three designers

William Morris

http://www.william-morris.co.uk

Fred Butler

http://www.fredbutlerstyle.com

Olly Moss

http://ollymoss.com

three artists

Claire Brewster

http://www.clairebrewster.co.uk

Lenka Clayton

http://residencyinmotherhood.com

Guy Denning

http://www.guydenning.org

three illustrators

Lizzie Stewart

http://www.abouttoday.co.uk

Julia Pott

http://www.juliapott.com

Keaton Henson

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/01/09/keaton-henson-art-show_n_2440051.html | http://keatonsketches.blogspot.co.uk

ten images

As part of my summer project I have been asked to find ten images that interest me, so here they are!

I thought I may as well get the cats out of my system first! I really like the nostalgic feel that Beatrix Potter's illustrations have. Her drawing style is not something which I would pick out of a crowd, but because of the connections I have with her books as I child I find myself very fond of her illustrations.

I personally love making lists - I usually make them every day to help me stay productive. I find looking at other people's lists interesting, especially this shopping list written by a child. I enjoy how visually scattered it is and how they have felt the need to put boxes around everything! It is always amusing to look at things from the perspective of children, and the spelling is quite entertaining too.

I could not find a great deal of context for this image - only that the photograph was taken by someone called M Nelson. After further research I have discovered that birch trees can and do appear to have eyes on them, as shown in these further images:

 

Because of this I would like to think that this is the natural way the three bark has formed, which is a great example of how weird and wonderful nature can be.

These images (couldn't just pick one!) were created by John Gourley as promotion for his band Portugal. The Man's new album, Evil Friends. He regularly draws over images of faces, often including the words 'evil friends', and posts them online. I think this is an excellent way to create a hype around an album, and of course it helps that drawings are gorgeous. Altered imagery is something that I really enjoy.

I love it when inanimate objects just so happen to look like faces. This angry pepper is particularly great - it is completely naturally formed but still manages to look so humanoid! I find seeing things like this is quite inspiring in terms of character design. 

Also - bonus picture of this adorable little tap guy!

This is one of Scottish illustrator David Galletly's takes on the 'what I wore today' illustration trend that has been circulating online. I have seen countless what I wore drawings around the internet and while some are quite well done, they tend to be a bit 'same old'. Galletly's take on this trend, however, is playful and humourous and I much prefer it. My favourite part of it is how he clearly doesn't care about what he wore that day!

This image is by no means one I enjoy, but I find it rather puzzling - perhaps even frustrating. It is the CD cover to The Mars Volta's 'Deloused in the Comatorium', which is quite possibly one of my favourite albums. It baffles me that such a well thought out album (which even had a book written about its story) could have such a - in my opinion - tasteless cover. It makes me think that there's something I'm not quite 'getting' about it. I would like to find out more about why it was chosen, but seeing as the band are no longer active I probably never will.

Pictured above is a sketchbook page by German illustrator Angie Iver. I enjoy her work in general but my favourites are definitely her sketchbook pages - they are laid out in such a brilliant, narrative way not dissimilar to a comic book but in a much more 'free' style. I would love to see the physical sketchbooks - they would be very satisfying to look through, almost like reading a nonsensical graphic novel.

Despite popular opinion (it was named ugliest building of the year in 2010), I quite like the Strata tower in Elephant & Castle. The uneven windows give it an appealing imperfect look - it's much more 'human' than your average skyscraper and as a building that is based close to me I find myself strangely attached to it.

 

Stephan Thompson is a Canadian artist whose work is largely based around strange (yet endearing) creatures. I particularly like his 'Sticks and Stones' series in which he has created art using nature as his canvas. I really like this idea and would be very interested to see the trees he has carved into revisited - how the natural world has grown around it.