hello

I grabbed this cool little piece from the clever Emma Smart’s website. “Personal project experimenting with different greetings and different textures and techniques” is how she puts it, I love it.

Hairy 5ive

The number 5 made from real hair! I found this on 5ive’s portfolio via the Balance Network.

Empire of the Sun

David Bowie (in The Labyrinth) meets Flight of the Conchords’ Bret, but their Australian, and in Taiwan. That’s pretty much my break down of Empire of the Sun’s Walking on a Dream (and could be said to describe them in general minus the Taiwan part I guess). If you like it I highly recommend Sam La Mores killer house version.

The combination of Luke Steele of Sleepy Jackson and Nick Littlemore from Phau makes for a pretty interesting duo. I really enjoy their sound and seeing as it’s apparently music week I thought these guys are a suitable follow-on from the previous post, if you’d like to own some of their goodness (legally) you can here.

This album cover (above) is so great! It takes me back to those days as kid in the movie store, most VHS covers looked this way.

MGMT

You may or may not have heard of MGMT (previously known as Management) but the Brooklyn duo’s sound is pretty nice. We’ve had Electric Feel playing almost as much as Empire of the Sun’s Walking On A Dream, making it the second catchiest song ever. I’m not the only one who rates them, Rolling Stone coined them as a top 10 “Artist of the Year” this year.

The image above is actually a snapshot from the whoismgmt website.

Evgeny Kiselev

I was looking through FEEDMECOOLSHIT today and happened to stumble across St Petersberg based Evgeny Kiselev’s website where pages and pages of mind blowing illustration can be found. His vector art is really tight, clean and pro. He also makes beautiful cushions.

James White

This poster says a lot about where the eastern Canadian James White’s retro roots come from. Using a combination of some good photoshopping skills and an early 1980’s childhood, his other graphic works are sure to induce a little nostalgia, not to mention inspiration.

I’d have to say my favourite piece is his interpretation is of a Daft Punk poster, superb!

Jon Burgerman, Pens Are His Friends

A clever doodle by Jon Burgerman on London based design studio The Plant’s office wall I thought worth sharing.

Objectified

In a world crammed with objects, I’m sure those who enjoyed Gary Hustwit’s Helvetica, will appreciate his next film Objectified, a documentary on industrial design. For those interested in following a revolutionary film in the making, read the objectified blog.

This is a great poster (above), nice and clean and of course with the inclusion of Helvetica. The film doesn’t premiere until next year, but in the mean time you could always wear the T-shirt.

I paid a visit to Jeremyville

I recently bought a copy of Box ‘The Evolution Of Character Design‘ (well priced I might add!) and that’s when I came across Jeremyville. As you probably guessed I’m a big fan of this style. I do appreciate clean, sharp design, but I’m also addicted to drawing ridiculous characters and having fun. I also tend to admire those who can make a career from doing so.

Paper Toys

I’ve looked at a lot of paper toys lately and this one is by far one of the best I’ve seen (second is Milky). I think it’s the illustration factor that I like, combined with the simple shape. Now I’m super inspired to make one.

I found this on Jonathan Weldt’s flickr

University of Brighton Poster

Made by Tom Rowe and Ciara Phelan I found it on Evening Tweed and thought it was more than worthy of posting. Such an amazing way to create a poster!

Beta Shampoo Poster: Denny Schmickle

I’m usually not a fan of skulls and the like, but this guy is awesome!

Found via Denny Schminkle’s flickr.

I heart minimal

This is great and reminded me a little of Shapeshifter’s Soulstice album cover. The original line work was done by Ben Mobbs and made strong by MyLifeSupport.

Playing with blocs

I really like this font Minimal Bloc by SUPERSCRIPT. It’s ultra refined but it’s also hand crafted in that each shape has been cut-out and put together. I found it along with many other typographic wonders here.

Dan Tobin Smith

This caught my eye (as many things do on typeneu.com), Dan Tobin Smith’s Letter E is an impressive letterform to say the least.

Jeff Canham the sign painter

A signwriter’s apprenticeship was something I considered doing before I went to University. Even though I decided not to do it, I still really appreciate the skill and discipline of using the good old paint brush to create type and graphics. Computers and digital printing make Jeff Canham a rare breed, but when it comes to signage there’s nothing quite like the human touch. I love how as hand-painted signs age they gain character. As a former art director for Surfer Magazine, Canham keeps to his roots and you can see that old school coastal surf shop style coming through. He’s also done some signage for Jack Johnson, I really like what he did for Mollusk Surf Shop too. (He does do great print work too, I’m just focusing on the brush stuff today!)

Nick Deakin

I found these wicked pieces from Nick Deakin’s Source Material Exhibition when my eye caught his iPhone art on Poolga (last entry). With clients like Moby, Nike and Gingko Press,to name a few, the London artist is proves that having fun with illustration pays off. I never get sick of this style, it kind of eliminates those boundaries between doodles, graffitti and fine art. His style is also perfect for skateboards, or any surface for that matter. I know I’d buy one, but from what I can see he’s only made one.

Poolga, making iPhones prettier

If you own an iPhone, I recommend checking out Poolga, a site where illustrators from around the world post their work to be downloaded as iPhone and iPod touch wallpapers.

Booka Shade

Yup I’m a pretty big fan of Booka Shade, the German electro house duo, along with their consistently impressive record covers! I was lucky enough to see them play live in Toronto this year (drums and all!) and I have to say they put on a phenomenal performance! I’m not sure of the artist behind these covers (I would love to know!) but I really enjoy the simple, powerful shapes and images that reflect their music as visual art. In White Rooms and Body Language are solid favourites of mine.

Record/Album art via: Here, here and here

Emil Kozak + Kelly Slater collaboration

Wow, the day Kelly Slater pulls into a wave like that on a design of mine, will be a fine day indeed! Seeing as most of what I intend to put in this blog inspires the heck out of me, I must post some of Mr Emil Kozak’s work. Based in Barcelona he’s producing some really up there stuff for the likes of Element and LAB skateboards, and heaps more.

As a surfing enthusiast myself, I haven’t yet made any surfboard designs, I did however make a surfboard costume (I was the surfer) for my girlfriend for this past Halloween which was a bit of a laugh! Halloween in Toronto is INSANE!

Both of these images are via Emils’ website.