Esther Aarts {illo inspiration}

I love her "iPad!" What a clever comparison. Read about it on her blog.




Esther Aarts is a illustrator/designer/typographer based in the Netherlands.
{all images belong to artist: Esther Aarts Website}

Jon Klassen {illo inspiration}

From commercials, videos, animations, greeting cards, story-boarding, book covers, etc, Jon Klassen does it all. I remember him most from the Royal Bank of Canada Ad (the second image with the deer) but it seems like he is everywhere. He is from Canada but lives in Los Angeles now. Enjoy peeking at his work here, but check out his website if you want to see so much more.

all images belong to artist {Jon Klassen's website}

Ana Juan {illo inspiration}

I first learned of Ana Juan's work when I went to Spain one Christmas and saw her posters and t-shirts for sale at a flea market. I found out she was a Spanish illustrator and soon saw her work in many Society of Newspaper Design award books. Since then she has illustrated for the New Yorker and many childrens books - one of my favorite was about Frida Kahlo. She is phenomenal! Enjoy!

all images belong to artist: {Ana Juan's website}

World Cup Giraffe?

Yipee, the games are afoot! Here is an illustration for the World Cup I did that ran in Sports last week (Mark Zeigler story). It was my idea to put a soccer pattern on a giraffe and I was very excited to get to do something for the beautiful game. But when I got the space to do it for the cover, I must admit I got a little nervous. What if it looked ridiculous. What if people wondered what the heck a giraffe was doing on the cover of sports. Well, I continued working anyway and it all turned out just fine. I got compliments from many a soccer fan. It was a hit as well as an eye-catching change of pace for the sports page. At least that is my opinion. Gooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaal!

Summer Succulent Gardening

I've been potting succulents lately - ever since we decided to save water and change our yard to desert plants. It's been so much fun. This pot is my favorite so far. These plants don't skip a beat. You can rip them apart, dig them up, shove them in a pot and they take it all in stride. They look happy to me and they make me smile. Hope something makes you smile more than once today!

Swell Printing Session

Take a look at our short board birthday cards and thank you cards. Our surfer and surfer girl are back again. They are printed on French Paper, Starch White Speckletone. We still have a few more cards to print in this wood-cut style but we'll get it done when we can - it's summer! Hope you all had a great weekend.

Eleanor Grosch Part Two

I came across these mugs at Delphine's blog the other day and couldn't believe my eyes. Two things I love together - coffee mugs and Eleanor Grosch's art! If my husband would let me have another mug in the house, I would get one or two of these. Who could decide between them anyway!

Get some for yourself here.
{images are from pushmepullyoudesign.com}

Eleanor Grosch {illo inspiration}

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Although Eleanor's work has Charley Harper influence, she certainly made her style her own. So clean, geometric and beautifully simple - I love her work! Wow!
Eleanor Grosch prints.
Eleanor's website: pushmepullyou design

Recycle, Reuse {illustration}

Sometimes, in a pinch, you have to re-use an illustration that has already run in the newspaper. It happens - you run out of time, inspiration or illustrators. As luck would have it, you've illustrated the same subject before. It may have been 2, 3 or even 4 years before. Will the readers notice? Should we run it again?

In this case, the story was different but my art director had the brilliant idea to "repurpose" the old illustration to fit the new story. The first illustration ran a few years ago and was about hostels revamping their image. I made everything green and got rid of the backpackers and Tadah! Now it's an illustration about hotels going green!
{all images belong to the San Diego Union-Tribune}

Primele: hand-writing meets letterpress

I stumbled across Primele at Oh So Beautiful Paper this week. I love the idea of using rubber stamps for return addressing envelopes for a wedding. Especially with hand-written calligraphy - it keeps the personal touch alive. I know I'm all about letterpress, but in this economy you have to cut some corners. Anyway, I checked out Patricia Mumau's blog and came across a letterpress wedding invitation she had hand-lettered and drawn. To top it all off, it was on chipboard, my favorite. Gorgeous!

Charley Harper {illo inspiration}

I can't say enough how much I love Charley Harper. To me, he is the most influential illustrator of his time. I see his inspiration in so many illustrators today, me included. He is one person I would love to have tea with and hang out with in his studio. I missed my chance, but at least I can enjoy his huge body of work forever.
•check out Charley Harper's work here.
•buy his book "An Illustrated Life" here. {I would love a copy - hint, hint}

Opening of Make Good! {south park}

We had the pleasure of attending the opening party for Make Good, a new store in South Park for locally handmade art, jewelry, clothing and other up-cycled goodness. Make Good is also our newest retailer! We got our cards in just in time for the party. It was so nice to meet Sophia, the owner, in person. She was super nice and made us feel very welcome - we even got name tags. The store was gorgeous and had plenty of goodies to buy. I loved the sets of glasses made from root beer bottles, the stuffed "roadkill" animals and the journals by The Novel Novel made from old hardback books. We had a lovely time, especially listening to the music of the very talented Erika DaVies. You must stop by the store if you are ever near by.

We owe a special thank-you-so-much to Glo who got us into this awesome shop! She lives around the corner and is one of our biggest fans. Thanks, Glo!

{images are from www.themakegood.com and their flickr site}