graphic design – arts, ink.

Industrious Illustrating #52 – Experimentation

January 12, 2024January 12, 2024 Robin Leave a comment

Hello, and welcome back to another week of Industrious Illustrating! It’s now 2024, which opens up a lot of new possibilities and directions for the rest of the year. That means I want to highlight a few drawings I’ve made recently that are more experimental or different from what I usually draw.

This was more of a graphic design-esque drawing I made for some zippered coin purses that I ordered from a supplier during a sale depicting a plastic file, two different types of plastic nippers, and two hobby markers that would all be common tools for building model kits. I wanted to go for something simple yet bold, as my usual style focuses a lot on details and elaborate painting.

This, meanwhile, is a quick digital doodle of the cell towers disguised as palm trees that I saw all around the Los Angeles and Orange County areas when I was visiting family there over winter break. I wanted to convey the feeling of driving home after a long day and realizing something is slightly off with one of the freakishly tall palm trees lining the freeway. I also wanted to free myself from needing every drawing to be highly polished, so I set myself a time limit on this one and stopped drawing once the 20 minutes was up.

That’s all for this week, but I want to wrap things up with a quick question. What ways have you personally experimented with your artwork recently — and if not, how will you experiment with it in the future? I’d love to hear about it!

Artist Spotlight: Swissted

March 5, 2021March 4, 2021 vle 1 Comment

Swiss modern graphic design and punk rock music, what’s not to love? A project created by artist and designer Mike Joyce, Swissted is a collection of posters that utilize simplistic Swiss design to advertise historical rock shows. Although seemingly polar opposites of the arts field, Joyce makes punk and modern design blend together beautifully.

Graphic design originating in Switzerland in the 1940s-50s is also referred to as the International Typographic Style. You might recognize other works by designers such as Josef Muller-Brockman or their usage of simple shapes and Helvetica or Akzidenz Grotesk typefaces. During the development of graphic design in the 20th century, designers stressed the combination of typography, composition, and communication.

Mike Joyce’s surprisingly effective solutions cover renowned music artist and bands from Public Enemy, to The Velvet Underground, to David Bowie, to Radiohead, and many more. His posters are full of bright colors and alluring compositions of large shapes. For any graphic design fan or music lover, these posters are a must-have.

Available at museums all over the world, dozens of vibrant posters are also able to be purchased on the Swissted website. I can’t wait to get one for my apartment! Although which one is another question…

There are too many amazing posters to show, but here are a few!

The Fascinating Work of Jennifer Daniel (Google’s Emoji Boss)

November 22, 2019November 25, 2019 vle Leave a comment

Jennifer Daniel, Google’s Expression design team Design Manager, oversees gifs, emoji stickers, and camera filters. She is also an illusrator, author, and mother. Before her position at Google in California, Daniel worked for numerous years at the media giants the New York Times and Bloomberg Businessweek. I had the chance to see her speak at the Penny W. Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series last year, and she impressed the crowd with her wit and humor. Above all, Daniel’s vibrant, engaging work invites viewers to indulge in the fun parts of everyday life. She is a designer of true honesty and immense talent.

One of her works I find most alluring is Space: A Children’s Text Book published in 2015. The neon volume boasts pages of clean, beautiful graphics of planets and our solar system, and a plethora of facts about space. Although described as a “simple, attractive book of infographics,” let’s be real here, this book is for adults. I could spend hours poring over its colorful, info-packed pages, and will be sure to purchase a copy for my coffee table.

Image result for jennifer daniel space

Some of Daniel’s portfolio includes editorial illustrations, infographics, and animations. I am personally drawn to designers with bold, simple lines, and colorful graphics and Daniel certainly fits the bill. Drawing from both retro and modern inspirations, her illustrations are so aesthetically-pleasing to look at. Be sure to check her out!

All Work and No Play – Graphic for *Good Magazine*

Infographic for *Bloomberg Businessweek*

Simple, Bright, Beautiful: The Work of Kurzgesagt

September 27, 2019September 27, 2019 vle Leave a comment

I may be fairly late to the game, but a couple months ago I discovered Kurzgesagt, a Munich-based animation studio that makes informative YouTube videos and brilliant artwork. The studio’s signature style is based off of rounded shapes and vibrant colors, and means “in a nutshell.” Their beautiful videos showcase their dedication to knowledge, producing impressive animations about scientific subjects such as space, technology, and biology. At first, I thought it was a single artist behind the amazing creations, but discovered it is in fact a stacked team of art directors, illustrators, and producers working behind the scenes.

In addition to producing popular YouTube videos, the group also works as a creative design agency, creating illustrations, branding, merchandise, and graphic design solutions for clients (notably the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation!).

There is something simply mesmerizing about the studio’s simplistic style–its rich use of color and boldness. I have noticed many illustrators borrowing Kurzsegagt’s artistic style, but the original agency stands out for its consistency and passion for education. Be sure to check out Kurzgesagt’s beautiful work on their channel and below!