where is my tomato

Saw this Karlsson Book Clock at Barnes and Noble last night … When I am ridiculously rich and have my home library rivaled only by that of the Beast in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, this will be shelved away to secretly tell me the time … because when you’re that ridiculously rich, you need to be able to know the time secretly.

It’s got to look good and it’s got to function.
I mean, the Kindle has one typeface. I mean, give me a break.
As a designer, that’s kind of pathetic.
I mean, it’s not kind of pathetic, it’s totally pathetic.

Found on Chip Kidd’s website, he talks about a topic I am ever so interested in: the future of the printed book.

I’ve recently made two friends whose work have really inspired me (well, I shall be so presumptuous as to consider them friends, I am a friendly person! at least I try to be as long as people are willing to not shove me on their way onto the subway).

Despite what my wise Yoda-like SVA illustration teacher, Joo Chung, always says about there being no such thing as inspiration, and that there’s only the act of doing, some of this stuff has quite resolutely inspired and excited me:

Natasha Lawyer, from Edmonton, now lives in Seattle and makes wonderfully collaged art, which you can check out at her website. You can also hop onto her blog, titled Pretty Sketchy.

Joseph Rudi Pielichaty of Edinburgh is a graphic design student, but my favorite bits on his Paper Storage are his doodles and illustrations.

They both have such a whimsical aesthetic, it tickles the senses.

Some favorites, starting with Natasha’s ‘City on a Typewriter.’

Natasha’s ‘One Down, a Million to Go.’

Joseph’s ‘Rainy Days.’

Classic Penguin book cover by Joseph with wonderful little people crowding around it.

What’s great about the internet is that we can see such talent from all over the globe with ease. What’s even greater is that these people I’ve discovered via the web are about my age. Being young in the creative world is a very daunting place to begin, because attention is indeed difficult to get, and you hope against hope that the people you admire will kindly offer some advice rather than swat you away. I see the internet as part of the solution, because now we can connect with people who are more like us, and hopefully help each other along to the best of our abilities.