09.05.08
Rubens LP updates with more of his signature style.
09.03.08
Rodrigo Braga lives in Sao Paulo, Brazil where he splits his time as an Art Director, illustrator, DJ and web designer at an agency called Tribo Interactive.
08.07.08
I have to warn you that the blog will probably be very slow over the next two weeks. It pains me to say it but the traffic is higher than it ever has been since the site first launched as a full on blog. Right now there are close to 3,000 people a day stopping by and that just reached that particular threshold this week. So it saddens me to not be able to keep up the pace for two whole weeks but I will be traveling to Brazil for the next two weeks with my wife. She lives in a fairly remote part of northern Brazil called Teresina. You can see a picture of it above. I will have a spotty dial-up connection here and there but that will be about it for the next two weeks. I wish I could lie and say I will feel bad that I am not pumping out the latest news for you when I am on the beach for 4 days in Fortaleza but I won’t. I am going to give my self at least that long to collect myself and kind of get my focus back.
This year has been the hardest working year of my entire life. That is no exaggeration. This blog has really turned into a part time, if not sometimes full time job but it is something I have wanted to do for a very long time and it has been really exciting to see so many people coming here for inspiration. I don’t think a lot of people realize how hard it can be to run something like this and since about 95% of the posts come directly from me, it has been a tremendous amount of work. I believe in art and design though and I also believe in inspiring people and helping give artists, designers, photographers and anyone in between a place where they can show their work to an interested audience. That was something that really helped me forward my career in the past and I wanted to give that back.
So please bare with me for the next couple of weeks while I soak up a little long needed sun and finally spend some quality time with the woman who has supported me and all my crazy ideas for the last 10 years.
On the Changethethought news front, I have printed 10 of the posters from the print section in series of 100 per design. They are all A3 sized and printed on 100lb true white stock. The color reproduction really blew my mind. I was so excited when I got them back. They really look amazing. They are every bit as vivid and rich in person as they are on the website. I was really stunned. My printer really pulled out all the stops for me and did a great job. The posters include the ‘We Not Me, Buckminster Fuller and Pure Energy’ designs that a lot of people seem to like. They should be in the Changethethought Merchline store the week after next.
Lastly, I also printed 2,000 of the Obama Commemorative posters. Yep, 2,000. It cost me a damned fortune but I think it was worth it. I haven’t had time to photograph them properly yet but they are stunning. I took them out of the packaging and immediately sold 8 of them to my coworkers right there on the spot. If I can actually sell all of them, I would like to give somewhere around 10,000 dollars or so back to the Obama campaign. Maybe even more. I haven’t figured out the math yet. The posters are printed on 80lb Mohawk Felt White paper. There is a texture to the paper that really absorbed the color and they printed really rich and deep. I was really excited. The crazy thing is that when you stack them all they stand about waist high and weigh something like 300-400 pounds. I have no clue how the hell I am going to get them shipped to Merchline. I plan on signing and numbering every single one. Chances are I will never print another run but who knows. I will number them in succession as I print them though.
So when I get home, I gotta crack into those bad boys and start signing away. Then figure out how the hell you ship 400lbs worth of posters over 2,000 miles. Ah the things we do in the creative business. I really felt like there was a need for a more austere and serious Obama poster though. I wanted people to have something that kind of memorialized him and was symbolic of his place in history and his accomplishments. If your for him or not, he really is a special case and I think it’s important to create something that lets people remember this moment in history.
So thank you for reading and thank you for sending emails and thank you for supporting me. I promise you as soon as I am back in the states I will turn it back on again full throttle and keep pouring out every good tidbit of design that I can find to keep your gears turning. For all my bloggers on the site here, if you can keep it rolling for me over the next couple of weeks. Thank you to my fellow bloggers on the site as well. I really appreciate your effort sincerely.
07.17.08
Wow, wildly imaginative work for motion and illustration by crazy color scheme loving Brazilian designer Vinicius Costa.
07.16.08
There is some really fun stuff in the portfolio of Brazilian illustrator Matheus Lopes. He is based in the gorgeous city of Belo Horizonte. It is somewhere on my shortlist to visit on my trips to Brazil. I am going in two weeks but I will only be making it to Fortaleza this time around.
07.09.08
Platinum is a retouching and image manipulation studio based in Brazil that we have worked with in the past at Cactus. They did an amazing job and since have literally blown-up into a rock start studio capable producing mind-numbingly amazing imagery. They have updated their site since I last checked in and their is a lot of work their now. Their site is a little frustrating but if you have the patience you will be greeted by vivid waves of intense colors and stunning visuals. Their work is really really impressive.
06.12.08
Nelson has just updated his spectacularly stunning body of work at Xtrabold. His work leans left towards the digital but I don’t care. I just love his work. Seriously. It’s just awesome. All of it.
05.15.08
Brazillian Motion Agency Molho does the kind of work that melts your brain. Recently they conceived a two minute free-from motion piece for Maxhaus. Maxhaus is a Brazillian brand that specializes in modular custom lofts.
Molho studio is based in Sao Paulo and led b creative director Marcelo Garcia. The studio aims to conceptualize and produce ideas across all mediums and in very possible format.
Have a gander at their work for Maxhaus and be patient because they will soon have a full and proper website where you can review the rest of their work.
03.29.08
Alright, I really have no idea who this guy is. If you scroll to the end of his illustrations there is a picture that I can only assume is a portrait of the artist. His work consists of simple stylized vector illustrations that I personally find very interesting because they meld vibrant color and trendy design with a human element that results in something that resonates. He is also a Brazilian and being married to one, I have an admitted weak spot for all things filed under ‘Brasil’.
So who is he? I don’t know, his website is under the adress Rubenslp but his email is Falecom and you can view his work here.
03.25.08
I have written about Nelson Balaban, AKA Xtrabold in the past. He is an 18 year (yeah my jaw dropped too) old self-taught graphic artist currently based in Curitiba, Brazil. He currently works independently as a full-time freelancer because who really needs very much money when your 18.
For the past few months he has been featured in books and magazines spanning the globe and has received recognition from many members of the design community both in print and online. Computer Arts magazine (UK) recognized him as one of the hottest new talents for 2007/2008 in their “Young Guns” column.
His work possesses all the youth and vigor you would expect and is also highly digital as you would expect. It’s nice to see a few simple graphic works intertwined with his digital collages because you always wonder if young self taught designers such as Nelson are able to back their thick Photoshop work up with subtle typography. I am always leary of jumping on the bandwagon with young designers. Maybe it is just jealousy, but I have always been bothered by the fact that creative publications love to engage in youth worship just as much as the entertainment industry. Restraint, control and the respect for a good idea as opposed to a cool image usually come over time and the appreciation of such things tends to develop as experience and wisdom are slowly attained. Style often has very little to do with substance and is usually only relevant to shifting trends. The irony in style is that it often serves to alienate those ‘not in-the-know’ while something more simple and subtle can usually reach a much broader audience and stand the test of time, regardless of changing trends. I think a good designer should have an ability to shape-shift fluidly between potentially complex trendy styles and more restrained timeless subtlety. Being able to do so has a lot to do with longevity in the creative business and the ability keep earning a living.
After art directing at an agency off and on for a number of years, you look and seek out certain styles from young designers to accomplish a specific look for a client. It is always a toss up however as to how someone young and style heavy will handle a highly conceptual project. For someone of Nelson’s talent none of this may matter because he is able to create such jarring images making him a definite standout among his peers. His images are so original that I am sure he will have no trouble finding work. Hopefully he is being paid well and not being taken advantage of. At such a young age, and starting at such an already amazing level of talent, he is pretty close to a sure thing no matter which way you slice it. What the hell does a 30 year old codger like me know anyway, right?
03.08.08
Guilherme Falcão Pelegrino (G,fp), is a 23 year old Graphic Designer who lives in São Paulo, Brasil. He creates works for both print and screen. He also does freelance work, as part of the PLAN B collective, where he helps create personal projects such as zines, posters, buttons and many other things.
03.04.08
Kako | A.K.A. Kakofonia is an Illustrator/Graphic Artist based out of São Paulo, Brasil. I have been on his email list for a couple years now when he noticed I was on a trip to Brasil with my wife (who is from Brasil) and hoped we would be stopping in São Paulo to visit. Unfortunately we never made it there. He has kept sending me emails however, and his work has gotten better and better. His process of transferring pen and ink illustrations into digital prints yields amazing results. He finally completed his website and there is some really inspiring work on display. He has some exceptional prints for sale as well. Congratulations Kako.
02.15.08
Silencio is the Graphic Design work and Art Direction of Brazilian Atila Meireles. The home page of the site has to be seen to be believed, but it made me wish I had thought of a floating hippo. How could anything that starts with a sleeping floating hippo be bad? The work doesn’t disappoint either.
02.14.08
The very young, (born in 85) and highly talented Will Murai creates gorgeous illustrations from his very small locale Arujá in Brazil. His work has mass appeal beyond his restrictive borders however, which you can see in his roster of clients. He deserves the accolades and at his age, I am sure he is just getting started.
02.02.08
There is some nice work in the portfolio of Brazilian Graphic Designer/Illustrator Carlo Giovani. What are they feeding those Brazilians?
01.29.08
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.
01.28.08
Brazilian Illustrator Ana Tokutake has updated her portfolio with some colorful and interesting work.
There is a wealth of colorful and slick design work in the portfolio of Brazilian Nitrocorpz. I would kill to do some work for Stussy. I wore the hell out of Stussy clothing as a teenager and have always had an affinity for that brand.
Is it just me or do Brazilians have some kind of unique approach to color where they are just unbound to go out on a limb and do something unexpected? There has been some really interesting design emerging from Brazil lately.
