The Man Who Invented the Future

These illustrations are from a 1960's book by Jules Verne called 'The Man Who Invented the Future', the beautiful illustrations are by Peter P. Plasencia.

I'm generally a sucker for all things colourful but there's something so lovely about these grey scale gouache illustrations.

I simply adore them!  

Danielle

Eight Hour Day

I've had this sweet little image bookmarked for ages and have finally got my butt around to researching the talent behind it, Katie Kirk.

Katie Kirk is one half San Francisco based design / illustration team otherwise known as Eight Hour Day, which she runs with her husband Nathan Strandberg. 

They do a load of vintage inspired designs and patterns for numerous uses; cards, books, websites, advertising and the list just goes on. 

I could harp on and on about how gorgeous they all are, but i'll let the pictures do the talking this time!

Oh and don't forget to check out all their other goodies at

www.eighthourday.com

Amor, Dani x x 

Indie Rock Poster Book

I recently bought this book on a whim, and how glad I am that I did. 

Frank Chimero's interpretation of;
So Far Around the Bend by The National

The Indie Rock Poster book is jam packed full of 30 originally designed posters by a collection of today's most innovative and cool illustrators. 

Andy J. Miller''s interpretation of;
Chicago by Sufjan Stevens

Each of the 30 prints in the book are inspired by a cool indie rock song, with a short blurb on the reverse of each poster written by the illustrator about what the song / poster means to them. 

Mark Weaver's interpretation of;
Your Protector by Fleet Foxes

It's really interesting to see how songs that you've heard have been interpreted into works of art. 

Dynamo Montreal QC's interpretation of;
Your Ex Lover is Dead by Stars

The posters are all printed on quality stock and are meant to be ripped out and slapped on your walls. But if you're anything like me I don't like the idea of ripping my books up... so at $29.95 maybe i'll have to buy another one to pull apart! 

Jeremyville's interpretation of;
Skinny Love by Bon Iver

Toby Trumph's interpretation of;
Iron & Wine by The Trapeze Swingers

Oh and I almost forgot, all royalties from this book go to the yellowbirdproject, which was created by Andy J. Miller in order to raise money for numerous charities with the help of awesome indie rockers.

Julia Rothman's interpretation of;
Dancing Choose by TV on the Radio

Love Danielle x

Megan Hess

I'm a sucker for pretty illustrations, and here is yet another illustrator that I couldn't resist.
I read about fashion illustrator, Megan Hess recently in Harper's Bazaar, I can't even remember what the article was about, but I do remember her cute illustration which accompanied the article.

I began looking at her work online & on her website and I began to recognise some of Megan's work that I had seen around.
Shall I begin to rattle off some of this young Melbourne illustrator's clients?
How about Vogue, Chanel, Bloomingdales as well as Tiffany & Co.
Oh and she also did the book cover's for Candace Bushnell's chic & girly novels, of those including the Sex & the City series.

She also sells a selection of gorgeous prints from her website - www.meganhess.com

Definitely pop over and have a look!

Happy browsing
Danielle
xxx

All the buildings in NY

This is so cool....

Australian illustrator, James Gulliver Hancock is currently based in New York and has one goal; to draw all of the buildings in New York (hence the name of his blog). 

“I’ve traveled a lot, as most artists do, and I’ve developed this weird relationship with each city I’ve visited,” he said.  “They become like friends, and I want to record them.”

As far as his obsession with drawing goes, he’s at ease with it.  

“It started pretty early with me,” he said.  “As a creative, it’s a way to organize my environment.  It’s part of how I see things.”

He talks of how he finds it almost impossible to put his pen down at times, even at restaurants Hancock scribbles away on napkins or whatever he can find to doodle on. Hancock says he often finds discarded sketches from lunches, framed and on friends' walls, funnily enough. 

Either way James has a long way to go, he's unsure if he will be able to literally draw each and every building in New York, but he is willing to try. 

You can follow his illustrative journey through New York by checking out his blog:

www.allthebuildingsinnewyork.blogspot.com

His prints are also for sale, so why not buy a little piece of New York?

Prices starting at $30 for an 8.5" by 11" sized print, ranging through to $90 for a 17 by 22" print.

Love,

Danielle x

Tea time

So I recently had a brief at school to design packaging for a trio of fictional teas, any flavours, along with your own branding. And I can actually say that I thoroughly enjoyed it! Probably because I am a bit of a tea fanatic to begin with, but it made me realise that I actually really enjoy package design and that at times it is a bit of an over looked area of design.

So in my researching current tea designs, I came across the following gorgeous range of Marks & Spencer caffeine free teas, whose beautiful packaging was designed by illustrator and cartoonist; Stuart Kolakovic.

Kolakovic who does some really amazing, whimsical yet almost story book like illustrations; well worth checking out his website to look at some of his previous work if you have the time.

I wouldn't even care what flavours these teas were I would buy all of them, they are all so darn scrumptious! I'm particularly fond of the detox tea (the pink one) but then again they all look so cute together! They kind of remind me of old soap boxes but I think that makes me like them even more!

It's almost a shame that there is only three in the series, I would love to see more! I can just imagine a minty green box and a zesty orange coloured one to add to the collection.

Love, 

Danielle

xx

Doodles

Hugs keep us alive

I found these gorgeous little illustrations on Etsy. 

They are by a guy named Heng Swee Lim, an illustrator / visual artist based in Kuala Lumpur.

Where there's a will, there's  a way

His work is so happy and bright, I absolutely adore all of it! 

I simply can't help but smile when I look at his work.

All you need is Love

Funnily enough his Etsy shop is called ilovedoodle, he writes on his Etsy profile that he hopes to be able to doodle smiles on people's faces.
(Which I think he is already doing!)

His prints are all cost US$30 on his Etsy shop; ilovedoodle.

Fishing in a Fish

Alternatively his website is uber cute too!

www.ilovedoodle.com

Danielle

xx

Charley Harper

I came across some of Charley Harper's work recently when I was looking through some design books and fell in love with the bright and colourful, stylized illustrations of his.As a wildlife artist, the majority of hiswork is of animals and in particular birds.

I love the feeling of his work - it's all so playful and young, it's no wonder he illustrated a little golden book as well as other children's books.What I find fascinating is, the majority of his work is from the 60's when he was at the height of his career as an illustrator, his work seems kind of timeless to me in a way - It still seems so modern almost 50 years on which is a triumph for any designer. Some pieces have that retro feel with the patterns in those mustard and browns tones but then others are so bright, geometric and modern... there's just so much there to look at. I love looking at the way he's composed his pictures in shapes, it kind of fascinates me.

When asked to describe his style of illustrating his response was;

"When I look at a wildlife or nature subject, I don’t see the feathers in the wings, I just count the wings. I see exciting shapes, color combinations, patterns, textures, fascinating behavior and endless possibilities for making interesting pictures."

I love that and I think it so sums his work up in those few words!

It's got me thinking I need to get my little paws on some of his books... In the meantime i'll just enjoy his website.

Head on over to www.charleyharperprints.com to have a look at some of his other pieces (with some pieces up for sale which i might also add), I would love to post all of my favourites up but the list grew far too long!

Enjoy!

Danielle xx