View from the Zoo

Adzif has just introduced their new line of writable wall applications. Made of vinyl with a rugged surface, you can write temporary messages on them with ordinary chalk. Above and below are four of a dozen animal designs that I have created for Adzif. The photo of my studio is from a shoot that was used to illustrate an article on back-to-school supplies and study spaces for kids. It seems the space could easily be transformed into a children’s playground though the kids better not touch my Mao Dunny or my Tintin rocket (on the shelves in the background) or any other of my toys.

«Karkuteillä» (meaning «At Large»)  was created by Maija Louekari for Finnish textile company marimekko. I thoroughly enjoyed examining the elephant and then looking again, discovering the zebra wearing black boots! See more of Maija’s designs on her website and check out the new marimekko catalog online.

via grainedit

I buy a lot of books about illustrators and illustration. While there are really good books out there about the more popular illustrators, I also love to look at self published books by artists that I admire and that inspire me. Nowadays with the possibility of inexpensive one-off printing it is possible to share one’s work with friends, clients and other artists which is exactly what Rob Dunlavey has done with his two volumes of characters and designs, that I happily purchased at lulu.com.

«The two portfolios that you are referring to (that you proudly own) grew out of my intensive sketchbook habits. By working regularly and somewhat obsessively in sketchbooks, I aim to capture fleeting ideas that can really only find life through working with materials » Rob explained. «This is a very interesting time to be an illustrator because of the way the Internet has infiltrated all levels of our business. There are so many different avenues for self-promotion to explore. One of these avenues is the application of imagery to various types of objects and self-publishing. The self-published portfolios grew out of developing portfolios on issuu.com. As a person who loves actual books and magazines and who imagines his imagery functioning most happily in that realm (as opposed to a completely screen-based experience), issuu is a great simulation. Anyway, it was an easy task to slightly reconfigure the issuu pdfs for publishing on other systems such as lulu and blurb.»

Rob is a prolific artist. His latest series of drawings revolve around these three themes which can be seen on flickr:  Crystal Cities, Owl and the Tern: A Love Story, and Things with Wheels. Check out our two-part interview with Rob here and here.

My «Lovebutton» cards and stickers that I ordered from moo.com are here and ready for distribution. The minicards are very versatile – I use them as business cards, as gift tags, as bookmarks or simply as portfolio samples. The jellybeans were delicious too. White ones were coconut  flavored, the red ones, sour apples and the pink ones tasted, well, pink (bubblegum or rootbeer or…).

And here you can see how the stickers turned out.