posted: November 29, 2006

When an AD gets in touch and tells you they have a job that really suits your style... and then tells you its about COMPOST, you have to wonder really... This actually turned out to be quite fun job, illustrating 'composting star signs' for Organic Gardening magazine. Each of these alternative horoscopes describes what kind of composter you might be... The slacker, the engineer, the evangelist, etc... have fun figuring out the rest!

posted: November 25, 2006

This time last year the V&A had a great (but small) exhibit to celebrate 70s years of Penguin Books.

Paperback books of the same colour scheme were arranged in huge cases which looks pretty stunning.

Originally Penguin pbs had distinctive colour schemes:
orange / white - general fiction
green / white - crime fiction
maroon -  travel series
dark blue - biographies.

Some of the best covers come from the 50s and 60s, with really smart and sometimes bizarre graphic designs.

The great thing is that these books are pretty easy to pick up in charity shops.   The Pelican* subjects are often very dry and academic, but the covers really make up for it.

I picked up the book above yesterday for a few pennies in a charity shop where I live.

*Pelican Books  was an imprint of Penguin designed to "educate the reading public rather than entertain"

For anyone wondering about what to add to their christmas wish list the book to accompany the exhibition and Penguins birthday: Penguin by Design is available on amazon.

Also, heres one guy's nice 50s/60s collection on flickr :  Penguin Books

posted: November 24, 2006

I drive my friends to despair by dragging them into charity shops and car boot sales looking for 50s and 60s tat.

Tonight I scanned and uploaded a few recent childrens book finds.

more internal pages & covers Photos: Vintage Illustration: Kids

posted: November 8, 2006

Congratulations to fellow drawgerite Edel for gaining the prestigious title of 100th contributor at my studio space blog: On My Desk.

You can check out more photos of Edel's modest little studio here

Illustrator Allan Sanders has also contributed a very nice banner illustration to help mark the occasion.

Thanks all round to the other 99 artists listed below who have already shared their workspace and the many other nice people who continue to do so:

Heather Castles
Tommy Kane
Geninne D. Zlatkis
David Evans
Matthew Porterfield
Jac Currie
Steven G. Amey
Bob Staake
Sven Gerhardt
Brandon Steen
Charity Romero/Ezra Li Eismont
Jannie Ho
Jean-Francois Kelahear
Jeremiah Ketner
Adante Salvagado
Tamsin Ainslie
Lauren Braun
JoJo Yeung
Colin Johnson
Kim Carney
Sandra Monat
Andi Butler
Danny Mansmith
Tim Harries
Jason Bronkhorst
Andy J. Smith
J. Michael Stovall
Maxwell Loren Holyoke-Hirsch
Caio Nery Filho
Anndrea Boe
Morandini
Charlene Chua
Mark Anderson
Kelly Murphy
Doug Savage
Jeff Szuc
Joseph Scarano
Chris Braun
Sean Kane
Blair Kelly
Leo Hillier
Marina Caruso
Meghan Murphy
James Yang
Piepke
David Carillo
Rob Dunlavey
Mark Porter
Ian Stevenson
Annie Bissett  
Edel Rodriguez
David Sones
Nubby Twiglet
Ximena Maier
Brett Hess
Collin David
Rick Lovell
Eric Bostrom
Rik Catlow
Jeff Matz
Ben the Illustrator
Joan M. Mas
Junichi Tsuneoka
Guylaine Couture
Eric Sturdevant
Claudine Hellmuth
Matt Hinrichs
Petra Stefankova
Paul Antonson
Maximo Tuja
Holly DeWolf
Alex Noriega
Jon Keegan
Von Glitschka
Craig Atkinson
Alan (Fred) Pipes
Jim Stafford
Ben Schlitter
Ryan Snook
Dan Thompson
Jared Chapman
Corianton Hale
Christiane Engel
Andy Smith
Pietari Posti
Cat Morley
What What
Sean Macfarlane
David Dean
Ben Schlitter
Anette V. Heiberg
theApe
Fhiona Galloway
Bob Staake
Mark Begley
Allan Sanders
Elwood H Smith
Jeff Andrews
Ryan Myers
Maxwell Paternoster

posted: November 7, 2006

A little illustration I did tonight to pass the time while watching the coverage of the US Midterms (or maybe it's the other way around.) It was inspired by all the jolly little wooden toys I saw in Germany. I sadly admit to having bought a few.