I just came across these amazing illustrations over at the New Yorker this morning. Come to find out they were done by Pascal Staub, who works under the moniker Grafilu. I’m so glad I saw these, Pascal’s drawings are really incredible. I don’t know that I can compare to them to much else I’ve seen.

Another really great portfolio from the UK. This time the work of design/illustrator Rob Lowe (A.K.A. Supermundane).

Lately I’ve been fancying the drawings and illustration work of Rose Blake. There’s major talent in the UK…someone get me one of those Draw More shirts!

PS – Thanks to Andy Chen for introducing me to Rose’s work.

Christoph Niemann is a genius.

Alberto Cerriteño is a Mexican illustrator, animator and designer currently based in Portland.

Andrew Holder (Pasadena, CA), a graduate of Art Center College of Design, has a portfolio filled with some really wonderful illustration work. I especially love these trophy deer heads, shown above.

Cosas Minima is the work of illustrator and design Blanca Gomez, from Madrid, Spain. I think the thing I love most about Blanca’s work is the fun and carefree nature of some of the characters she illustrates. There is a beautiful sense of balance and minimalism to her work as well.

Chris Piascik is a talented fella’ that does some interesting hand-lettering and illustration. His Daily Drawings project includes the image above of some Clips lyrics, love this stuff. Oh, and he’s one of the guys behind Print Brigade. I know we’ve already posted on Chris in the past, but his work is so good it deserves more attention. Chris, if you’re listening (er….reading), we love you.

Mathiole is a Brazil-based illustrator whose work is filled with a wondrous sense of color, imagination, texture and spectacle. I often wish I could create something as free and vibrant as this.

I found this art director/illustrative designer, Zeptonn, through the wonderful blog Doodlers Anonymous. Browsing his portfolio you will see how his characters sneak onto any item and make it exciting, whether it be a mural, apparel, print collateral. The bottom line is: Cute, fun, strong “vectorish” graphics that all make me giggle with joy. Sold!

If you care to see an eclectic collection of illustrators, I cannot recommend Jacky Winter Group more. They are an Australian based agency and boast that they represent “Australia’s Finest”. Going through the work of artists and seeing their roster of clients, it’s hard to argue that point. There is fine rendered typography, collaged imagery, digital illustration combined with photography and simplified vector graphics. I’m sure that is part of their success – no matter your taste, you’ll find something you like.

The only thing I can say about these images is that you need to see them for yourself. Amazing stuff…that’s all I got.

Some people just like to have fun.

UK illustrator Nicholas Saunders is a lucky guy. He was given the opportunity to work for 4 months on the graphics and packaging that were used in the “Weasley Joke Shop” scene for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. He was able to come up with names for the products and all of the artwork that was then produced by hand into packaging for the production.

Check out the video special about the process below.

[youtube 7NJtEhbyslI]

Illustrator Alex Nabaum has created some amazing editorial illustrations for TIME, Newsweek, NY Times, Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone and a score of other major publications. I could look at these all day.

Deke Smith has the good fortune of working as a designer at JDK Design, one of the first studios whose work I can remember as a design student. His portfolio has some really incredible illustration work and prints.

I’m so glad that Alexandra Witjas sent us a message about her portfolio site. I had come across her work before and was a big fan, in fact I had it bookmarked so I could post it on here! Alex recently graduated from Pratt and is now hard at work for Mike Perry Studio. Check out her illustrations and such, just gorgeous.

I could look at Andy Gilmore’s work all day long; the patterns, the colors, the rhythm and repitition all work together so harmoniously. Gilmore is a Rochester, NY based artist and designer, you can find some of his work here and/or here.

We’ve written about Johanna Basford before on The Takeover. She is continuing to prove herself as a creative innovator, now creating the world’s first TwitterPicture. Johanna asked her Twitter followers to suggest ideas for a new illustration. 238 tweets later and her drawing was done, it looks incredible. This is really a great example of using existing technologies in a collaborative way to create artwork.

Elena Xausa is an Italian illustrator/design whose work is beautiful in its simplicity. I love the whimsical quality of her drawings, they have a great line quality, and her clean typography.

Michael Thorsby (A.K.A. PMKFA) has some really fresh stuff in his portfolio of graphic design, illustration and apparel graphics (for It’s Our Thing).

I came across Johanna Basford’s work this morning after reading this post at Creative Review (MUST READ!). Her illustrations are incredibly detailed and ornate, covering everything from wallpapers and ceramics to textiles and fashion. I generally don’t like to look at a lot of this stuff, but I can’t stop looking at her portfolio for some reason! A lot of her work is aimed at the high-end luxury market, who else could afford hand printed wallpaper studded with Swarovski Crystals right?

Holy smokes I’m loving the portfolio of Dimitri Simakis.

Horrible news regarding one of our Good Folk. Lauren Nassef found out yesterday that a student in the UK has been plagiarizing her work, even winning a prestigious textile design competition by stealing her illustrations.

The portfolio in question is that of Samantha Beeston, a graduate student at Falmouth University in the UK. Beeston’s site is no longer online, but you can see a sketchbook of “her work” on YouTube. Ridiculous. Nobody wins when this sort of thing happens. I hope the awarding institution issues a public apology and that this fiasco results in some more recognition and offers coming to Lauren.

Read more about it:
Lauren Nassef’s Blog
Book By It’s Cover
You Thought We Wouldn’t Notice

Amazing work by Damien Correll. If anyone has a spare copy of this event calendar from Fall 2008 please send it to me! I’ll pay for the shipping of course. I think the illustration is just brilliant!

There are some great books over at Mark Batty Publishers, including the one above titled Skateboard Graphics. Check out some spreads below.

Via Core77

Nice work from NYC studio Landers|Miller. Their work covers design, books, illustration and product design.

Gotta love this Paul Rand poster by Felix Sockwell. Sockwell also recently designed the cover artwork for a great book I’m currently reading, David Barringer’s There’s Nothing Funny About Design. I highly recommend it.

All I have to say is holy smokes. Deanne Cheuk‘s work is stunning. No, better yet it’s mind-blowing. Nope, that’s not good enough either. Her work is unreal. Best part is Deanne’s portfolio is massive and covers multiple disciplines.

Just received a press release from a wonderful designer and friend, Rafael Esquer, about his new project: Alfalfa Seeds. Go support a great cause be purchasing one of the shirts from his debut collection, 7 Deadly Sins.

Part of the proceeds from alfalfa seeds will support scholarships for minority students at Art Center College of Design, Esquer’s alma mater. “This country is wonderful: if you work hard you can reach your dreams. I was able to receive a great education thanks to scholarships, so now I intend to help the next generation of talented Latin students at Art Center secure their education,” explains Esquer. “We need more diversity in the design industry, and I’d like to help foster it.”

I love this poster that Si Scott created for DAHRA.

i came across Sarah King on google while looking for someone entirely different not even related to design, but glad i did. her illustration and attention to detail is powerful and smart as well as inspirational. her work reminds me of illustrations i used to do in high school with type. if only there was enough time in the day to do this kind of work..  keep it up sarah..

I love these cardboard characters on Flickr.

One of our Good Folk, Lauren Nassef, now has a shop on her site where she’s selling each of her daily drawings. If ya don’t know, now ya know. The biggest problem I have is choosing which are my favorites, they’re all so good!

Ms. Laura Alejo has some lovely motion and print work.

I can’t believe the amount of great work going on over at Mark Weaver’s site. Just mind-blowing beautiful stuff.

Norway’s own GrandPeople has some fantastic design and illustration work going on.

The work of Emmaneul Polanco. All I could muster up when I came across his site was “HOLY CRAP”. Mr. Polanco has some exquisite examples of collage illustrations.

-NAME
Don Clark

-WHERE ARE YOU FROM?
Seattle, WA

-WHAT DOES YOUR WORK CONSIST OF?
Illustration and graphic design, mostly.

-HOW DID YOU GET STARTED?
I’ve been interested in art since … well, since I knew how to say “art” I guess. Our (my brother Ryan is also my partner at IC) grandfather was an extremely talented artist and illustrator who worked at NASA for many years. Our father is also a very skilled woodworker and luthier. They were both a really big influence on us as kids and definitely inspired us to take this path. We never really thought about doing anything else.

-WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?
Well, getting paid for your ideas (and your interpretation of those ideas) isn’t so bad. Being able to use vintage children’s books as a tax write-off is pretty cool too.

-WHAT IS THE WORST THING ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?
The business aspect of being self-employed can be stressful. If it weren’t for my accountant, I might be in jail. Things get confusing!

-IF YOU WEREN’T DESIGNING, WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING?
Playing music or left field for an obscure single A farm team.

-WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
Life around me – and that changes all the time … but more specifically I’d say Southern California mid-century modernism.

-WHERE DOES CREATIVITY COME FROM?
The Creator.

-WHO’S WORK DO YOU LOOK UP TO? (Either currently or in the past)
Past: Alfred Paulsen, Alvin Lustig, Herbert Matter, Paul Rand, Jim Flora, Dr. Seuss, Martin & Alice Provensen, Ward Kimball (and many at Disney), Richard Scarry, Bernice Myers, J.P. Miller, etc.

Present: Chip Kidd, Stefan Sagmeister, Bob Staake, Geefwee Boedoe, Tim Biskup, Lou Romano, Teddy Newton, Ralph Eggleston, Johnny Yanok, House Industries, my brother Ryan, etc.

-WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE FOR YOUR INDUSTRY?
For us, “our industry” used to mean the music industry. We’ve been fortunate to branch out in new directions as a result of dwindling CD sales, piracy, etc. Lately we’ve seen a large increase in illustration projects for a variety of clients, from retail to editorial. While the music projects are still coming in, we’ve been able to be a bit more discerning with the records we work on. I think that’s been a good thing for us.

As for music, as long as people want to sell it, you’re going to need art. Yes, the budgets are shrinking, but packaging won’t go away entirely. In fact, we’re in an age where we aren’t limited to a jewel box or a CD anymore. I’m rather optimistic in terms of what kinds of packaging options might be out there in the future. Why not an Interpol book that comes with a digital download card? I think we’ll be seeing all kinds of cool things …

-WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM YOU NEXT?
I touched on this in the last question, but as a company (and personally), we are seeing a fairly dramatic shift from design projects to illustration projects. We obviously love doing both, but we really enjoy drawing. If people want to see more of it, we’d like to keep doing more of it.

We also have a brand new website / store / blog in the works that should launch sometime towards the end of summer.

-WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO OTHER PEOPLE IN YOUR FIELD ASPIRING TO GET TO WHERE YOU ARE TODAY?
“Don’t try to be original, just try to be good” – Paul Rand

-ONE DEFINING MOMENT OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR.
A phone call from an extremely nice lady named Gaby who represents a band called Foo Fighters. Second on the list would be an e-mail from a man (and now friend) named Dave Cuzner who runs a website called Grain Edit.

-WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
I Am X “Kingdom of Welcome Addiction”
Silversun Pickups “Swoon”
Mastodon “Crack The Skye”
Hot Leg “Red Light Fever”
Doves “Kingdom Of Rust”

Check out Frank Chimero’s contribution to the Un Sedicesimo series. I always get so much out of his work. Frank has an unerring sensibility that combines graphic simplicity with substantive wit.

Frank Chimero Shop

Richard Perez is a designer and illustrator in San Francisco, by way of Los Angeles. He’s got some great illustrations and amazing typography.

Via GrainEdit

Geoff McFetridge (AKA Champion Graphics) is a renowned illustrator, designer and director out of Cali. Check out his skate company, Solitary Arts, too.

-WHERE ARE YOU FROM?

I am originally from Houston, Texas. I now live in sunny Santa Monica in walking distance to most everything I need.

-WHAT DOES YOUR WORK CONSIST OF?

I try to get involved in a variety of projects. For the last 4 or 5 years it has been mostly commercial motion graphics. I also love illustration and typography as well. I like to cover as much ground as possible. I plan to do some analogue artwork soon as well. It will be refreshing to use only my hands again. I’d like to start getting my work in galleries this year.

-HOW DID YOU GET STARTED?

I went to the University of Houston and first majored in fine arts. I was introduced to graphic design by my friend Joel. I loved the concept of merging art and commerce so I dove right in and never looked back. After I graduated in 2000 it was a struggle. The dot com crash just happened and coupling that with being in a city that isn’t known for having an exciting arts scene I found myself frustrated. I spent some time at a print studio in Houston as well as freelancing for myself working with bars and restaurants doing logos, menus, and promotional material. I eventually got hired at a web studio in Los Angeles a few years back which was a stepping stone to getting into the motion graphics industry. I was staff senior designer/art director at Exopolis where I did some really fun work. Eventually in 2006, it was time to part with Exopolis to go freelance which is what I have been doing since.

-WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?

The best thing I would say is to get paid to be creative. I get to constantly challenge myself to experiment and push new ideas and executions. I try to learn something new every day.

-WHAT IS THE WORST THING ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?

The worst thing is that there never seems to be enough time to make the work as good as I’d want it to be. There always seems to be a compromise in the final product due to the client’s needs and tastes as well.

-IF YOU WEREN’T DESIGNER/ILLUSTRATOR, WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING?

If I wasn’t doing this I’d probably want to travel around the world with my wife. We’d leave no stone unturned.

-WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

First and foremost life inspires me. Getting off of the computer and spending time with my wife and our dogs. We like to go hiking or walking on the beach. Also, the people I work with inspire me. Whether they are directors, animators, 3D artists, editors, photographers, programmers, or whatever. They all seem to share a common drive in solving the problems of our project and doing great work. But it doesn’t stop with just the people I work with. Every person I meet has their own story. I find them all fascinating and I think they eventually influence me some way or another in the work I do. If I had to pick designers, I’d say the legends such as Saul Bass, Herb Lubalin, Paul Rand, Milton Glacer, Otl Aicher, Lou Dorfsman, and their peers.

-WHERE DOES CREATIVITY COME FROM?

Creativity is a culmination of many things. It is from what you take in from the world around you. It’s sparked by something beautiful you see or an amazing song you hear. Once it manifests inside your mind’s eye, the work will will naturally take form and find it’s way out onto whatever canvas you choose.

-WHOSE WORK DO YOU LOOK UP TO?

I look up to anyone who is taking the time to make something. I hold a lot of respect in the world of specialized craftsmen and people who perfect their craft. If I had to pick a specific contemporary artist or designer the easy choice for me would be Geoff McFetridge. Everything he does seems effortless and timeless. He will go down as one of the legends of our time. I am glad I got to meet him last year.

-WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE FOR YOUR INDUSTRY?

The future is what we make of it. The commercial industry will always be there but it is up to us to reinvent it and take it to new levels.

-WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM YOU NEXT?

I just co-directed/art directed a spot for The Royal Bank of Canada with Mark Kudsi at Motion Theory. I designed a commercial for Target which features Prince. I am currently art directing a Black Eyed Peas video and I finished a fun poster with BBDO for the “Make It New” conference. I recently signed with the illustration rep agency Debut Art so I am eager to see what work they send my way.

-WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO OTHER PEOPLE IN YOUR FIELD ASPIRING TO GET TO WHERE YOU ARE TODAY?

I would say to never limit yourself and to never be satisfied with what you are doing. You have to continually want to improve and have new ambitions. The key to staying busy and successful is to challenge yourself and to never take the easy way out.

-ONE DEFINING MOMENT OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR.

Easily that would be my move from Texas to Los Angeles. There is just so much exciting stuff happening in NY and LA in our industry. It started off rocky out here but I kept pushing and it eventually paid off.

-WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?

At this very moment I have been really into Miike Snow, M. Ward, School of Seven Bells, Ornella Vanoni, Donovan, Q-Tip, and Piero Umiliani.

-WHERE ARE YOU FROM?

Barcelona, Spain

-WHAT DOES YOUR WORK CONSIST OF?

Graphic Design and Illustration

-HOW DID YOU GET STARTED?

I always liked drawing, went to design school and started working for different companies.

-WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?

The satisfaction doing things your own way.

-WHAT IS THE WORST THING ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?

The stress and time consumption.

-IF YOU WEREN’T A DESIGNER, WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING?

I wish i could do music, but i learned it’s not my thing.

-WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

Basically Nature.

-WHERE DOES CREATIVITY COME FROM?

From the overcoming of idea crisis.

-WHO’S WORK DO YOU LOOK UP TO?

Non-Format, Marian Bantjes, Sagmeister, Mario Hugo… among others.

-WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE FOR YOUR INDUSTRY?

Mmm,… I believe 3d and motion graphics will be more and more incorporated to the designers regular tools. And 72 DPI will be the futures standard resolution.

-WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM YOU NEXT?

I’d like to work more on a physical support, learn new techniques and programs.

-WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO OTHER PEOPLE IN YOUR FIELD ASPIRING TO GET TO WHERE YOU ARE TODAY?

Love your work, respect it and take good care of it. Your work is what you’re worth.

-ONE DEFINING MOMENT OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR.

Being able to design the cover of Rolled Gold Plus for the Rolling Stones.

-WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?

I’m listening to Resident Advisor Podcast Num 145. DJ Koze

I love this book that was done by Pentagram’s Angus Hyland. Amazing piece of editorial design and illustration work.

Darren Booth has some splendid work. Great hand lettering!

Illustrator Craig Frazier has an incredible 98-page sketchbook online over at 98pages.com

Via Design Observer

All I know is I came across this site and it has some amazing illustration work by a dude named David Waters. Crazy stuff, love how the portfolio is presented along with the process in a slideshow format.

I came across Travis Cains work while searching for images from the Rheingold project… turns out that Travis did some packaging for Rheingold while working under Neil Powell at PowellNY… Also Turns out that somewhere i have a Kid Robot Dunny that he designed for Cooper Hewitt…   Small world, and great work.. check him here

Greg Sands has some amazing text-based drawings on his Behance page. See them here.

Designer Evan Geltosky has some fantastic work up on his site. Go visit his online portfolio, Pancake Breakfast.