise Simon

The Shiny Squirrel has a great new artist in her shop - Denise Simon. I love Denise's line drawings and her illustration style.

Metal Gear Solid Graphic Novel 2

I am a very big fan of the original Metal Gear Solid Digital Graphic Novel (screenshots above). And I was pleased to see this trailer for the second installment in the series. If you have played through the games, you already know the story, but it's great to see them played out in such an interesting way. I love the mix of static and animated and the Ashley Wood illustrations never disappoint.

Seaspray Blue

Katrin, aka Seaspray Blue is a German illustrator. I love the muted colors used, and the architectural content of the illustrations. The digital prints are archival quality and are very affordable at $15.

Via Oh, Joy!