Grickle Mythology

These brillilant cartoons based on Greek mythology made me laugh. I like the style, the smart sense of humour and their simplicity. 

Look at the full set here.

Hark - Strong Female Characters!

This cartooning makes me laugh. Especially since I spend a lot of time working on a brand that believes in empowering women (the brand book says nothing about this though).

Hark - Follow This Link

No Talking

French cartoonists have lovely brush work and Philippe is a fine example. Cute pirates will keep you quiet at his blog, No Talking Just Rock 'n Roll. They bring a smile to my face.

Garfield Minus The Cat

Occasionally I am reminded just how vast the internet universe is. Apparently this web comic of Garfield with Garfield removed is huge. It has a book deal and the blessing of Jim Davis. And it makes Jon look like a sad, sad man. The simplicity and genius use of the clone tool astound me.

Garfield-Garfield

We The Robots - Silicone Declarations

 

Chris Harding is working on a few projects. One of which is his web comic "We The Robots". Nicely drawn, simple and satirical up the wazoo. Perhaps there are a few things we can learn from the Robots.

Link 

IdeaFixa e-Magazine

 

Ideafixa.com is a cool publication. It's an e-mag that publishes bimonthly on specific themes. Issue 8 is Self-Portraits. While that has all the hallmarks of student disaster, the quality of the work is very impressive. The depth of the collection is fantastic, you just keep turning page after page after page. A lot of the work comes from South America and it's  refreshing to get exposed to the talent of the South. There is also a bio section for some of the artists which makes for some interesting reading. They work on a submission policy and the next theme is Food. So get out your pencils, camera, wacom, emo, etc and try and overwhelm the curators with your genius.

IdeaFixa

The Retry "Art" Sampler

A friend asked to see some art that I reckon is fairly decent at the moment. Instead of hiding it in an e-mail, let me share with everyone. I've blogged about most of these people or sites before but there's no substitute for an easy to click blog post to get motivated to look again. So, in no particular order, here's some food for thought:

Serious Painting

John Copeland - Probably my favourite painter at the moment.

Slightly Different Painters

Jim Woodring - A great contemporary Surrealist



Jeff Soto - Giant robots and rainbows never looked this good. Jeff's work has been translated into a short film by 3 Legged Legs. It's amazing to see this fine-art-street-type style in motion.



Ashley Wood - Famous for concept art, comic books and being a "little" brash at times. He paints on real boards and sells the original pieces to collectors. He qualifies as a real artist.

Interactive Media

[youtube=http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=l0Yyn_AYtaw]

Hoogerbrugge - A Netherlands artist who uses drawings of himself to lay waste to the repititions of modern culture. Or something like that. This music video is the quick sampler of his work but check out the website for classic focussed Hoogerbrugge.

Kooky

Michel Gagne - This is his 6th book, Frenzied Fauna: From A to Z.

ICanHasCheezBurger -There's a meme called Lolcats that many would not consider to be art, but it has been appropriated accepted adopted by the masses and shares some of the traits of art: visual aesthetic, an underlying theory, self-imposed executional rules, a sense of history. Is it -ism or is it -crapism? Will people in 100 years time have retrospectives of Lolcats? And in case you think I'm writing total rubbish look up the definition of Art.

Where to find more

Artshole - A UK listing for art
Art Krush - The e-mail publication and this list will see you right.
Drawn! - All about Drawers!

Large Provocation

I'm on the e-mail blast list of Agent Provocateur, not only because I like women in lingerie but because their web experiences are typically awesome. They partner with some great talent to bring a sense of humour and sophistication to frilly bits covering pink bits. Their latest endeavour, Lessons in Lingerie starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mindy and Tullulah is no exception. It's just fun.



And while Maggie and the girls look amazing trussed up in their silks, it's the illustration that links all the photos together that makes it great. I'm having trouble finding someone to take credit for the work though (so if someone knows please tell me and I can update this blog and heap praise where it should be heaped). The illustration was done by Tim Major, an drawer of the erotic. I haven't found an online portfolio (something about the unwanted attention perhaps?) but if you plug his name into Google Images you'll find some fun stuff.

I can direct some kudos at the branding company behind the AP campaigns, Large. Based in London and Copenhagen they add quite of lot to fill out their clients curves (sales and sexiness). Their rhetoric is not especially ground breaking but the work is beautiful and effective. Which is usually more than enough.

Anyway, back to the AP site. They've tried to expand the experience by putting Mindy on Myspace and Facebook (we're BFBFF) and do-it-yourself book covers that you can share on Flickr. All of which seem to have had an unfortunately luke warm start (I'm not sure about Myspace because I can't find Mindy by searching. Myspace has the worst search on earth!) They also use the drip feed method of quality content fed to you over time. There will be more adventures released over time. If any brand should understand teasing it's this one. In the name of fun and commerce, go visit.

Agent Provocateur
Large



ps. The full credits are in the Comments. Thanks to Large for supplying the names I was missing.

Spider-Man's Great Shame

They never mentioned this in movies! For a quick laugh at old advertising comics click here.
(Courtesy Paul F)

Matthew Woodson - Ghostco Illustrator

Matthew Woodson was born and raised in rural southern Indiana. At a young age he developed a fascination for natural history and the elegant simplicity of silent moments and small deaths. He then moved to Chicago to attend The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, where natural history was non-existent and silent moments / small deaths were few and far between. After graduating in early 2006 Matthew still lives in Chicago, in an apartment full of original hardwood floors, taxidermy, and a cat.

I like Ghostco. His illustration is obviously awesome but he also has something interesting to say.  He's an interesting guy who draws. So make sure you read his blog and look at his portfolio.