reference on flickr

Here is a part of the very special and funny work of Lincemadu, french illustrator based in Paris. She developed some characters of her very own style. I especially appreciate the ones she made from famous people. She also likes working handwritting lettering.

To see more of her work, go visit her website : http://www.linecemadu.com/

If a nostalgic and painterly approach to design and illustration appeals to your sensibilities, the Forgotten Hopes experience will most certainly appeal to you. Below are some simply executed, but effective collage pieces by PNTS and Rui Silva:

On the aesthetic flipside, I really like this music poster series – produced in celebration of the artist’s favourite albums, by Noa Emberson.

Earlier this week I came upon this site, and with my french being a tad rusty, initially mistook it for a portfolio – whereas in actual fact it’s another design blog. That would explain the eclectic range of work! Kudos to the guys over at Ultrazapping for the update.

Not your typical backpackers digs here per se, as this concept is more commonly associated with boutique hotels, but the Art Factory in Buenos Airies certainly looks like an interesting place to crash – for those of you on the move this summer.

Just as every music enthusiast will occasionally toss the iPod or CD collection to one side, pull his or her vinyl collection out of the dusty box, and lie there listening to the nostalgic scratch of some long-forgotten classics – you can imagine my enthusiasm on recently discovering a series of interviews with my first memory wave of design celebrities or ‘rock stars’ from the 80′s and 90′s on Debbie Millman’s ‘Design Matters’ podcasts. If you were a student in either of these eras (which I imagine many of our readers where), then these come highly recommended (Chris was kind enough to cover some of this subject a while back). Brody, Saville, Fella, Carson, Glaser and Curtis are just to name but a few. This morning it was a cross-atlantic call with Vaughan Oliver, with notable mention of the much under-mentioned Chris Bigg. For those who aren’t over familiar, Oliver was thrust into the design limelight back in the late 70′s for his openly self-indulgent and somewhat rebellious artwork for the record label 4AD.

Personally, as difficult as I find it to talk about work without the visual aid to speak for itself, I can compare this to how much more of a fulfilling experience I found it listening to the interview whilst looking back at examples of Oliver’s most famous (and not so famous) works online. This one source, aptly named EyeSore, serves as an archive containing the work produced over a 25-year period and showcases some of the duo V23‘s (Oliver and Bigg’s studio name), more not-so-known pieces.

Its easy to get lost in here, but I’m still grappling with the logistics of this strange beast. However as you can see here, dig hard enough and there are some rare and indeed precious gems to be found in the way of the most introspective and expressionist forms of graphic art, ever to be produced for record labels. Take time out today to look around, going back to the vinyl record analogy, it serves as a nice trip down memory lane to the student days of petrol prints, omnicrom, darkrooms and letraset.