Carolyn writes, “Hi Lilla, I redid my studio and had custom shelving and desks built.”

Do you know my philosophy of life? Organization is the secret. I’m only partly kidding.
But it’s especially true for visual artists, who love stuff. And we can see the value in everything. So here’s Carolyn’s new bookshelves. Yeay.
In what city does Carolyn live? Read more about Carolyn here.

Monday: New work by Susy Pilgrim Waters

Mike writes,

“Lilla,

Well, I’m back from Japan, which was amazing and exhausting. It was great to get caught up on my sodium and fish intake for the entire year in just 12 days. What I mean is, the Japanese are big fans of the salt. Don’t know what Japan looks like? Here is an aerial photo:

In between Karaoke and scouring the used book stores for Taro Gomi (五味太郎) books, I was able to get some drawing/journaling done and am hoping to post a few pages over the next few days. I’ll also post some images of the incredible books, stationary sets, ads, and other great stuff I saw. I’ve never been to a country that loves illustration so much (adorable characters are on everything from train tickets to dentist’s offices and banks), so it was great to go back.

I took my friend Colin (who happens to be a rabbit) with me. Here he is getting ready for the trip (we later learned some of the characters he’d written were wrong):

Here’s what we had for breakfast in the hotels and hostels:

And here’s the progression of Colin’s facial hair while in Japan:

(A few small notes about this drawing. When Colin says “100?!” he’s talking about being overcharged for laundry services in Nagoya. Also notice the repeated v-neck shirt. I…oops, I mean..He wore that shirt a LOT in Japan.)

I’ll be sure to send more images soon!”

-Mike

Friday: Carolyn Gavin’s studio

Sarajo writes, “Here’s the final on the Justin Roberts job…an 8 by 10 foot backdrop and keyboard skirts…i’ll send a picture of it with the band, soon as I have one!”

Wednesday: Breakfast with Mimi

One of the reasons I took Lisa on was because she sent me a card like this. Somehow her work reads so well in these rubik cube squares. What variety of work she has. Here’s how it works: really good artists have lots of styles and media because they have so much talent and a delicious greed to try everything. Then, over time, the styles often morph together to become one’s own distinctive style. This is what I anticipate for Lisa. What do you think? I’d like your thoughts on where you see her going. She’s got rich, strong paint; she’s got gentle line; she’s got painterly realism; she’s got geometric.

Monday: Sarajo’s giant new work for Justin Roberts’ show. 8′ x 10′ Backdrops!

The amazing author of “Eat, Pray, Love” speaks on the great site, TED. Here’s what she says:
I am a writer. Writing books is my profession but it’s more than that, of course. It is also my great lifelong love and fascination. And I don’t expect that that’s ever going to change. But, that said, something kind of peculiar has happened recently in my life and in my career, which has caused me to have to recalibrate my whole relationship with this work.And the peculiar thing is that I recently wrote this book, this memoir called “Eat, Pray, Love” which, decidedly unlike any of my previous books, went out in the world for some reason, and became this big, mega-sensation, international bestseller thing.The result of which is that everywhere I go now,people treat me like I’m doomed. Seriously — doomed, doomed! Like, they come up to me now, all worried, and they say, “Aren’t you afraid — aren’t you afraid you’re never going to be able to top that?Aren’t you afraid you’re going to keep writing for your whole life and you’re never again going to create a book that anybody in the world cares about at all, ever again?”

Watch the video here.

I love the mysticism. I totally dig her vibe.

Friday: Lisa Congdon’s new promo card

Dear Art Director,
Need a beautiful map with lots of icons? Ann is your woman for the job.



Wednesday: Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity

For more of Helen’s work, click here.

Monday: A map of Connecticut by Ann Boyajian for a commission for the State of Connecticut.

For more of Jenn’s work, click here.

Friday: A new pattern by Helen Dardik

Scour, study and obsess the best blogs to see what’s going on.
Do something fresh and original. Don’t copy what’s there. Add to the pot. What’s the next step in the cultural conversation?
What would you love to buy? What kind of artwork would you love to see produced on plates, journals, bedding, puzzles…
Visit the Surtex and Stationery shows in NYC or visit the European shows.
Have a great website that is FAST! I hate to look at a slow site.

Wednesday: New work by Jenn Ski

Mike writes,

“Hey guys! I’m working on a few new repeating patterns. This one is
called KEYBOARDS AND VINES. It features both keyboards and vines.

-Mike”

Did I tell you that Mike teaches at Savannah College of Art & Design in Atlanta?

I asked Mike,
Lilla: What recent illustration job have you enjoyed doing?
Mike: I recently did some drawing for a chinese crafts book. The company who put the book out did an interview with me that was translated into Chinese and then (for some reason) back into English from the Chinese translation. There were some great quotes. Here’s one of my favorites:
Foodoll: “I like all food from different places, but my mood affect my taste.”
Mike: “Oh, I’m a hungry man, if no food, I have no idea.”

Read more about Mike here.

Monday: Some tips on creating artwork for licensing