Pretty neat

Leah Reena

Carla Fuentes

Ran Flygenring

I have been trying to draw more recently, and these ladies have been inspiring me greatly. I randomly met Ran in Seoul and she was the loveliest lady ever! Some days it's a challenge to draw, but it's great to be reminded there are little pockets of inspiration everywhere - nasal spray included!

Miffy

I bought a bunch of Japanese Miffy books this weekend to try so I can try and get faster at reading kana. The illustrations in them are so cute. Especially the turtle riding!

Do you like my tight sweater?

Amaze. Caroline Andrieu

Science appreciation

I love scientific illustrations. There is such a wealth of drawings, garage sales are sometimes a gold mine. I was no good at science in school. My teacher was very brilliant but got frustrated when I couldn't understand something. She yelled a lot. After 16 I shunned any interest in science forever.

My boyfriends Dad is both a very interesting man and a scientist. He knows about krill and barnacles and things I didn't know even existed. He even named a crustacean after his wife.  What I like the most is how passionate he is about his work. It's quite inspirational and makes me wonder what on earth I am doing. I appreciate so many things but when I go to take a tentative step in one direction my efforts are shaky and I feel like scratching them out before I have even begun. I guess you just have to be brave and say 'yes this is what I'm doing and even if I fail I really love it so that's that. The end.'

A smile on the dial

Jung Park put a smile on my dial today with her slightly batty illustrations

Sumimasen!

I just discover Isabelle Boinot's sketch books and boy oh boy are they great. The water colour, the collage, the cartoons, the sausage dogs! She has two blogs, one focused on her travels to Kyoto, and the other on her Tokyo experiences. It tells you pretty much everything that Wikipedia won't, in the very best way.

Yesterday a fancy new macbook pro arrived in the mail for me, it was all rather thrilling. Ahhh technology. This means I can finally start putting up personal photos as they have been trapped in my camera for far too long. Watch this space.

Right now I am struggling to remind myself of the fact that so much goodness can come from pen, paper, scissors and glue, all because of my macbook giddiness. Thank goodness Boinots illustrations are here to remind me.

Sumimasen and Sugoi 

Enjoy!

Twilight zone

Japanese psychiatric art from the 60's and 70's is slightly loopy and unsettling. They're all a bit twilight zone. Born of rather imaginative brainstorming or perhaps an acid flashback it doesn't get much better/weirder. You can check out the catalogue of advertising dating all the way back from the 50's here. It seems, as time went by the advertising got worse, not better.

Whoever said crazy was a bad thing?

I wish I was ...

Hvass&Hannibal

Their work is why I studied design and realised I just don't have it, their work makes me choke with jealousy and yearn to possess even an ounce of their creative talent, swoooooooooon

Perve nation

    

I love Robert McGinnis and his pervy, sexy, OTT art work. It's all boobs, bikes, guns and the slightest hint of irony. He illustrated over 1200 paperback novels, mainly trashbaggery novels of foul play, mystery and seduction. His more famous works includes film posters for Breakfast at Tiffany's and Barberella

A technicolour world

I just stumbled across James Blagden, creator of a technicolour hyper real universe with gay gangsters, grills and an amazing back collection of art work. You can check his stuff out here.

behold!

I was ecstactic to stumble across Ashley Lande today ... when I should have been otherwise doing work ... her illustrations instantly filled my entire being with immense jealously for I love her work so! the characters in her illustrations appear to be bewildered primitives awed, terrified, and absurdly curious about the gods they behold, like naive children trying to make sense of a new toy. I physically ache, the line work and colours are ah-mazing. sigh.