All posts filed under: Illustrators

Art Science & Practice: an Interview with Russian Lettering Artist Gosha Bondarev

What happens now? What do we really want? Not so long ago, Gosha Bondarev, a Russian lettering artist with a physics background, asked himself those questions. Today we are going to talk to him about his artistic endeavors and a scientific past that comes back to him from time to time. “We know what we are, but not what we may be.” —William Shakespeare As human beings we are constantly changing and developing, adapting to the new situations the world presents us with. These modifications can even occur within ourselves: whenever we may think we know everything about our lives, our goals, and our preferences, we can suddenly get hit with the realization that perhaps what we used to enjoy yesterday doesn’t quite appeal to us today. So, my first question will be about your transition from the world of science to the world of lettering art. What was it like and how did you come to that decision? Towards the end of my 4th year of studying physics at the university, I started having …

Illustrator Valeria Petrone Plays With Witty Characters And Odd Situations

The world of Valeria Petrone is filled with many characters. They animate the illustrations she draws for adults in magazines and for children in books. From men and women with big observant eyes to cats, dogs and birds casually striking a pose; the cast is deliciously enchanting and entertaining. The artist is an illustrator with many talents. She juggles from children’s books to serious editorials for magazines, newspapers and ad campaigns from Italy, the UK and the US. She keeps a humorous style whether she’s designing for an informative article or a playful story. Valeria Petrone is often commissioned to create an atmosphere to go along a text. Her methodology consists of letting her mind wander while reading the text. While doing so, images come to her mind.  She associates these snapshots to the words and then begins drawing. The set-up and characters express an idea or a feeling. We could imagine the entire story by only looking at the imagery. The main character is always put in a situation that makes us wonder about …

Bright and Personal: the Gouache Paintings of Mogu Takahashi

Japanese artist Mogu Takahashi embodies the best of the outsider art trend. Tilted perpectives, personal subjects, and child-like scrawl burst from the pages of her popular guache drawings. Subjects that seem ordinary — flower pots, pajama pants, persian cats — become sublimely colored compositions that remind the viewer of the excitement only a child (or child at heart) can have about their surroundings. Therefore, it’s no surprise that the self-described self-taught artist’s biggest collaborations have been creating objects for children; including collaborations with Little Red Stuga in Sweden as well as Japanese fashion line Chambre de Charme. Takahashi’s deceptively simple characters and creations find an especially appropriate home in houseware collaborations, decorating the sorts of household objects she frequently studies on paper. Take a look at her online store for a beatiful gallery of ceramics and other household objects brought to life with carefully-placed eyes and subtle brush textures. What’s really captivating about Takahashi’s work is the element of daily practice invoked in projects like her daily journals, which are available in full at her website. For …