Anthony Hurd use to be the artsy half of E.G.G. A creative partnership between him and another ex-employee of the one-time great little interactive agency, Exopolis. Since then he has really grown and branched out on his own developing his own unique eye-catching style. His artwork is all his own and he just keeps getting better. He is also an accomplished designer. Check out his work at his newly updated site and while you are at it, buy his designer series shirt from Tanktheory, if you still can because it might just be sold out already.
Here is PS3’s latest ‘Meet the Entertainers’ courtesy of The Mill, directed by Biscuit’s Noam Murro. I worked with director Jim Hoskins at Biscuit for my Cecil the Seal Spot. They are capable of producing some pretty amazing material for Broadcast and this spot is no exception. Wow, what I wouldn’t give to work on a production that elaborate. Someday, someday soon.
There is an enormous amount of new work posted the ‘WORK‘ section of the site now. I still have a little bit more to go in the ‘type’ section but that should be up soon enough. The great thing now is, you can actually watch the television commercials I have been making over the past couple years in the broadcast section. The section may load a little slow however, and you will need a Quicktime Plugin to view them. Sorry PC users, gotta roll with my Mac homies on that one.
On the site front, as you can see there is work being done daily to fix up the site. The entire site should be optimized soon for all browsers. I have a web development company looking it over at the moment. So, hold your breath if you are still using Internet Explorer 6, I should be there with an oxygen tank soon.
So far so good. The SEO has massively improved, virtually overnight and the traffic to the site has been increasing daily, at a rapid rate since the new site launched and that makes me happy. Please don’t be shy and use the contact section to email me any and all suggestions for news to the blog. In the future you can expect some job postings, I am hoping to get KROP on board as soon as the site is optimized across browsers. I will also soon be inviting new news editors, so the content should be even more interesting and robust.
Also, I just fixed the permalink structure of the site. You will now notice nice little titles and clean little links to all the individual postings, should you so choose to save one or link directly back to it. If you don’t know what a permalink is, and most people don’t, then fuhgedaboutit. Overall, if you have any strong feelings about the site, be sure to let me know by sending me an email using the contact section. And please don’t be shy, feel free to drop a comment by clicking the comment link under the post title to tell me how you feel. If I post something that really pisses you off, then let me know about it. I can take it, I have thick skin and I encourage debate.
Yehrin Tong creates some absolutely stunning illustrations and has been featured in numerous creative publications, working with the likes of the oh-so-hot-right-now Non-Format. It’s easy to see why when you look through her work. The refreshing thing is, she doesn’t stop at imagery, she is equally accomplished at typography.
Jay Parkinson is a doctor with some rather unusual practices, not in a bad way though, just unconventional. That is probably a good thing when speaking about our joke of a healthcare industry. The even more interesting thing about him is that he is also a really good photographer with a knack for taking some very absorbing portraits. You can learn about his clinical practice as a physician here and you can view his stunning photographs both at his home page and his Flickr site. I was actually pre-med for a spell in college but switched over after two years to Visual Communication and Design. I thought it would be too difficult to practice medicine and still pursue my creative endeavours. I guess I was wrong. Doctor Parkinson is doing it in style.
Wow, Yosuke Ueno is painting up some acrylic styled post-modern cartoon inspired madness. He will be exhibiting at Gallery 1988 on February 5th through the 29th at 7020 Melrose Avenue in L.A. If you are in town you may want to stop by and check it out. I am sure his work will be even more interesting in person. He will be exhibiting with Luke Chueh and Mark Bodnar as well. For the unfamiliar, Luke has been hyped by Juxtapoz many a time.
Great clean and thought-provoking work from the Amsterdam creative partnership the Stone Twins all encapsulated in a crisply smooth Flash shell. Ah to smoke hash and design all in one city, the luxuries of Europe.
McCain swept Florida last night and pundits are already exclaiming he is just a hair away from being crowned the Republican nominee. My personal problem on McCain has been his stance on Iraq. However, I do think if we pulled out all together right now the country would collapse into total chaos. The problem with that is, the war is what created the environment for that collapse in the first place. So now we find ourselves in the catch 22, damned if you do, damned if you don’t scenario. This is a situation which America seems to have such a penchant for putting themselves in.
Clinton won the Democratic vote by a landslide, which I found a bit disappointing since I have tossed my hat in the ring for Obama. Clinton collected 50% of the votes on the democratic side while Obama reigned in only 33%. Edwards slumped in at 14% and rumors are abounding that he will announce the end of his campaign sometime this evening. That announcement is also a disappointment since he seemed to be one of the few front runners taking a hard line stance on the corrupt nature of the current administration. I guess people are still too brain dead to receive that message.
The good news is that Giuliani’s dumb-ass, to-hell-with-the-middle-strategy, finally blew up in his face. He will bow out tonight as well. I think the guy is nuts, and I am very glad to see him go.
It will be sadly ironic if our nation ends up with the two pro-war, career politicians, with ties to previous administrations that our dumbed-down media predicted we would end up with. If that isn’t an indicator of how screwed up we are in this country, I don’t know what is. It appears the old saying, “Voters get the government they deserve,” may ring true at election time. I am still holding a candle for Obama however and praying we can put a new face on our government.
I hope none of you are asking yourself, “I came here for design news, why should I care about this?” If you are asking yourself that, it’s time to pull your head out of your ass and see the light of day. Get involved and start to care right now. It matters. This is your country. If you are registered, get out there and make your voice heard here in Colorado next Tuesday and think very hard about the decision you make.
João Paulo Alvares Ruas is a Brazilian Illustrator/Artist working for LOBO, in São Paulo, Brasil. His work is really amazing and it appears by some of his descriptions that he works pretty fast. Definitely a natural-born-talent. His work is needless-to-say, inspiringly imaginative.
If you have been wondering where some of the exceptional motion/broadcast work has been coming from for Nike lately, it appears that a share of it has been coming from Broadcast Agency, Small Deer. There is some exceptional work up at their modest website. It’s worth browsing through and probably calling them if you are in the market for a good motion agency for your next project.
Czech Illustrator/Designer Jiri Adamek has some interesting imagery on display at his site, Pseudo Pseudo. I am a stickler for Giraffes. His work looks similar to what I think appears to be an emerging trend coming out of Poland and the Eastern block defined by vibrant psychedelic Photoshop collages with a hint of type sprinkled here and there. Trendy as it may be, it is pretty fun to look at and I have a hard time not linking back to it when I see it done well.
Life Long Friendship Society is killing it right now. They are a Brookly-based motion agency, who does a little print on the side but they really defy any and all explanation. They have been working with a lot of large agencies as of late, as you can see by this brilliant new spot produced in partnership with Goodby Silverstein. They have been on my radar for some time already and a writer I often work with at Cactus has really latched onto them as something special. We have them high on our list in the creative department at Cactus as someone we would like to work with in the very near future. They are really mastering their craft as of late and their site has had a continual stream of new work on it. All of it is original and enjoyable.
Jonathan Calugi is spreading the love at Happy Lovers Town with some very clean and vibrantly colored vector-style illustrations and typography. I have to say though, it does remind me a lot of the work of Emil Kozak. Even his website reminds me of Emil Kozak a little.
I know this post might be a little off topic for a design and politics blog but I found it interesting no less so here it is. Wesley Snipes was apparently convicted of evading taxes and his trial was cut short yesterday when his defense team apparently rested its case early citing lack of evidence on the part of the prosecution. Snipes is claiming he sincerely believed he didn’t have to pay taxes and was even demanding to be paid back taxes he had already paid. He stopped filing his returns in 2000. Snipes says he was the victim of unscrupulous accountants who convinced him he didn’t have to pay any taxes.
Whew, what is that smell in here? It smells like…yuck what is that? Oh, yikes I am pretty sure that’s bullshit I smell.
I guess we will have to wait and see if the court smells it too.
Shepard Fairey has thrown his hat in the ring to endorse Presidential Candidate Barack Obama. He will be selling a poster this Wednesday, January 30th with proceeds going towards posters for a large statewide campaign promoting Obama and his message. If you would like to help with the campaign, email info@obeygiant.com with OBAMA as the subject line to receive further instructions on what you can do to help. Lets hope it helps add more momentum to Obama’s campaign because I too believe he is a candidate who shows real promise and a push towards a positive change for our bruised and battered country. It is time for a real change in this country and I think people can feel it.
There isn’t much you can tell about Gilbert Lodge from his website other than he is based out of Zurich and he makes some seriously kick-ass imagery. His work consists largely of what appear to be simple vector portraits but the simplicity is what makes them powerful and absorbing. I guess with a name like Gilbert, you have no choice but to kick some serious ass.
Wow, I can’t believe I haven’t seen this before but a friend sent this to me today and I was highly entertained. It is a great source of inspiration for those of us in the ad business who enjoy inserting humor as well. The site ‘Very Funny Ads‘ features funny T.V. spots from around the world including spots declared ‘too racy’ to run on American television. Those are probably spots that have things like boobs in them instead of bullets.
Wyld Stallions have updated with a very slick and much more accessible Flash website featuring their stunning motion work. They are on my short list of motion agencies to bid out whatever new motion projects that might be coming down the pike for me at work.
08/28 DUMBER THAN W Is McCain really even dumber than George W. Bush? Hmm.
08/27 YOU GOTTA BE HOT To work the sales floor at your local Abercrombie and Fitch. Otherwise you’ll be folding clothes in the stockroom. Who could ever have guessed?
08/25 1 MAN VS THE IRS A lone accountant takes on Big Brother (the IRS) and wins one for the rest of us.
08/24 OBAMA AND BIDEN Presidential candidate Barack Obama finally announced who his running mate will be for Vice President. It will be Delaware Senator, Joe Biden.
08/08 JOHN EDWARDS AFFAIR John Edwards is caught cheating on is wife at quite possibly the worst time ever.
