This past week, Altpick.com highlighted 4 amazing artists: Photographer John Kuczala; Illustrators Doug Erb, Jenni Catullo and Daria Kirpach. Here’s the round-up!
©John Kuczala
©Doug Erb
©Jenni Catullo
©Daria Kirpach
Please visit Altpick.com to see more of the artists’ work: http://altpick.com
Judith Mayer was chosen as an artist for the newest series of typographic posters for Avondale Type Company, based in Chicago. The ATC Artist Series III is an illustrated exploration of the alphabet, highlighting illustrators and designers from around the world. Now in its 3rd year, the artist series boasts over 50 of the worlds leading illustrators from over 15 countries.
The premise is simple, an artist takes two letters, one symbol and the ATC logo and interprets it, using one ATC typeface, in any way they see fit. Outside of these guidelines, the interpretation is entirely up to the artist.
Mayer chose the typeface ATC Harris, a monospaced sans serif, because she was charmed by the two-storey lowercase g and the ampersand. The monospacing means the normally narrow characters, like the lowercase t, are wide in order to fill the space.
Mayer’s design started with creating a feeling of a three-dimensional space, but then she explored how highlight and shadow can inform (or confuse) the viewer about space. “I replaced light where dark might be in some areas. Flatness and depth are competing with each other. Inspired by psychedelic posters, I used a lot of colors with similar intensity next to each other. After I completed the designs I realized they reminded me a little bit of pinball machines!” said Mayer.
Visit Judith Mayer’s Altpick page to see more of her work, click here.
As a birthday present, my wife got this book for me! It is an Art book from Eiko Ishioka. You can get it as a bargain from Amazon starting at $299! It is cheaper if you don’t need the first edition though.
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| Eiko Ishioka 2006 |
I knew her works long before I got to know her name. I´m really intrigued by the worlds she created mainly for the screen. Reading through the interview at the beginning of the book, something remarkable stood out to me – three words of wisdom:
“Being timeless, revolutionary and original” are the three criteria by which she had judged the quality of design works.
Understanding this and the meaning, it looks to me that other great people have used these keywords as well to create their unique selling proposition, such as Steve Jobs.
Makes sense to me. Without being an Apple-evangelist I have to admit that every product is timeless, revolutionary and an original contributing to their success story.
Back to my initial thought on the interview in the book – I do not agree with the definitions of the interviewer on these three strong words and I spare you a citation, but submit how I understand them;
I think there are many other words that might be helpful to label a bar on which we can raise our skills. Starting with these three is a great benchmark for your work and a great way to start.
I believe many people live by these words without even knowing, but knowing what helps you to create better works is an asset, not knowing this is like reading a map without knowing where to go.
Written by illustrator Oliver Wetter
Happy Holidays from Altpick’s members: photographers, illustrators, designers, animators and multi-media artists! Wishing everyone a prosperous and joyous 2018!
©Umberto Grati
©Alicia Buelow
©Bella Pilar
©Ellen Weinstein
©Davide Bonazzi
©Keith Barraclough
©Kim Wiseman
©Doug Erb
©Paul Garland
©David Owens
©Richard Borge
©Richard Borge
©Red Nose Studio
©John Kuczala
©Anthony Foronda
©Tracy Mattocks
©Lyn Alice
©Marco Melgrati
©Echo Chernik
©Garth Glazier
©Luca D’Urbino
©Echo Chernik
©Kari Modén
©Yien Yip
@Huan Tran
Ray-Mel Cornelius
©Jean-Manuel Duvivier
©Clay McLain
©Teresanne Russell
Kristofer Dan-Bergman
©Chris Lyons
©Robert Houser
©Oliver Wetter
©Randy Michael Korwin
©Lynne St. Clare
©Ken Orvidas
©Heather Holbrook
©Studio Caswell
©Kyle Dreier
©Alberto Ruggieri
©Marina Seoane
©Ivan Canu
©Judith Mayer
To see more of the work from the Altpick.com members, please visit: http://altpick.com
Turns out his extended family once operated a beloved South Florida bakery; a popular spot that got its start back in 1947. They handcrafted those pillowy soft, glazed doughnuts everybody raves about. The place was called Velvet Creme Doughnuts.
The long road back to a brick and mortar store included a few false starts and a bunch of test runs at free-standing kiosks and popular Miami food trucks – each of which I helped to design – but this week, the official Velvet Creme Doughnut Shop will relaunch in the heart of Little Havana at 1555 SW Eighth Street, next door to the historic Ball & Chain Lounge. Every time I mentioned that I was working to bring back the brand, friends would get all misty-eyed and start telling stories about doughnut-filled family breakfasts or endless nights studying for exams at University of Miami, fueled by boxes of doughnuts and bottomless cups of coffee.
My background in visual design & merchandising dates back to Burdines “Sunshine Fashions,” another beloved South Florida institution that faded into memory in 2005 when many regional big box stores were absorbed into the Macy’s brand. I got my start on the selling floor building store displays and wound up as an executive-level visual presentation designer crafting the interiors of specialty departments working on a computer. Partnering with two devoted South Florida families who have put their heart and soul into the resurrection of Velvet Creme is a far more personal task, and so I’ve found myself back on a ladder helping to place the dynamic graphics I designed that honor the history of the company and move the brand forward for the next generation.
My background in visual design & merchandising dates back to Burdines “Sunshine Fashions,” another beloved South Florida institution that faded into memory in 2005 when many regional big box stores were absorbed into the Macy’s brand. I got my start on the selling floor building store displays and wound up as an executive-level visual presentation designer crafting the interiors of specialty departments working on a computer. Partnering with two devoted South Florida families who have put their heart and soul into the resurrection of Velvet Creme is a far more personal task, and so I’ve found myself back on a ladder helping to place the dynamic graphics I designed that honor the history of the company and move the brand forward for the next generation.
To see more of John Lacko’s work, please visit his website and Altpick page.
The Atlantis Resort & Casino in the Bahamas has been on my radar as a shoot destination since they opened. I’ve been visiting Nassau for years, seeing our friends and shooting in, around and under their crystal clear waters. I was thrilled to hear we were awarded the project to create a library of images of their water parks and attractions.
Creating artful libraries has become one of our fortes. We often shoot under water and have become specialists at shooting lifestyle imagery around water, pools, and resorts as well as providing video and drone services as needed. You could say we create a 360° experience.
We’re very adaptable and have a lot of tricks and knowledge that we bring to the experience. We keep it light and fun and we shoot fast… so we don’t capture stale moments, but focus on authentic moments and having fun. We offer very strong support in post-production and retouching, We’ll often encounter a cloudy or rainy day that we transfix into a beautiful sunny experience. We don’t have the luxury of not shooting when we’re on a trip. We’re always shooting and there’s always a camera within reach. If you want real moments, you have to be willing to live in them, and I think that’s one of our strengths.
We surpass client expectations and the challenges of returning from rainy days and challenging moments by loving what we do! We love our clients who allow us to bring our vision to their brands!
See more images from the shoot here: http://blog.georgekamper.com/2017/finding-atlantis/
Also, please visit George Kamper’s Website and Altpick page.
©Giulio Bonasera
Created by the X Prize Foundation, “Seat 14/C” is a worldwide challenge that lets writers from all walks of life compete against one another in order to be featured alongside some of the world’s most prominent sci-fi novelists. Focusing on an airline that gets transported 20 years into the future by accidentally passing through a wormhole, each writer gets to tell the story of a different passenger (where competitors will tackle the story of “Seat 14/C”).
But what is a good short-story without a great illustration? With this competition, several prominent illustrators also got an opportunity to shine, including our very own member, Giulio Bonasera. And not only did he illustrate a couple of the narratives, he also made sure to animate them as well! Take a look below and enjoy, as each of them represent a certain segment from each story. Links to the full versions are provided at the bottom!
©Giulio Bonasera
“Reload”, from James Smythe’s “Catharsis”:
‘Mommy said you would want to speak with me. She said that it might help you, if you ever came back.’
‘What are you? I don’t understand.’
‘I’m a memory.’
©Giulio Bonasera
“Extra Time”, from Hugh Howey’s “Full Unemployment”:
“It’s funny – I think I worked my ass off so you’d have all the things I never had, but those weren’t the things that mattered. I learned this in Tokyo. Never told you. Doubt I would have if I’d landed twenty years ago.”
AD: Colin Peartree | Client: XPrize – All Nippon Airways
http://seat14c.com/future_ideas/10E
http://seat14c.com/future_ideas/14K
Visit Giulio Bonasera’s website and Altpick page to see more of his images.
South Dakota Tourism
For his most recent collaboration, Kevin Steele worked with ad agency The Atkins Group and Huntington Beach, CA Tourism to create a series of beautiful imagery, capturing the joyous lifestyle of its inhabitants for their 2017 campaign. With years of creating cinematic shots focused on authenticity and living in the moment, Kevin was the perfect man for the job. Creative Director, James Howe explains his choice:
“I was looking for someone who had both an understanding of Huntington Beach and an ability to capture those moments that tell a story. Kevin delivered that and more on the shoot, creating images that give you a sense of the lifestyle of HB while creating an emotional connection to it. And he is also a nice guy and fun to work with.”
Portraying family surf sessions and sunset beach bonfires in his own, unique way, Kevin truly captures what makes life so enjoyable in the original Surf City USA.
To see more of Kevin Steele’s work visit his website and Altpick.com.
It may sound like a reverse from the famous quote of hit TV show, “Game of Thrones”, but despite increasingly unpredictable weather changes, one fact still remains: summer IS coming. And that, for many, means putting on some comfortable shoes and heading out for a number of different summer activities. For anyone unsure about what this might entail, take a look at some of the photographs from Alex Martinez’s 2016 lifestyle shoots, all of which were recently posted with the caption “Get out and enjoy this summer!”. With these images as inspiration, how could we not?
To see more of Alex Martinez’s photography, please visit his Altpick page and his personal website.
The Pick 