Kyle Webster is a mastermind with brushstrokes. His ability to illustrate and story tell within Adobe’s perimeters is unparalleled and one of the reasons his regular clients include The New Yorker and The New York Times. In addition to creating, he’s dipped his toe into the world of instruction and has started selling his infamous strokes. They’re extremely reasonable and life-like in presentation. Click here to explore, purchase and watch a tutorial.
Without color, pattern or texture, where would we be? In a black and white world, void of visuals (perhaps). Learning to use these elements to communicate a message is a skill Brad Woodward of Brave the Woods has honed rather successfully. In his recent Skillshare class, he’s opening the door to his studio to share some tricks of the trade. Learn how to convey moods, design for editorial and experiment illustratively. For a glimpse of the student projects to date, click here.
I’m a bit bias, but I love a good watercolor. There’s a graphic lyricism that’s extremely forgiving. The lines always emit a delicate strength, whether you’re a kid having fun or a master amidst a successful career.
Realizing the importance of the negative space is one of the best ‘a ha’ moments you can have. I stumbled across Lorraine Watry’s tutorials on Pinterest last night and love how she walks us through various techniques, conveying methodical patience. Have a watch- anyone can do it!
If you’re in the New York area experiencing this dreary afternoon, you might find a little joy perusing the Design Center at Philadelphia University’s tumblr.
I stumbled upon it thanks to Ana Montiel’s gorgeous blog, and found myself digging deep, wading through swatch after swatch. The above pattern is brilliantly simple- it merges pointillism and geometric sewing textures.
The blog houses 200,000+ objects related to textiles and fashion, ranging from plaids and conversationals to animated gifs and embroideries.
The scans are pretty interesting, as you can see the pencil marks, stains and cataloging system that’s been implemented over time…at least prior to the internet.
Have a look and let us know which ones you love.
We’re so used to looking at streams of pretty pictures, that the process beyond the product is often an after thought. Places like 3rd Ward, Kollabora and Skillshare, here in New York and Craftsy on the West Coast are attempting to democratize the DIY process, though there’s still a big step between producing craft and superior luxury product.
I recently came across Insley & Nash and was blown away by their fabrics. They’re a bespoke screen printing studio based out of London, specializing in the tough stuff: flocking, foil, devore and fluorescent pigments.
Gavin Insley and Mika Nash formed the studio with the hopes of providing an outlet to designers in need of short runs of high quality textile screen printing and dyeing. Have a look at their video, hopefully you’ll find it as calming and inspiring as we did.
Who else has a mounting pile of art that needs framing? When you invest in pieces you love, be it originals, prints or even the $6 poster, it’s important to house them in a way that will preserve and protect over time. Over the years, I’ve dabbled in matte cutting, basic wooden frame construction, buying online, straight from the store and of course with custom.
Last weekend, I decided to give eight pieces their wings, so to speak, and bring them to my local framer, Mrs. Lim of AZ Art Framing, pictured above. She’s remarkable. After spending two hours together brainstorming the best creative and affordable options, she walked me through her frame building and conservation process. She’s worked on Greenwich Street in Tribeca for over 30 years and continues to frame everything from street art to original Warhols.
Here she’s measuring out a sweet little water color painted by Dale Smith, the in-house illustrator at Steven Alan. He’s one of my favorite local artists. I figured this post would be most useful if I shared a few different frame and matte styles to consider when taking the plunge. While I’m still waiting to get my works back from Mrs. Lim, the collection below is an assortment of techniques I’ve made, used and accumulated over the years.
1. Shadow Box Framing: The left is a white wooden painted frame with a delicate centered bird cutout. The right is a standard plastic/synthetic with a glued double matte for dramatic effect.
2. Light Frame, Black Matte: Both the art and the frame job came from The Poster Museum on Chambers Street in Manhattan (highly recommend as well). The frame is on the thinner side and has a reddish gray tone.
3. Wooden Frame and Canvas: In college I was invited to display a few of my paintings in a show and needed them framed that week. Aside from the unrealistic deadline, I had no money to get it done professionally, so I went to the local art store and bought wood strips, stainer and nails. Very DIY and still happy with the results.
4. Monochromatic & Tonal: Here’s an example where I went sort of crazy and spent loads more on the frame than the art (I’m sure a few of you have done the same, right?) This was a $6 poster from London and I love it. I put it in a slightly textured cool metallic frame alongside a warm gray matte. I had it done at 567 Framing on 14th St.
5. Classic & Ornate: I really wanted this Lao watercolor to sit in classic textured frame and luckily found this preassembled affordable gem at New York Central Framing Annex on 3rd Ave.
6. Colorful Metals: This is one of the first prints I ever bought and the first frame job I ever invested in. It’s a playful typographic maze and needed something similarly fun around it. The matte’s a grayish white so it makes the print really pop.
7. Thin White Frame, No Matte: This is an old subway map. It’s quite large, so it didn’t need a matte, nor lots of breathing room. I decided to add a simple thin white frame, as it speaks for itself.
8. White Wooden Floating Shadow Box: This beautiful photo was a wedding gift and sits elegantly within the space around it. It was framed at City Frame on w30th Street.
9. Raw wood, uncut matte: This piece was also framed at 567 Framing and it’s a nice reverse. You don’t always have to have a cut matte for interesting results.