Judging a book by its cover has turned out to be a necessity in life. We've all perused book shops and been seduced by a particularly intriguing cover--perhaps we have even been convinced to buy a book because of its cover. And, truly, there is no shame in that. It takes skill and artistry to craft a successful book cover, and that should be acknowledged.

The post Five questions for Oxford World’s Classics cover designer Alex Walker appeared first on OUPblog.

Here is a glimpse into the process of creating Post-it-doodle-a-day from 5 February thru 8 May 2016. These doodles were created digitally with an app called ProCreate on an iPad with the Apple Pencil. The process videos are built into the program. It is a long video but I think you will find it interesting if you have been following the daily doodles. Enjoy!

Here is a glimpse into the process of creating Post-it-doodle-a-day from 5 February thru 8 May 2016. These doodles were created digitally with an app called ProCreate on an iPad with the Apple Pencil. The process videos are built into the program. It is a long video but I think you will find it interesting if you have been following the daily doodles. Enjoy!

Pleated box from BYU-Idaho Art Dept on Vimeo.

I have Complete Pleats written by Paul Jackson. On page 159 there is a beautiful round pleated box designed by Philip Campbel-Bell. I have tryed to make it before and thought I would give it another try. To my surprise it worked out beautifully.

Every one of us wants to have a pretty house with a large backyard and modern furniture inside. Decorating the house can be very demanding thing to do. You should pay attention to every little detail if you want to have a house from your dreams. It also can cost you a lot of money. But, that is not something that you do all the time, so do not feel sad if you spend a little bit more money than you wanted if you want to have a house from dreams. Besides money, you can also spend a lot of time on redecorating your home.

Nowadays, there are many things invented which can save your money and time when it comes to redecorating you home or some other property. It is vinyl siding.

Vinyl siding is a very popular way of siding, and its popularity keeps growing since it was invented. That is siding with the vinyl panels that are nailed to your wooden, or some other, construction. You cannot use it instead the walls. Vinyl siding is only for decoration.

You can forget about classic materials that used for siding. Vinyl siding has many advantages. It is a material which can be in many different colors. Vinyl siding colors are fade resistant, and it will last for a long time. There is no need for renewing the color of them. These panels are also resistant to rusting. They are hard to damage, but if it happens, then you should contact some vinyl siding repair company and they will repair that very easy and professionally.

Vinyl siding possesses a high quality and very good price. If you have doubts about the exterior of your house, choose vinyl siding. With vinyl siding, you cannot go wrong. There is a wide offer of many different colors and you will surely find one you like for your house. They can also be designed to look like some material from nature. Stone, wood, or some other nature material will look very nice on your home, and you do not have to cut the woods or drag the stones. You can achieve that look only with vinyl siding panels.

Installation is not a very hard job, but it still requires professionals to do that. There are many siding installation companies which can do it. Vinyl siding installation company should possess all the hi-tech tools so the installation of the panels can be done quickly and properly. They also must have good workers which will do the job of operating the equipment and who will install panels so they could last for a long period of time. If panels are not set up properly, they can start to leak and cause the damage on your construction.

When a time comes to redecorate your house, do not be worried about your exterior. Since there are vinyl siding panels, it is not hard to choose the proper material for your house exterior which is durable and good looking.

Happy Overload, the Sparky Firepants fantastic coloring book of joy, is getting closer to being published every gosh darn day. In the meantime, you can print and color this page for free. Beep!

Share it with friends! Make drinks. Make snacks. Have a gosh darned coloring party!

Here’s another page: Naked Tofu

And another! Because Toast

Happy Overload, the upcoming Sparky Firepants coloring book spectacular is still in the works – but you can grab this cute-as-hell page and get it right now. Relieve some stress. Get your color on.

As we told you on Tuesday, DC Entertainment unveiled a brand new logo for all its branding across all platforms. It's more of a "print" type throwback logo, designed by Pentagram, specifically partner Emily Oberman, just in time to give DC a "rebirth" to its older, more hopeful and optimistic self.

Just as it did with The New 52, DC is ushering in a new logo for its new Rebirth era. The logo, which was designed by the design team Pentagram, will debut on next week’s DC Universe: Rebirth Special #1’ by Geoff Johns but will imediately be seen on all DC websites, social media channels, […]

A self-professed "comprehensive anticipatory design scientist," the inventor Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) was undoubtedly a visionary. Fuller's creations often bordered on the realm of science fiction, ranging from the freestanding geodesic dome to the three-wheel Dymaxion car.

The post The life and work of Buckminster Fuller: a timeline appeared first on OUPblog.

Here’s a fun poster I did for our local Chamber of Commerce’s holiday party last year. The most fun element was illustrating the flapper. Unreal! Finding and manipulating the right typefaces to exude that art deco 20s vibe was also the bee’s knees.

Like a lot of the work I do, I used reference photos, tracing some parts and making up the others. The advantage to illustrating in the final design versus using a photo is that I can change the line color, weight, fills, and add elements (like the flower in her hat) to tie it all in to the poster design.

Because I created it in Adobe Illustrator, I was also able to pull out elements to make smaller signs, flyers and table signs for the event.

There’s sometimes a misconception that creating design comes out of thin air. The whole “staring at a blank canvas” thing. It can be like that. Most of the time it’s a result of doing a lot of homework on the subject matter – that’s where the ideas come from. The result you see here isn’t complicated, until you start conceptualizing all the other million ways it could have been done. There are always some pretty bad ideas (and designs) that get thrown out.

That’s the work. That’s the art. It’s also the fun. That’s why I do it.

Emily Isabella is an illustrator from Hudson Valley, her work varies from book illustrations, packaging designs to textile designs. Her work reflects on the delights of the everyday, in a very beautiful way. Her clients have included Anthropologie, Frankie Magazine and Birch Fabric to name a few. 

To see more from this illustrator visit her website

The scientific method has long reigned as the trusted way to test hypotheses so as to produce new knowledge. Shaped by the likes of Francis Bacon, Galileo Galilei, and Ronald A. Fisher, the idea of replicable controlled experiments with at least two treatments has dominated scientific research as a way of producing accepted truths about the world around us. However, there is growing interest in design thinking, a research method which encourages practitioners to reformulate goals, question requirements, empathize with users, consider divergent solutions.

The post Can design thinking challenge the scientific method? appeared first on OUPblog.

How Michigan Is The Perfect Home For Writers

Writers are those who want to convey their thoughts, perceptions and feelings through certain forms like novels, short stories, blogs, and the like. Writers are those who are inclined to convey their message to the world. The context of their message should be imperative and helpful. Considering that the functions of writers are very important in this world, it is a must for them to see to it that the location where they would spend their time in writing should be very suitable. And this is how the State of Michigan is the perfect home for novel writers.

There are 5 certain facts written and explained below why Michigan is the perfect home for writers.

Michigan environment is always conducive to writing. Conduciveness is the first thing that every novel writer has to consider. The climatic condition really matters as far as having a beguiling and worth-reading novel is concerned. Michigan is the perfect home for the writers, because the climatic condition in this area is really fit for writing.

Michigan has a lot of things to offer for the writers to write well their masterpieces. Michigan is one of the most livable places in the country, because of its capability to offer things suitable to all writers. The pride of this state has been known already and widely. One of the best things it can offer is local flair. And the locally made LivnFresh t-shirts, are among the best products that are made in Michigan. Wearing one, writers can wear comfortably dive into the Michican experience during summer. So writing during summer is still accompanied by comfort and convenience.

LivnFresh T-shirts really make the Michigan-based writers so amazing. There are various types of michigan pride gear, and one would typically wear one when they want to show off their pride of being from or visiting Michigan. The creators of this local brand of t-shirt did make sure that the writers can have a perfect clothing.

Clothing during summer writing is a crucial thing, because it is attached to the internal calmness and relaxation of both body and mind. Once the t-shirt the writers are wearing is really comfortable, for instance made up of 100% pure cotton, then there’s always comfort and pacification of the mind. This is essential to coming up with a perfect write-up every day.

Of course comfortable clothing is not the only thing that a writer needs.  He or she also often needs a comfortable pair of glasses.  But what about if you are a child needing glasses?  Well, stylish frames were hard to come by until Michigan couple Ben and Laura Harrision of Jones Paul Eyewear started their own fashion glasses company for children. Michigan really is a hot bed of innovation and creativity. So if your little writer needs glasses, make sure you go visit them.

Sometimes you may want to write outside of your vacation home or hotel room and for that you need to get out and gain some experiences to write about. There are some hangout locations in Michigan for the writers to unwind and relax regularly. There are famous hangout bars and nightlife areas here. These hangout locations serve as one of the pride and honor of this state. The famous hangout areas here are Hoppy’s Bar, The Tap Room, and Quinn and Tuite’s Irish Pub.

Life in Michigan is really great. Life greatness is what every person aspires for. Life greatness refers to the abundance of things that may lead to happiness and satisfaction. For writers, it is important to be happy and satisfied always. So any novel writer can have a wonderful time here because of the offered satisfying and elating things, like the natural parks (i.e. Isle Royale National Park) and the savory cuisines (i.e. Stanley’s Famous Restaurant).

They all say that writing is a passion and not an option. It might be true or not. For some, writing can be learned. But for others, writing should be a passion. Either of the two, writing novels, short stories and any other literary works can be done excellently once Michigan is chosen as the place to execute the writing. The things explained above are the reasons why and how the State of Michigan is reflected as the perfect home for writers.

Post by Chloe

Lotta Nieminen’s illustrations are packed with detail, colour and narrative. The bold vector shapes combined with subtle texture and an atmospheric colour-scheme is what really brings this work to life. Lotta Nieminen’s talent doesn’t stop at illustration either. She is also a graphic designer and art director who runs her own studio based in New York.

If you would like to see more of Lotta Nieminen’s work please visit her portfolio.

Although many EU IP lawyers are currently concentrating on the trade mark reforms, the Commission is quietly getting on with its study of the design protection system in Europe. The remit of the study is wide-ranging, but perhaps the most surprising issue that has arisen is whether design law in the EU should protect things that you can’t see.

The post Should design rights protect things you can’t see? appeared first on OUPblog.

Zim & Zou are Lucie Thomas and Thibault Zimmermann, they are two french artists based in Nancy. They use handcrafted objects to make beautiful colourful installations. They studied graphic design for three years whilst at art school, but their studio works in a variety of multidisciplinary ways incorporating illustration, graphic design and paper sculptures. There favourite material to use is paper, making everything by hand.

To find out more visit their website and Behance.

When we think of Christmas cards, we usually picture images of holly, robins, angels and candles, or snow-covered cottages with sledging children, Nativity scenes with visiting Wise Men, or benevolent Santas with sacks full of presents. Very rarely, I imagine, do we picture a summer woodland scene features lounging female figures in classical dress and a lyre-playing cherub.

The post Aesthetics and the Victorian Christmas card appeared first on OUPblog.

For the last few years, the AAUP has organized a University Press blog tour to allow readers to discover the best of university press publishing. On Wednesday, their theme was "Design" featuring interviews with designers, examinations of the evolution of design, and parsing the process itself.

The post University Press Week blog tour (Wednesday) appeared first on OUPblog.

This week we celebrate the artwork of comics legend Paul Smith! The 600th issue of Uncanny X-Men hit the stands this week and I was very pleased to see that Smith contributed one of the variant covers for this landmark issue. X-Men was really the reason I got into comics as a kid. In fact the very first comic I picked up and read(besides the Bob’s Big Boy comics they used to give away when you ordered a kid’s meal..) was Uncanny X-Men #166 with that glorious Paul Smith cover of The X-Men battling the Brood!

A good friend of mine at the time(probably ’83/’84) had an older brother who collected comics and he had an big, old chest full of them(no bags ‘n boards, mind you..). So, when I’d go over there for a sleep-over, I’d get to rummage through his treasure trove of funny-books and then pull a few out for some late-night sleeping bag reading! Those Paul Smith issues of X-Men were truly magical, and always will be to me. There have been many great artists to work with Chris Claremont on his classic X-Men run, including legends like Dave Cockrum, John Byrne, Terry Austin, Bob Wiacek, John Romita Jr, Barry Windsor Smith, Arthur Adams, Alan Davis, Jim Lee, etc. etc, but for me, my favorite X-Men artist will always be Paul Smith. 

Smith is mostly a self-taught artist. He worked as an animator on Ralph Bakshi’s The Lord of the Rings and American Pop before working at Marvel Comics in the early 1980’s. After establishing himself on titles like X-Men, Doctor Strange, and Marvel Fanfare, Smith would go on to do more independent, critically acclaimed series like Leave It To Chance and The Golden Age, both with writer James Robinson. He continues to work in mainstream comics for special projects, and cover illustrations, while also staying very busy with private commission work.

The best place to get updates on what Paul Martin Smith(PMS) is up to and to see more art is on his website here.

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com – Andy Yates

Post by Chloe

Daniel Arriaga is an illustrator based in the USA whose work often tells a narrative, depicting fun characters. He has worked in various departments at Pixar, and also Disney. He has helped to produce films such as Wall-E, Up!, and Wreck-It-Ralph. Arriaga combines digital art with a subtle painterly style to bring his work to life, and his clever colour palettes create a nice ambiance in all his work.

If you’d like to see more illustrations by Daniel Arriaga, please visit his portfolio.

by Keith Negley (Flying Eye Books, 2015)

Heads up, email subscribers: my blog took a bit of a tumble so I’m reposting what was lost in the shuffle. Apologies, and thank you for reading!

The kind folks at Flying Eye sent over a preview of this book, thinking it was right up my alley.

It’s right up my alley.

The theme: yes. The design: yes. The snappy, bold, in-your-face look at tough guys plus the snappy, bold, in-your-face look at feelings: yes.

I chatted with Keith Negley, and learned a lot about this debut effort. I hope there’s more from him, and I hope you enjoy this peek into the brain of a picture book creator.

Hi Keith! Can you talk about where this story came from? And what the process was like for its creation?

It all started when my son Parker who was 6 at the time stole a soccer ball from a friend during soccer practice and his friend got upset and they fought over it. Parker was angry at first, but then felt embarrassed and ashamed because he knew he did something wrong. I could tell he was struggling with how to handle all these new emotions that were happening to him at the same time. He walked away from the group and sat down to be by himself because he didn’t want anyone to see him cry. Later that night, I explained to him that it was totally natural to cry and that everybody does it. I told him sometimes even I cried, and he looked up at me and asked, “grown ups cry too?”

It blew his mind that even adults cried because he thought it was something only kids did. I wished I had a book I could read to him that let him know that frustration and crying is a natural thing not to be ashamed of. The next day the idea for the book popped into my head.

You’ve done a lot of editorial illustration, but this is your first children’s book. Can you tell us the how and why you got into books?

I always liked the idea of making picture books for children, but it wasn’t until I became a parent and started reading a ton of picture books to my son did I realize there was a lack of the kind of books we enjoyed. Honestly the books I’ve been working on were born out of necessity because I wanted to read them and no one else had made them yet.

Your tumblr tag line is spectacular: part man, part negative space. Can you explain where that came from and why it represents you so well?

Ha, I find tragedy to be the greatest muse. The subjects I enjoy working with the most are the ones that break my heart. It’s cathartic somehow, and I feel like I really get to put a piece of me into the work. What ends up happening is I have a portfolio of rather depressing subject matter. But I’m always striving to create beautiful images with it. That juxtaposition is challenging and rewarding for me.

Add to that I tend to utilize negative space as a compositional tool fairly often and so I thought it tied the content in with the image making nature of the blog.

Who are some of your story heroes?

I’ve been a huge fan of Lane Smith for years and years. Jon Scieszka is another one. Ezra Jack Keats. Jack Kent’s Socks For Supper is one of my all time favorites as a kid and it still holds up today.

What do you remember about picture books from your childhood?

I remember my mom reading them to me and how she would make different voices for all the characters. I try to do that for Parker but he’s not into it at all unfortunately.

What is your favorite piece of art hanging in your home or studio?

Not sure if this counts, but I like to make music in my spare time and I’m a huge nerd for vintage synthesizers. I currently have a 1979 Korg 770 sitting in my studio and just looking at it makes me very happy. I consider them works of art.

What’s next for you?

Trying to schedule some reading events for the fall/winter and I’m in the middle of working on my second book for Flying Eye which should be out in time for Father’s Day next year!

Thank you, Keith! And vintage synthesizers totally count as works of art.

PS: Congratulations to the winner of the The Story of Diva and Flea giveaway, Ashley! And thanks to Flying Eye for the images used in this post.

Since this is Halloween Week, I thought how better to celebrate than exploring the intricately detailed work of Cursed Pirate Girl creator Jeremy Bastian! A graduate of The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Bastian spent his years studying the works of the great engraving art masters and old time book illustrators. One of the inspirations for Cursed Pirate Girl was a children’s book called The Ship’s Cat, featuring illustrations by Alan Aldridge. It takes about a week for Jeremy Bastian to draw one page of Cursed Pirate Girl. Each page is meticulously packed with the smallest details; it’s fun to just stare at a page and let your eyes wander. You can read about Jeremy’s art process on this blog post here.

Cursed Pirate Girl follows the title character’s search for her Pirate Captain father on the mythical Omerta Seas, encountering many strange and wondrous creatures along the way. The first 3 issues were published by Olympian Publishing and are now highly sought after collector’s items. Much bigger publisher Archaia/BOOM has taken over on Cursed Pirate Girl and if you’re quick enough, you might still be able to find a copy of Cursed Pirate Girl 2015 Annual(52 pages), which hit stands this month. The plan is to do 2 more yearly specials to complete the 6 part story, but there could be more material set in the Cursed Pirate Girl world after that.

If you want to get the latest news on Jeremy Bastian & Cursed Pirate Girl, fell free to follow him on Twitter here!

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com – Andy Yates

The story goes that legendary Uncanny X-Men scribe Chris Claremont discovered Malaysian-born artist Sonny Liew at a comics convention and got him his first big break into comics, landing Liew a gig illustrating Iron Man for Marvel. It was a small gig, just one illustration, but it set the stage for Liew’s bright future in comics! In 2004, Sonny Liew won the Xeric Award(an award for excellence in self-published comics) in 2004 for Malinky Robot. Later, he would go on to illustrate such titles as Slave Labor & Disney’s Wonderland series, Marvel’s Sense and Sensibility adaptation, and collaborate with artist/inker Mark Hempel on DC/Vertigo’s My Faith in Frankie.

Before studying illustration at Rhode Island School of Design, Liew attended college in Singapore(where he currently resides) and in the UK. His work has been featured in the critically acclaimed anthology Flight and he’s served as editor of the Southeast Asian comics anthology Liquid City.

Liew has been a celebrated artist at home, winning Singapore’s Young Artist Award in 2010, but recently he’s found himself in a bit of controversy over his latest book, The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye. The grant that supported the making of that book was withdrawn by the National Arts Council for containing sensitive topics. You can hear more about this story from the man himself at this book sharing session.

Right now is a great time to become a Sonny Liew fan, because he’s making some of the best comics art of his career on the newly relaunched Doctor Fate series with famed DC writer/editor/former-president Paul Levitz! I see that more people are catching onto this series, now that it’s up to issue 5, so hopefully that will continue to happen and we’ll get a nice, long Doctor Fate run out of Liew!

If you’d like to see more art and learn more about Sonny Liew, check out his blog here.

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com – Andy Yates