Typography: Hand drawn No.1

By Lou Taylor

@loutaylor

Do you want to submit your design for our Typography Rally? 

then read here!

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Typography: Digital No.5

By Amy Crabtree

@cakeswithfaces

Do you want to submit your design for our Typography rally? 

then read here!

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Typography: Digital No.4

By Erin Buckley

@erinloubuckley

Do you want to submit your design for our Typography rally? 

then read here!

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Typography: Digital No.3

Vote for this design on Threadless! 

By Zeptonn

@Zeptonn

Zeptonn's flickr

and

Esther Aarts

Esther Aarts' flickr

Do you want to submit your design for our Typography rally? 

then read here!

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"UPSTAIRS FOR THINKING, DOWNSTAIRS FOR DANCING" Exhibition News

Exhibition news now, and we have a great one for you now.Upstairs for Thinking, Downstairs for Drinking is the first solo outing of the venerable Mr Millerchip who brought his own slice of awesome to our Paint it! Make it! event. Mr Millerchip's lovable style brings you the best in characters with humour and a certain elegance in their construction, creating a melange of edgy and clever characters set against tumultuous and stylish backgrounds. So if you have a spare moment, get your good self to The Pure Gallery and take in the untamed glory of Mr Millerchip! Check below for the dates and details.

The Pure Gallery proudly presents

"UPSTAIRS FOR THINKING, DOWNSTAIRS FOR DANCING"

collection of images created by Mister Millerchip

The UK based Illustrator has created a world of characters who appear within complex narratives, living out their lives in two tone splendour. 

Mr. M's first solo show “ Upstairs for Thinking, Downstairs for Dancing” depicts an oddly mundane 24 hour period in the life of Lars Arraday, a determined street preacher by day and a successful ballroom dancer by night. 

Black and white could not be any clearer which is perhaps the irony of the show through a simplistic yet sympathetic approach to his chosen palette, Mr M has indeed made a success out of creating thought provoking imagery that conveys a story of one mans obsessive desires. 

 
The show runs from the 1st to the 29th of September 2011 with a special view on Thursday the 1st of September 7pm till 10pm. Check below for the address and you can see the facebook page here!

 
The Pure Gallery 
151 Park View 
Whitley Bay 
Tyne & Wear

UK
NE26 3RF 

Links 
The Pure Gallery
Mr Millerchip

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Typography: Digital No.2

By Marsha Baker

twitter

email

Marsha's Esty shop is coming soon, but in the mean time prints are available as12 x 24 $25!

Do you want to submit your design for our Typography rally? 

then read here!

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Artist 102: Jack Gilliland

Proud of showcasing new talent on the rally, we have a great new artist to bring you today. Jack Gilliland has got himself a great bold style backed up with some serious skill based chops, always a fan of hard graft and painstaking working practice I'm more than happy to introduce Jack and his characterful illustrations. Jack is one of those artists who can visually summarise a person, but crucially he also has the skill to pull of drawing them in a compassionate and expressive way. Familiar people in familiar scenes, he can evoke the self conscious, painfully deliberate carelessness of a student's pose, so full of personality you can almost smell the cigarette smoke. Jack grabs personality and plates it in a soft palette with intense lines. He has a very developed eye for figure which is one of the best traits to take forward in an expanding working practice, he eats form and gives you composition, at his strongest working from life, he excels at showing us those he knows and he should stick to his guns, as he is onto a good thing. So wishing him the best of luck and with great pleasure, It's Jack Gilliland.

Who are you:

I am Jack Gilliland and i like to draw.

What do you do:

I am currently studying Graphic Design at university and just about go into my third year. My work is all mainly illustration based as i really enjoy drawing. I am hoping to soon open up an etsy shop and start making prints and designing tshirts to sell, as i really enjoy making things aswell as drawing.

How did you start:

 I have always really liked drawing ever since i was little. By the end of school/sixth form it was the only thing i was really interested in doing, so i did a foundation degree at College and then when onto University

A Personal statement about you or your work:
I tend to work by hand using pens and pencils to do initial line drawings and then i bring my illustrations onto a computer to edit and colour. I usually draw things i find amusing or a bit different, i like keeping it fun most of the time and hopefully that comes across in my work.

Links:
portfolio
blog
flickr

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Children's Book Rally with fantastic prize

This rally is now closed for submission.


We are extremely excited to announce our Children's Book Rally in collaboration with boutique children's book agency Frances McKay Illustration. We have a really special opportunity as our prize, courtesy of Frances McKay illustration and Mike Jolly of Templar publishing, a chance to show off your portfolio to a real industry vet! So please read on for our submission guidelines and details of the rally and the wonderful opportunity!


We will be accepting submissions as of today, the first posts in the rally will be posted in September, so plenty of time to get cracking.

Submission Guidelines 

• Only original stories or Classics please, so feel free to showcase your new concepts or old classics. As far as classics go, stick to the familiar for example Little Red Riding Hood
• Please submit two double page spreads, take care to note where the spine of the book would be and avoid crossing it important imagery or text, as this is a requirement of most publishers in the industry.
• Text if short can be included below the illustrations, no more that one or two sentences
• For longer text that you wish to be considered, please include a link to the story or synopsis on your site (please also state what these links are for when you submit them)
• When creating these submissions, you may want to add a 5mm bleed to outside edge of your original (spine not included) as if it gets picked by a publisher you'll need to add one! (it's not a requirement for us though)
• RGB 72dpi jpeg images please
• Please send us the links to your portfolio sites. (blog, facebook, flickr and etc)
• Send us a link to your twitter account if you have one, so I can promote you on twitter effectively.
• Please send your submission to illustrationrally[at]hotmail.co.uk with the title "Children's Book Rally".
• Only entries that are unpublished or not under contract by a publisher are eligible, if you are represented by an agent please include this so we can credit them.
• Note: Frances McKay Illustrators and Illustration Rally may enter but will not be eligible to win.
• Deadline is Monday 10th of October
• The winners will be announced the end of October 

Example Submission

By Donough O'Malley

Read the blog article about this book here, it's helpful!

Prizes!
The winner of the children's book rally will get to meet with Mike Jolly, an Art Director from Templar publishing who will look through your work and portfolio, giving you one on one advice about how to make it in the children's book industry.


In addition both the winner and the runner up will be featured on Frances Mckay's blog along with mentions for other noteworthy entrants. 


Frances McKay's blog is followed by the following publishers:

Hodder Children's Books
Random House Mondadori
Templar Books
Zoe Waring - Senior Designer at Scholastic Children's Books
Will Steele - Designer at Templar
Walker Picture Books
Heinemann Publishing
Penguin Books UK
Workmann Publishing
Andersen Press
Simon & Schuster UK
Usborne Publishing
Atom Books (imprint of Little Brown)
Scholastic UK
Nosy Crow Apps
Sortis Books

So if you don't want to miss this fantastic promotion opportunity to get noticed in the world of children's book illustration please enter, and best of luck!

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Typography: Digital No.1

By Lorien Pitsinos

@loriennlindsay

email

Do you want to submit your design for our Typography rally? 

then read here!

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Magazine Feature: Saji

Here on the rally we are determined to bring you some sweet new things and let you know about some of the great artistic and creative goings on in the world, as such we present to you Saji. Saji is a magazine where food is the star and is combined with fashion and illustration in a beautiful melange which will have you salivating for more. From black burgers to delicate sweets Saji takes you in a direction you would never thought possible. It's really fun to have so many wonderful disciplines combined and gives people from every creative field something to feast on. Truly international, the magazine is printed in French, English and Japanese which fits cleanly into a solid yet gentle typographic style, such a perfect little package please take a look at this hyper exclusive gem of a magazine, and on a side note having made some of the recipes I can personally vouch for their tastyness.


The latest issue is Saji Wagashi, the Japanese sweets issue, featuring work from : MIHO, Takashi Taima, Yoko Kogami, Sachiko Kanaizumi, Natsuki Otani, POSTICS, Clothes by Orphan Age.


We'll be doing a give away on twitter, tweet "Magazine Feature: Saji aka @mihosaji http://bit.ly/nS7DVD RT this tweet & 3 people get a free copy of Saji magazine #saji" then I'll pick winners from tweeters next Monday! Read on for an interview with the editor MIHO!

Illustration by Sachiko Kanaizumi

Illustration by Natsuki Otani

Illustration and photograph by POSTICS and MIHO

Who are you? 

I'm MIHO, I'm usually a photographer, I take photographs of food and objects for magazines, books and advertisement.

How did you come up with the concept for saji, why food, fashion and art?

I wasn't interested in eating at all when I was a child originally, because of that I messed up my health. Then a doctor told me that what I am eating isn't good, he said  “What you eat today is what you will be 10 years from now”. I thought "I didn't know that at all!", "If I only knew that before I would have done better!". There are so many magazines and books for people who love cooking, but there is nothing for children who are not interested in food, I just wanted to teach them what I learnt, so I thought "Let's make it by myself!" That's the reason why I put food, fashion and art all together in saji magazine.


I included What's saji? in this interview, it is a story of myself so please read it. I hope there will be less children like how I was, I started saji with the support of the artists who understands my this feeling. I believe eating good food will bring us good thoughts, if we think of ourself as a small universe, we will be able to have power of thinking for our great mother earth.  

what's saji? Once upon a time there was a very fashionable and pretty girl. She was so busy shopping for new clothes, polishing her nails and dancing at night clubs that she had no time to even think of eating. Above all, her busy parents were always away from home, and dinner was a boring time when she ate on her own. If she got hungry, there were always tempting sweets or frozen dinners from the convenience store. Then one day, to her surprise, she fell sick. “It’s because of the things you eat,” her doctor said to her. “What you eat today is what you will be 10 years from now, my dear girl.” “What am I going to do?” The girl felt hopelessly lost. That was when she met saji. “Don’t worry, my dear.” With a wave of saji’s magic wand, recipes appeared in front of her. Cutting, mixing or baking, she simply followed the recipe. “Oh my, it’s a piece of cake!” She started to have fun cooking on her own. “Voila!” She wore a big smile, satisfied with the prettily garnished dish she had just prepared. Inviting her friends to her home and sharing the dishes she prepared, she was ever so happy. “You see? Cooking is something magical. No-fuss, no-rules! Just cook as if you were playing and have fun eating with a spoon in your hand. Isn’t it wonderful?” “OK. Let’s have some more fun!” After that the girl fell in love with food as much as she had been in love with dresses or doing her nails.

What nex for saji and you?

Next... after 11.3 Japan earthquake my mind is in Kodomo Shinbun (Child Newspaper) to protect our children. But the next concept for saji is already ready, it came up even before saji wagashi. I often think about security and reassurance after the earthquake, I want to give off the impression of true prosperousness and that we are thriving again.

I also would like to say, "To eat with people I love. Any meal is okay without frozen food and junk food" I think food is important so the situation of eating as more people seem to eat individually in Japan. The earthquake made me think that I want to be safe and sound and eat food with people I love!


Links:
Saji
Saji blog
facebook
twitter

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Artist 101: James Boast

Feature time again, and its a real treat for everyone today. We have the marvellous James Boast, who has a real sense of style and an accomplished working practice, just one of a clutch of hard working illustrators coming through Middlesex University at the moment, and James like the others we have featured benefits from joined up thinking when it comes to promotion and getting started whilst still studying. It will soon become standard practice for those intending to carry on into the industry to start earlier and poach clients even as they  down drinks on freshers week. It's a pleasure when we have someone here to feature who has all his bases covered like James. He has a good solid style which is the a great standpoint from which to launch a career, his use of moody marine colour really compliments his line and whilst he has a style it's great to see he is not a slave to it. One for the future he will surely be up there competing with others in his genre and as he explores and grows I'm sure he will keep developing with the confidence and intelligence his work already shows. So read on for more about this up and coming artist.


Who are you:
 I am James Boast.


What do you do:
I'm from Kent, but live in London. I founded FatbreadZine, a quarterly publication and I am a freelance illustrator.

How did you start:
I began a Btec in Art & Design after school and applied at Unis to study Fine Art, but the summer of that year brought a lot of doubt into my mind as where Fine Art could take my work. So I drew more and procrastinated and I eventually decided to take a Foundation Degree in Art & Design. This extra year was to help me make sure I was making the right decision.

Through this year, I learnt a lot about my work, my inspirations and different practices. After a couple more viewings of university I was sure I had made the wrong decision with Fine Art and Illustration was for me.

After three years of studying Illustration at Middlesex University, I am now a freelance illustrator. I got the ball rolling by doing some album work and some editorial work for Avantoure Magazine and I am currently doing illustrations for a children's book.


A Personal statement about you or your work:
I like to create images that have atmosphere and depth, I love images that tell a story. I hand draw all of my images, and then render them with colouring and textures in photoshop.


Links: 
portfolio 
blog 
twitter 
fatbread zine blog 
fatbread zine twitter

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Artist 100: Dale Edwin Murray

Keeping it short and sweet today with the ultra concise Dale Edwin Murray, and with an ability to say so much through his work it's understandable he can be as reserved as he likes! Dale's work is jam packed full of attitude, with its own dynamism that really gives it that little bit extra to make it stand out. The union of crisp lines, ace textures and a natural talent for colour use gives Dale's work the edge it needs to stand up in a crowd. Inspired by classic and retro images, it is easy to get lost when harking to the past but Dale keeps things fresh with cool clean lines and despite the classic and recognisable style he brings things up to date by his fresh but stayed palette and his use of texture. His work is very palatable and easy to consume, with an openness and a clear message. He doesn't dilute but sticks to his guns and gives us a tasty treat every time. His work is considered with a nice attention to composition and balance, this gives his work that box fresh appeal which is something that will serve him well in the future. Well without further ado, it's Dale Edwin Murray.


Who are you:
I'm Dale Edwin Murray.

What do you do:
I'm a freelance illustrator.

How did you start:
I started by designing t-shirt graphics and then moved into editorial illustration, greetings cards and art prints.

Personal statement:
My work is inspired by mid-century art and design and the quirks, idiosyncrasies and textures of screen printing.

Links:
portfolio

facebook

twitter

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Typography Rally submissions open

Illustration by Natsuki Otani

Hello all, the rally wouldn't be the same without some more open submission goodness for you guys to get your teeth into and your creative juices flowing. And it is with this aim that we are really happy to announce our latest rally. This three week open submission event aims to give you a chance to stretch your typographic muscles and show some of your hidden talent for the art of words. From time to time everyone experiments with text and whether you are a digital font expert or you love to cut, stick and scribble we want to get your text! As usual the usual rules apply, all rights are your own and we will publicise the hell out of all our posts do grab your pens pencils and styluses and get your funk on. As usual to keep it fresh we have some different themes throughout our three week rally. So if this takes your fancy and we hope it does please check out our submission guidelines and send us a text, don't worry it doesn't have to be new work. We are more than happy to show what you send! :)


Digital Typography: Monday 1st to Sunday 7th of August 
This is for you font meisters who engage in the dark vector arts, show off your text and your style over the first week of our Typography summer event. We can't wait to see your original fonts to keep us cool as we burn in the semi relentless, not so ruthless heat of the English summer.


Hand drawn Fonts: Monday 8th to Sunday 14th of August 
This is the place for all your hand drawn, cut out or constructed work, and we are really looking forward to seeing some really original and fun designs. So however you do it we would love to see it and don't forget to send us your links so we can shamelessly promote you!


Happy Birthday: Monday 15th to Sunday 21st of August
Whilst not technically our birthday, nevertheless we would love you to put pen to paper or pad and show us how your type does it's job. So please give us a lovely typographic birthday card, you can use any methods or media you like, simply follow our submission guidelines and have fun.


Submission Guidelines 

• Please state which part of the rally you would like to appear in, when submitting your entry
• Low res jpeg file please (72 dpi is good enough) as this is web quality, and my decrepit PC will die otherwise
• Don't forget to send us the links to your portfolio sites, (blog, facebook, flickr and etc) if you are sending us your product, send us a link to the pages you are selling your products.
• Send us a link to your twitter account if you have one, so I can promote you on twitter effectively.
• Please send your work to illustrationrally[at]hotmail.co.uk with the title "Typography Rally"

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Artist 99: Michalis Christodoulou

Artist feature time now, with an up and coming illustrator from the world of fashion illustration. Michalis Christodoulou is a London based fashion inspired illustrator who aims to capture the essence of style and female beauty that makes the fashion world tick. He uses inks and watercolours to great effect giving his work a translucent almost ethereal quality. He has a light touch drawing attention to places and letting others fade into the background. His work is at its most successful when he uses his draughtsman's skill to really great effect and incorporates dark strong lines and an almost scratchy rendering. His work is fresh and I'm sure that as he grows he will push it to the next stage, there are some really nice lines and flows in his capture of pose and style. As he builds on this and embellishes his style, he will surely use this to his advantage. I would love to see him move his work forward with his inks as he has a good eye for capturing motion. I really wish him the best of luck as he establishes himself. 

Who are you:

My name is Michalis Christodoulou, I am a London based freelance fashion illustrator. 

What do you do:

My fashion illustrations are hand drawn, using distinctive mixes of inks and watercolours. My current work ranges from editorial and advertising commissions to illustrating collections from the coolest designers and catwalk shows worldwide, for a variety of fashion magazines and fashion blogs. I also illustrate my own garment and accessories designs and have recently been featured in Amelia's Magazine, Ballad Of Magazine and Un nouVeau iDEAL by Filep Motwary.

How did you start:

I started drawing fashion from a very early age and always loved illustrating style, mood, beauty and cool outfits. Having an academic background of both mathematical design and art, gives a certain special edge in my illustration work. I recently started working for online fashion technology and styling, which further inspired me to completely focus professionally on fashion illustration and fashion art.

A Personal statement about you or your work: 

I love my work and it is purely inspired by female beauty, style, mood and cool designers' collections. The ultimate goal is to capture pure style and mood on a daily basis, either in the street or via catwalk shows, parties, collections and portray it the best possible way via features, fashion advertising and collaborations with the hottest fashion labels.

Links:

portfolio

twitter

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Tayori: Postcards for Japan.

Hello all, something to brighten up your day, we bring news of the lovely Tayori exhibition, a collection of post cards with a heart. Designed as a message of sympathy and greetings, this exhibition is comprised of a mix of students, established names and up and coming illustrators. All the proceeds go to a wonderful cause so please take a look!

Tayori: Postcards for Japan
The title of this exhibition can be interpreted two ways: Tayori, ‘便り’, means letter or tiding, and interpreted with different characters '頼り', it means help or reliance. Our intention for this exhibition encompasses both.

We present a collection of original work submitted both by student and professional artist/illustrators, some already established, some at the beginning of their careers. Each piece takes the form of a postcard: individually and together, they are intended as a message of hope and good wishes for Japan. 

This exhibition has been organised to raise funds in support of relief efforts in Japan, following the earthquake, tsunami and ongoing insecurity caused by the emergency at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear power plant.  The MA Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art has strong links with Japan: Japanese students come here to study, and staff have traveled there to teach.  As individual artists and illustrators, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and helpless in the face of such disaster. As a group, we hope to do more. Donating the proceeds of this exhibition to a charity that focuses its support on the children of northern Japan seems the best way for us, as illustrators for children, to contribute what we can to rebuilding their future.

All funds raised will be donated to Teachers for Japan, a volunteer-run charity giving support children and their families affected by the disaster, as well as rebuilding schools that were damaged or destroyed.


Find us at:
http://www.postcardsforjapan.co.uk/
http://www.postcardsforjapan.co.uk/

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