ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: Mail

This week's theme is mail and I had just the thing in my archives! Hoping this gets me back into contributing more regularly to Illustration Friday!

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NEW WORK: Illustration for Balans Magazine

I have been doing a series of illustrations for the Dutch 'Balans Magazine' focusing on sibling relationships. Here are the past few which were published over the past few months. It's been fun to work in a new drawing style and featuring a new member of my animal cast, the raccoon!

THINGS I LIKE: Maxence Cyrin

I recently saw the kind of funny movie It's Kind of a Funny Story and was struck by the beautiful instrumental cover of The Pixies' song "Where is My Mind?". I did some light detective work (aka google) today and found the pianist behind it, Maxence Cyrin. This Frenchman makes his covers even more beautiful by pairing them with utterly perfect film footage. Here are the two I was most taken with. For more of his work, you can go here. Enjoy!

THINGS I LIKE: Life in Slow Motion

I am a sucker for time-lapse and slow motion film. There is just something magical about seeing the world move at a different pace. Here are a few of my favorites, some old, some new. Alas, often it's ads that tend to get the budgets to make these things.

Schweppe's ad shot at 10,000 frames per second!



Pedigree ad



Canon Pixma ad



Sony Bravia ad



Bathtub IV by Keith Loutit: time lapse and tilt shift photography



Kuroshio Sea: This one isn't actually slow motion, but it feels like it.

THINGS I LIKE: Night at the Guggenheim

This past week my beau and I attended the Youtube Play awards at the Guggenheim as our good friend James Braithwaite was one of 25 honored winners (out of over 25,000 submissions!). The show featured creative shorts on Youtube and the event didn't disappoint! Each screening was paired with a live musical performance and the interior of the Guggenheim was covered in projections. It was pretty stunning!

Here are some of my favorite shorts from the 25 winners!

I Met the Walrus: Director Josh Raskin and illustrators James Braithwaite & Alex Kurina

Bathtub IV: Keith Loutit

Western Spaghetti: PES Film

This Too Shall Pass: OK GO

Autumn Story: Yanni Kronenberg &  Lucinda Schreiber

Birds on the Wires: Jarbas Agnelli

The Huber Experiments Volume 1: Erik Huber

NEW WORK: pet portraits

Here is Major Taylor Von Gutenberg the Great Dane, racing through the Alps. His owner is a competitive biker and I'm sure Major would be quite the contender if he only had thumbs to help him hold on to the handlebars! Go, Dog! Go!

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THINGS I LIKE: Bounty of the Bowerbird

Bowerbirds are incredible creatures. My mom always said you should never marry a man with design ideas - in hopes of getting to make all the decisions yourself.*  Yet these guys would seem the exception to the rule! The males have a sharp eye for design, composition and a penchant for blue, all in hopes of winning the ladybird after their own heart.

Then again, once they court their lady Bowerbird, she has to build the nest and raise the babies herself. Lesson to the ladies: don't go after the flashy guys! They'll just start showing off for someone else. Find the bird with a good book collection.

* This was before I met my filmmaker / illustrator beau who is filled with design ideas. He even proposed next to a Bowerbird nest he had built for me in the middle of Prospect Park, Brooklyn!  Luckily, he also has a great library so I'm not too worried.

Photo source here

Photo source here

Photo source here

Photo source here

Photo source here

Photo source here

THINGS I LIKE: Estelle Hanania

I recently discovered the beautiful, mysterious and whimsical work of French photographer Estelle Hanania. The images below are from two series 'Demoniac Babble' and 'Parking Lot Hydra', both documenting men in costume at carnivals. In her own words, "I'm attracted by a feeling of disorientation and excitement that you can find in these gatherings and costumed traditions... I love this kind of situation where everything gets confused and uncertain, but you still can define the most familiar shape which is the human figure, vanishing."

More of her work can be seen here.

Demoniac Babble 2007

Parking Lot Hydra 2009

illustration friday

Hello there!

It's been a while since I've been taking part in Illustration Friday and it felt like it was time I got back into it. It's a great concept and a great community. This weeks theme is 'star gazing' so I thought this watercolor would fit nicely.

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Have a great weekend!

© Copyright 2010 by Vanessa Boer. All rights reserved.

No part may be reproduced without written permission.

THINGS I LIKE: Dalton Ghetti

I am a fan of all things tiny and artist Dalton Ghetti has taken miniature to a whole new level. Ghetti started carving bark as a kid, then moved on to soap and chalk before settling on pencil graphite. He uses only three tools for his teeny-tiny sculptures: a sewing needle, an exacto and a carpenter's pencil. Without the use of a magnifying glass he carves these incredible Lilliputian works of art.

THINGS I LIKE: La Cueva de Los Cristales

I know sci-fi tries to tell us otherwise, but I think we definitely lucked out with this planet of ours. It's the coolest! Have you ever seen images of crystal caves? Not just hippie-dippie street vendor crystals meant to re-align your chakras while simultaneously emptying your wallet. Seriously awe inspiring, giant crystals, people!

Here are pictures (from our brainy friends over at National Geographic) of the most incredible crystal cave discovered as of yet. It took hundreds of thousands of years to grow these crystals and some are as tall as 36 feet! Incredibly, these aren't photoshopped. Behold!! La Cueva de los Cristales!

p.s. By the way, I love that everyone in the pictures looks like a sort of bored construction worker while they are probably some sort of genius / scientist just trying to look cool.

THINGS I LIKE: The Mighty Eyjafjallajökull

Iceland has been the object of my affection for many years. The natural beauty there is wild, vivid and unparalleled. Here is a beautiful time-lapse film of (the icelandic volcano with an ice-cap hat) Eyjafjallajökull by filmmaker Sean Stiegemeier. This is the infamous volcano that was getting so much bad press due to the wild amounts of ash whirling around the planet and lots of stranded travelers. But if you take a moment to appreciate it for what it is, a mountain with smoke and lava pouring out of it while our planet's plates shift, it's pretty incredible.

I saw this film a couple months ago but I think about it all the time so figured I ought to share it. The soundtrack is a beautiful and perfectly apt song by the Icelandic singer Jonsi (of Sigur Ros). It feels like that song was meant to score a volcano. See for yourself.

Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.
p.s. I definitely recommend you watch this in full-screen. Just click on the 4 arrow icon at the bottom right of the video.

Photograph by Rakel Osk Sigurda, NordicPhotos, Getty Images

THINGS I LIKE: Ben Javens

I recently came across the work of English illustrator Ben Javens. It was an unlikely spot but I was stopped in my tracks while buying soymilk at the market. Ben was hired to completely redesign 8th Continent soymilk packaging and man, oh man, it worked! I wish everything in my fridge was this awesome!

He has a definite 60s influence but there's something all his own. He has a great palette and clean design but manages to keep the handmade quality in each print. I really love his work so here are a few more for you to enjoy!

For more of Ben Javen's work, check out his site or his agency Unseen Agency

who happen to represent a whole slew of really great artists!

THINGS I LIKE: Inspiration Station!

Hello there,

I recently missed the one night only showing of 'The Tale of the Fox' (Le Roman de Renard) at BAM. It's a famous stop motion film from the 1930s made by Polish-born (French-raised) Wladyslaw Starewicz and his wife Irene Starewicz. Say that three times fast! It's an incredible film and very rarely screened. Luckily, I found it broken down into parts on youtube. What a treat!! Wes Anderson pays homage to this film with small references in 'The Fantastic Mr Fox' - another gorgeous film.

Enjoy!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

NEW WORK: Abe's Peanut is out!!

Here are my illustrations for the great new children's magazine Abe's Peanut. It was such a pleasure working with writer Lisa Tharpe and the magazine founders (and sisters) Anna and Tess Knoebel. For more information go to abespeanut.com

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The promo image for issues sold in stores

Fox, Hedgehog and Willow Warbler, in pre-finger puppet form.

Fox's den on the left, library lawn, Willow Warbler's nest in the trees and Hedgehog's burrow (where the treasure can be found).

Chatting with Hedgehog in the woods.

Hedgehog's bejeweled burrow, with Eames rockers to boot!

© Copyright 2010 by Vanessa Boer. All rights reserved.

No part may be reproduced without written permission.