Cool Illustrators

I know it is time to do a blog post when I start getting completely obsessed with something. Last night, while (watching Watch What Happens Live) I was tinkering around on the Internet and came across these illustrators- I nearly flipped my lid. They are all contemporary artists who draw in a retro style that is near and dear to my heart because it looks like the art in the storybooks of my youth, on the candy packages, bubble bath bottles, cartoons, etc. Let's take a look at my favorite, Toru Fukuda. He rocks!

 Can't you just see these images on everything from the old days? Love this guy! He is from Kobe, Japan and does a lot of work in advertising, which is perfect, because this stuff is MADE for kids' packaging.

 Fukuda also does animation and a ton of other things- he has three doodle books out, but I can't find them on Amazon.

 Isn't this beautiful!? *sighs* I just made this the background of my laptop

 

 

 



 



 He also does games like this one- It is fantastic! Check out all of his other illustrations on his beautiful Flickr page- you will be so inspired!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/torufukuda/sets/1595347/

Okay, below is another really neat illustrator named Helen Dardik- she is a mom of three from Canada- Her work is very reminiscent of Mary Blair, whom I LOVE. Look at her designs below!

 You can buy gift wrap with her designs at this place: It is SO NEAT

http://www.lagomdesign.co.uk/collections/gift-wrap

 

 She also does these cute book plates

And you can buy her prints on Etsy for reasonable prices! Yay!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/helendardik

Okay, got that off my chest, back to my life *exhales*

Mary Blair: Marvelous, Whimsical Illustrations

I nearly lost my mind when I found these Mary Blair prints. They are vintage illustrations from various children's books, but look very fresh and beautiful. Blair did a lot of the Disney book illustrations in the 50's and also worked on the art work and sets inside It's a Small World at Disneyland. She created the concept art for Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and Cinderella. She is credited with the color styling of those films, which is something that really struck me personally, even more so than the actual stories. Blair left Disney and went into advertising illustrations and also did a bunch of Little Golden Books, many of which are below. There is a book of her illustrations available on Amazon, but the damn thing is upwards of $75.oo. (http://www.amazon.com/Art-Flair-Mary-Blair/dp/B002ECEG98/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1286164336&sr=8-1)Her prints are going for 9-10 grand, so I won't be acquiring any of those any time soon. Sigh.

If I had a daughter...I would wrestle her down and force her to hang these Cinderella pics on her wall...