World-renowned digital artist, Adhemas Batista launches a new site that showcasing his colorful and distinct illustrative style.
He’s still selling colors, love this guy. So incredibly talented.
New Victionary book about retro design and how it’s appearing in contemporary graphical work. Looks good as both inspiration and a reference tool.
Emerged today as the perfect marriage between old and new, retrospective designs are deemed to be an inevitable phrase in the design cycle when designers begin to look back and find inspirations for new graphic styles in the depressive pixel age. Some think these designs has cheered the digital era with the lost enthusiasm for new findings and the future, others reckon it as a tribute to the prominent art and design movements between 1920 and 1990. Taking a trip down memory lane, Flashback unveils how the epoch persists to be an enduring spring with a bold and pronounced application of colour, shapes, typefaces and illustration works in contemporary graphic art.
Two crazy (and crazy interesting) books from Gestalten showed up on my desk this week. Both are worth checking out!
The first is called Papercraft: Design and Art with Paper (top) and is all about the crazy and ingenious projects people have managed to do with paper and some serious time and dedication. The second book is admittedly bizarre but still awesome. It’s called Hair’em Scare’em and shows a collection of photographs exploring the inventive possibilities of hair as a medium for artistic expression. Yes, there are some crazy hair styles inside. Inspiration for the next time I hit the salon? Perhaps.
My pals from The Buried Life just dropped me a note with a link to their new trailer shown above. If you missed the news, they’ve been given there own MTV show! Fantastic coverage of what they’re up to in this past Sunday’s New York Times
Four buddies set off across the country in an R.V., video camera in tow, to knock items off their “100 things to do before I die†list: kiss the Stanley Cup, get a tattoo, grow a mustache.
With plenty of high jinks and adolescent humor, “The Buried Life†seems like the perfect MTV reality show, except for one unexpected twist. At each stop the group helps deserving locals with their own wishes. In Idaho, for example, they took eight children with brain cancer on a shopping spree at Toys “R†Us.
We all made new year’s resolutions, but Brock Davis is actually sticking to his. The artist has vowed to Make Something Cool Everyday, an ambitious project with a self-explanatory title. Each day in 2009, Davis puts together a photo, painting, or video, starting with a Lego scultpure nailing his mission statement in one word: ‘Build’. January saw a wave of clever illusions through photo, followed by various throwback graphics and pictures of shattered non-glass items. Following Davis’ interests through his daily work leads you to varying series, none of which are the same and all of which have us waiting for tomorrow. We’re seriously impressed, check it out on Behance.
Behance believes there are too many ideas in the world, and not enough action. The name is inspired by Thomas Edison’s famous quote, “genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” The conference is for people that already have great ideas, but need to make them happen. The speakers are all people that have a track record of executing their ideas again and again, successfully. Seth Godin, our Threadless friends, Michael Bierut from Pentagram, Scott Thomas, the director of new media for Obama’s campaign, our friend Ji Lee and a few other very impressive folks. Perhaps the 99% Conference will be the kick in the ass that people with great ideas sometimes need?
Get your tickets now. Seriously. April 16th and 17th. Use the code 99EARLY09 and get $100 off the regular ticket prices. This looks like it’s going to be an amazing event, and probably the first of many to come.
Smells like teen … inspiration! Our young friend Ethan Bodnar has come out with a new series of posters calling for social change in the most typographically literal way possible. The 11 x 17Â “This Is Backwards” series has a couple of motivational statements in, of course, backwards facing font. Wrong-headed ideas, like sitting on your ass all the time or going grocery shopping without a reusable bag, are spelled out against variations of solid blue. Clever. Just don’t hang them in front of mirror — or you’ll be getting the wrong message.
Where would you be without Adobe? Since they launched Photoshop in 1989, the technologically ubiquitous software company has been vital in transferring your imagination onto your computer screen. By creating programs like Dreamweaver, Illustrator, and After Effects (among others) you may think they’ve already seen a lifetime of inspiration through to its logical conclusion. But they already have. While Adobe may not be boasting about a program that can help you conjure graphic brilliance from thin air, INSPIRE, a new bi-monthly web publication from Adobe’s Experience Design team (a seriously bad ass group) is a welcome supplement to the company’s cluster of creativity. The online periodical seeks to connect the developer/designer community and put an accent on the importance of experience when it comes to dealing with a wide variety of applications. The new web mag will feature a new theme every two months and include videos, posts, and presentations from different conferences around the world. The theme for the inaugural issue is “New Experiences” and we’re confident after this new experience you’ll keep coming back for more. Even the UI of the site is inspiring, congratulations guys.
Also, be sure to watch the video of Chris Heimbuch, XD Practice Lead, and Ty Lettau, XD Design Manager, discuss the whys and wherefores of Inspire.
For every inventive T-shirt design that crosses our path, there are probably a dozen sarcastic or negative ones. Don’t get us wrong, we enjoy a clever turn of phrase or dose of irony every once in awhile, but creativity shouldn’t be solely the refuge for the disheartened. There’s plenty out there to be inspired by. The folks at WDCF (Where Design Comes From) couldn’t agree more. Their line of custom, limited-edition shirts were created with a passion for design for those passionate about design. Each of the four tees in their “custom custom” collection features a powerful positive message aimed at the creative crowd. Aside from awakening the artistic fervor within, WDCF’s apparel is also quite functional, as the entire set of shirts were built to be reversible — provoking an emotional response, inside and out.
It doesn’t really matter if you like photography or not (although, who doesn’t?), Daily Dose Of Imagery should be a staple read for anyone looking for inspiration or visual goodness. Frankly, it’s a must visit for people who can see. Sam Javanrough — a Tehran, Iran native living in Canada since ‘99 — has skills on the camera trigger to be reckoned with, which he has pulled off daily since July 2003 (the archives are deep and seemingly never-ending). Today’s post is an incredible cloud cover from Saturday evening. Yesterday’s was a drugstore aisle transformed into a moving photograph. He sells prints every day as well, from $18 for a 6-inch x 8-inch to $550 for a 44-inch x 50-inch piece. Keep snapping that shutter Sam!
The Saint Petersburg, Russia design team Indeepop demonstrates their expertise in character design with their Japanese Moleskine Project. The team presents a unique set of characters, meticulously and continuously illustrated from cover to cover in a traditional Moleskine notebook. Indeepop is a truly diverse team that has ventured as far as custom Converse shoes and toy design, and their Moleskine project emphasizes just how imaginative they are.
Each week, JoshSpear.com explores the latest projects by top creative professionals in the Behance Network and highlights a few that are pushing the edge of the creative industry. Josh also serves as an Advisor and Guest Curator for Behance.
Okay, I admit it. I’ve been selfish. I’ve been shying away from live blogging this year at TED, and mostly been twittering overheards and interesting things throughout the conference– it’s a lot easier, and lets me truly focus on the brain safari that is the incredible TED experience.
If you’re dying for coverage as it happens (I certainly would be) here’s who is on the ball here:
Ethan Zuckerman has great coverage, as does Mark from BoingBoing– both are doing a fantastic job (yeah, disciplined bloggers!).
Still want more? Spend some time on the TED 2008 Flickr Stream, and of course, the official TED blog is always a good place to get involved…
Highlights from the conference so far that made me think:
Amy Tan talks about how, and more importantly why she writes.
French Industrial Designer and digital imaging maven Lysandre Follet pushes ideas into visual concepts. Lysandre first exhibited a crack ability to prototype with his “Motorola Stereo Camera Phone” and he has now just released his dream sneaker, a mutant Nike slip-on that looks light as air. We want them. Now.
Each week, JoshSpear.com explores the latest projects by top creative professionals in the Behance Network and highlights a few that are pushing the edge of the creative industry. Josh also serves as an Advisor and Guest Curator for Behance.
One of my favorite TED Talks of all time was just posted — you can view it here or click on over to the TED site to explore. This 18 minutes of fascinating and intriguing stories by J.J. Abrams, creator of Lost, Alias and the soon to be released film Cloverfield, was just as awesome in person as it is now in digital form. His passion and genius for mystery is clear. Watch Lost, then go watch the man talk about it!
