Narcissism? No, Kathy MacLeod!

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Anna Denise -

A little while back I was attending a conference where I participated in a 'discussion workshop' (which apparently means you just sit around and talk) about autobiographical comics. It turned out to be a total fad, mostly because the guy leading the workshop openly proclaimed to hate the entire genre (and refused to call it that) and pretty much told everyone he felt keeping an illustrated journal was childish and narcissistic. Needless to say I was totally into the ensuing conversation and felt very comfortable to share my own self-obsessed work.

However, I think he's wrong. And possibly just old and mean and wrong (yes, I'm very grown up where it comes to handling disagreements). Mostly because one of the reasons I keep an illustrated journal is because so thoroughly enjoy reading about other people's ordinary (and extraordinary) lives. An example: I recently discovered Kathy MacLeod's work and it's just awesome. I love her spot-on observations and the apparent easy by which she draws about her days. Also, she has a cat. And I have a cat, too. Really, we're like twins. Almost.

Links: Blog | Facebook | Twitter

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LEGO Imagine

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Anna Denise -

My friend Debbie pointed out this brilliant LEGO campaign by Jung von Matt. I love it.
via The Inspiration (includes more examples). Can you guess them all?

Links: Full post on The Inspiration | Jung von Matt

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Small = Better

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Anna Denise -

By Anna Denise

BOO! Here I am again! Did I scare you? I'm going to attempt and be here a bit more often, but no promises. I'm just here because I recently bought pretty much everything from Shay Aaron's Etsy shop. It's small and cute and won't make you fat. Awesomenessss.

Links: Etsy Shop | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook

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Handmade Doll by Ninon

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Anna Denise - Six comments

Ninon is an Italian softie designer living in Berlin. Most people who know of her work, know of her monsters. Those monsters indeed are fabulous but I must say these sweet handmade dolls have stolen my heart. Love those delicate shoes and drawn faces! Oh and the skirts, the skirts!

Links: Weblog | Etsy Shop | Flickr | Twitter

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Cool Curator on Flipboard

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Anna Denise - 53 comments

By Anna Denise

There comes a point in each girl's live where she has to decide whether she wants to be cool or whether she wants to be nice. Now, of course, it's clear that I don't do ultimatums, so I chose both (I think it's pretty cool to be nice), but over at Flipboard, they mostly think I'm pretty cool as they've made me a 'Cool Curator'!

Flipboard is a cool and nice app for your iPad that turns all of your social media and rss feeds into a very pretty-looking 'magazine'. I use it all the time and am also a big fan of their featured streams, as it helps me find new artists and blogs.

So head on over to Flipboard.com or the iTunes app store and download Flipboard. Once you've decided that this app is indeed pretty nice, check out the tab 'Cool Curators' and voilà! You can read this blog in a cool magazine-like fashion!

Enjoy and a big thank you to Mia from Flipboard for choosing me! I am so so very honored!

Links: Flipboard.com | Flipboard iTunes App Store
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Nelleke's Collection of Faces

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Anna Denise - Five comments

Nelleke verhoeff is an illustrator, animator and photographer from Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Although she mostly does illustration now, she has a background in theatre - which, I think, clearly shows. Her new blog 'a face a day' is an expression of Nelleke's love of faces, characters, masks and expressions and it's lovely.

Every day Nelleke presents us a new, fresh face as part of her collection and what I love the most about this is that sometimes you're not sure if this person she's depicted is someone she knows, someone she observed, or simply a face that sprung from her own imagination. Her blog then becomes a blog full of random encounters with people you may or may not ever meet.

Links: Website | Blog | Flickr

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Florent Chavouet's Okonomiyaki

Posted on October 20, 2011 by Anna Denise - Two comments

By Anna Denise

Florent Chavouet is a French illustrator, whose work is mostly comprised of journal-like drawings of his travels in Japan. I'm a huge fan of his work and I'm at a loss to even describe how inspirational his drawings are to me. They make me feel completely energized and hopeless at the same time. Energized because his style is one of the coolest things I've come across in the past few years, and hopeless because I know I will never be able to emulate his brilliance.

So anyways, he just put a hilarious series of drawings on his blog, roughly describing the recipe for okonomiyaki. It's worth checking out (as are his books!).