Yoskay Yamamoto

I spent quite a bit of time browsing through Yoskay Yamamoto's portfolio yesterday, and am quite taken with his artwork, particularly his sculptures, many of which he creates from a combination of hand carved bass wood and mixed media components. I especially like that all of his many figures - regardless of whether they're meant to evoke people, animals, cartoon characters, or even moons and planets - all seem so expressive. They're objects with narratives, regardless of whether they've been placed in a specific environment or not, as with his equally fantastic installation work, or even his paintings; it's no surprise to me that he began his career as an illustrator. As Yamamoto's bio explains:

Born and raised in Toba, Japan, Yoskay Yamamoto moved to the United States at the age of 15. A self-trained illustrator, Yamamoto's artistic tastes expanded as he fell in love with the urban culture of the West coast. Yamamoto discovered a way to fuse the two different cultural backgrounds together into his work. Yamamoto nostalgically blends pop iconic characters from his new Western home with traditional and mythical Japanese elements, balancing his Asian heritage with urban pop art.

See more on his website.


(Via The Fox Is Black)

while you were steeping - Geoff McFetridge

Okay, so I was a little skeptical of this video at first. The concept is a tad gimmicky - While You Were Steeping is part of a marketing campaign for Bigelow Tea, after all - but in the end, I was totally charmed. Unlike those of us who just sit around playing with their phones in the two minutes that their tea takes to steep, Geoff McFetridge spends his time a bit more constructively.


(Via The Fox Is Black)

Yusuke Oono - 360° books

360°Book Sweet Home (detail)

360°Book

360°Book In a Cheese (detail)

360°Book In a Cheese (detail)

360°Book Christmas Version

360°Book Jungle Book (detail)

360°Book Jungle Book

These magical scenes, part of a series of 360° books, were created by Japanese graphic designer and architect Yusuke Oono. Designed as a way to illustrate books in three dimensions, each can be viewed by both flipping through the individual pages, or the whole thing can be opened up to view as a sort of panoramic scene in-the round. See many more details on Oono's website. 


(Via Colossal)

Oliver Jeffers

I've been collecting children's books my whole life. As you can imagine, actually having a child of my own now has only matters worse, and the fact that he can't talk yet, much less read, hasn't been much of a deterrent - story time is as much of an important part of our day as playing and dinner.


My hunt for great new picture books is pretty much ongoing, and Oliver Jeffers is an author whose work I was very happy to discover over the past few years, and whose books I've been continually impressed by. This Moose Belongs to Me is my current favorite, but you really can't go wrong with any of his great titles. So for those of you who need an introduction, as well as those of you who are already fans but like short films that offer a glimpse into the creative process of artists as much as I do, here he is, folks, Oliver Jeffers, butcher, baker, picture maker.

2014 calendars: part 8

This week's 2014 calendars feature illustrated stories, to provide inspiration all year long.

First up is Rob Ryan, a long-time favorite of mine, whose beautiful papercut illustrations are often accompanied by sweet, sentimental short pieces of writing. You can find his 2014 calendar on his Etsy site, as well as through Amazon.

And speaking of cut-paper illustrations, Nikki McClure, another long-time favorite, has chosen Home as the theme for her 2014 calendar. Although they're not stories, per se, each of Nikki's images comes paired with a related verb that expands on the depicted scene. In 2014, these include Vibrate, Honor, Delegate, Matter, Lunch, Befriend, Ache, Inhabit, Chance, Save, Agree, and Stay.

And finally, I grew up on Brian Andreas' StoryPeople, short illustrated stories that run the gamut of human emotions. The 2014 calendar includes such gems as "Invitation of Spring," "Quiet Pride" and "One of Us."

Ed Fairburn

Ink on a contoured map of Innsbruck/surrounding area, 52 x 52cm approx. Lines of elevation have been followed with a pen – the width of each line is altered accordingly to build the different tones.

Welsh artist Ed Fairburn uses the geography of maps as the starting point for his evocative portraits.

Ink and paper sculpture on a reproduced military map of France, 25cm x 30cm. 

Die Milche-Strasse (The Milky Way), pencil on a celestial star chart. 

‘Norwich’, ink on an original map of Norwich.

Pencil on a cropped map of the English Lakes – specifically Lake Windermere.

I particularly like the star chart and elevation maps, but I think that this is such an interesting way of working, to quite stunning results. You can see more images of Ed's work on his website.


(Via The Design Ark)

Javier Pérez

Ecuadorian designer Javier Pérez has been creating this very fun series of object-based illustrations. I love how fun and clever some of these are. See more and follow along on Instagram.

(Via Colossal)

Friends, I'm signing off for the week for Thanksgiving. See you all on Monday!

Ana Teresa Barboza

Peruvian artist Ana Teresa Barboza works magic with embroidery. 

Barboza explores complex themes with incredible technique, and it's remarkable how much feeling she manages to bring to even her simplest work. See more on her website.


(Via The Jealous Curator)

2014 calendars: part 4

For this week's calendar post, we're celebrating our favorite animals, from furry pets to woodland critters.

First up is Gingiber, who has not one, two or three, but four monthly 2014 calendars that feature different animals (not to mention one year-at-a-glance offering as well). Owls, dogs, bears, and foxes, all illustrated are by Stacie Bloomfield, aka Gingiber, herself, and come with a clear acrylic easel for desktop display.

Next up is Julianna Swaney, who illustrated two calendars this year, both of which feature furry friends. Her main 2014 calendar is 12x14in. and shows a girl with her cats, but she's also offering a small 5.5x8.5in. fox calendar that's the perfect size for your desk or refrigerator.

And finally, if photographs of animals, rather than illustrations, are more your thing, the Bloggers Love Cats and Bloggers Love Dogs calendars may be right up your alley. A fundraising project by Design Crush for The Humane Society, each calendar features 13 months of pets photographed by the bloggers who love them. And rather than physically printing each calendar, both are offered as a downloads in order to give every last dollar possible directly to charity.

11 untranslatable words from other cultures

Isn't language incredible? It's wonderful to think that there are such beautiful words in other languages that don't have a direct translation in English, but Ella Frances Sanders illustrated 11 of them for Maptia. See them all right here.


(Via A Cup of Jo)

a noisy alphabet

There is a very special place in my heart for alphabet prints, and British cartoonist Tom Gauld's A Noisy Alphabet is my current favorite. Pre-order yours on his website.