Emily's Entry

NAME:
Chip Kidd is a graphic designer and writer in New York City. His book jacket designs for Alfred A. Knopf and has been credited with revolutionizing American book design.
http://www.dccomics.com/features/plas/kidd.html

SUBJECT MATTER:
Kidd has designed almost 800 book jacket covers for authors from Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park to Dean Koontz's Intensity.

TECHNIQUE:
Best known for his innovative book covers Kidd also is an author and is notorious for strongly infusing his work with American popular culture and treating cover design as a work of art and not just apart of the literary world (wikipedia).

THEORY
Cover design is also package design and Kidd employs direct and evocative images to evoke more than just a pretty picture. Publishers evocative images to evoke more than just a pretty picture. Publishers Weekly have described Kidd’s design as, "creepy, striking, sly, smart, unpredictable covers.”

Emily's entry

I ran into this guys work in a gallery in Hawaii that displayed the art of Rock and roll stars. Automatically I couldn't look away. Andreas Reimann is definately worth checking out.







Name: Andreas Reimann. Began his art in 1984 while living on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. From then on he moved to Europe and has been all over the map.

Subject matter: He does portraits of rock stars, pop icons and beautiful people. From Elton John to David Bowie to Tina Turner Marlene Deitrich to Marilyn Monore.

Technique: He was a classically trained paitner who has moved on to be a master of mixed media… the most prevalent and recognizable technique that he incorporates is silk screen print.

Theory: Reimann “specializes in further developments of pop art in tradition of Warhol portraits, which he dedicates to icons of the 20th centruy.”

Why he is inspritational:
First off I see his esthetic style as being pure seduction, which is a tool we all want to have. As far as his techniques go, you can see in his multi-layered works that he has mastered his form of mixed media, which means that he went crazy for years experimenting and experimenting. I feel it is very important to have the energy to keep experimenting with materials for eternity. Also, Andreas Reimann has proved once again that rock music is really cool and super models are really beautiful and “its all about making idols and selling them.” I think we all should keep that in mind.… it is just an industry of “cool” and not much more.

Stephanie's Favorite Designers

About Me

I've not done many "published" works, but I have been practicing Photoshop since I was 15. I've experimented, and through the trial and error process, have taught myself a vast amount of things in the program. I have lived in many, many places throughout the States and Germany (Dad was in the Army), and have keen interest in digital art, photography, writing, and advertising. Although I could go on and on boring you with the details of my life, each step has brought me closer to something that feels right, something that feels like it's where I belong. That place, as far as I can tell, is VFS. I finally feel like I'm learning something, like I'm on the right track to what I want to do. As for the details of my life? Well, had a pretty good one, all things concidered. I have much more to look forward to, as well.

These are a few of the things that I've done, though not completely what I'm capable, I'm sure. The first is an old, but favorite decorative ...thing... I did a little under a year ago using Illustrator. The second is a hood decal I designed for a heavily modified Navigator.



Inspirational Designers

Now then, let's move on to far more inspiring people. There are many, many people, whom I concider great designers, that inspire me. I aspire to be, one day, as talented as three people.

Designer One (Erik Snijder)

The first of which many already know because I used him on my inspiration board. Erik Snijder (aka Kricky) is an artist and designer located in the Netherlands. He was the first abstract artist/designer that I've really started to aspire to. When I was younger, I really didn't take a fancy to abstract, favoring more of a realism stance. He utilizes Photoshop and Illustrator in his designs to create logos, designs, and art. Here are a few of his pieces:


Designer Two (Ed Barrow)

Ed Barrow is far more recent of a discovery for me. He is one of Kricky's (Designer one) favorite artists, and I have sort of taken an interest since. He not only works with Photoshop, but actual photography as well. I love designers who can take what they do for a living, such as design, and still find the time to do personal artwork. That's exactly what these two do. Barrow is from the United Kingdom, and is a specialist in all of the following: Strategic Consulting, UI Design, Illustration, Print and Photography. Amazing to be able to do so many things and still produce artwork like this:

Designer Three (Linda Bergkvist)

Oh yes, I can't finish talking about inspirations without bringing up this woman again. Her name is Linda Bergkvist, and despite the difficult-to-remember last name, her art is hard to forget. The sheer detail she does in her work shows just how much she cares about each piece. Granted, this isn't really commercial design, but I wanted to include her as a third "designer" because it goes to show how beautiful things can become by using Photoshop and Illustrator. Here are a few of her pieces:

One of my favourite designers

Name: Fred Woodward
Born: 1953, Louisville, MS
Career highlights: Rolling Stone Magazine (Art Director 1987-2001)
GQ Magazine (Art Director 2001-present)

Virtuoso of American publishing design and creator of Rolling Stone’s visual sensibility. The visual language Woodward developed for Rolling Stone between 1987 and 2001 was expressive and eclectic, containing elements both of cool modernism and of American vernacular such as fat ornamental wood-block display faces, composition deriving from 19th-century handbills, and a weathered color palette.

“Woodward and his talented staff have set a new standard for what editorial design can be, in what must be one of the longer hot streaks in magazine design history. Surveying his work, one is struck not just by its formal beauty and appropriateness, but by the sheer virtuosity of its design responses.”

-Michael Bierut

NOTE: Remember you can click on any image to see it larger.