Tomine’s Sketchbook
September 5th, 2010
Adrian Tomine hits quite close to home in the most recent issue of the New Yorker Magazine. Glad I passed that stage !
(comic © Adrian Tomine)
The Ephemerist
Thriving in the margins since 2002…
Gonzo beer
September 5th, 2010
Flying Dog is a self-proclaimed producer of gonzo beer from Frederick, MD, with a Hunter S. Thompson motto and a Ralph Steadman styleguide, which I blogged about earlier. The man in the know recently sent me these new labels featuring a Steadman design. The colors are a bit off from detaching the label, but they’re still the real deal, baby ! On the Flying Dog website, you can also find wallpapers with the other labels.
Draw the story yourself
September 5th, 2010
United Way of Taiwan (UWT) is the largest non-profit organization of the kind in Taiwan. It supports numerous programs around the country, aiming at changing the lives of the most unfortunates. This campaign, by JWT of Taipei, wants to involve the general public in supporting the organization.
I very much like the metaphor of changing the story by drawing it yourself, but I was awestruck by the art (by Kyo Ma, about whom I have found absolutely no further information) which is incredibly varied and at the same time very representative of what, in my opinion at least, comics in the far east are all about. It is one of the best comics-themed campaigns I’ve seen lately.
Everyday heroes
September 5th, 2010
While I was away, I received a big box of stuff from the one in the know with all kinds of comics-related ephemera. I very much liked this flyer for the Mayo Clinic blood donation services. Even though it uses a metaphor that has been beaten to death, its execution is very spontaneous and vivid.
Stripsody
September 4th, 2010Why is it that at a certain point in the sixties it seemed like onomatopoeia were the quintessence of comics ? I guess the Batman television series and Roy Lichtenstein’s pop art paintings had something to with it. In any case, the idea inspired American singer and composer Cathy Berberian in 1966 to create Stripsody, a musical piece combining comic book sounds and her quite amazing vocal range, as these two renditions prove.
(via PCL Linkdump)
Microsoft makes you a hero
September 4th, 2010
M. S. Corley created a new set of superhero-type characters for a new campaign for Microsoft. They do look clean.
(All art shown is © 2010 M. S. Corley)
Batsmurf
September 4th, 2010
Pixar animator Austin Madison managed to bring together two of my favourite characters that I was sure I’d never see merged.
(illustration © Austin Madison; Smurfs © Peyo – © IMPS – All rights reserved)
It’s all in the mind
September 4th, 2010
A nice photo for the weekend. From meerweh (via mystic-lady, aubzillatron, iheartmyart).
You’re a snob, Charlie Brown
September 3rd, 2010
When I was in my teens, Lacoste shirts belonged on the same shelf as Sebago shoes, Millet jackets and Chipie jeans : only fils-à-papa snobs wore them. All the really cool kids wore black, and wouldn’t be caught dead with any of those brands.
But times change, and a white dog has appeared on the white polo shirts that once were the sole domain of a little green crocodile. I won’t wear them, though.
(via Brainstorm #9)
Word balloons galore
September 3rd, 2010
While we were away, some new ad campaigns popped up on the blogosphere featuring word balloons. Regulars of this blog know that we have a soft spot for those, even if they are slightly problematic, like the one above (by The Martin Agency for the JFK Library). I’m not really sure whether politicians like JFK would like their words to be behind some high-tech scramble gizmo. Also, I don’t really see the added value of hotspots like these over plain old urls (save the possibility for marketeers to accurately track how many people actually flashed them).
On the other hand, these ads by Leo Burnett Portugal for MTV Portugal are quite intruiging. I like the artwork, which is adequately cartoony and yet quite stylish, and the use of the word balloons is also very efficient.
Finally, this campaign for Listerine mouthwash is brilliant in its simplicity and execution. The only thing I’m not sure about is whether the shape of the word balloon contributes to the message…
(Ads via Ads Of The World, I Believe In Advertising and again Ads Of The World, respectively)
