Drawing all the buildings in NYC
James Gulliver Hancock is on a mission to draw all the buildings in New York City.
Hancock’s blog has spawned a book and prints are available as well. (via brain pickings)
Advertise here with Carbon Ads
This site is made possible by member support. ❤️
Big thanks to Arcustech for hosting the site and offering amazing tech support.
When you buy through links on kottke.org, I may earn an affiliate commission. Thanks for supporting the site!
kottke.org. home of fine hypertext products since 1998.
kottke.org posts about illustration
Missed connections, illustrated
I really like Sophie Blackall’s illustrations of missed connections ads from Craiglist and other sites. The style reminds me a bit of Maira Kalman.
If this were on Tumblr, she’d already have a book deal.
Update: About that book thing:
Ms. Blackall’s whimsical drawings have also caught the attention of publishers: She says she’s currently negotiating a deal to create a book of her illustrations, which would likely land on shelves sometime in the next year to 18 months.
On her overlap
There’s a dynamic quality to this Moleskine sketch by Stephanie Brown that you don’t often see with such spare illustration. The rest of her stuff is worth a look as well…Flickr too. Somewhat NSFW. (via sex in art)
Green bean
The spouting bean concept illustrated by Jillian Tamaki for the “Green Chicago” issue of Hemispheres, the inflight magazine for United Airlines, is a little bit of genius.
Oh, Tocqueville, you’re the man
Maira Kalman tells a wonderfully illustrated story about democracy (and Salisbury steak).
Quirky maps and charts for NYC wayfinding
Christoph Niemann shares a series of his New York City cheatsheets, including tips for getting on and off the subway at the proper points, muffin poking (you know, for checking freshness), and a door opening maneuver called “The Northside Eagle”.
Whenever I rode the subway with my two older boys, I tried to hold on to their hands at all times. In the process, I developed a special move. I think anyone who saw it must have been impressed.
I would hold the boys’ hands as we briskly made our way out of the station, then, just as we reached the turnstiles, I would let go. We would pass through the turnstiles simultaneously, and so smoothly that the boys’ hands would still be up in the air when we got to the other side, where I would grab their little fingers again in one fluid motion. (Requires practice.)
These are great fun.
How to make a New Yorker cover
Illustrator Bob Staake explains the process behind his cover on this week’s politically themed New Yorker, including rejected alternatives and a video progression of the finished design. Staake still uses a copy of Photoshop 3.0 on MacOS 7 to do his illustrations. That was a great version of Photoshop…I remember not wanting to switch myself. (via df)
Update: Staake uses OS X with MacOS 9 running in the background:
Let me clear up today’s rumor: I do NOT work in OS 7. I use OSX and run classic (9.0) in the background. Photoshop 3.0? Yes, STILL use that.
Mad Men wallpaper
These Mad Men illustrations done by Nobody’s Sweetheart are fantastic.
Oh, Joan! And wallpaper-sized to boot! The full-sized Sally Draper’s Cocktail Cheat Sheet is awesome. (via merlin)
Recreating kids drawings
Yeondoo Jung does real-life recreations of children’s drawings. (via quips)
Time lapse of a gorgeous Chad Pugh
Time lapse of a gorgeous Chad Pugh illustration from start to finish (in HD).
The video is a condensed time lapse of screenshots over a several month period. Total physical drawing time is close to 40 hours and I’d add an equal amount of time for concept time and readying the print. A screenshot was taken every 5 seconds, which actually results in a full 18 minute video.
This illustration inspired Vimeo’s wonderful login screen. A limited-edition print of the finished illustration is available. (via jakob)
Some clever drawings by Russell Weekes. The
Some clever drawings by Russell Weekes. The fig 1 fig 2 one make me chuckle every time I see it.
Linzie Hunter’s illustrations of spam subject lines.
Linzie Hunter’s illustrations of spam subject lines. I wish she did prints of these. See also: Spamshirt.
Jennifer Daniel has a nice one-page portfolio
Jennifer Daniel has a nice one-page portfolio of design and illustration work.
Recent Chris Ware talk
A friend of mine who works at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln emailed to let me know that they’ve posted both audio and video of a talk that Chris Ware gave at the school last week. If you’re short on time, the real meat of the video starts around 18:30 when Ware starts a slideshow that delves into his process. In addition to his series of Thanksgiving-themed New Yorker covers from last year, he also talks about some of his other work, including Rusty Brown and the strip he did for the NY Times Magazine.
80 wonderful handdrawn typographic posters by Job Wouters. (
80 wonderful handdrawn typographic posters by Job Wouters. (via type for you)
Antony Hare is one of the few
Antony Hare is one of the few people from the olden days (i.e. 8-10 years ago) that I still check in on regularly…I really dig his simple illustrations. For the past few months, he’s been putting time-lapse videos of some of his drawings on YouTube, including a drawing of Steve Jobs, one of Robert Altman, and another of David Lynch.
The DrawerGeeks are a collection of artists
The DrawerGeeks are a collection of artists and illustrators that all draw a fictional character every couple of weeks. The Harry Potter page is a good introduction to the work. (via snarkmarket)
Line Rider
Line Rider is not quite a game but not quite a toy or drawing tool either. But judging by the 6,000,000 views its gotten since it was posted a month ago, Line Rider certainly is compelling. I don’t even like playing it all that much, but I spent a solid hour a few weeks ago watching videos of other people’s tracks on YouTube; it’s just so fascinating to see how much can be done with simple lines and rules. Here’s one of the better tracks I’ve seen (c/o clusterflock). This little non-game has even shown up in Time magazine. Go, little Line Rider, go.
Update: A new version of Line Rider is to be released soon. New features will include an eraser, new types of lines, line snapping, etc.
If you’re looking to record your Line Rider creation and post it to YouTube, you can use CamStudio (Win), Super Screen Recorder (Win), oRipa Screen Recorder (Win), Screen Movie Recorder (Mac), iShowU (Mac), Snapz Pro (Mac), and ScreenRecord (Mac).
For information on how to play Line Rider more effectively, check out the Line Rider Forums.
Examples of *very* photorealistic illustrations made with
Examples of *very* photorealistic illustrations made with the gradient mesh tool in Adobe Illustrator. Here’s a quick gradient mesh tutorial.
Pixel cities
Here’s part of a fun pixel illustration of Communication City by eboy:
Click through to see the whole image. eboy did the illustration for a Fortune magazine article on the resurgence of internet companies. The company also does amazingly intricate futuristic posters of cities. Oh, and this T-Mobile HotSpot map of London…I could go on and on.
Chris Ware overrated? That’s what this illustration fan thinks.
Chris Ware overrated? That’s what this illustration fan thinks.
Profile of designer/illustrator/photographer Michael Elins
Profile of designer/illustrator/photographer Michael Elins and how he uses Macs to get his work done. “It’s hard for someone like me to talk about technology, because the Mac has gotten to the point where it’s a nonissue. It’s so good and so fluid, so fast and so freaking reliable that it becomes something I really take for granted.”
How Danny Gregory makes those nifty watercolors
How Danny Gregory makes those nifty watercolors that illustrate The Morning News. “Roz, the color theory teacher, warned against it, but I laid down a blue underpainting!”
Stay Connected