my best person is getting married! i am so so excited to be involved, not just as a bridesmaid, but she trusted me to create her wedding invitations. it was so much fun and something really different for me try my hand at – pixel art!
xanite and rob – i wish you two absolute awesomeness! we are going to have such a party in december!
Posted in nice creatures, so-fine design, whimsy
Tagged 8-bit, bride, groom, pixels, wedding invitation
mat cloud’s awesome monster industry!
i was lucky enough to get a copy of wildwood for christmas (secreted across from the US). i am pages from finishing it: what a wonderfully engrossing adventure, brimming with enchanting characters and rich, glorious language – as one would expect from the lead singer of the decemberists and the book’s author, colin meloy. well-known illustrator, carson ellis, and wife to meloy, is responsible for the book’s intricate imagery…oh to be the one half of such a creative duo!
{you can follow the wildwood chronicles on facebook too}
Posted in i love words, nice creatures, wishlist
Tagged carson ellis, colin meloy, illustration, wildwood
i was asked by the talented people at nicework to contribute to their magazine‘s 10 things feature. since it was the last volume of the year my 10 things had to centre on christmas – such fun to share a little of what year-end festivities mean to me. nice magazine is a wonderful design e-zine and well worth a read!
Posted in nice creatures, so-fine design
Tagged amelia smith, nicework, nicework magazine
anyone who checks in regularly with the sometimes zoo will know how much i adore foxes! so imagine how enchanted i was when i came across the storybook project of sydney-based artist, jeremy kool. i have got to get my hands on one of his prints!
Posted in artworks, nice creatures, so-fine design, the menagerie
Tagged fox, graphic design, jeremy kool, paper fox
this is my new “artist crush”, australian illustrator charles santoso. his harry potter interpretation and “monster noms” are just brilliant…
Posted in artworks, nice creatures
Tagged animals, art, charles santoso, illustration, illustrator, tiger
“started as a way to use all the scraps of torn down sheets of project paper and morphed into something else; something grand. each piece is between .5″ and 2″ wide and up to 5″ tall. mostly on Rives BFK heavy stock cream paper.” this is the description of smarts a series of work by artist, eric hancock
i was recently introduced to this amazing, canadian singer-songwriter, dan mangan, and instantly fell in love with this song and its award-winning music video…
Posted in awesomeness, great escapes, nice creatures
Tagged dan mangan, music, music video, road regrets
i really like this set of illustrations, titled the spirit bears of california, is by uk-based artist mat pringle. the sense of nighttime, curiosity and magic…
i was excited and extremely honoured when a very talented friend of mine asked me to do the cover design of her latest album. i met jaspar lepak just over a year ago and we’ve become fast friends. she is an amazingly gifted musician with a beautiful voice and soft spot for country/folk music.
front cover
back cover
her website is currently under construction but please do pop by for a listen soon…her album, forgiving wind, is due out in september and she has a couple more shows to play in durban before she & her husband, kale (also a muso, featuring on her album), return home to minnesota.
Posted in nice creatures, whimsy
this is amazing : the world’s largest stop-motion animation, shot on a nokia n8 by sumo science at aardman studios… the film has broken a world record for the ‘largest stop-motion animation set’, with the largest scene stretching over 11,000 square feet.
Posted in awesomeness, nice creatures
this little “how-to” illustration by the immensely talented and humorous oliver jeffers, is yet more proof of why he is one of my all time favourite artists…
Posted in artworks, nice creatures, the menagerie
well, i am just over halfway through the 10 day house & garden show and starting to earn my stripes with the long hours! i thought i would quickly share some snaps i took the other day…
the whimsy stall, opening day
new whimsy t-shirts
whimsy height decal on the homemade cloud screen!
whimsy’s black and white juxtaposed next to the gorgeously polychromatic dodo furniture
the most lusted-after object at the homegrown fair : dodo‘s wingback chair
another stunning dodo chair
the wonderful kids/family cookbook four out of five by chrisandcole.com
the mooi girls
nadia’s vintage cupcake couture stand
another alice-in-wonderland furniture piece from dodo
Posted in nice creatures, whimsy
exactly one week until the house & garden show opens! i am feverishly designing, glueing, tracing, scribbling & whistling-a-happy-tune into the wee hours each day (and, it seems, night). the homegrown fair blog is up and running, featuring all the local talent on show…
and very soon…i promise…new whimsy creations will be posted!
Posted in nice creatures, whimsy
i came across these works by brooklyn-based artist & graphic designer scott albrecht on pinterest. his latest exhibition along the way opens in a fortnight. i really like his clean-cut, geometric colours and organic use of wood…
Posted in artworks, nice creatures, so-fine design
nicework is a jo’burg-based “communiations company of the design variety“. they are a team of savvy creatives who not only provide their clients with design solutions in branding, illustration, web-design, copyrighting & publishing but also produce a gorgeously slick e-zine. below is the small gifts package they bestow on their clients…i love the honey: cooler than jam… part of the parcel!
Posted in awesomeness, nice creatures, so-fine design
my little sister (i have two, younger than me, one is “my sister” and the other “my little sister”) sent me a link to canadian illustrator, marc john‘s blog. i am just tickled by his “everything wants to be a unicorn” series…
Posted in artworks, nice creatures
oh wow! oliver jeffers, one of my favourite artists and illustrators, has a new website. he has posted pages of his sketchbooks! feast your eyes…
Posted in artworks, nice creatures, scribbles
seems like “nautical” is a theme of the moment and i couldn’t be happier for it. being a coastal city girl, i have grown up next to the seemingly endless expanse of water, salt and sky, and cannot be without it. here are a couple of illustrators’ works with a oceanic motif, recently found through my friend cath at wolfeyebrows…
Posted in artworks, nice creatures, scribbles
how wonderful is this branding? it was designed for los angeles pie shop, i heart pies by christopher lee, a multidisciplinary designer and illustrator hailing from california. it is just so happily delicious!
{via cath at nicework}
Posted in nice creatures, so-fine design
i came across the work of californian conceptual artist, goro fujita, and was immediately enchanted by his melancholy robot images…
Posted in artworks, nice creatures, tin-can heroes
by their own admission paper jet is a “…collaboration between two fine jo’burg graphic designers, who by night push their desktop printer to its limits to create quality hand made illustrated goodies” they have wonderful “love mixes” cd’s for sale at wolves cafe, like this one…
Posted in nice creatures, so-fine design
i hope to be showcasing the very first whimsy limited edition sculptures by the end of the year. so i have been having a look at various options and styles for mould-making ideas. in my search, i stumbled upon leroy c by the guys at invisible creature. he is black-laquer dapper with a stately grin!
Posted in artworks, nice creatures
i came across these two wonderful alphabets recently! the 1st is “the dangerous alphabet for boys” by artist and generally creative guy, scott bedford. have a look at his blog for some DIY inspiration!
the 2nd is the “space lego alphabet” by mark anderson.
Posted in artworks, nice creatures
beautifully melancholy sculptures for yoshimasa tsuchiya‘s latest exhibition private myth
{via nicework}
Posted in artworks, nice creatures, the menagerie
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