Links

Here's a few links to some wonderful art I really enjoyed (via drawn!). Check it out!

• The Art of Fons Schiedon
• Brian Biggs Trick or Treat
• Linzie Hunter's Spam One-liners
• Lab Partners beautiful designs
• Mel Stringer's beautiful portraits

Femke Hiemstra

Femke Hiemstra (Netherlands) does wonderfully surreal paintings on found objects (usually wood or old books). Her subjects seem to pop out of a children's book from a darker world, sweet but slightly disturbing. Read her info section on her site for more.

• her beautiful home site
• her blog
• at Roq la Rue
• on Paintalicious

Saul Bass

Saul Bass - "Design is thinking made visual"

Saul Bass (1920-1996) was first and foremost a designer. An iconic designer of the 50's and 60's, famous for his poster designs, title sequences, and logos. The world of design owes him much, even to this day.

• an excellent article and collection of images
• Wikipedia
• more logo designs
• Grain Edit's flickr of a Saul Bass children's book

Kawase Hasui

Kawase Hasui, (1883 – 1957) was a Japanese woodblock printmaker widely regarded as one of the greatest artists of the shin hanga style, known especially for his landscape prints. His simple graphic style with elegant play of colors and light evokes his yearning for simpler, older times.

• at the Hanga Gallery
• a nice gallery
• Wikipedia
• on Lines and Color

Lowbrow

I am particularly fond of Lowbrow Art or Pop Surrealism. Pictured above is Mark Ryden's Allegory of the Four Elements. Here are a few of my favorite "lowbrow" artists, in alphabetical order:

• Glenn Barr
• Gary Baseman
• Tim Biskup
• Dave Cooper
• Lori Earley
• Audrey Kawasaki
• Marion Peck
• Mark Ryden
• Jeff Soto

Heinrich Kley

Heinrich Kley (1863 – 1945) was a German caricaturist, editorial cartoonist and painter. His drawings comprised quick, loose, pen-and-ink sketches that captured an amazingly realistic and robust form. Known for his sometimes darkly humorous pen drawings, published in Jugend and the notorious Simplicissimus in Germany, Kley was an inspiration for a number of early Disney productions, notably Fantasia, as Disney was quite a collector of his work. Kley's work was also a big inspiration for me in my youth.

• Kley's Art
• Heinrich Kley
• Wikipedia
• twnty2wo blog

Ryohei Hase

Ryohei Hase, from Tokyo, Japan, is a digital painter whose subjects are a surrealist, nightmarish fantasy. He does it all painting freehand in Photoshop.

• Hase's website
• Hase at Deviantart

Dan Krall

Dan Krall is an illustrator, character and background designer, and animator and he has a wonderful chldren's book. He's responsible for the amazing look of Cartoon Network's Chowder, Camp Lazlo, and much or the look of the movie, Coraline (among many other amazing feats).

• Dan's website
• Dan's blog
• Dan on Illustration Mundo
• Dan on IMDb

d'Holbachi-Yoko

d'Holbachi-Yoko paints surreal images of colorful puffy creatures, toys of a nightmare dimension, oddly adorable monsters that bring a smile to one's face and disturbs one's soul. Pretty cool, huh? Check out her site and this interview.

Mark Verhaagen

Mark Verhaagen's digital illustrations are wonderful! Master of form, color, and composition. Go get inspired.

Update: Came across Mark's flickr and saw Mark's illustration in Computer Arts Projects magazine this month.

Golden Gems

Thank you, Barbie Miller, for your wonderful blog, Golden Gems! "A collection of little golden books and other vintage & modern illustrations meant to inspire and delight." That's exactly what it is. Consider me inspired.

Grandma's Graphics

A very nice collection of public domain children's illustrations and more at Grandma's Graphics.

Meg Hunt

Arrrgh! What makes some people so gifted and talented? I feel like I'm a pretty good artist but people like Meg Hunt almost make me despair, she's so wonderful!

Meg has been featured almost everywhere. Meg Hunt's dome work for BeerAdvocate, Fantagraphics Books, K Records, Utne, the Washington Post, and Nickelodeon, among others. Her muted, limited color palette and print style make her work unique and delicious. Enjoy! And keep an eye on her.

•Meg's site
•Meg's blog
•Meg's flickr
•Meg's journal
•Interview at Design Inspiration

A few artists I've noticed...

Javier Gonzalez Burgos - Illustrations Artworks. Surreal and serene illustrations.

Meg Hunt - Ooo-la-la! Delish! Her site, her blog.

Yara Kono - Her flickr, her blog. I love this stuff!

André Gribble - Ya callate André (blog) - Brilliant design and illustration.

Betsy Walton - Her site, her flickr. More fine art than illustration, with a dreamy imagination.

Potpourri

Here's a few things of various topics you may want to check out...

Giant Golden Book of Biology - Illustrations by Charles Harper - a triumph of design and illustration!

Creating the cover of a novel. Irish illustrator PJ Lynch shows a step-by-step of how he goes through the process of creating a book cover.

Bear Tools I and Bear Tools II has Kevin Cornell of Bearskin Rug giving us his tools of illustration - guides on pencils, erasers, and inking implements.

Illustrophile, a blog "for lovers of illustration and commercial art" that started last August. It features mostly artists and designers that are currently working.

By the way - if you enjoyed the illustrations by Charley Harper (above), then check out more of his work here and here.

Alina Chau - Ice Cream Monster

Alina Chau is well known among us congregating illustrators on the web. She contributes to a few illustration groups online and she comments on almost everyone's entries. But what makes her stand out from most of us is her sketchwork - with a few blotches of watercolor and some choice, flowing lines, she captures the essence of beauty of everything she sees or imagines. She's an animator and I'm looking forward to great things from her, but for now I can admire her sensitive and lovely sketches and her beautiful books. Explore her work and be inspired.

•Alina Chau's Blog
•Alina's Portfolio Site
•An Interview with Alina