Tag: Illustration

A Maximalist Mag That Uses Clever Ad Speak for Social Good

Unleash creatives from around the world into a white cube gallery. Give them a single theme to respond to. Flatten the result to a thin, roughly 7” x 7” magazine. This is kult: an 80-page visual feast oozing with illustrations, graphics, and photographs of all shapes, colors, and styles.

From “AIDS” to “Fortune,” and its upcoming issue on “Cars,” kult has been using the visual language of advertising to sell messages on social issues since 2009. It all started when designer Steve Lawler wanted to share works from an exhibition he curated a decade prior. Once he quit his job at Ogilvy’s Singapore outpost after becoming disillusioned with the industry, the interactive designer with a truly international calling card (born in Iran, raised in Hong Kong, studied and worked in Europe, and now based in Singapore) turned to making prints and curating art shows. For a 2006 group exhibition, he invited artists like American illustrator Andy Rementer and Singaporean artist Andy Yang to respond visually to the theme of “Trust.”

➜ Read the rest at AIGA’s Eye on Design

Quietly Beautiful Work by the Illustrator Who Drew The Four Seasons Logo

Various covers of exhibition catalogues Antonucci designed for then Museum of Contemporary Crafts between 1965 to 1972. Courtesy American Craft Council

The Four Seasons Restaurant in New York is celebrated by many as a temple of modern design. Housed in a restrained interior designed by architect Philip Johnson are the elegant furniture of his collaborator Mies van der Rohe, elemental tableware by architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable and her industrial designer husband Garth, artist Richard Lippold’s abstract ceiling sculpture, and the shimmering aluminum curtains of textile artist Marie Nichols.

But much less talked about is the landmark restaurant’s logo, a design of the late Emil Antonucci—a mid-century American illustrator who has been forgotten with time.

➜ Read the rest at AIGA’s Eye on Design

How an Illustrators’ Organization is Shaking Things Up in Singapore

Emmartee (2012) by Dan Wong depicts life in the Singapore subway system.

 

Cool drawing instruments were what first drew Michael Ng (better known as Mindflyer) into the world of illustration. Since then, he’s progressed from drawing technical diagrams as a trainee draftsman to illustrating surrealistic, psychedelic imagery as an independent—and quickly becoming known as one of Singapore’s leading illustrators. Together with illustrators Andrew Tan (Drewscape) and Lee Wai Leng (Fleecircus), the 50-year-old is also the co-founder of the Organisation of Illustrators Council (OIC), a champion for illustration in Singapore. Who else better than this veteran to give us a tour of the Singapore illustration scene and introduce us to some of its emerging talents?

What does illustration look like in Singapore today?
Somehow when you talk about illustration here, straightaway people think of anime, conceptual art for production, and even graffiti. Illustration for editorial and adverting is a minority, and this is what we’re trying to change through OIC. There’s just more exposure for the other forms of illustration here through computer games, movies, and anime.

 

➜ Read the rest at AIGA’s Eye on Design