Eyeliner & Bamboos

So yesterday I went to the movies with the family to see Get Him to the Greek (which was pretty funny by the way, go see it =D) I saw a preview for what could be one of the bestest movies ever coming out Aug 18. It’s called Scott Pilgrim vs. the World! It wasn’t the girl with the pink hair that caught me at first or the fact that it stars Michael Cera (I heart him). It was the corniness of it then it was the comic book-ness of the animation. I already wanted to see it. Then there were the fight scenes! Oh yess. Here look at the trailer and see the awesomeness I’m probably failing to describe:

See?! I really don’t have to explain the plot do I? Okay, moving on. When I got home I did some research. Scott Pilgrim was orginally a graphic novel by Canadian author Bryan Lee O’Malley and the last book of the series hasn’t been released yet. So dispite my AP English summer work, I will be reading these books before the movie comes out on what?

August 18!

How I’ve been in Honors English this long and still getting As is beyond me.

But anyways, I thought this Made & Sold book by Laurence King Publishing was pretty gosh darn cool. The book is a collection of  the works of over 90 artists who make and sell art products, taking on the role as both entrepreneur and designer. Curated by Agathe Jacquillat and Tomi Vollauschek of Fl@33, Made & Sold cleverly takes the form of an online store, dividing the content into shopping cart categories such as clothing, toys, fonts and zines. The book contains 240 pages with 1000 illustrations and is available from Amazon and Chronicle.

Artists, designers and illustrators are doing it for themselves! Tough times often lead to greater creativity and entrepreneurial spirit. Where once designers might have produced a set of postcards to promote themselves or simply for fun, demand for individual design has led to an explosion of quirky, covetable products for sale via the Internet. Self-initiated projects, such as T-shirts or button designs, are fast becoming businesses in themselves. This book showcases more than 500 of the coolest and most exciting graphic products by over 90 practitioners from around the world, including: books, magazines and zines; toys, posters, prints and canvases; fonts and typographic 3D products; clothing and accessories.

As apart of the opening Gala for SLASH! an exhibition of paper art at The Museum of Art and Design in New York, Eloise Corr Danch created this amazing sculptures out of paper. As a collaboration between her and the Ruffian, she created the Ruffian Paper Doll by taking pages from their book Ruffian: Inside Out and transformed them into a 19th century dress. Sexay, ain’t it?

For this sculpture I used many pages of the book Ruffian: Inside Out (Assouline). Her bustle features pictures of Brian Wolk and Claude Morais designing the collections, as well as images of their prints, inspiration reference, sketches and the lovely models who illuminate Ruffian’s silhouettes. The stripe pattern was made by cutting up quotes from the book and reassembling them to in a pinstripe pattern which was then draped into her skirting. Her bodice features a 2 layer floral pattern that I illustrated and then cut through.  She has a trademark Ruffian lace colar, lace cuffs, and a floral hat with feather detail. Her body is covered in LeMonde newspaper.

Didn’t Kanye just put a book out? And now he’s got Through the Wire (named after his first single) a short animated book that illustrates 12 songs of his songs. The illustration for the book were done by cartoonist and illustrator Bill Plympton. You can pre-order the book now at Amazon.

I mean I read enough at school so when I heard about this I was just like “uhhhh…” but Kanye‘s new book, Glow in the Dark, is a picture book! Yes! Lol. It’s 288 pages filled with 400 pictures, a CD with unreleased music and an interview.

Along with on stage and behind-the-scenes shots, the book includes conceptual sketches by West, costume designs, and stage models. The book comes with an audio CD featuring the previously unreleased live instrumentals for Hey Mama, Touch the Sky, Jesus Walks and I Wonder, as well as an interview with tour collaborator Spike Jonze.

Kanye, wether you think he’s and asshole or deserved the #4 spot on MTV’s Hottest MCs List, does some pretty creative stuff so I’m looking forward to flipping through it in my local Barnes and Nobles store because $50 is a little to expensive for me. The book is set to release this month; you can pre-order it on Amazon.