It is illustrator time again, and Chris Lane is our subject. I hadn’t seen any of his work until I saw a post on illustrationmundo.com about his first solo show entitled Works of Fiction. He has a lovely portfolio site with plenty of work to look at. Lane’s inks and watercolors successfully achieve whimsical satire as well as grim scenes of despair, all the while maintaining a quirky quality that is hard to describe.

I am really loving the preview piece here, and I really can’t wait for him to post the rest of the work from the show… Mainly due to those weird pink things erupting from that chick’s mouth. They are seriously freaking me out.

(Any thoughts on what those are? Rogue taste buds, perhaps?)

[Thanks for the Sharpies, Colleen!]

I was taking a look at what NOTCOT had posted lately, and noticed these little guys.  They are the dastardly villains of the new Rayman game for the Wii.  There is a heavy flash site devoted to these psychotic little retarded bunnies, and it cracks me up.  The best are the videos of them in real life situations.  They always have the same reaction, and even though I know what’s coming, it is funny every time.

Also, congrats to the designers for tapping in to the current love for characters like these.  Now if they can only redesign Rayman to be equally interesting.  Rayman is one of the lamest video game heroes of all time.  I can’t begin to describe my confusion that there is soon to be a fourth Rayman game.  Even Spiro thinks he’s a douche bag.  Toss him in the crapper with the likes of Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, Bubsy The Bobcat and Gex The Gecko.

One of the things I’ve learned on the Google is to pull up maps.  It’s very interesting to see…  I’ve forgotten the name of the program… but you get the satellite, and you can… like, I kinda like to look at the ranch.  It reminds me of where I wanna be sometimes.

-Bush, asked during an interview with CNBC if he ever googled anybody.

I want to preface this by saying that I’ve been on the net for a long time. Remember when the net was all bulletin boards and text and there were no pictures to be seen?

I do.

Since then, I’ve roamed the net a lot and still do all the time, looking for cool and interesting stuff to share with our readers. As a result, I rarely stop and think “What the heck? I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

But it does happen, and so I present the sculptural artworks of Jennifer Maestre.

Jennifer’s scupltures are all created primarily from either pencils, nails or beads. According to her website, she was originally inspired “by the form and function of the sea urchin”, which you can definitely see in the pieces, but there’s something more. There’s a sort of snowflake-like fragility and wonder that makes me believe that no two pieces could ever truly be the same. Explore the site by clicking the link below, but don’t touch anything, they’re pointy.

[Jennifer Maestre]

[source=haha.nu]

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Teachers who create good art lesson plans often have better results than those who just throw things together.

PingMag has a great interview with Sean Tejaratchi regarding the reprint and revival of Crap Hound, a publication chock full of clip art compiled by Tejaratchi over the years.  Five issues were produced in the 90s, but the unapologetic and politically charged zine went dormant till now.  You can pick up issue 6 here.

I was in high school in the mid 90s, so this is the first I’ve heard of this thing…  I need to get my hands on some of these, and soon.  I love retro imagery like this.  A book compiling a total of eight issues is on the way as well!  I am salivating all over my keyboard just thinking about it.

Best of all, Tejaratchi has generously supplied a link with the interview to 3 full res scans from out-of-print issues of Crap Hound!  If you are a designer, or a design fan, this is a must read.

The human race is an unfair and stupid competition. A lot of the runners don’t even get decent sneakers or clean drinking water. Some people are born with a massive head start, every possible help along the way and still the referees seem to be on their side. It’s not surprising some people have given up competing altogether and gone to sit in the grandstand, eat junk food and shout abuse. What we need in this race is a lot more streakers.

-Banksy

A friend sent me a link to some of Kevin Peterson’s work, and I share her enthusiasm.  Kevin is oozing with talent, and works like the above Jealous Monkey Whips the Squeaky Donut take us to another world.  He claims that many of his works are representations of actual situations in his life.  I wonder what inspired the abuse of a donut in this case?  It is that mystery that draws me to Kevin’s art.

[See his work]

[Buy his work]

Thanks Erin!

Every once in a while you stumble across an artist who really seems to be able to do it all, and Erik Drooker is that kind of artist.

Looking through his website you’ll find everything from monochromatic scratchboard illustrations, full color paintings, sequential artwork, books, covers for the New Yorker magazine and more.

His illustrations really convey a sense of weight and depth which is pretty impressive considering that a lot of the work is only one or two colors.

Awesome stuff. Check it out at the link below.

[http://www.drooker.com/]

Today I found the work of Brendan Monroe.  He has an interesting flavor that is hard for me to describe. The best I can come up with is quiet and gooey. This may seem like an odd description of someone’s work, but take a look at his portfolio and you will understand.  He explores a sort of surreal environment populated by little melancholy creatures that is somehow comforting to me.

Also, have a soft spot in my heart for wood sculpture.  I love the grain of the wood… It just can’t be duplicated. Creating sculpture like these from wood requires a great amount of skill and patience.  I know that Monroe invested himself in this sad little microbe. See it all.

I love when designers experiment with unorthodox materials, and this is one of the most successful applications I have seen in a long time. 

Designer Karen Konzuk has now brought concrete to the jewelry world with a striking architectural approach. She somehow makes concrete jewelry seem appropriate, rather than strange. I love these so much, I wish they were around when I was buying my wedding band. I do wonder about durability though.

[Source= MoCo Loco]

[Buy Some!]