Alma

Here's a beautiful video by Rodrigo Blaas. Just beautiful.

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

British un-things

Have you noticed the books out semi-lately with "un" things as main characters?

• The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall, published in 2007 (un-Space and the Un-Space Exploration Committee)
• Un Lun Dun by China Miéville, also published in 2007 (Un-London and pretty much everything else)
• And not quite, but along those same lines: Coraline by Neil Gaiman, published in 2002 (Coraline had an "other" mother)

The link between them might be in the water; all of the authors are currently living in or were originally from England. That and, whether you like the books or not, critics have widely agreed that at the very least these authors have created unique worlds and ideas and display incredible imagination in their writing.

Illustrators I Greatly Admire: Exhibit C

Gris Grimly.

Incredible talent, this guy.

Currently working on Frankenstein, and has set up a blog to share his progress. First noticed him through his Edgar Allan Poe book, Tales of Mystery and Madness, published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

Keri Smith

For any creative type who needs a little humor and a gentle nudge in a productive direction, take a look at Keri Smith's Web site. For the most fun and a lot of creative ideas, choose the "Play" link, and don't forget to check out her portfolio while you're there.

Great work, great ideas and a great inspiration to the creative community.

Illustrators I Greatly Admire

Exhibit B:
Pablo Bernasconi

I first became aware of Mr. Bernasconi's work in The Wizard the Ugly and the Book of Shame. That one was published by Bloomsbury. Fantastic collage-type abilities and great characters. I wonder if people kept telling him he would scare the children. And I wonder if, even though they told him that, he kept doing what he was doing anyway.

There's a lesson here.

Firefly Chocolates @ the Mall

My friends down at the Firefly have opened a new shop at Westmoreland Mall in Greensburg, and they've included more of my signage. All the posters hanging in the shop were also part of our branding campaign. Included here are both the outside signage as it was designed, and a shot of the shop from the mall interior.

Illustrators I Greatly Admire

Take a look at Kirill Chelushkin's work, represented by Shannon Associates.

First came upon his illustrations in The Elves and the Shoemaker as retold by John Cech and published by Sterling Publishing in New York.

Incredible work.

Snow @ twilight

Our first-ish snow of the season of any consequence.

Twitter

Finally moving on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/NoraThompson

Combination of all the work I do: fine art, kid's illustration, graphic design and The Rots©. Kind of a daily updating of my working life.

Jack & Jill

Here are a few of the spots I did for Jack and Jill's November/December issue. I have to be a little more careful about the colors next time; they printed pretty dark. And I have no excuse...I used to work for a newspaper, and I know how things print on absorbant paper like that! Never forget to learn.