As she tells us in her website:

” She graduated at the I.E.D.(European institut of design) of Rome and did a 3 month stage at the E.S.A.G. of Paris. In 1996 she start to self-produce her comics with some fanzines called Catholic Girls, Caccapiscia (PeePoo) and she went on the years with several minibook as Cuoricini, Pochi Intimi, Axe Rouge, Maison, Adesivi, Njcoz’s Girls. in 2005 she publish her first solo comic-album “Nicozrama” with the Centro Fumetto Andrea Pazienza. and in 2008 she publish another solo comic-book named “Les Larmes the Crocodile” for the french publisher “DIANTRE!“ She participates in lots of collective exhibitions as “Beautiful Dreamers” at the Angel Art Gallery of Milan with Ana Bagayan, Marcel Dzama, Greg Gossel, Alex Gross, Kukula, Takashi Murakami, Aya Takano and others; “Whaleless” at Strychnin Gallery in Berlin and in London; “World of illustration” at Intoxicated Demons Gallery in Berlin; “Don’t say motherfucker, motherfucker” at the MFGallery of New York; “Knock your socks off” at the Head Quarters GalleryDirty Show” in Detroit; “Immigrant punk” at Black Maria Gallery iof Los Angeles; ”SKULLS OF ROME” in Rome organized by DRAGO Editions; “Girls Adventures” at Arkel gallery in Bruxell; “Pop Invaders” and “Money-Lisa” at Mondo POP gallery in Rome. She did also 2 personal exhibition in Paris, at the Toast Gallery and at theTribal Act Gallery.”
What can I say about her?

She is very talented and meticulous. There is a mix between the innocence of girls with red or brown hair, very detailed drawned. Girls using masks and leather close as S & M dominatrixes from Wonderland. Big heads and small feet. Girls in relation with animals. Maybe the animals are a sweet metaphor of men. The Greek said zoom politikon about men: Men are political animals. She simple says Men are Animals. The girls are representations of different historical stages and famous tales. Everything seems doodlish and naive, but we can read the wink of a Wicked  Intelligence behind.
Her husband make tatoos and he has a blog at 
http://outsider-ink.blogspot.com/ (By the way, I am a Tatoo Lover).

Watch her website at
http://nicozbalboa.com/

http://www.petit-dejeuner-chez-nicoz.typepad.com/

http://nicozbalboa.blogspot.com/

Watch her illustrations:

Source box:

Images and text

http://nicozbalboa.com/

WHO AM I?

I’m a 27 years old graphic designer and an Illustrator. I live in south Italy, near Naples. Now I’m trying to become an art director. I started almost by chance. After Art School I thought of doing many different things. I learned to use Photoshop and the God Old QuarkXpress because it served to a group of which I was part. After that the graphic design had become a passion and I decided to take a course in Graphic Design (for advertising). After this course I won a scholarship in Art Direction. During this course in Art Direction I started doing illustrations to diversify my portfolio from that of my classmates. Even this has become a passion.

APPROACH TO ILLUSTRATION AND DESIGN

I don’t have a personal style. For example: All my poster for reggae dancehalls are different. It is the target of the poster what finally determines the style. All these posters were made for the same sound system, but by changing their guests (and the location), even the target, changed. This also applies to my “personal” illustrations.

CAREER AND PROJECTS

My carrer? I’m not famous (yet), and sometimes I accept unworthy work (very low level) as graphic designer. But there isn’t only the work. Now I’m looking for some collaborations, maybe for some project beyond graphics and illustration. Something more comprehensive, involving other people, in a collective and multidisciplinary project. Maybe something with social implications.

PROGRAMS AND TIPS

Always I use the Adobe “Holy Trinity”: Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign. I don’t have some particular tips to share, but I know that  study, experience and experimentation are the only way to learn. I can only say: be professional. Creativity isn’t enough. For example: be cautious when you are using Photoshop effects (maybe found in tutorials on the web). If you don’t know the printing techniques, you may have some bad surprises!

WORKFLOW

Sometimes I follow my inspiration. But usually I try to start thinking about what I want to achieve. And then I do some sketches (Some of them are scanned later). Only after that, I sit in front of my Mac. Sometimes I trace with illustrator (NEVER USING LIVE TRACE!) some particular gestures from a picture, (for example a human posture).
I’m very lazy, but when I like a project, I love to work hard on it, and sometimes I spend a lot of time for the details and the colours.

WEBSITES TO GET INSPIRE

The best website is FFFFOUND! (http://ffffound.com/). There is no doubt. It is the first site I look every morning. Then I take a look at the new projects on the Behance Network. I also like a lot of others websites (about art, graphic design, typhography, architecture and intetior design, fashion… etc. ), and I follow some of it by social network. Must keep abreast. This passion for research is so strong that I also collaborate with an Italian website: enquire.it (http://www.enquire.it/) as “talent scouter” for graphic and illustration.

CHARACTERISTIC OF MY WORK

The inspiration comes to me from what I have to achieve, not what I want to achieve (or at least I try to do so). Observing the work of others is important, to increase our sensitivity and our skills, to catch the modern trends, some new solution, etc. But you need to do it to understand what you can do, NOT WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO. As you can see I love search on the website (and I really love Art History, read art books and comics, going to the exhibitions, etc.), but sometimes I have to stop to watch them, because too many inputs can also “burn” your ideas, as happens with plants if you give them too much fertilizer.

I will try to explain how I created “The goat”. I wanted to create an illustration for my brand new Behance portfolio, with the purpose of showing my skills with photoshop. Especially I decided to show my skills with textures and layers masks.
I thought about what to achieve. After a while I decided to show an unusual subject. The idea of a goat is born from a random combination of ideas. At first I wanted to do something fun with this goat, but then I remembered an old (and very sad) poem by Umberto Saba I studied at primary school. This poem made me think of other poems and I also thought to represent another poem. But it was one of the early work that I posted on Behance, and so I needed a poem with English translation. By coincidence this poem, among the many that I had chosen, was the only which I found an accurate translation. It was decided: it would be “The goat”. I dropped immediately the idea to represent the “dialogue” between poet and goat. Poetry served only to give me an idea of the “setting” and “impression”.
I decided to show feeling of loneliness using “poor textures” and really simple shapes. After some experiments I knew I had to imitate a paper collage. To show my skills, but also to show the sadness of the subject. Poetry (at least in the Italian version) communicates a feeling of “moisture” due to rain. Unfortunately I had to decide to delete it. In my first sketches the sky was darkest and much cloudy. But after some experimentation I decided to create a sky at sunset, after the rain. The result is better than I hoped. Someone thought it was a real paper collage.

FUTURE

If my passion for dangerous women, alcohol and gambling will not kill me, perhaps I can become one of those snob creatives who live in Milan. One of those who puts words in English in every sentence, even when not needed, and sniff cocaine for breakfast.
Just kidding! I really don’t know what I will do in the future. Many things will change, regardless of my will, and It is difficult to forecast. I will try to do my best.
Thanks to you Pablo for this interview! It was very useful for me too. Answer your questions forced me to reflect on my creative processes, and on how creativity works.
So… I’m not able to give advice to anyone. I can only say: you never stop learning! Good luck to all your creative readers!

Visit his sites:
http://www.behance.net/DomenicoMarazia
http://illustrascarpe.blogspot.com
And now the illustrations:

Source Box:
Images:
http://www.behance.net/DomenicoMarazia

http://illustrascarpe.blogspot.com

I am David Vogin.

Who am I?

I live in Frederick, MD USA—which is located just outside of Washington, DC.—with my wife, daughter and son. My main career is that of a graphic designer which I have been doing for over 15 years. It wasn’t until 2004 that I started my illustration work professionally although it had always been a part of my design philosophy. I, like most designers and illustrators, was always drawing and painting growing up. I had originally gone to college with the intentions of career as an architect but after a year of physics and advanced calculus, I quickly decided that graphic design was more my speed!

Approach to Illustration and Design

Both my design and illustration work is very textural. I love the fact that I can evoke a certain feeling by combining different elements and textures in ways that really cannot be done by hand. I think that my experience as a graphic designer has really helped my approach to illustration assignments because I think the same way as the art director. I love typography and usually incorporate text in some way into each illustration. My illustrations definitely have a vintage quality to them. It’s reflected in the color palette and the choice of imagery that I use.

My approach to design and illustration are a vary a bit. Design is all about the service or product you are designing for. Who’s the target audience…where do they live…what do they like…etc. If I am designing a music package for a country music artist, it’s not going to have the same look or feel as if I am designing a logo or brochure for a retirement community or a business magazine. So although I love the rich textures, I also love clean, classic design and typography. Design is all about typography!

Illustration is all about the story. That’s why I love it so much. My job as an illustrator is to visually interpret a given story or concept. Typically there is not that much art direction…the Art Director likes your style, gives you the story or idea and let’s you do your thing.

Career and Projects

My first “big break” as a designer was in 1993 when I was hired by the Discovery Channel as a freelance designer. I got to work with and learn from some incredible designers while I was there. I’ve been an art director and creative director for a small design studio; worked for a major US magazine as an associate and went out on my own 7 years ago.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have some really great clients. There have been many great projects over the years.

Programs and Tips

I use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator for illustration. For design I use Photoshop and Illustrator as well, but also InDesign or Quark Xpress for layout.

The best tip I can give is to just play in the programs and figure things out on your own. Every time I start a new illustration I discover something new.

Workflow

My workflow varies from job to job although it always starts with research. If I’m working on a logo, I’ll sketch for days. If it’s an illustration, sometimes I’ll start off on the computer playing with textures and backgrounds and roughing in the concepts. From there I will go back to the sketchbook to work out the concept…and then back to the computer. Unlike most illustrators, my sketches are computer “comps” that could be considered final illustrations. I like to work in hires (300dpi) instead of doing rough work in 72dpi and then having to recreate what has been done.

Websites to get inspire

I usually don’t. I’m a print guy…I’ll look though design magazines or books or annuals just to get the creative juices flowing. I’ll also take a walk around my town…wander through one of the many antique stores…just try to clear my head. I really like Behance Network (Behance.net—which I am on—to see a variety of creative. Also the iSpot (theispot.com) and The Alternative Pick (altpick.com) for illustration. Lately with Twitter and design blogs such as yours, I’ve been finding lots of great inspiration.

Characteristic of my work

Typography, texture, vintage concert posters, books, a really great logo, my kids of course!

Future

I try not to look down the road like that. Let’s see… I would like to have the same passion for design and illustration that I have today and still love what I do. I’d also like to do some gallery shows

Family and Approach to work

I would not say my approach changed. The time I devoted to working changed when my daughter was born, but working for myself makes it easier to do. I’ve recently started a series of illustrations that are more kid friendly and have done a couple of things specifically for my children.

Visit his sites:

http://www.314design.com/

http://www.davidvogin.com/

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=258369&id=199610065436#!/DavidVoginIllustration?v=wall

http://www.theispot.com/dvogin/

And now the illustrations:

Source Box

All images from the David Vogin site: http://www.davidvogin.com/

This week we have The Netherlands as guest, with Eline van Dam, a.k.a. Zeloot, illustrator from The Hague.

Attempts at classifying her work has included language like Gaudy Colored Psychedelics; Hybrid Polychromatic Creatures and Amorphous Hallucinatory Monsters. But two words come to my mind when I am facing her work: Doodles and Psychedelics. Her drawings remembers me the magazines my aunt used to read in the 70′s, which clearly had the design remains of the 60′s.

Eline says about her work:

“I was never really allowed to read comics when I was a kid so I was verrry old (26 years) when I first discovered underground comics and somehow I felt I’d finally found the perfect synthesis  of social criticism and “art” (or rather “graphics”) without the “pointing finger”.

I started obsessively  collecting and reading the comics of Daniel Clowes, Chris Ware, David Cooper and the Hernandez brothers (PALOMAR from Gilbert Hernandez is one of my top favourites)etc. I wasted a lot of time in making comics that never had a finishing line, discovering that rather than being a good story-writer it was the act of drawing lines that excited me more than anything.”

“I generally work sober (well if bags of tobacco and copious amounts of coffee still fall into a category of sobriety!).

I am always jealous of people that make 10 drawings a day…I don’t work like that… I spend hours and hours at trying to get the right image on the right feeling…and I do lay a lot awake.”

I could not choose just a handful of her work because of the different sort of styles I noticed. So, I left you with a great-huge-mega-bunch of her work.

Please, visit her at:

Website: http://www.zeloot.nl/main/index.html

Threadless: http://www.threadless.com/profile/93784/zeloot/submissions

Source Box:

Text and Images:

http://www.zeloot.nl/main/index.html

http://www.fitacola.com/zeloot/

http://www.feedmecoolshit.com/interviews-archive/zeloot/

This week we are featuring an illustrator from USA, Jaw Cooper.

I contacted her early this morning and she was very kind to introduce herself with a small bio, you are going to see at the end of the article.

What can I say about JAW?

She is undoubtly talented. There is something very close to anime in her artwork and a mix with the detailed nature drawings we used to see in dictionaries. I can read some influence from the Art Decó style.  As well as a resemblence to Egon Schele sketches for the girls and some influences of the animals in the paintings of the Renaissance, like you see for example with the hares or rabbits.

Something really important to her is the sketching.

“I love to sketch more than anything and I use my blog as a way to showcase what I believe is the most fun and important part of my process.”

“I decide which sketches to finish based on the project (or gallery show) and how long I estimate I’ll have to get it done. I do not enjoy painting as much as I enjoy sketching so I will not typically take a sketch to completion unless there is an immediate purpose for it. Beyond that, the sketch has to have a spontaneous fluidity or life to it or I simply toss it.”

She developes strange multi-eyed creatures with long hair or deformed girls (Please, go and get some more at her blog).

And let introduce Jaw Cooper by herself:

JAW (Jessica A.W.) Cooper was born in England and grew up in Africa, Sweden, Ireland, various other locations throughout Europe, and California. She has always cultivated a deep curiosity for the natural world and is inspired by forms found in nature, curio cabinets, fashion photography, and nipples in general. Cooper lives and works as an illustrator and gallery artist in Los Angeles, California. Her newest series “Tarnished” will be on display at La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Hollywood starting June 4th of this year. JAW Cooper’s work may be viewed online at:

http://jawcooper.blogspot.com

http://www.jawcooper.com

Source box:

In 2006, graduated as a designer at Belas Artes de São Paulo. Her interest towards cinema developed yet at her academic period. Became researcher of Scientific Initiation Project in Cinematography Language and Video Design in 2005, which has allowed the development of a more critical look towards audio-visual media.

She worked as colorist and designer at Fabrica de Quadrinhos and Hiperquimica,working for multiple advertisement agencies in Brazil.

In 2008 took part on the development of the graphic Project to the Advertisement Latin-American Festival, the El Ojo de Iberoamerica.

Nowadays, working as a freelancer plastic artist and illustrator, working for editorial and advertisement markets, Anna Anjos already reveals the lines of a mature artist with an original style making prevail her artistic audacity, inventive and irreverent. Mixing stylish shapes, she extracts elements from childhood to incorporate them into her creation reality, uncommon and surreal making us enter into an original space where colors play with shapes without letting behind the entail with the real world in which is inspired on her deeply herself.

About the tools, she uses Photoshop to the colorization, always digital and she also uses the Illustrator.

It is really amazing discover how she is able to create through her roots which a process she calls the mythology:

“In the current phase of her career her look returns for the creation of her own mythology, with the birth of the called “Afrotropical Entities”, developed for the artist, with reference in Brazilian culture (northeastern) and African, giving origin to personages who escape of the digital dimension and materialize themselves under the form of masks and other forms of art.”

According to her Twitter, recently she was interviewed by MTV

Remember:

1.- Visit her site:

http://www.annaanjos.com/

2.- Follow her on Twitter (she is really nice person)

http://twitter.com/annaanjos

Enjoy her artwork:

.

Bonus track:

Source Box:

Images:

http://www.annaanjos.com/

Text:

http://www.annaanjos.com/

http://www.awebdesignblog.com/an-interview-with-graphic-designer-anna-anjos/

I have chosen a wide range of articles to show you. From the basics in “Fonts” to the new possibilities in the article “Ever Thought About Using @Font-face for Icons?” And even a cheat sheet and a powerpoint to learn by heart.

And if you have a predilection for fonts and your eyes wide open, there are a lot of blogs using Museo .

I hope you really enjoy the selection and discover something new to learn.

Fonts

Web fonts with @font-face

Introducing the Web Safe Font Cheat Sheet

Quick and Easy CSS @font-face Code

Implementing @font-face

@FONT-FACE GENERATOR

Practical steps for using @font-face in your websites now

Get up and running with @font-face

How Do I Implement @font-face?

CSS3 Generator : Generate CSS3 On The Fly

The Future Of CSS Typography

CSS3 Please! Instant results… Thank You

Quick Tip: How to Work with @Font-face

10 Best @font-face Fonts

Understanding @font-face and Typography

Tools and Resources to Improve your Typography on the Web

30 Beautiful and Free Fonts You Can Use with @font-face

CSS, JAVASCRIPT AND XHTML EXPLAINED

@font-face Generator Every Web Designer Must Know

MIX10: THE TYPE WE WANT

Custom Web Fonts In CSS3

Real Fonts and Rendering: The New Elephant in the Room

Quick Tip: Ever Thought About Using @Font-face for Icons?

Spruce It Up

Jeff Veen Talks Future of Typekit

7 Useful CSS3 Code Generators

Source box:

Images:

http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/fonts.html#propdef-font

http://www.css3.info/preview/web-fonts-with-font-face/

http://www.mightymeta.co.uk/introducing-the-web-safe-font-cheat-sheet/

http://perishablepress.com/press/2010/04/13/quick-and-easy-css-font-face-code/

http://www.miltonbayer.com/font-face/

http://www.fontsquirrel.com/fontface/generator

http://www.unmatchedstyle.com/podcast/practical-steps-for-using-font-face-in-your-websites-now.php

http://blog.doliver.co.uk/2010/03/get-up-and-running-with-font-face/

http://www.littleboxofideas.com/blog/tutorials/how-do-i-implement-font-face

http://www.webstuffshare.com/2010/03/css3-generator-generate-css3-on-the-fly/

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/03/01/css-and-the-future-of-text/

http://ajaxian.com/archives/css3-please-instant-results-thank-you

http://net.tutsplus.com/videos/screencasts/quick-tip-how-to-work-with-font-face/

http://www.paper-leaf.com/blog/2010/02/10-best-font-face-fonts/

http://hokuten.net/2010/understanding-font-face-and-typography/

http://inspectelement.com/articles/better-typography-tools/

http://designlovr.com/30-beautiful-and-free-fonts-you-can-use-with-font-face/

http://www.evotech.net/blog/2010/01/font-face-browser-support-tutorial/

http://aext.net/2010/01/font-face-generator-every-web-designer-must-know/

http://snook.ca/archives/conferences/mix10-the-type-we-want

http://antitables.com/2009/08/26/custom-web-fonts-in-css3/

http://24ways.org/2009/real-fonts-and-rendering

http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/html-css-techniques/quick-tip-ever-thought-about-using-font-face-for-icons/

http://24ways.org/2009/spruce-it-up

http://carsonified.com/blog/design/jeff-veen-talks-future-of-typekit/

http://pelfusion.com/tools/7-useful-css3-code-generators/

About his first works he said:

“In high-school I had my first taste of illustration, when an ambitious friend of mine recruited me to draw posters for the punk rock shows he was organising. It was classic stuff: punks in leather jackets, devils and zombies, scenes of weirdness and bodily harm, and as many crazy typefaces as I could come up with. Since it was all rendered in scrappy black-and-white Xerox, I was forced to put down my pencils, take up inks and learn to draw clearly and boldly. Trying to catch the eyes and the imaginations of the local kids I began to learn the basics of visual communication. “

He moved to Halifax to study Fine Arts at NSCAD University where:

“…I continued to illustrate within the music scene. Those xeroxed flyers lead to commissions for album covers and t-shirts, exhibitions of my illustrations, and judging CD artwork for the Juno Awards in 2007. During my time at NSCAD I also drew comics, publishing an annual collection called LUCKY along with two fellow students. After graduation I began to work in a kitchen, learning to wield a knife by day and building my portfolio by night.

He moved to Vienna, Austria, in 2009:

“Shortly after arriving I attended Yuko Shimizu’s Summer Illustration Workshop in Venice and have since begun freelancing full-time.”

His unpublished piece ‘La Plongeuse et les Chauves-Patates’  has been selected for the American Illustration online gallery ‘THEE’. The Gallery is due to be launched in November of 2010.

Check:

• Website: http://www.peterdiamond.ca/
• Blog: http://peterdiamond.wordpress.com/
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peter-Diamond/40049153211
• Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterdiamond/
• MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/p_diamond

Enjoy it!

Source box

Images:

http://www.peterdiamond.ca/

http://peterdiamond.wordpress.com/