We had no intention of posting two book cover posts nearly back to back, but upon viewing designer Jim Tierney’s work, there was no avoiding it. These redesigns of Jules Verne book covers were part of Tierney’s thesis project for the University of the Arts. Visit Tierney’s walkthrough of his process on Faceout Books for more images and insights. View the video for the glory of the books’ transparency, die cuts, and pull-tab goodness.
Thanks to Ars Technica for introducing us to the spectacular game trailer for The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom. The game, which debuted at the 2008 Independent Games Festival, was just released on Xbox Live Arcade. Amazingly, Winterbottom was originally created for the Student Showcase at the IGF and wasn’t initially intended for commercial release. The game trailer alone made Agena Agogo because of its visuals inspired by the silent film era. Oh yeah, and the gameplay looks great too (it has pie!).
Coraline Bickford-Smith is the senior cover designer at Penguin Books, where she has gained notoriety for her clothbound covers. In a year starting off with a fervor over e-book readers, Bickford-Smith is making a strong case for the aesthetic and tactile benefits of ink on paper. Truly, these books are individual art pieces made to adorn the shelves of book lovers and anyone who appreciates good design.
Thanks to The 99 Percent for their interview with Bickford-Smith and for introducing me to her work.
Graphic designer and illustrator Justin Van Genderen’s Star Wars posters have been making the rounds lately and they are certainly Agogo worthy. Be sure to check out his Tatooine and Bespin posters too!
Influencing this post is the fact that the wife and I attended a prom last night as chaperones and got our prom photo taken — Star Wars style! (No Storm Troopers were hurt in the taking of the photo.)
What a fitting video promoting the Rethink Scholarship!
“The Rethink Scholarship is an $18,000 scholarship for aspiring art directors and designers to Langara College’s Communication and Ideation Design program. The winner will also receive a 3-month internship with Rethink.”
Designer and illustrator Katrin Olina draws viewers into her romanticized world of nature. Her work is crisp, beautiful, and whimsical. Check out the interior art she designed for the Cristal Bar in Hong Kong. Incredible!
Illustrator Joshua Middleton’s use of color, lighting, and figure provide his depictions of comic book icons with a sense of intimate realism. When viewing his artwork, we see the characters as though through the lens of a real world camera. To put it plainly, his characters seem unaware of being viewed, and this lends a humanness I’ve not seen in other works. Add to that his use of lighting, which further draws out the characters and environments from the page, and you have an amazing collection of artwork. Just incredible.
Well done, sir, now post more stuff in your store!
The 2nd Annual Hey You Guys! Charity Event is set to start on December 5, 2009 with incredible pieces of artwork in an online auction. The auction benefits DonorsChoose.org, which gives public school teachers a forum to post classroom project requests for online donors to support. Here are the ones I love. Sadly, I know I probably won’t win these, but on the brighter side, it means more fun learning time for kids in their classrooms. The silent auction is now on until December 13, 2009, so bid away!
Dan Santat
Kristen Lester
Sebastien Mesnard
Katie McDee
Aussie lllustrator Guy Shield wanted to propose to his girlfriend one her birthday while on a trip to Bali. So within two weeks time and many hours in InDesign, Shield created an 8 foot illustration of mundane life that folded into a “Will You Marry Me?” proposal. The work is brilliant. All you single illustrators, you can thank Shield for setting the bar so high. Read his story and more of the work here.
Graphic designer Sean Tang created some amazing posters for advertising agency JWT Shanghai, which put out a a series of ads for the China Environment Protect Foundation. At this size they look like the typical moody beauty of traditional Chinese scroll paintings. Click on them to view a large version and see the detail of electrical towers, skyscrapers, and automobiles wrecking Mother Nature. Great work.
Also check out the animated version below, which played in the People Square Subway Station.
