Soupa illustrator Clare Loveday has been getting creative making handmade products and started up her own online shop selling tote bags, hair bands and cards. Check out her new collection, which is being added to on a regular basis here. My favorite has got to be the silk screen printed orange branch tote bag, which reminds me of a pair of trousers I owned (and wore) in the 90's! www.clareloveday.com www.folksy.com/shops/ClareLoveday www.etsy.com/shop/ClareLoveday
Cutting Edges is a visual feast for anyone interested in collage and image making and celebrates the work of prolific creatives of this genre, such as Anthony Zinonos and Jelle Martens. Flipping through the book, you'll laugh, giggle or even grimace at the sort of imagery mixed together to create the final pieces.
A new find for me was the complex artwork of Valerie Roybal whose work seems to play on the subconscious as well as the eye. Imagining the time taken up finding, cutting and putting back together might make you wince but it is definitely worth the effort and makes for an individual, if not painstaking take on collage.It is also great to see some digital collage work in the book which sits very nicely next to hand made pieces and shows just what goes into making up digital illustration.
The cover oozes cool and contemporary - the inside doesn't disappoint either giving you a visual feast of contemporary cutting and sticking.
Cutting Edges, Contemporary Collage Editors: R. Klanten, H. Hellige, J. Gallagher
A Cutter's Edges: James Gallagher on Creating and Curating Contemporary Collage
Zine's have recently become a popular output for designers and illustrators - not just for those of the political persuasion. In 2011, there are so many digital outlets such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook for example, where you can have your own voice so you might wonder why people still like to cut and stick their thoughts and images into a little book. However, with a rise in popularity Zine's have been given a designer's touch and are as appealing to the style-savvy as those who like to read the opinion's of others. You might even learn something! This book celebrates and showcases the more 'visually refined' of zines where artists and designers have started to experiment and update this medium which has long enjoyed a cult status. Some may also say that it is the impact of the recession that is promoting the 'make do and mend' attitude not only in crafts – but also in self-marketing and the arts.
The spot gloss cover and open spine give a shiny impression but it is the pastel pages which really caught my eye and really give the feel of zine. A jam-packed book full of inspirational projects, and some great examples of various print process make this a book I'd definitely recommend.
Behind the Zines: Self-Publishing Culture Editors: R. Klanten, A. Mollard, M. Hübner Publisher: Gestalten
Soupa has moved over from a 'Group' to a 'Page' now on facebook to check us out and 'like' us to keep up to date with our comings and goings! Enough quote marks now. :) http://www.facebook.com/pages/Soupa-Creative-Network/203934166305433
I've been a fan of Ammo for a year or so now after meeting editor & founder Dave at The Publisher's Club Meet-up and have loved the little mag ever since. The postcard (or handbag) size mag is perfect for showing off the beautiful illustration and design work and bite-size features are easy to digest, wherever you are.
The cover of this latest issue has been gracefully designed by Gabriella Barouch whose work is wonderfully girly and mystical. Inside, you'll find the work of Soupa illustrators Carlos Garde-Martin, Harriet Gray and Luke Waller all of whom have submitted exclusive pieces for the magazine. Check out their work on pages 16, 31 and 53. There are some great interviews from Timba Smitts, Rilla Alexandra and also an interesting insight into the work of Claire Hartley. Claire was invited to take part in Yarn Festival back in February to produce a live illustration pitted against Soupa's own Jamie Littler.
As always, the magazine is designed in a way which only further enhances the work featured in it.
Check out and buy Ammo Magazine here
Images © Ammo Magazine sourced from Flickr
Illustrator and fellow Soupa creative Jason Lear is working all night tonight on a 12 hour sketching session, he will be posting every hour with updated work so check it out here: http://jasonlearillustration.blogspot.com/ Jason's Soupa profile
Here is the first sketch of the night.
Today Soupa has been nominated a winner for the CSS design awards. The CSS for our site was developed by Eurico Sá Fernandes with creative direction by myself representing Ok-Jo Studio. Exciting stuff!
Thank you to Jamie Littler for making this beautiful new banner for May!
Come one, come all and gather round the virtual campfire for thrilling tales, stupendous stories, riveting rhymes and adventurous activities - all illustrated in eye-popping 2D by some of the finest illustrators and animators around!
Today was the launch of 'Paper Cub'; an online magazine for children of all ages. The magazine boasts fresh and regularly updated illustrated stories and poems of all shapes and sizes, all by various talented creatives from around the world. The magazine can be found over here:
http://www.paperfoxpress.com/papercub/
Soupa illustrator Jamie Littler also happens to be one of the contributors, and was brought on-board by fellow YARNfest competitor Robin Boyden. He has created an illustration for Robin's poem '(Too Much) Space' for the launch, alongside some other genuinely beautiful artwork and poetry.
Yo illustrators!
Been spending too much time with your tools and not enough with your peers? Head down to this illustration meet up in London to mingle and network with other people like you!
Next event is on the 11th May 2011
Check out the website for more info about the events here: http://www.yoillo.com
If you went along to Dazed Live earlier this month, you might well have seen some copies of our latest Soupa Zine. Wonder how they got there? Well, we sent over a few copies over to Jotta a couple of weeks back who were curating the zine part of the festival.
The focus of the zine exhibition was to chart the history of London's self publishing scene – so early 70s punk zines to contemporary fanzines sat side by side.
Unfortunately we didn't get down to the actual event, however the guys over at Fever zine have some great pics of the event here. Fever zine's flickr stream. Can you spot our Zine? We can!
Soupa has been working behind the scenes to make an easier to use and better looking site. We have now incorporated the blog within the main site and will be running everything from here. We have added new members and a brand new links page which will be growing as we do. Eurico Sá Fernandes has been working on the web development with design direction from me (Jo at Ok-Jo Studio) and we couldn’t be more pleased with the result. We are still refining a few elements – so if you do notice any broken links or weirdness let us know.
Keep your eye out for more events and creative comings and goings in 2011. If you would like to receive our feed, direct to your inbox click here.
Thanks for being part of Soupa so far!
Last month illustrator and Soupa member Madi opened up her own online store on Etsy. Here you can check out some of her prints, mirrors and cards and find the perfect present!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/MadiIllustration
This month we welcome two new exciting illustrators to Soupa and we're pretty chuffed about it! Spiros Halaris is a graphic design graduate from Middlesex University – although illustration has since won his heart! He is currently working on various projects while continuing his studies in fashion illustration at the London College of Fashion.
He incorporates a range of techniques including collages, hand drawn as well as digital elements. His imagery embraces emotions, human elements and fashion.
Next we have Joshua Marshall who was born in St Albans. He graduated from Kingston Upon Thames in 2008 and began freelance Illustration. He is currently based in London and pursues his interest with the imagery of ‘the abnormal day to day’ that surfaces in a diverse range of commissions for t-shirts, posters, magazine and book illustrations.
A big thank you to Carlos for designing the first banner for Soupa's new look. Here's what he had to say about it:
The idea for the banner originated from some recent research I was doing on the English language. I was thinking about how confusing it must be for foreigners because so many of our words sound the same. For example words like gorilla and guerilla, or sweet and suite both sound the same but have totally different connotations. These same sounding words I later found out are referred to as 'Homophones'. The concept of fusing these two words together was really intriguing, and some really amusing images resulted from it.
If you would like to submit a banner design for May get going and send it over to jo@soupa.co.uk when your done. The dimensions are: 940px x 143px - and remember to leave a space for the Soupa logo as it sits over the top.
Well, Jason Lear has been a busy man recently with his fabulous illustrations being featured on clothing for Your Eyes Lie and he has launched his own online shop selling a collection of his beautiful digital prints. He has also been featured in DE Magazine and published in Zeixs - New Textile Design. Good going Jason – keep up the stellar work!
Soupa member Chris Airplays has just launched a new clothing label called The Diggers. The name comes from hunting for records, digging in the crates, and the main theme of the label is the excitement of finding something new. With this in mind Chris set the first brief under the title 'New Discoveries' and commissioned three illustrators, Mr Gauky, Keaton Henson & Nate Trapnell to design the first collection. Check out The Diggers site here.
Soupa member Mark Richardson of Superfried has recently completed Superfried's latest free font. It's aptly called: blob and is available in two formats, round and square. This is predominantly a display and experimental font. Unlike before, since the styling of round and square are sufficiently different, it was necessary to develop two separate fonts rather than utilising the shift key to switch styles. The majority of the simple shape development was created using FontStruct. Once the limitations had been reached, further refinement and finishing was achieved in FontForge.
You can download the 2 variations here… http://www.superfried.com/freestuff/
Receive regular updates by linking up on their facebook page... http://www.facebook.com/superfried
