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The great thing about illustration is seeing how differently artists interpret the world. Take a look at these illustrated birds. Some of them were collected over time so I do not have a reference for all, but the ones I do remember are these: 1. Sabine Brandt, 2. Bella Muse, 3. Oh My Cavalier, 4. Urban Outfitters Bag Illustration, 5. Domino Magazine gift tags
For those lucky folks who live in and around the Washington, D.C. area you have the opportuninty to visit the Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum to see the exhibition, Two Hundred Years of Black Paper Dolls: The Collection of Arabella Grayson. A regular Fly visitor gave me the link to a great article in the Washington Post about the exhibition. Thanks Shannon! This article makes me want to design and illustrate black paper dolls. (Hmmmm...) So definitely check it out and be inspired.
The CD packaging for Common's last album Be is an added treat to the album itself. The colors, design and photography are so breathtaking that I had to share it with you. This design was done by Gravillis Inc. who is responsible for a lot of beautifully designed CD liner notes and other promotional material. Please visit the site to see all the work they have done.
This is a friend I've known since college. I love her words of wisdom that she shares with us today. Thanks, Keet.
Who: Makeeda, 27
Where: Philly
What: I work for a non profit that promotes culture change and organizational change within other organizations and companies. In order to be successful many organizations need to restructure internally and rethink the culture that exists within their organization, and I support them through this process. Pretty cool job!
What inspires you? Good music, Good people, the color pink, Love.
Why are you fly? Because I'm me of course! and I'm committed to social change and living a very zen life (which actually takes alot of effort). I think that qualifies me as fly!
Advice: Two things, Speak your mind even if your voice shakes. I saw this on a bumper sticker recently and absolutely love it! Also change in the middle looks like failure. When we are in the midst of change we can often feel like everything is falling apart, but its not...it's just changing.
Africa is such a vast continent that I couldn’t possibly capture all of it's essence in one collage, but here is a little taste of the beauty that thrives there. Also, I found these beautiful books that can inspire you for your home, art and wardrobe.
African Style, Harlem Style, Safari Style – three gorgeous books on interior design
Inside Africa – a collection of 2 coffee table books, one explores North and East Africa and the other is South and West Africa. The photography is amazing.
These are a series of photos I took in 2000 at a barbershop in Philadelphia when I was still in art school. I sat in there for a few hours over a two-day period using my novice photography skills to capture the activity. There were so many characters. One guy refused to have his picture taken because he was afraid of being posted on the internet. At the time I was thinking, why in the world would I put these on the internet? Ha, look at me now.
This Fly Girl of the Week is a good friend of mine whom I used to work with at Hallmark Cards. She was the first person I befriended and we bonded through our love of design and music. Be inspired by her because she’s not only a super talented designer and illustrator but also a talented musical artist. She taught herself how to play a bass guitar and with her fabulous voice she and some friends started a band, Softee. Amazing!
Who: Sarah aka Sander or Hotpipes, 32
Where: In the basement of our new home, where Softee practices.
What: I'm a designer/illustrator at Hallmark Cards Inc. in Kansas City, MO
What inspires you?: love. people. and making something, anything. whether it's a doodle or music. color .
Why are you fly? I have a wonderful child who inspires me on a daily basis. I get paid to do something I love and I'm in a band with 3 girls whom I adore. I'm very blessed but I work really hard too.
Advice to share: If we know ourselves, we can be happier, more satisfied individuals. Once we do that, everything else will just fall into place.
With all the buzz about the movie Dreamgirls, a story loosely based on the rise and fall of the Supremes, I thought it was only right to feature vintage Fly Girl, Diana Ross.
After my screen-printing class was over I was able to go in and use the studio for one more day. So I spent an entire Sunday printing more bags in different colorways with a little Fly mention inside. I have no idea what I am going to do with all of them. I do want to sell them, maybe I can set up a little table on the sidewalk in SoHo. Any suggestions?
This weekend I shared this favorite meal with a dear friend who is a brunch addict just the same. We indulged at a cute little restaurant a few blocks from where I live called Kitchenette. This place is hecka cute, you forget you're in the city but instead somewhere in the country at a family owned B&B getting ready to pile on fresh jam onto homemade biscuits. Yum.
In some of her recent works, this artist used needlepoint to create intricate drawings on various material. Check out her site. For those with sensitive eyes, some of her work covers sexual issues so be prepared to see some explicit imagery.
Here is a mish-mosh of things that I love. The packaging illustrations with the clowns always make me smile, I am really digging the two outfits on the right, and the illustrations in the center on the pink backgrounds remind me that I need to take another screen-printing class (those are by this guy).The woman with the afro is from a book documenting photography from the Black Panther Movement. I have to find the name of the book, but this photo is so intriguing to me, everytime I see it I wonder what she's thinking about. Oh, and that pattern behind her is the cover to my sketchbook which I purchased at Anthropologie. Click on the image to get a better view.
A while ago a dear friend of mine gave me a stack of photo-copies from an old illustration book which featured this artist, Ben Shahn. Apparently this Lithuanin-born artist is better known for his illustrated posters for socialist propaganda but I fell in love with him for his beautiful line drawings. I couldn't find much on him except for this little entry on Wikipedia. But here are some of the images my friend gave me. Thanks, Stephanie!
