AHHHHHH!

So, I guess I am a fan of Kako's illustrations. I used their work in a couple posts back. In this piece they wonderfully conveyed emotion and generated interest. The image is absolutely eye-catching. Like in his other pieces, the line use is very effective. The image was used for Itau Cultural's 2008 video festival "Conflicts." How appropriate! Once again, this information was found in the July/August issue of Communication Arts.

cartoon dress up

These designs looked very cool both as individuals and as a group. They are part of a set of illustrations to promote Microsoft's Zune Zodiac series of mp3 players that feature custom engraving. They are hip and modern and I would imagine that they do a good job of attracting the age group that makes up the majority of mp3 player users. I like each of the color themes used and also the slightly cultural suggestive nature of each of them. It's like they're dressing a person up in very differing outfits. Very cool. As many of the designs previously and to come, this was found in the July/August issue of Communication Arts. It has lots of good stuff!

sweet illustrations

I really liked these illustrations. They have a unique style. I like that the subjects of each picture have a lot of detail while other things in the illustration do not. They flow very nicely with one another. Even though these illustrations lack color, the illustrator was very successful in creating a wide range of shades. The technique used for the animal's fur is very interesting and effective. Kako was the illustrator of these images and they were designed for the Brazilian edition of Jack London's White Fang. I found these images in the July/ August edition of Communication Arts.

Faces

I really like these illustrations because I find them to have some abstract qualities but also to be very realistic. They are almost in the style of comics. The two males faces in particular are interesting to me. They have a lot of character and cause me to wonder what's going on in their heads. Turning a photo into something looking similar to this may be somewhat simple to do on the computer, but this artist used ink on rice paper. It was found in the July- August issue of "Communication Arts." The illustrator is Kagan Mcleod. These images were used in an international film festival yearbook. What a new take on yearbook images!

As I'm posting this, my mind is in the gutter and I can envision other interpretations of this design...

This design immediately caught my eye because of its bright colors and uniqueness. Reading the accompanying article provided me with information that made the design even more impressive and intriguing. Apparently there are many advances being made in skateboarding. This board is for "freeriding," which is characterized by high speeds, spins, and slides. Comet, the company that produced the longboard actually let its users design it. The internet was used as a means to share ideas regarding the design. This board is named "the Flying Spaghetti Monster." After reading this I could totally see the reference, however it was not obvious to me prior to that. I probably would not have been in favor of that name but I think the designer(s) did a good job of making something that I find unattractive, look cool. I guess maybe I do like spaghetti monsters...
This design was found in the October, 2009 issue of I.D.

Count me in

I'm going to Las Vegas on Thursday to celebrate my 21st birthday. I thought that this was an appropriate image for this post. I really like that the cards in the deck are each unique from one another. Seeing one card would not tell you what the whole deck looked like. They are also very non-traditional in other ways. The illustrations on all of the cards are very original but the face cards in particular send messages. I found this in Communication Arts magazine.

playground

This is a somewhat atypical choice for this blog but I think it definitely illustrates good design. The design that is used to store the play pieces is very accessible and organized. The pieces seem durable, creative, and kid-friendly. An article accompanying the pictures revealed that the park was designed following the September 11th attacks in New York. The picture of the stored pieces makes me want to play with them. I found these images in the 2009 September/October issue of I.D. magazine.