Some lovely illustration from London based illustrator James Straffon that caught my eye in the latest issue of Ride. His whole site is dedicated to ‘The Art of Cycling’, but even if you aren’t seduced by all things two-wheeled, you will be taken by the simple charm of his visuals…
The reason design blogs and Pinterest are overcrowded with hand-painted signs, hand-made furniture and hand-printed textiles is because (you guessed it) it’s made by hand – and the joy of seeing craftsmanship is never, ever going away. The world is changing, and the more we demand, and the shorter our attention spans become, the less we’re spending time on getting things just right.
Belgrade-based illustrator Bratislav Milenkovic’s work is intricate and mechanical, with every detail forming the nuts and bolts of an elaborate piece of slapstick comedy. The characters, objects and abstract shapes play an equal role in Bratislav’s compositions. The lightly-airbrushed, knobbly knee-ed people (all with fantastic hair) are lost amongst the melee but only for the added impact of discoveries like: “oh! There’s a guy cranking an ice bucket over his own head” or “why is that guy exfoliating a Christmas tree?”
LA artist Misia emailed in last week with a bunch of her drawings and paintings, and I was super impressed. She’s managed to mash up Nick Sharratt’s illustrations from Jacqueline Wilson books with The Babysitter’s Club, The Fresh Prince and a bunch of other pop culture references – all drawn in well-practiced monochromatic inks. Unique and skilful aesthetic aside, what I truly love about Misia’s drawings are the characters in them – GIRLS. Girls barefoot doing acrobatics in living rooms, girls lounging on beds listening to music, girls hanging out together doing nothing, girls wearing zigzag leggings and looking bored. These pictures remind me that I’m a girl, and being a girl is SO cool. They make me want to text every female I know and arrange some sort of day where we can watch TV for hours and eat peanut butter on crackers and cereal out the box. I hope it does the same for you.
Having cut his teeth at Adult Swim, Joseph Veazey has since been art directing for label Azede Jean-Pierre and freelancing all over New York City. He also has a fine knack for making engaging and fun self-promotional printed matter and turning his sketchbooks into true works of art.
A comic-book sequel to Fight Club has been announced, telling the story of the original’s star Tyler Durden ten years on. Tyler, who was played by Brad Pitt in the David Fincher-directed 1999 film, will be shown to be dependent on prescription drugs, and living with his housewife spouse and a difficult young son.
Illustration portfolios don’t come much more joyful than this one by Tim Colmant, a Belgian illustrator with a knack for Memphis-inspired patterns, cheery colours and entertaining ideas. Looking around his diverse work feels like strolling into the fantasy land of Ettore Sottsass, decked out as it is in bright purple and yellow, swirling shapes and repetitive geometric patterns, and it’s more or less impossible to leave feeing anything less than happy. Feel free to try this out for yourselves.
“I like working at night when the world is quiet and all the residual energy is loose and flowing around in the atmosphere because most people are asleep and not gobbling it all up,” says David Barnes. “I’m not sure if that’s a real thing or not but thinking that way motivates me to stay up til 5am working distraction-free, feeding off the dreams of others.”
In the three years since we last posted Simon Roussin’s work it appears the French cartoonist has become something of a cinephile. A huge amount of his illustrated output now comes in the form of homages to classics of the medium, including obsessive screen-printed books about the late, great Steve McQueen, Gerard Depardieu’s best bits and some of Clint Eastwood’s most brutal showdowns. Of course it goes without saying that his drawing goes from strength to strength. What’s wonderful about Simon’s film obsession is his ability to balance an addiction to the silver screen and a prolific illustration career, something my mum once told me was impossible.
There was an interesting discussion on our podcast recently about why anyone would really want to watch the creative process taking place. Off the back of our visit to see what was essentially P J Harvey in a box, we’ve spent a lot of time chatting about how the creative process is slow and messy and frustrating, littered with wrong turns and dead-ends.
Despite only having graduated from Falmouth University last summer illustrator Beth Walrond already has an admirable portfolio of work to show for herself. This is probably due to the warmth and relatable nature of her style – she builds textural, expressive characters out of geometric shapes and soft lines to create identifiable narratives, condensing complex messages down into sweet, two-dimensional form. Now working out of Berlin, her newest projects include work for Hunger Magazine, The Ride Journal, Wired UK and The Debrief, leading us to believe she’s got a hell of a lot more ideas to get down on paper yet.
What could be better than six cool pals getting together to make a whopper of a comic book? Meet Collection Revue, a French sextet formed in 2010 and made up of Sammy Stein, Vanessa Dziuba, Marine Le Saout, Antoine Stevenot, Jean-Philippe Bretin and Julien Kedryna. For a year they spent their time and money putting on a bunch of small shows in Paris, exhibiting the work of cartoonists, visual and graphic artists and illustrators to what I can only imagine is a very cool and good-looking crowd. They now channel their collective obsession into very, very appealing publications.
Here’s a piece of useless trivia you never thought you needed; what is the name of the monocle-wearing dandy who appeared on the first ever cover of The New Yorker and has gone on to become its mascot? The answer is Eustace Tilley, and for many years the magazine published his image almost unchanged when its birthday rolled around at the end of February.
I’m fast falling in love with the work of Parisian illustrator and artist Louis Granet. The student of the Haute Ecole des arts du Rhin produces comics the likes of which I’ve never seen. His drawing style is unique in its use of unnerving perspective, frantic, angular line work and the childlike application of colour – plus his comics feature empty speech bubbles that offer no clue as to the story within each panel. Granted, that sounds like quite a confusing combination, but Louis’ work is full of drama, suspense and, in spite of its nebulous nature, tangible narratives.
