Heidi Willis

I stumbled upon this lady's art just shortly after the post below so I apologise for it's repetitive 'botanical-art' nature... It's really beautiful stuff. See more of it on her official website.

About A 97-Year-Old Botanical Art Maestro

This guy's amazing...

"97-year-old Chikabo Kumada, known in Japan as a pioneer of botanical art, has made countless book illustrations and picture books about the subject. For 71 years (!), he’s been drawing the insects, animals, and plants that live in his garden and neighbouring woodlands. But only in his 70s his career took finally off! PingMag MAKE spoke to him about his experiences in life."

The spirit photographs of William Hope

These photographs of 'spirits' are taken from an album of photographs unearthed in a Lancashire second-hand and antiquarian bookshop by one of the Museum's curators. They were taken by a controversial medium called William Hope (1863-1933).

To read more about him and to see more of his photos, please visit The National Media museum on Flickr.















































'Most Haunted' couldn't do better really...

Applique illustration

There is an artist whose colourful, and warm appliques seem to have a mysterious healing power. Today PingMag talks to Tokyo-based Yoshie, who when she is not teaching workshops, seamlessly stitches and sews her illustrative embroidery art onto picture books, ads, and CD jackets to spread the love with mixed sewing media.

First, please introduce yourself!

I work as a picture book writer and illustrator. Since the end of 2005, I have been working freelance. Now I live in an old house which contains a studio, and I spend my days creating

Yoshie’s studio in her own house. Looks like a cozy work of art already!

You used to work in the apparel industry: How did it start with the picture books?

When I was a kid, I was always drawing. For a while, I wanted to become a veterinarian, and after that I wanted to work making something. I found a job in an apparel company, but I realised I wasn’t able to create the kind of world that I wanted to create. I wanted to make something with fabric and somehow naturally came back to the world of drawing that I was living in when I was a kid.

How do you think up picture book stories?

It is hard to explain, but in my mind, I just throw out fragments of ideas. So I always have all these thoughts racing around in my head! Sometimes I take memos and begin to build on ideas and start scene out of them. That is always the most exciting moment for me. Pulling together tiny little thoughts to build something new is a bit like making an applique picture.

See the full interview and more pictures over at PingMag.

The Art of Cutting up Books

I stumbled upon this awesome artwork by Brian Dettmer. He carves into books revealing the artwork inside, creating complex layered three-dimensional sculptures.








































































There's more book-related art here and see more by Brian Dettmer here.

Men

Which 'man' do you consider yourself to be?



















Found here.

Shawnimal's Wee Ninja and the Moustachios

"Shawnimals was started as a hobby 2001 with one simple goal – to bring people together by way of strange yet cute artist-made stuffed creatures and other fun items. It's what Shawnimals was founded on, and now years later as a full-fledged company, it's what we believe in today. Now Shawnimals is breaking into video games, comic books, apparel, collectible vinyls, lifestyle accessories and more!" - Shawn Smith

I saw these guy's stuff when I was in America and it's all really awesome... Particularly the moustachios and the wee ninja.

You can find all kinds of sweet downloads (desktops, buddy icons...) and merchandise on the Shawnimals site.

Kozyndan t-shirt

Found on sale here.

The Brick Testament.com

"The Brick Testament is the largest, most comprehensive illustrated Bible in the world with over 3,600 illustrations that retell more than 300 stories from The Bible.

Launched first as a website in 2001, then as a published book series in 2003, The Brick Testament project is an ongoing one-man labor of love, constructed and photographed entirely by The Rev. Brendan Powell Smith."

Work your way through the wonders of religio-lego art here.

Chiho Aoshima

I just thought that I'd mention this amazing Japanese artist.

"Chiho Aoshima is a CG artist who creates her unique and extraordinary world through manipulation of Bezier curves, a feature of the computer software Adobe Illustrator. She constructs her works with such elements as bodily fluids, reptiles, insects, and old, concrete buildings. Chiho Aoshima's art works are audaciously enlarged and printed by heavy-duty printers, not only onto papers but also onto leather and plastic surfaces, giving her works the sense of transcendence of both art and illustration." - Chiho Aoshima.com


Some examples of her work:

Moofia series acquire new family members...


Something mysterious has happened to this series of cute dairy-related figures. Upon visiting my local Forbidden Planet yesterday, I noticed that they were stocking a different series of Moofia with a few changes to line up. 'Leche' and 'Japanese Milk' has been replaced by 'Strawberry Milk' and 'Rice Milk' but I can't find these anywhere on the web...

More tokidoki artwork please...

If you haven't already heard of this artist/company I highly recommend checking out his website. tokidoki is the Japanese-inspired lifestyle brand created in 2005 by Italian artist Simone Legno and his business partners Pooneh Mohajer and Ivan Arnold. All of the characters are designed by Simone Legno. There's now a whole range of vinyl toys, bags, skateboards and other accessories on the website - but sadly no art prints.

If you know of any going on sale, let me know.