by Kate Brennan-Hall

Let’s start with the obvious—I love color, shape, line, the human form, beauty, imagining spaces & places, expression, psychology, and best of all: working with art materials—paint, paper, glue, crayons, wacom tablet, Illustrator, Photoshop, Flash, InDesign & Dreamweaver.

I like to collaborate. A good collaboration is like a great conversation—balanced in its give and take, seeking to bring out the best in each participant and marked by serious thought sprinkled with good natured humor.

I like the give and take of the art directing process. It’s like a dance—sometimes I’m asked to take the lead and guide the idea from start to finish and other times I’m asked to be led by the process—trusting that my ideas won’t be stomped on.

I like to think outside the box. The act of illustrating something takes you out of your comfort zone. You push yourself to come up with a new concept, a new way to imagine the world all the while asking yourself if your ideas will connect with the viewer of the illustration and if the image fits the objectives of the project.

I like to have a box to bump up against. When I have constraints: size of image, usage, objectives of the project and client’s needs, I feel free to examine every idea within those constraints. As odd as it sounds it is liberating to have boundaries. It makes one push all the more to find a fresh creative way to solve the problem.

I like the idea of multiples and lack of preciousness. I was drawn to illustration and printmaking because you make one image and then multiples of it are created so many can see the image and therefore it can have more of an impact. It’s akin to an introvert vs. an extrovert:  It’s not one image sitting in a quiet gallery somewhere. It’s many versions of one image going out and about and interacting with others.

I like the intersection of logical thinking and creative thinking. An illustration project involves black and white/logical elements: What size is the image? How will it be used? Who is the user group? How will it be printed?  When is it due? What is the budget? And then there is the creative process: The client wants to create the feeling of x + y so what elements do I need to bring this together? What’s a new way to present the human form? The creative thinking is endless but also needs to be tempered because a deadline is a deadline.

I like deadlines. Yep. I like to know that something has a beginning and an end. I like the feeling of beginning a project and then the satisfaction upon completion of the project. I met the challenge. Much like a marathon, it’s good to just run but it’s also great to bump up against the finish line knowing you went from point A to point B with grace and finesse and in the prescribed amount of time.

I always liked show and tell. I think many illustrators have that forever kindergartener in them that LOVES to get praise for hard work done and a product to show in the end. I love the feeling of seeing a package I illustrated in the hands of a grocery clerk as they run it across the scanner. And yes, I have piped up occasionally to say, ” I illustrated that package.” It feels good. I can’t deny it and the five year old in me can’t help but be happy.

Postscript: I’ve had the real privilege of working with Kate over the years, and know what a marvelous visual storyteller and problem solver she is… not to mention the positive relationships she forges with clients through a cooperative spirit and gentle sense of humor…. Kate is a go-to illustrator!

~Sharon Kurlansky/Director/Laughing Stock

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Scouring the urban landscape for visual inspiration is one of artist Ken Brown’s passions. Ken shares his recently discovered treasures here. He has been a legacy contributor to the Laughing Stock image collection since our inception, sharing his visual wit with us as well. (link to Ken’s portfolio)

“Last week, I was biking by a park in the East Village that I have passed for years, but always with the gate locked. That day the gate was slightly open.  I wandered in and came across these beautifully aged murals from the late 70′s, early 80′s, a time of considerable strife in the neighborhood, (Tompkins Park riots, squatter standoffs, homeless camps, and the ever present gnawing of  gentrification). The artwork reminded me a little of Etruscan painting and I felt like an archeologist making a surprising discovery in a slightly off the path neighborhood in downtown Manhattan.”

The Struggle Continues / La Lucha Continua

Laughing Stock: Illustration that tells your unique story.

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This new post was written by Leighton Hubbell, an industry associate and illustrative designer, who has generously allowed me to repost his informative article.

This is a subject that I can share a unique perspective on (pun intended). I have worked on both sides of this particular fence, as an art director hiring illustrators and as an independent illustrator working with design firms and ad agencies for many years. I certainly know what it’s like to sift through source book after source book, scouring every page trying to find the right style–all on an insurmountable deadline.

And, after you’ve found the person’s work that fits the bill, now you’ve got to find out if they fit your budget.  On the flip side, I’ve been the guy who gets the call or e-mail with the often desperate inquiry. What’s your availability? is usually the first question. Most of the time I’m coming into the situation rather blindly, not knowing exactly how they came to find me. Was it from a source book page or a portfolio site listing? How about a recommendation? Sometimes they can’t even remember.

As an illustrator, this is where things can take an interesting turn. You see an illustrator is much like a gourmet chef. All chefs can obviously cook, but a gourmet chef is known for what they cook and most importantly HOW they cook. Illustrators are no different. They can probably create what you’re looking for–eventually, but it’s not in a technique or style that you may have initially intended. They are specialists and have been crafting their way of illustrating for a very long time. Some have several different styles. So, rather than force a round peg into a square hole, perhaps you should find someone who fits the style you were looking for. That way, everyone is much happier with the end result.

Let me just say, there are a lot of great illustrators out there. Some with lots of experience and some fairly new to the industry. There are many illustrators that work solely on a desktop computer in a digital format, and there are others that use a wide range of more traditional mediums. All of them are out there to create the perfect image for your project. But, not all of them are what you may be looking for. Here’s a few tips on how to narrow down your options to help you hire the right one.

Style. First and foremost is the artist’s style. How does that fit into your project? Do they have a slick line art digital technique, or is it more cut paper? Is it colorful or muted? What are you trying achieve with your communication? If you’re needing black and white information graphics, than an oil pastel artist probably won’t fit the bill.

Portfolio. You wouldn’t go to a restaurant you’ve never been to and order without looking at the menu first? You might, but you probably wouldn’t be happy with the selection. The same goes for illustration. Take a good look at their work and see if it’s what you were looking for. If you don’t see it, just ask.

Communication. Give your potential candidate a call and carefully explain what you are looking for. No one can get inside your head and read your mind, so be specific–if needed, provide samples. Open dialog throughout the project will definitely help make sure everyone’s working from the same playbook and prevents errors, wasted time and extended budgets.

Timeline. Have a fair and reasonable deadline. If not, expect to pay more for it. Please keep in mind that some techniques take longer to render than others. Intense deadlines can’t hurry some oil painting techniques, even if you want it to.

Concept. Do you have something worked out already, or are you looking for the illustrator’s contribution–or maybe both? If it hasn’t been worked out yet, certainly let your potential candidate know that you are looking for some additional direction. You’ll probably be pleasantly surprised with what a fresh set of eyes can bring to the table.

Sketches. Many illustration techniques require a good deal of planning before they can be formally rendered. Often times, the artist will submit several rough sketches to make sure that they are working in the right direction both conceptually and stylistically. Most who do this require an approval of these sketches before proceeding to final. This step–as you might imagine–has an effect on the timeline, so be aware.

Doing several sketches and making adjustments takes a lot less time to correct than going back and changing something that has already been rendered. Less time and effort means less money out of your budget.

Usage. This is a hot one these days. Everyone wants to pay a one-time fee for an illustration and be done with it. Figuring out where the work may end up is generally difficult and requires some foresight, but on the other hand could save you money on extra fees. Take the time to work this out.

Besides, creating something that ends up on billboards nationwide rather than a single website banner ad should be adequately compensated for. If you want to have unlimited usage rights, be prepared to pay for them.

Budget. This topic is often either the first thing people bring up, or is not adequately addressed. Be upfront with your candidate about what you have to spend. If you aren’t prepared to share that with the artist, try and at least give them a ballpark figure. At that point the illustrator can either negotiate an agreeable amount or pass on the project. Everyone is just trying to be fair.

Hopefully, this helps gives you a better idea about what to expect in your search. After all, it is a business and it definitely pays to work with a professional.

Copyright © 2010 Leighton Hubbell – Illustrative Designer. All Rights Reserved.

And…hopefully you will find just the right illustrator at Laughing Stock!

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Ron Magnes produced this fun video to promote the Laughing Stock Animation Gallery. He also created the time line Flash animations in the gallery. Ron is our go to guy for custom animation requests and, of course, he does his own original work: see his illustration portfolio at Laughing Stock.

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Jamie Hogan, a Laughing Stock artist, just celebrated a Pub Day for her work in the book, Nest, Nook and Cranny. Illustrators are the observers, interpreters and “imaginators” of our visual worlds… the “king’s eyes” as it were. Here are a few snippets from her excellent visual adventure including her quest to reinvent “reality”:

Hooray! I got my box of Nest, Nook and Cranny books! O Happy Pub Day!

I worked feverishly a year ago on the illustrations for this book of poems by Susan Blackaby. About animal habitats, it was a delicious challenge to immerse myself in the wordplay and my own environment, my radar always on the look out for immediate reference.

The book is punctuated by spreads that define a particular habitat: desert, grassland, shoreline, wetland, and woodland. Except for desert, I could mine my own territory, more or less.

Since there is a beaver colony on Peaks Island, I thought I could do some direct research. However, they are elusive critters, leaving only their signature chiseled marks on downed trees. Probably why I drew this beaver leaving the picture frame in my first piece for the Wetland spread.

There are some things you just have to invent. I had to draw a bear and a hive, but couldn’t find very detailed reference. I drew a pattern, inverted and warped it, printed it out, and tore the edges, for that layered, papery quality of a hive. I combined the collage with the bear drawing.

It figures that reference often comes too late, but maybe it will be useful for another time, like this honeycomb I found in the snow yesterday.

Most of the illustrations are simple with plenty of white to give the poems their space:

Look who visited the low tide about 3 months after I finished my illustrations… And this morning I noticed this on a neighbor’s roof:

The author writes at the end, ” As a writer, I’m often asked where I get my ideas, and I usually say that I poke my nose out the front door. I suggest you do the same. If you stay on the lookout for quirky, curious, and remarkable things, you’ll soon discover them everywhere.” Jamie has certainly followed that path. Good creative advice for all.

See Jamie’s portfolio at Laughing Stock

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New, fun, and ready to roll: an illustrated stock animation offering from Laughing Stock. These short-run stock concepts for the business and consumer markets by George Schill and Ron Magnes are the perfect vehicle to maximize visibility. From on-line advertising and web banners to trade shows & sales presentations, an animated message will engage your audience and underscore your message. You can view the new animation gallery and start your creative wheels turning now. We’ll be adding lots more in the coming months including other artists and styles, so come back often and enjoy the show.

Coming Attractions: Office humor for the water cooler set:

We’d love your feedback: Do you think this is useful content for your creative & marketing efforts? Any suggestions? Keep your cards and letters coming…

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Einstein said creating a new idea is not like destroying an old house and building a skyscraper in its place. “It is rather like climbing a mountain, gaining new and wider views,” he said, “discovering unexpected connections between our starting point and its rich environment.”

In other words, if we pay attention to what’s going on around us – whether in our personal lives or workdays – we’ll find fresh perspectives and make valuable connections. We may not recognize the new idea at the moment, so consequently we don’t feel creative. But keep the faith, realizing that one observation, thought or action leads to another and another and another…

Try this: Identify one of your most creative achievements, whether personal or business. Take a sheet of paper and backtrack through all of the steps, actions, connections, mistakes and revisions it took to get to the final solution. Post this idea lineage in your workspace to remind yourself that every second – no matter how seemingly insignificant – marches toward creativity.

“All knowledge is connected to all other knowledge. The fun is in making the connections.” Dr. Arthur Aufderheide, anthropologist

Many thanks to our acclaimed and very creative! guest blogger: Sam Harrison is a professional speaker on creativity-related topics and the author of “Zing! Five steps and 101 tips for creativity on command” and “IdeaSpotting: How to find your next great idea.” His next book, “IdeaSelling: Successfully pitch your creative ideas to bosses, clients and other decision makers” will be released by HOW Books next spring. www.zingzone.com

The images in this post are from Judy Stead and Amanda Duffy, Laughing Stock artists. To see their portfolios, click on the images

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Milton Glaser has cast his long shadow over the visual arts landscape for more than a half century and his contributions are surely formidable. Though visual simplicity is one of his hallmarks, a deeply intellectual and conceptual process distills his images and design solutions. This conversation gives us an insight into his thought processes and ultimately answers the question: WHAT IS ART?

More about Milton Glaser: http://www.miltonglaser.com/pages/milton/mg_index.html

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Spending some time with illustrator Rob Dunlavey in his studio was a great adventure, which I’d like to share with you. One of his many visual explorations, aptly named, Crystal Cities, is a sparkling and inventive journey into an imaginative architectural realm of over 160 artworks for all to enjoy….

Q: What was the creative inspiration for Crystal Cities, Rob? Crystal Cities grew out of work I was doing in my sketchbooks in December 2008. At that time I was making drawings with crayons as a resist and painting over them with ink. The simple, geometric designs intrigued me. Varying my media but using a consistent vocabulary of forms continually delights me as the pictures express themselves. I now have about 160 paintings and drawings that comprise the series. It’s open ended and I still explore the theme but part of my time now is spent developing new ideas for children’s book. Crystal Cities might feed into that.

Another exciting development of the series is creating paper sculptures that really are cities. Here are a few examples:

Q. What are your goals / intentions for this project? How would you like to see this work placed in the “real world” marketplace? The most immediate market for these images has been gallery exhibitions. I showed them this past summer in Connecticut and I have a show in Paris in December as well as smaller exhibits in Boston and Wellesley in 2010. I’d like to license the existing images for use in stationery, limited edition posters, cards and possibly housewares. With the development of the sculptures, I imagine these as theater sets or being used in animated film projects.

My personal fulfillment is profound in making these works of art. I love having a blank paper in front of me and having no clue what will be on it at the end of an hour! But I know that in that period of time that I will seek a way to make something that is beautiful, enchanting, delightful, intriguing and open ended. In short, a place that people of all ages will want to explore. Explore Rob’s portfolio at Laughing Stock. Contact us if you are interested in developing a Crystal Cities licensing project with Rob: 508-460-6058

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The whimsical drawings that accompany many of the poems in the recent issues of OnEarth Magazine, published by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), were done by Blair Thornley, an outstanding Laughing Stock illustrator and animator. Her work has also appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Dwell Magazine and many other national publications. Here are a few of the selections with Blair’s commentary about the challenges of visual interpretation (reprinted by gracious permission of OnEarth and the poets Eamon Grennan and Robert Bly.)

“I would have assumed that coming up with an image for a poem, so seemingly open ended and potentially interpretive, would be easier than for a standard magazine article, but it really isn’t. Some have been easier than others, like the chickadee one was fun and instant, just the idea of that delicate thing dealing with the cold. Still, you have to read through a few times and interpret the context for yourself, or even choose one part, there is so much going on in the poetry, which is very beautiful, but the writer’s art is verbal, not always visual” ~Blair Thornley

Chickadees in October

by Eamon Grennan ~ Fall 2008

First tussle of your lungs again
with cold weather, nose dried
from steam heat, sour of blood
in the mouth. Then the life-squeaks
so many desperate hungers
signaling some unspeakable hope of
these chickadees at the feeder,
though none becomes a Buddha,
being but scraps of act and clamour,
quick, black, white, open and shut
assemblages of feather and bone
blinking the big dread away
with the sunflower’s sweet kernel, brisk half-minute of the millet’s bittersweet.

“Gravity” was very tricky, I was stumped. I tried being literal, wrapping a figure in leaves on the earth like it was a personified apple. How do you make a stone on the ground look interesting? what the heck was this poem about? How can I draw an image of the roots of laughter? Finally I just focused on gravity, and did an abstract figure heaving into the ground. The figure has to look abstract if you’re going to put him through something like that, otherwise it’s too upsetting on a magazine page. I am glad that the art director choose this as the solution. I could have gone off the deep end here. ~Blair Thornley

Gravity by Robert Bly ~ Spring 2009
Grief lies close to the roots of laughter. Both love the cabin open to the traveler, The ocean apple wrapped in its own leaves. How can I be close to you if I’m not sad? The animal pads where no one walks. There is a gladness in the not-caring Of the bear’s cabin; and in the gravity That makes the stone laugh down the mountain

A few more of Blair’s illustrations and her commentary about resolving the visual challenges posed by the assignments :

“The biggest challenge for all of these is actually the print size. It’s about the size of a postage stamp, so there’s no room for fluff. (makes you disciplined) The one about the violets was a real test. The poem suggested a whole lovely scene down by the stream, and violets are tiny. Maybe I could have done a violet by itself, but that seemed boring. I made the violets gigantic next to the girl so they would read. I guess that changing scale is sometimes the only way to solve a puzzle.” ~Blair Thornley

“For  the nuthatch poem, again it was a lot going on, I struggled with a lot of drawings of nuthatches and people, finally just did a drawing about the emotional relationship between the man and bird. ~Blair Thornley

See Blair’s portfolio at Laughing Stock.
Contact Laughing Stock to work with Blair (508-460-6058).
See more of Blair’s work for OnEarth.

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