Illustration - Leanne Shapton

Leanne Shapton is an artist, art director, illustrator, designer and publisher based in New York City. She is the co-founder, with photographer Jason Fulford, of J&L Books, an internationally-distributed imprint specializing in art and photography books. Leanne grew up in Toronto and attended McGill Univesity and Pratt Institute. After working at Harper's magazine and for illustator James McMullan, she began her career at the National Post where, by the age of 25, she was overseeing and art-directing the daily Avenue page, an award-winning double-page feature covering news and cultural trends. She went on to become art director of Saturday Night, the newspaper’s weekly news magazine. read more...

Illustration - Comic Books

The name alone should tell you that Top Cow Productions is unique in the comic book publishing world. What sets Top Cow apart from the rest of the herd is its fierce commitment to quality entertainment, and an unmatched drive to deliver this entertainment to fans on a consistent basis. This may just sound like "common sense" to some, but those who know the business of comic publishing understand what this truly means.

Illustrators:
Kenneth Rocafort
steve firchow
JS Campbell
Jim Shooter Interview: Part 1
Aaron Lopresti
Marc Silvestri

Comic Publisher Soleil

French comic publisher Soleil is home to some of Europe's most popular comics. And now, in collaboration with Marvel, many of these acclaimed titles will be available in English for the first time!
Some of Soleil’s most popular releases, such as Sky Doll, Universal War One, Samurai and Le Fleau Des Dieux, make their English language debuts beginning this May. The first release will be Sky Doll #1 (of 3), a timely socio-political thriller in which a young android must decide her destiny by challenging the very government—and faith—that has controlled her life.

Franktown Rocks

Franktown Rocks is a safe and fun online world where your kids can play and learn. It's brought to you by Brainwave Studios, a high-tech children's entertainment company based in Nashville, TN. Brainwave Studios was founded and is run by parents like you, who care about what their young kids are doing online. Which is why we've made Franktown Rocks a safe, friendly, and educational place for kids to play. It's not only safe enough for our own kids, it was designed for them!

http://www.franktownrocks.com

Illustration - Blu

Blu is an Italian Artist Specializing in Murals and Urban Design.
blublu.org

The artist BLU from Bologna is known for his very large, often surreal and aggressive but always strong pictures in the public space. His very playful and comic-style pieces often carry an ethnic, political or moral statement, yet without being patronising. Next to his works in the public space, he draws a lot and uses the pictures in animation films. In Wuppertal, his central theme was the daily information overkill in the public space. He worked with so-called 'for free' magazines which are forced on us at every street corner. They hardly ever contain any interesting or relevant content, but instead are completely packed with adverts. For the project, BLU produced and distributed 6.000 of those "for free" magazines himself. BLU chose this format and published his pictures anonymously and without any commentary, explanation or further information. At the same time he designed various walls in the city and with that created a reference to the drawings and his extensive pieces in the public space.

What's the idea behind your project?

6.000 books of drawings placed everywhere around central streets, train stations, bus stops, traffic lights and any other place where people usually walk. A gift for all the people who were going to work or school the day after. It is a kind of "street art take-away" exhibition; if you like the piece, you can take it home. The magazines were completely anonymous and I think most of the people will never know that I did it. read more...

Blue Note Records

Blue Note Records has always been in the forefront of Jazz music. But what you might not know is their cover designs are just as influential (in the design community) if not more than the music they house.

Here's a nice archive of Blue Note album covers.

Illustration: Marshall Arisman

Marshall Arisman’s paintings and drawings have been widely exhibited both internationally and nationally, and his work may be seen in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, and the National Museum of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution, as well as in many private and corporate collections. Chairman of the M.F.A. degree program at the School of Visual Arts in New York, Arisman was the first American invited to exhibit in mainland China, and he is the subject of Tony Silver’s full-length documentary Facing the Audience, The Arts of Marshall Arisman.
Arisman has written and illustrated a new children’s book The Cat Who Invented Bebop (Publishing date Spring 2008). His previous children’s book The Wolf Who Loved Music was published in 2004. He is the co-author of three books with Steven Heller including The Education of An Illustrator, Inside the Business of Illustration, and Teaching Illustration (Allworth Press). They are currently working on a fourth book entitled "The Future of Illustration".

NIGHT WATCHMAN HAD THE PRIVILEGE TO TALK SHOP WITH THE LEGEND THAT IS MARSHALL ARISMAN. (sep 2005)

NW: Yeah. It also helps because there is never much information available about illustrators, as far as interviews and things like that, unless you can find something in an illustration or design trade magazine. It’s a shame. There seems to be a real stigma against illustrators, as far as whether or not they are "real" artists. And yet you have been able to straddle the worlds of illustration and fine arts. Do you see a difference between the two?

MA: Not in outcome, meaning that a bad painting on a printed page is equally bad on a gallery wall. I think the illusion for most people who don’t know what illustration is, is that they think it is highly directed by an art director who tells you what to do. And my experience in illustration has not been that at all. Art directors, in essence, call me for what I do. So I see publishing as they are trying to use me, and I am trying to use them. I’m trying to take what I do and get it into print, and it doesn’t seem to me that the printed page itself is a bastardization of the art process. But that dilemma is an old fight, and it’s not over. It’s just a misinformed perception of something; particularly the fine art world, in terms of what that is and how it operates. The art direction I get is primarily emotional. They send me an article, it’s about cancer, and basically say to me, "We don’t know how you illustrate this." (laughs) "Our hope is that there would be some feeling in this." And that’s the kind of art direction I get. No one has ever asked me to put a suit on anybody or put anybody behind a desk or anything. read more...

Dialogues - Museum of the Moving Image

Pinewood Dialogues Online is an archive with downloadable audio and transcripts of conversations, including Robert Altman; Wong Kar-wai; Jennifer Jason Leigh (pictured); Daniel Day Lewis and more.

Museum of the Moving Image, in Astoria, NY, advances the public understanding and appreciation of the art, history, technique, and technology of film, television, and digital media. It does so by collecting, preserving, and providing access to moving-image related artifacts; screening significant films and other moving-image works; presenting exhibitions of artifacts, artworks, and interactive experiences; and offering educational and interpretive programs to students, teachers, and the general public.

It's all art - Paul Rand

First Paul Rand Virtual Documentary Video Festival

(The film is by Imaginary Forces for Rand's induction into the One Club Hall of Fame)

Paul Rand (born Peretz Rosenbaum, August 15, 1914 – November 26, 1996) was a well-known American graphic designer, best known for his corporate logo designs. Rand was educated at the Pratt Institute (1929-1932), the Parsons School of Design (1932-1933), and the Art Students League (1933-1934). He was one of the originators of the Swiss Style of graphic design. From 1956 to 1969, and beginning again in 1974, Rand taught design at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Rand was inducted into the New York Art Directors Club Hall of Fame in 1972. He designed many posters and corporate identities, including the logos for IBM, UPS and ABC.

How to Say No to Spec Work

January 23, 2008
by Jack Neff, HOW Design

No matter how good the economic forecast is, clients always look for a bargain. The best deal in creative services, unfortunately, is asking people to work on spec. And it's not just freelance designers or small firms that get suckered into the spec nightmare; big, publicly held ad agencies create whole campaigns in hopes of landing major accounts.

So how do you sell your services without giving away the farm? "The Art of Self Promotion" newsletter (www.artofselfpromotion.com), published by frequent HOW Design Conference speaker Ilise Benun, offers the following tips on how to avoid slipping into the spec trap when you first speak with a prospective client:

1. Listen more than you speak. This will help you restrain your enthusiasm (or desperation). Plus, you'll get more information, which you'll need for the project.

2. Offer a paid brainstorming meeting instead of a free interview or portfolio review. Explain to the client that she'll benefit much more from a brainstorming session than a mere portfolio presentation. Then, even if you decide not to work together, the client will have some good ideas and you'll be compensated for your time and idea-generation.

3. Don't go against your gut feeling. If red flags are waving in your face, indicating a difficult client, don't pursue that client, even if you're hungry. You'll be the one paying in the end.

Foundries: Comicraft

Comicraft was founded by Richard Starkings and John Roshell in 1992, and together they are credited with pioneering digital lettering in the comic book industry. Today, Comicraft’s lettering methods and processes are now the widely accepted industry standard. The Comicraft studio’s clients include DARK HORSE COMICS, DC COMICS, MARVEL COMICS, IMAGE COMICS, MAD MAGAZINE, NICKELODEON, GRAPHITTI DESIGNS, VIEW ASKEW, SCHOLASTIC, TODD McFARLANE PRODUCTIONS and NBC, and their lettering and design work over the last fifteen years has earned them over a dozen comic book industry awards including the much coveted Eisner. The Comicraft foundry’s fonts have been featured in millions of comic books and magazines throughout the world, and have been featured in high profile movies including TOY STORY 2 and SKY HIGH as well as many children’s books, toy products, dvd and game packaging which have sought out Comicraft fonts to create an authentic comic book look.

‘Thoughts on Democracy’

Today, the Wolfsonian museum of art and design at Florida International University opens Thoughts on Democracy, an exhibition of posters contributed by 60 artists and designers, including Paula Scher and Kit Hinrichs. Each participant was asked to design a visual response to the classic Four Freedoms poster series created by Norman Rockwell in 1943. Each of the four original posters represents an essential American freedom: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear. Read more...

Alyssa Monk - representational narrative genre

Alyssa Monk portrays a specific place and time with simultaneous empathy and detachment. Monks is part of the Continuing Education Faculty at the New York Academy of Art, where she teaches Flesh Painting and Working from photographic reference. Also, she currently is an instructor at the Montclair State University. She earned her BA from Boston College and an MFA in painting from the New York Academy of Art, Graduate School of Figurative Art.

Berlim - Design Hotels / Future Forum 2008

In its fifth year running, the Future Forum will once again connect leading talent in the design, art and architecture communities with great minds from the hospitality industry.

This year’s Future Forum is once again curated by Gestalten in collaboration with Design Hotels and will explore the relationship between the human being and design. This expansive topic will be discussed within the context of design developments that have and will continue to affect the hospitality industry including: ‘design as art’, ‘conscious design’, ‘food design’, and ‘form follows values’. The topics will be presented by internationally renowned speakers such as trend analyst Christopher Sanderson from The Future Laboratory, designers Stephen Burks, Jason Miller, Friends With You and Jerszy Seymour, food designer Marije Vogelzang as well as Design Hotels CEO Claus Sendlinger, the Director of the German Design Council Andrej Kupetz and design journalist Shonquis Moreno.

Take a look at the Future Forum website for more detailed information about the various lectures and to register for the symposium in Berlin from October 15 – 17, 2008.

Michael Thompson - Photography

Michael Thompson was born and raised in Washington state, where he was first introduced to photography at his father's small portrait studio.
He spent his summers working with his father, then, after graduating from high school, he earned a degree from the Brooks Institute of Photography.
After completing his schooling, Michael Thompson moved to New York City and began assisting the legendary photographer, Irving Penn.
Michael Thompson has since photographed models and celebrities for countless prestigious fashion magazines, including W, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Marie Claire, Dutch, GQ, Mademoiselle, British Elle, Jane, Town & Country, British Esquire, The New York Times Magazine and The London Sunday Times Magazine.
Advertising clients are equally in demand for Michael Thompson's time.
He has shot campaigns for Emporio Armani, Celine, Coco Chanel, Oscar de la Renta, Jones New York, Ellen Tracy and Emanuel Ungaro and beauty and still-life print ads for cosmetic powerhouses such as Clinique, Prescriptives, L'Oreal, Aveda, Revlon, Almay, Chanel, Neutrogena and Oil of Olay.
In addition, he has directed TV commercials for Ellen Beatrix and L'Oreal.
Currently, Michael Thompson lives in New York with his wife Kelly and their two children.

Social Cause - Why it matters?

Liga da Kriação A full-service design studio working in corporate communications, package, and branding with a social program to help non-profit organizations. São Paulo, Brazil

Design can change is a smash/LAB initiative to help other studios to become sustainable. Vancouver, Canada.