Hazel Santino

Hazel Santino's illustrations are a perfect combination of creepy, mysterious and beautiful. The time each piece must have taken is evident when examined. Hazel's oil paintings are incredibly detailed and tend towards photo realistic; she also incorporates hand done cut outs such as the branches seen in one of the pieces above. Her color palettes are musky, full of neutrals, flesh tones and swirls of greys, a nice contrast to some of the super color saturated illustrative work very popular now. Subjects in her paintings are often human though she also seems to have a enjoy rendering small animals no one else appreciates — rats and pigeons.

The content may be dark, one of the pieces above is based on the story of a murdered girl stuffed into a tree, but Hazel's treatment is far from morose or morbid. There is something quiet and thoughtful in her work. She will be beginning her fifth year at The New School this fall finishing the second of her two degrees there, a BFA in illustration at Parsons and a BA in Literary Studies at Eugene Lang. It seems as though she has already been commissioned for a couple of jobs, CD and book covers, so here's to hoping we see more of Hazel's work recognized.

Hazel's Tumblr

what did we smile because of: Yum Yum London

Parallel Parking from Yum Yum London on Vimeo.

This video is absolutely great. It makes you smile, is incredibly cute and filled with tiny details. plus you have no idea what's coming.

Which all combines together to make Yum Yum London a studio to watch out for:
"Yum Yum are Beth Algieri and Jonny Plummer, two directors / designers with a common passion for creating new and exciting things."

i'm also in love with this toy series of heroes and villains they recently conceived and are in the works of making available for purchase. i would definitely like to have that octopus sitting on my desk.

no, their illustration style isn't completely unheard of. reminds me in general of the vinyl toy genre and friends with you because of the adorably imagined creatures - but it's all so fun and smiley. check out more images of their work on their flickr or follow them on twitter.

what did we love: KMR

led to KMR by ffffound...
and put up four consecutive tumblr posts of her work, i'm newly in love with this Japanese graphic artist KMR. i still don't know anymore about her yet. also because i can't read japanese and maybe her site would provide me with more information if i could.

at any rate. her pieces are gorgeous, the colors are magnificent, the line work so delicate and right. and there are just so many to look at so even if you don't like some you're bound to like at least one. i also love how she chose to post huge images of her work online.




definitely will keep looking at her work for more inspiration and to continue admiring it.

what did we peruse: design: related

design: related is my latest website of choice for random browsing while i wait for things to render / things to load / my mind to recuperate

while flipping through the gallery, which features "projects" and "inspirations" submitted by members of the site, i came across something that i knew immediately was hong kong.

Gaston Caba, based in buenos aires, made these super cute dolls and had a friend Joel Chung take photos of them in various locations in Hong Kong to be pictured in Pictoplasma Encyclopedia.

gaston caba's work is very colorful, consists mainly of bold vectors and features a great deal of cute animals and other created characters - reminds me of tokidoki and the like that you might describe as sugary-sweet. not everyone's cup of tea but there are some pretty intense patterns.

it made me smile to randomly come across a photo of hong kong when i wasn't expecting it.

what did we illustrate: daily drop cap

DAILY DROP CAP by Jessica Hische

im not sure if i've blogged about this before, but no harm. daily drop cap is a website i'm fairly certain most fans of typography have come across before - the title and tagline says it all, "an illustrative initial every day." definitely worth going through the now almost three complete sets of the alphabet. the artist puts a great deal of effort and creativity (and dilligence in commitment to the project) - some i like better than others, but that's personal preference. i also appreciate the artist's welcoming of blogging and usage.



it's an exercise that i think would be fun to try out myself, just in a sketchbook or really roughly in illustrator - a letter a day might be a bit pushing it - maybe a letter a week and that way i'd be able to go through the alphabet twice in a year...just thoughts - maybe something you'd like to attempt?

what did we accessorize: bunnies

bunnies of my own!

super cute sasha for h+m campaign (only img i've posted twice)

ok so i've been meaning to write this post for a while now. it's like my love for bunnies coincided with the fashion world and trendy accessories and came up with what now has been seen everywhere and adorning every head. i'm fascinated by the timeline and the photos...


madonna: the worst of the bunnies...


ali michael: the best of the bunny bows : )


marc jacobs spring RTW 09. multitudes of brightly colored bow topped models.


and of course where it all began. marc jacobs sends his girls down the LV RTW fall 09 runway.

and for more bunny ears as spotted on celebrities?
check out the guardian's nice slideshow article.

what did we LOVE: YUKO SHIMIZU

for Microsoft's Ultimate PC project
artists were asked to create series of 5 personal works using PC instead of Mac to showcase in Microsoft's new experimental art site UltimatePC.com

CIA Superhero Calandar 2009

YUKO SHIMIZU

an amazing illustrator and fine artist who is currently teaching at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in new york. from a traditional japanese family, she originally obtained a BA in advertising and marketing at waseda university before enrolling in SVA in 1999 and obtaining an MFA in illustration. she lives in new york and is the ex-roommate of james jean (another much loved artist of mine).

clients include: Microsoft, Pepsi, VISA, MTV, TARGET, T-Mobile, Neiman Marcus, Warner Elektra Atlantic Music, NPR, FUSE TV, M.A.C. Cosmetics, Pentagram, Sagmeister Inc.,
TIME, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, PLAYBOY, GQ, etc.

i love the asian flare and her trend in asian girls. she has a VAST portfolio with an incredible amount of simply spectactular illustrative work. categories include "fashion and lifestyle" "asian theme" "sex" "business and politics" "portraits" and "advertising." i would recommend taking your time to seriously click through her site, draw inspiration from it and let yourself be amazed. i love the woodcut quality of her work. the pastels and soft color schemes as well as graphic clean lines and the fantastical nature of her subjects and compositions. i have a particular interest in very imaginative detailed work. i believe her GAP product(red) shirts are still being sold currently so if you're interested - drop by a store and pick one up.

showing in new york (one work): Sept. 1 ~ Oct. 17, 2009
New York Spectrum Exhibition II Spectrum Exhibition II (group show)
The Museum of American Illustration at The Society of Illustrators: 128 East 63rd Street, New York City

also if you're in venice this summer: July 24 - 29, 2009 venice illustration course (workshop)
six day long workshop for illustrators of any level
taught and guided very individually and to student's ability
her two blogs are also great material:
DRAWGER
LOST AT E MINOR


PLANSPONSOR Magazine 2008
story about choosing between two choices
and
PLANSPONSOR Magazine 403(b) Special Issue cover 2008


Honolulu Magazine February 05 Hawaiian Valentine's Day
and
The Word magazine (UK) monthly supplement CD Now Hear This! cover for July 2009 issue


Fujiyama Sakura-Fubuki an image for a calendar to promote B&A Boutique


"Panda Bear Girl - The First Asian American Superheroine"
for "Artistic Utopia" a calendar book features personal work by illustrators. Designed by Murphy Design
(accepted into Society of Illustartor 47th Annual Awards)

what did we aspire: DAVE COLLINSON

DAVE COLLINSON

21 year old brisbane based artist with excellent illustration skills also adept at motion graphics, incorporating digital illustration and traditional textures. can be contacted at davecollinson@gmail.com

love his style, love the figures and compositions and color harmonies and palettes. love the textures and traditional illustration style completed in digital illustration methods and techniques.

what did we dream: lego tv remote

hey love-d
shout out to your latest post

plus it's a pretty cool imaginary product idea.
my added lego keys for my own lego remote would include: youtube, itunes, foreign films, old cartoons, netflix, trailers, hk television, japanese game shows.....(i think this could get to be a bit large of a remote...)

artist link: fueled by coffee

what did we like: CHRISTY JASIONKOWSKI

pandaplant

CHRISTY JASIONKOWSKI

currently earning her BA in visual communications at seattle pacific university, she is a self proclaimed "student/artist/designer/person" (which i must confess i fit the description as do perhaps 75% of all my friends and acquaintances..)

she has the cutest etsy prints for sale and the cutest etsy store name "paper cuts and coffee huts"

i will always applaud student/artist/designer/persons because i have to support my kind. we're not that rare of a breed, but it's always encouraging to know someone likes your work.

PORTFOLIO
ON BLOGSPOT
ON ETSY

(it's like a bear with hershey kisses)

plant girl

what did we aspire: DEANNA HALSALL

DEANNA HALSALL mural for love creative studio at ycn live

DEANNA HALSALL

i love the clean graphic quality of all of her work. it's whimsical, cute, exactly what i imagine excellent children's illustration and illustration for promotional material, cds, books etc to be. the colors are perfect. the tiny details and obviously high amount of effort and time spent are worth looking at endlessly. her amount of imagination and depth of creative thinking are inspiring.

hello@deannahalsall.co.uk
07545279273

BLOG

a CD listing for a fictional bar with a hair theme

a large scale print for the illustration label TOY'S promotional mailer

an illustration based on things things you believe as a child

an illustration for an article on the importance of hiring the right people in the creative industry

april 2009 illustration

a children's fabric pattern for bonbonkakku featured in the helsinki design week 2008