Sue Blackwell - Artist

Su Blackwell is an artist and art director, working predominantly within the realm of paper.

She has worked for Nicole Farhi, Pilsner and O2 among others and I love the fairytale feel of her work. Find more amazing paper stuff here.

Vintage Book Cover Art Inspiration

I have been thinking about designing something based around some vintage cover art. I have seen it done before and when done well it really looks good.

I have posted lots of similar film posters before here, but this time I thought I would concentrate of book cover art. I got a bit carried away and I could have ended up posting a lot more, maybe I will do another post sometime soon if everyone enjoys it.

Some of these are now real collectors items and can fetch upwards of £500 at auction. I seems like reading was a lot more glamorous back in the day!

An Anatomical Guide to Monsters - Illustrations

Here are some amazing vintage illustrations by Shogo Endo of the inside of some famous monsters; Gamera, Mothra (larva stage), Godzilla and Anguirus.

They're taken from 'An Anatomical Guide to Monsters' by Shoji Otomo, published back in 1967.

You can find more info here.

Amazing Interior Design Inspired by Moomin Books From Maria Yasko

This design for a family entertainment center (whatever that is) created by Russian designer Maria Yasko was completely inspired by the Moomin books of Finnish novelist Tove Jansson.

The children’s play hall, cafeteria and recreation areas were all designed to recreate landscapes from these classic books in which hippo-like characters find themselves in various surreal adventures.

Cara Barer - Photographer & Artist

Cara Barer's sculptures were first influenced by the chance finding of a copy of the Houston Yellow Pages on the street and since then her work has continued to evolve; blurring the line between object, sculpture, and photography.

She now continually searches for more books that are no longer in use in old bookshops and abandoned houses, and more methods to change their appearance, including paper folding and soaking them in the bathtub.

Two Design Competitions

I was just browsing when I found a couple of design competitions that I thought I'd share with you all:



Egency want artists/illustrators/designers to transform "ho-hum" flyers, brochures and posters into unique, well-crafted applied-artwork.

They are challenging you to enter original, creative designs for flyers, appointment cards, posters, etc. that fit one of these professions:

* Party or Event Planning
* Medical
* Professional Services (such as florist, cafe, shop, attorney, accountant)

Applicants may submit as .jpg, .gif, .png, .pdf, .psd, or InDesign and the deadline for set-one entries is January 31st 2011.

Three top winners will receive their choice of either Wacom Intuos 4 XL, Wacom CintiQ12 WX, a Macbook or $1,000 cash.

Seven additional winners will receive a Booq laptop bag.

All 10 winners will be featured in a press release announcing the results of Egency's Design Challenge.

More info here.



The next competition from the New Zealand Book Council is to design a conceptual book cover for "Parade", by Māori author Patricia Grace.

There is a lot more background information about the competition and the book including the full text on the website here:

The deadline is January 15th 2011 and the prize is $1500NZ/$1150US/£725 plus having your design published.