Reilly Stoope

Reilly Stoope is yet another artist whose work I loved instantly, his illustrations are bold and use line and colour to create smooth and curing shapes. These two stood out for obvious reasons, my love of all things with faces! Whats not to love about a flying hand trailing clouds and stars with a happy smile, or a bean, burrito, chip and pot of sauce looking happy as happy can be? Exactly.

 

 http://www.reillystroope.com/

Food with faces

I love to draw food with faces, it is what I do the most, I doodle and draw silly things, but they always have to have a face. I do not know why but putting a face on an inanimate object and personifying it with an expression is highly amusing.

These two illustrations are really really good, they are funny and witty and their visual style is exactly what I like. They are a bit like Spacesick's illustrations, very similar in fact, but I do not know who the artist is. that is a shame because I really like both, possibly my favourite thing I have blogged to date! Yes, shock horror but they really appeal to me ... I can't help but smile, they have faces.

Natalie dee

Natalie Dee's drawings are whimsical and lightly humorous. They are full of comical one liners accompanied by silly illustrations! I like her carefree imperfect style, this is something which I find inspiring, I create similar doodles with silly one liners too, there maybe hope for me yet! ... Maybe.

http://www.nataliedee.com/

Uncle White

Uncle White/Joseph Bergin is a comic book artist who I have liked for a while. Fistman is visually similar to Zeptonn's, Spacesick's and Jon Bergerman's. The characters are emotive, their faces are full of expressions, I like this style of drawing the characters are all similar in shape, but their faces and general body language set them all apart, something I need to keep in mind when I'm doodling next. 

http://uncle-white.deviantart.com/

Lamas mit Hüten

This is a random video, it makes me laugh every time I watch it! I don't know why this is but it's definitely so much funnier in German. Fact.

                 ...Kaaaaaaaaarl

Jhonen Vasquez - Jellyfist

Bert Van Wijk

Bert Van Wijk's illustrations are inspiring! Thy are vivid and vibrant, full of colours and shapes. I like the boldness (naturally) and the clean, detailed nature of the drawings. Also the weirdness, that truly does it for me. They are what they are, no need for an explanation just an acceptance of the fact.

 http://www.bertvanwijk.com

Chris Ware - Acme Novelty Library

Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Library is set out in different volumes and is a collection of different comics, stories and works in progress. they are done in his normal bold style but there are a vast collection of different narratives and fake adds, a sort of throw back to vintage comic books. they all seem to have this retro feel and it works, it is very effective and they are really good to read and flick through. I have one of the volumes, and will one day own more, hopefully.

 http://www.acmenoveltyarchive.org/

Just My Type: A Book About Fonts

 This book is a really good read, a must for anyone who is interested in type or not. it gives a history of typography and delves into how we perceive and use type in everyday life. Garfield provides examples of how type has affected our society and how much can be determined by just what type we use. Again this is a really good read especially if you use typography from time to time, a true insight.

Olly Moss - Games and Bad guys

The villain silhouette target boards are also quite witty, he uses the shapes of iconic villains like, Darth Vader, a Space Invader, Greedo, Godzilla, a Goomba, Freddy Krueger etc ... they are all pretty much easily identifiable to any fun loving nerd and set out like an actual target sheet they look pretty good.

Just like the rest of his work Olly Moss is able to capture the essence of the games in one image, he uses the common denominator, the one aspect fans would come to associate with and recognize in an instant. With the game covers he Uses the crowbar, the base tool in Half-Life and the colour orange which is also common within the game. The GTA piece has the star levels which show the characters wanted rating, on an American flag, as the games are nearly all set in America. They are also styled like Penguin classic covers, this is relevant as they can all be considered icons of the game industry and their different genres.

 

 http://www.moss.fm/

http://www.ollymoss.com/

Jhonen Vasquez - Fillerbunny

Fillerbunny was the first Slave labour comic I read, also the first real alternative humour comic too. I found it in a comic book shop in Amsterdam and have loved it and its like ever since! It's really creepy at times but full of silly laughs, 'My worst book yet' with Aborto the weird fetus is definitely my Favorite!   

 

http://www.slgpublishing.com/prev_fb3/prev_fb3.html

Olly Moss - Star Wars prints

Like Olly Moss' other selection of film poster the series of Star Wars ones are visually stunning! They each capture an iconic, moment and scene from each of the films within the shapes of important and equally iconic characters from the films.He uses parts of the scenery as the details for those characters, the suns of Tatooine are C3-PO's eyes, the silhouette of cloud city form the iconic visor shape of Boba Fett's helmet and the tree branches create the mouth grille and eye slots of Vader's Helmet. These prints are truly clever pieces of art, they capture the films in an instant with a perfect use of colours and shades, in my opinion they are better than the actual film posters created by Lucas Arts! ... *gasps!*

  

http://www.moss.fm/ 

http://www.ollymoss.com/

M. S. Corley

I like theses book covers for the same reason I like Olly Moss' posters. They capture one key element of each story and turn it into something anyone who has read or will read the books can identify and understand.They are styled like the old Penguin classics, they are screen printed and use negative space to show shape. This is a stylistic quality that can also be found in many of the classic covers from the 60s and 70s, it is effective against the photographic quality of the objects, it creates a contrast and makes them stand out and become the focal points of the work, immediately drawing the eye. I also like the use of colour, it is sparse compared to the black and white contrast but adds to the emphasis around the objects, also drawing the eye.

http://mscorley.blogspot.com/2009/02/harry-potter-redesign.html

Jamie Smart - Ubu Bubu

Jamie Smart is a comic book artist who I have like for a very long time. I love Bear and then I got my mitts on this, I got a collection of all the volumes in one, it is not as great a story as Bear, but is much better than his others. It is about a cat which is possessed by a daemon, with the daemon occasionally leaving the cats body  to devour souls and create chaos and destruction. Visually it is completely similar to Bear, penned in Jamie's style. It's another great comic, one which can be read over and over full of sick and twisted jokes that make you laugh even when you try not to.

My Rotring isographic pens

These pens were  also a Christmas present, one which I had wanted for a long time, but had not committed to buying myself. That had clearly been a mistake, I should have invested in them a long time before as they are the best pens I have ever drawn with! Fact. They are just great tools in creating detailed and precise images, the ink runs out of them so smoothly and they do not drip like an ink pen would. The only bad thing is that they occasionally bleed out on certain types of paper, But I love to draw with them.

 

The Secret of Kells

I got this on DVD for Christmas and it really was a great gift. I like the story and I liked the animation, A LOT. It tells the story of a boy named Brendan and his quest to save the legendary book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript. The book of Kells is Irish treasure and itself a piece of art, created in the middle ages it like other works of illumination is full of illustrated borders, patterns and Gothic text. The animation itself mirrors this, it is full of patterns, showing how there are patterns in nature and that there is a beauty in nature, if we would only look. I thought it was a visually stunning piece of animation, one of the best I have seen in a long while, I love the shapes and patterns, especially when Brendan is in the forest with Aisling.

 

Chris Ware - Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth

I LOVE THIS BOOK. Okay now I have that out of my system, here is the why. I love Chris Ware's style, everything is bold and defined, this is something which I seem to connect with constantly, I use it in my work and try to find it in other artists. I like the way he uses washed out, bleak colours which stand out even more against the thick black lines. He creates extremely dour imagery to go along with the equally depressing story of a socially inept and lonely character. It is an awkward and sad story, one which haunts me, and has stuck in my mind ever since I opened the pages, sitting there in my local library, on my own. Chilling. That seems like a reason to not like it, but it stuck with me, so I bought it, the book itself is much more than a book, it is Jimmy's life, it has an extensive family tree and is a gripping read, even for a graphic novel. This book is a must read, writing this has made me want to do so again!

http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/artStudio.php?artist=a3dff7dd568fe0 

Steven Silverwood

I liked this piece of work, it is very detailed and intricate. It is a very odd image an amalgamation of randomness which seems to spread across the image. I like the level of detail which has been created with what I could imagine to be a painstakingly long amount of time to finish. The image reminds me of a tattoo, it has a sort of washed out effect and I guess the faded brown colour of the ink helps that perception.

http://stevensilverwood.com/art 

Rob Ryan

I had seen Rob Ryan's work years ago but did not know who he was, it was only whilst on the course that I came across him again and made the connection, He created the covers for some of Louise De Bernieres books. I LOVE all of De Bernieres book, have read them, re read them ... So when I saw one of Rob Ryan's books in the library I jumped at the chance of taking it out.

I make cards as a hobby, they are one offs, intimate for my partner, (she has quite a collection now) I make them for any odd occasion and they used to involve me creating them digitally, but when I really looked at Ryan's work I knew that is what I wanted to do, create cut out images. I started off simply, using different blocks of colour to create shapes, then I started to look at using negative space, using a single piece of card and cutting out the background, leaving a silhouette like image. This worked, and is a really effective way for me to create handmade cards. I really appreciate Rob Ryan's skill with a blade and the ingenious ways he uses borders and joints to strengthen the structure. It is something which I love to do and will continue to develop.

Adam Cruickshank

Adam Cruickshank's 'Helping Hands' were something which I looked at whilst still doing my graphics A level. He created a sticker art graffiti campaign and posted these grasping hands on city walls and in various public places. I like the boldness of the hands, the thick outline makes it stand out from its surroundings, but the best thing about them is how they look on the walls. They are framed by their surroundings, I do not think they would look as good if they were not contrasted against the filthy and dirty backdrop of the streets.

http://www.adamcruickshank.com/

Fallout

This is a random one in regards to my usual post, but I thought it was necessary. I love the desolate post apocalyptic feel that carries these games. Its all a bit like Mad Max except you get to play the character, killing incessantly whilst being part of an epic plot. You decide whether to be good or bad or somewhere in between, which helps to immerse you in the game. I really love this series of games, and could go on for days about the little nuances that propel it above the rest of its type, but I shall not, all I will say is that it is amazing and a definite must for any person who likes in depth games.

Animals

This is another video which I found whilst watching Baltimore Clap, uploaded by Future shorts. Again I like the use of animation, especially the use of the cartoon graphics over the top of the footage, makes it look very smooth ... Shame about the tune though.

Baltimore Clap

Stumbled across this whilst endlessly trawling through youtube ...The animation is quite impressive, and I love the dark sinister theme to the video ... Not too sure about the actual music though, not my taste!

BBC's The Genius of Design

To me, this was so much more than just a show. I watched it on a whim and sat there thinking that it was something I was interesting, what the worst that can happen? Well honestly it was possibly one of the most informative television show I have ever seen. I cannot praise it enough.

The show is split up into 5 episodes each an hour long, each of the episodes tackle important periods throughout the history of design, from the industrial revolution through to 1920s modernism, design during the second World War, the swinging 1960s, the designer 1980s and up to the present day.

I was vaguely aware of some aspects of design, knowing a couple of key designers that I had previously come across, but after watching this show I found myself identifying more and more in everyday life. I cannot praise this show enough if you are like me and have an interest in the history of design.

This is not a great clip to sell it on, but it was the best that was available on Youtube ...

Archer

This is possibly the funniest show I have ever seen! I absolutely love the style of animation and pretty much every episode is packed with timeless moments of laughter!

... 'Daaaaanger zone!' hahaha love it!

Persepolis

Persepolis is such a GREAT film and a lovely little comic. I saw this a few years back and loved it so much I had to go and get the comic of it. The comic I have got is like a book, and unlike the film it feels very raw, less refined and stylised. This is in no way a negative but if you don't like subtitles then I'd recommend.

The story tells trials of a girls childhood whilst growing up in Iran during the Islamic revolution. There are some terribly sad parts and equally some moments that make it such a great tale. The story is so much more dramatic because it follows the author 'Marji' as she escapes the tyranny of her homeland and tries to find herself in the world.

Tom Gauld - Gigantic Robot

This is a couple more images from an illustrator who I find to be an ongoing inspiration. His stories are quirky and capture a great comical mood even with limited text.
The scenes are always well constructed and his sketchy lines and intricate shading never cease to amaze me.
I try to capture the minimalistic feel that is constant throughout his works in my own but sometimes find it a tall order. The level of detail makes me jealous! Because of this I try to buy any of his books/comics I come across and own quite a few, my most recent purchase being his Gigantic robot book. It is very good, even down to the thick pages making it feel very robust and somewhat childlike.
It is quite short but the story is very good. (I wont spoil it for others) This book is going down as one of my favourites, a great buy.

http://www.tomgauld.com/index.php

Zeptonn

Zeptonn is a Dutch artist who I looked at whilst doing my A level graphics. He creates weird little characters that are rather phallic and emotive. I like this style and his art has definitely been an influence on the work I produce today. I also like the way in which he uses clouds and holes to anchor the long creatures, giving them a place to 'grow' from as it were.