Love is Waiting SHOP!

My friend, Heather, and her husband, Aaron, are in the process of adopting a little boy from Ethiopia! Heather is a super talented designer and Aaron, a super talented musician. They just launched the Love is Waiting Shop to help fund the expensive process of bringing their little guy home forever.

Check it out & support the Hale's on their journey!

Absolutely beautiful work, Heather!

Warmbelly Brews: Empire Saison

Warmbelly Brews brewed this beer at the beginning of the summer—possibly my favorite of their beers so far.

I drew the Empire State Building on this label while sitting in the King's County Courthouse looking out the picture window at the Manhattan skyline (and the Empire State Building) while I was serving jury duty. I also hand drew the letters while sitting many long hours there as well.

They have an ESB (currently sitting in my closet...) that will be ready for sampling this weekend. J wrote the ESB recipe himself with some inspiration from the West Coast beers we had on our trip so as he says, "it's gonna be a hoppy boy!" As soon as they taste it and name it I'll be whipping up some new labels!

Belated Christmas...

I put these little e-vites together in a rush back in December for a last minute holiday party J & I had at our apartment. Just thought I would share before the holiday thing got to stale.

We still have our tree up. I couldn't bring myself to take it down before J got back to NYC and it's been such a busy week that it just hasn't happened yet.

We're going to New Paltz in the morning to do a little hiking with some friends (like last year!) I can't wait—it's giving me the motivation to make it through this looong week!

Welcome to 2010!

Fingerprint: Call for Entries

Fingerprint is such an inspirational book. When I'm designing I'm constantly trying to get that little touch into my designs to keep them from looking too "computery" even if I don't have the luxury of screen printing the piece... or sewing it, stamping it, etc.

Entries are due October 15th and are FREE! You can download the entry form here or here.

via mint and HOW.

Fashion Illustration // Garance Doré

I have a secret obsession. I love fashion illustration. I suppose I hate to admit it because the figures are so distorted, nothing like "real women" in the least bit. Then there's the fashion industry as a whole with the eating disorders, "air brushing"/photoshopping... the negative psychological affect that it's had on such a huge percentage of our population and beyond... the over all facade can be rather sickening... that's not even starting to talk about the sweatshops & 3rd world labor prices... & these are just the humanitarian concerns. The guilt goes on an on... (well, I'll get off my soap box now, my apologies. & I do realize that this is not every person or company in fashion, there are some good-guys out there too!)


What I was really meaning to say is that I've been keeping some of Granace Doré's illustrations (& beautiful photos!) in my favorites for months. Ms. Doré has just released some of her writing and illustrations for Gap's 40th Anniversary series. Beautiful. I stopped buying "graphic tees" awhile back (except for this one that I recieved as a Christmas gift from J!) in an attempt to appear a bit more professional. That said, I would pick any of these up in a heartbeat!

This last image is just because I love that tattoo. I've been itching for another for quite sometime now and fell in love with this image!

*all illustrations & photos by Granace Doré.

A little more illustration, because it's good for the soul!

While perusing Julia Guther's site (see last post) I came across this beauty. I'm a sucker for folk art, anything hand drawn, mountains, goats...yakks... I'll stop there for now but this illustration really caught my eye amidst all of her other really great work.

Seeing Guther's illustration made me think of this outdoor piece that made my heart skip-a-beat earlier today here. I love the colors they used, a little unexpected and reminecent of autmn. We're working on Halloween/fall photoshoots this week so mentally I'm being forced to change seasons a little sooner than I want to. Even though it's sweltering (I'm talking sweating while you sit still, breathing steam all night!) in our 4th floor walk-up apartment but I'm not quite ready for fall. This Texan can take the city's cement heat-bubble!

Illustration + Music + Paper = giddy!

I love these illustrations for many, many reasons. I'm posting them especially for J (& his partner-in-crime, Jeff), who have each bought at least a record a day all summer—I'm pretty sure. What are two teachers out of school for the summer to do!? When I got home from work today he had a Billie Holiday 7" wrapped in tissue paper for me, sweet surprise from a man who is not known for his gift giving! Thanks J, xo.


*cut paper illustrations by Julia Guther.


**Morr Music, is the label that Mum is on, J just got us tickets to their show in October, so excited.

Hand lettering

I've had this funky colorful alphabet by Mike Perry in my inspiration folder for awhile now. He rarely disappoints.

illustration re-visited

I designed this poster for a class project when I was at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. The design brief was that I was to design a public service poster similar to the ones the WPA did under Roosevelt's New Deal. Flat color was a must to make it possible to screen print – which was the most common method of printing posters at the time – and under 5 colors.

We recently ran an article in the magazine that I work on about ways to conserve water in the summer. As soon as I read the article I thought this piece of illustration would be great for the magazine. Here's that same illustration used in a slightly different context.

Now you're inspired to conserve water, right? This site is unrelated to the magazine but here are some great tips to help you save water, time and money!

Swoon

Oh man, as a huge fan of street art this is beautiful!

something old, something new

(This has nothing to do with weddings.)

I saw the There Will be Brunch sign this weekend in D.C. and can't get over it. I know some boys that were (read: are) obsessed with There Will be Blood and the egg with a 'stache is just too perfect! – as is the hand drawn blackletter!

I spied the shoe shine sign on my way home from work yesterday in front of an old shoe shop in my 'hood. very iconic. It would look pretty rad hanging in a living room.

Iron & Wine

J got me Iron & Wine tickets for my birthday. The show was last night & it was so beautiful in a small theatre under the Williamsburg Bridge in Manhattan. He played this song last, (Trapeze Swinger) I had never heard it before but it made me weep.

They also gave us these beautiful letterpressed "commemorative tickets" so pretty!

Thanks J for an amazing night! xo!

wrestling + typography

pretty much the best thing I've seen all week.

*via seesaw designs.

a little hand lettering // French Milk

Such a lovely book cover! I've been inspired by the simplicity of the hand drawn lettering and figure over the photograph for weeks. Nothing about it looks over-thought. & that blue just whispers french to me... Does light blue make anyone else think of France? I have a light blue dress & when I wear it I walk around feeling french! Like I drink fresh milk for breakfast eat lavender short-bread biscuits... (I think I'm taking this too far...)

*via A Cup of Jo

**More exciting content coming to A Paper City soon... I have projects a-brewin'!

Marc Johns // illustrations

oh man. Illustrations of 3 of my favorite things! (I don't think I even need to say anything else.)

*rad illustrations by Marc Johns.

Two of Hearts

Amelia's Magazine has an open brief for illustrators to design a Two of Hearts card. This sounds like it's going to be a really fun collaboration for those who participate.

Since I missed this due to stresses at home maybe I should get my act together for this competition. Anyone out there want to join me for an e-critique? We can help motivate each other, share sketches... anyone? I know some of you are bona fide illustrators and designers, come on, what's more fun than designing a Two of Hearts! I've wanted a chance to design a playing card ever since my friend & former professor Dirk got to design one of these cards for gigposters.

email me if you want to get in on a little e-crit session or something of that nature...

Secrets Burst

A friend of mine is in a writing group called "Secrets Burst," last year she asked me to do a logo and poster for Secrets Burst's reading event at a local cafe. I had a ton of fun playing with type and making these funky letters for their wordmark. They are getting ready for their second annual reading and asked me to recreate the poster for their event.

If you are in the Lubbock, Texas area I highly recommend attending the reading. Secrets Burst is over flowing with deidication and talent & it's free to all, email me for location details.

*Thanks again to Katie & Secrets Burst, I wish I could be there!

Family Tree Illustration

Staying in the vein of vintage photos, I did this collage-style illustration for an editorial last month. The article was about teaching kids about family history & helping them to create their own family tree.

*photographed by Paul Johnson

Harry Potter Type!

Harry Potter type spotted on the facade of a building in the West Village.

I will be the first to admit that I love Harry Potter. My sisters and I often say things to each other like, "Why don't you just 'Harry Potter' that sh**!" Meaning, "use your magic powers to [fill in any impossible, annoying or time consuming task here]."

*did you see these Harry Potter redesigns? via my design voice. Personally, I love them!

p.s. Have I ever mentioned that J teaches at Hogwarts? more on that later...