Brown Paper Bag is an arts, illustration and design blog that wants you be your best creative self.
Benjamin Phillips
Andrea Wan
For years, I’ve been a huge fan of Andrea Wan’s work. And, with her latest series Fakelore, it’s no exception.
What draws me in is the subject matter. Andrea’s paintings are surreal. They are eerie. They are devoid of environment, giving us little context for work that is very narrative. She plays with scale, turning the tables on who/what is large and small.
All images via her blog. Check out her website, too! Buy her work here!
Charlotte Trounce
I recently discovered Flamingo Magazine, an illustration publication based in London. They have a physical magazine as well as a blog, which is how I discovered the work of Charlotte Trounce.
There is a big focus on shape and stroke in Charlotte’s work. Her strokes are light and lines are inconsistent, which gives her stylized shapes depth. Their symbolization starts to bring them into the world of icons, which especially works well in her map making!
All images via her website.
Time Travel Tuesday: Harrison Cady
Harrison Cady was an American illustrator and author, best known for his comic strip, Peter Rabbit. He started his career as early as 1894 when his first illustration appeared in the magazine Harper’s Young Magazine.
When Harrison was 18, his father was killed in Boston. He and his mother moved to New York City, where he became an illustrator at the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper. From there, he took on other freelancing positions, eventually being hired as a staff cartoonist for Life magazine.
I first saw Harrison’s illustrations when I visited the Library of Congress last year. The cartoony style (which has since been duplicated by numerous illustrators) and intense detail was what drew me in. His work is lighthearted and fun, and I like it when he charges animals insects with acting like humans.
Three images above via Animation Resources. Again, click for detail!
And finally, this is the first image I saw by Harrison. This composition, with the details and various scenes jam-packed into it, is impressive.
Image via Tusks Family.
Trey Wright
Trey Wright is an artist working out of Dallas, Texas. He’s a photographer who creates surreal scenes from cut paper (like collage), tangible objects (like a wig), and humans (who appear like giants).
Essentially, Trey is photographing assemblages. I find them most interesting when he uses magazine cut outs. They are photographs of photographs, and since they are photographs, they straddle the line between object and a picture of an object. At times, it’s hard to tell what is cut out and what’s not.
Excellent color usage, too. It references a mid century aesthetic, which I always enjoy, with its off-beat color pairings and all.
First four images via his website. Final images via his Tumblr (which is updated often).
Kirsten Rothbart
Kirsten Rothbart very recently sent me a link to her Tumblr. She’s a German illustrator studying Illustration and Comic Art at the School of Art And Design in Kassel, Germany.
She is inspired by popular culture and fashion, two things that you can glean from her illustrations. The characters are fashionable, and her compositions contain things that are a throw-back to the late 90’s/early 2000’s, like talking on a land-line telephone and having a lava lamp.
As an emerging illustrator, Kristen’s work is very cohesive. The color palette is an obvious way she does it, but her characters all feel like they are from the same world. Moving forward, I’m excited to see where she goes from here.
All images via her Tumblr.
Ohara Hale
Well, everyone, I officially finished all the work for my MFA yesterday. I graduate on May 20! Now that I have more free time, I am planning an overhaul of Brown Paper Bag’s design. Look for that at the end of the month!
If you’ve followed this blog for a period of time you know my love for graphite. Not necessarily used to render a drawing realistically, but used in a decorative way or as a means of expressing emotion. The work of Ohara Hale (awesome name!) does this. She uses digital in my favorite way — laying flat color behind drawings.
Hand lettering adds to the level of absurdity of Ohara’s drawings. It confirms what we’re seeing in the image, and leaves us no room to wonder if that dog is really kissing that mustard bottle (passionately, I might add).
All images via her Flickr. Check out her website, too!
Fickle Fate, AKA Timothy Hunt
Fickle Fate is the moniker for Timothy Hunt, illustrator and creator. His offbeat, very simple illustrations hold little regard for traditional rendering. Great! I think it’s much more fun that way. I know what a person looks like. I’m interested in seeing Timothy’s interpretation.
I especially like how his work looks printed. The bold shapes and field of color shine with just a slight bit of texture beneath them.
All images via his website.
Benjamin Phillips
I’ve written before on this blog about how much I enjoy seeing creative people take on a myriad of projects. I like seeing people work their visual language into a variety of interesting projects. Benjamin Phillips falls in this camp. He’s participated in gallery shows and produced zines, sculpture, editorial illustrations, and more.
I first saw his work on Mallory’s Tumblr, The Zoo Keeper. You see, Benjamin also does pet portraits, and he will paint your pet, too. While it’s first lead me to his work, I also observed Benjamin’s fascination with silhouettes. They are a chance for him to give 3D objects an alter ego by imagining their crazy shadows.
All images via his website.
