Great New Artists

Who says advertising design can’t be cute? Not iG Parental control! Their naked stuffed animal campaign is one of the cutest ad campaigns I’ve seen in a long time. It features the line “Children can learn many things on the internet” and uses stuffed animals ( a cow and two bears) to demonstrate the danger of children stumbling upon porn sites.

It’s only a little disturbing and actually it sounds worse than it is. I don’t think too many children will be asking where the bears clothes went anyway. It’s a clever way of avoiding racy pictures or boring text ad techniques to advertise a much needed but highly specific product.

Stephen Chan is a liverpool based illustrator/graphic designer who graduated in 2006. His blog lists his current work as well as updates viewers on happenings in his work-life like contest entries and so on.

His work is a combination of Japanese and UK influenced illustration/design which has been used for magazines, packaging and identity as well as entered into many contests. It’s clear he’s a work in progress kind of designer and he knows it, while his work is not always the most dynamic he is always working and sometimes that’s all you need to be successful in art.

January has been a successful month so far here so I thought I would do a little time-out housekeeping-type post for all my lovely readers.

So far 2009 has seen a lot of new artists from YouTube and other sites on the internet but I thought it would be in keeping with my more academic nature if February took a slightly different track. I feel it is neccessary to understand old art in order to truly appreciate new art so the month of Feb will be dedicated to some of those old favorites with short descriptions of why they were so great.

Hopefully the rest of 2009 will get back to my roots here at Great New Artists and find some more great painters &ct. making great new art for everyone. Since the summer is usually pretty heavy with this kind of thing floating around we’ll keep our eyes peeled for that around that time.

It’s hard not to fall in love with Locksin. The 23-yr-old illustrator/photographer from Malaysia endears herself to her audience with her blog which showcases her talents and personality without a lot of flashy graphics or bright colors whcih is very admirable in this age when it seems MySpace has made awkward graphics the norm in many cases.

She takes photographs, draws and writes short stories all of which shows up in her blog in some form which is headed by an adorable “here I am” picture and an about me quote: “I love what I do, I’m appreciate what I have, I’m enjoying with my life,” a sentiment we could all use in the new year.

In keeping with the tradition of counting down and looking back which seems to transcend generations and religions every year round about this time I decided to write about some of the best new artists I found this past year.

Valsartdiary I actually found out about her a while ago before 2008 started but her style is classic.

Katarina Sokolova one of the best digital painters I have ever seen.

Kawaii Goods.com great little shop full of pink stuff.

Graffiti Paris is a book not a person or organization but it still counts as one of the best art related things I found this year.

Of course there have been a lot more great things this year than just these but it’ll be more fun if I don’t tell you what else to like

After the recent holiday blowouts that left many of us with no money for charitable giving in the first part of the new year I thought it would be nice to write about a charity that takes nothing but a little time and talent (ok it may be a little more than that).

Operation Photo Rescue is a charity run by a network of volunteers who give their time and talents to restore old photos and documents that have been ravaged by flooding and other disasters around the US in the past years.

I got involved with this charity through NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) shortly after becoming a member in September of 2008 (what a difference a day makes!).

Volunteers typically do two photos a week but they do choose which photos they do which means that it not only helps the people receiving the finished product but also can be a great boon to developing your talents in photo restoration. They always have thousands of photos and need volunteers so check them out.

Happy New Year everybody!

On January 1st 2008 I literally was the only person at my church who openly admitted to making a New Year’s resolution. I know this because when the pastor got up there and asked if anyone did I was the only one who raisedmy hand. Frankly I wasn’t surprised.

So this year I thought I would make some art related resolutions.

1. The past few months have seen me fall way behind a couple of things one of whcih is digital painting–I will definitely get back on this

2. I want to have a perfect year here at this blog. I really hope this is possible because I want to be a blog that people go to when they want quick little art snippets they don’t have to work for.

3. I want to get my Photo Restoration business off the ground (WM Photo Design in case you were wondering)

4. 2009 Will also see more fashion and travel articles from me at Suite 101.com

5. Also I will make some art videos this year for YouTube.

6. Take more photos! In fact the challenge is to take 300 photos a day at least one day this year.

So there you are. I have it on very good authority that some YouTube members are resolving things this year also so I’m in good company.

I have a confession to make; I am a Nerdfighter (if you don’t know what that is then go here). Actually this confession is not so shocking once I tell you what I have to tell you in this post but nevertheless I think it’s something that doesn’t get said enough.

The reason I brough you this news is that the Project for Awesome is coming up once again on Dec. 20 and it was started by, you guessed, John and Hank Green who wanted to further the Nerdfighter’s cause of decreasing world suck by bringing attention to charities that Nerdfighters in the YT community liked.

I will be participating this year for the first time making a video about two charities Free Rice and the Christmas Day Art blog network which raises money to drill wells in Africa. What’s unique about these two charities is that they don’t require supporters to give money they both get all their support from ads (sponsorship for Free Rice and Google AdSense for Christmas Day).

Watch the video and visit the site to learn more about the Project for Awesome. Also visit Christmas Day Art you can also score some free clip art and learn about some other cool stuff.

The NoHo Scene Festival is happening on October 5^th this year from 11am until 5pm featuring art, music, theatre, dance, acting, art workshops and screenings. I’m assuming this happens in LA or Hollywood or somewhere else I can’t get to by then. You have to wonder about their slogan though, if it really is more fun than you can fit in a day why don’t they make it longer?

The artists village part of the festival will feature exhibits by Danz Art & Deb Ash, Vera Arutyunyan, Thom Bierdz, Ralph Berko, D.V.L. Productions, Fine Art Fire, Felicite Imam’s Fine Art Prints & Cards, Ruggiero Photography and many more

On its website Scion Space states that it is “Dedicated to fostering independent artistic expression,” and it plans to do that by hosting The Art of Music exhibit which begins on September 6 and runs through the 27 in Culver City, CA. If it weren’t for time, money and distance I would be there in a heartbeat, it combines three of my favorite things art, music and cars.

I never thought I’d live to see a car company host an art exhibit but apparently this has been going on for quite some time and the website lists an impressive number of past shows. Why am I just now hearing about this?