The cartoon artwork of Adrian Tomine
|Adrian Tomine is one of the finest cartoonists and illustrators of this generation, alongside the iconic Chris Ware and Daniel Clowes. He began his career Xeroxing copies of his comics for distribution, and stubbornly chooses to work in a medium as deliberately obscure as independent comics. While he continues to develop his ongoing series Optic Nerve (currently entering its fifteenth year of publication), he’s also the illustrator of choice for the New Yorker.
Tagged: Adrian Tomine, cartoon series, Chris Ware, Daniel Clowes, Independent Comics, Optic Nerve
- 3
- 0
RELATED
Having originally sprung from the Shaky Isles (otherwise known as New Zealand), I can appreciate the humour in the New Zealand cartoon series, Bro Town, the first homegrown animated series to screen during local prime time. It’s simply brilliant, a real play on the ‘thuck’ accent and small town ways of our Kiwi brethren.
Also by DONT PANIC
Horses are a recurring for Isabel Rock. Pastel colours, gnomes, glitter and unicorns adorn other pieces. But this light-heartedness is balanced with dripping illustrations, gushing elaborately in swirls and fat blobs. Block color and a feel for excess hint at the distraction of love, yet darker undertones of struggle and conflict exist.
Kate MccGwire graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2004 and has since exhibited all over London, winning a solo show at 2009’s Heart of Glass. Her most recent installations are taken from thousands of pigeon feathers, flowing water and even a mouldy growth on a wall. We asked her why she uses pigeon feathers: ‘I’m currently using pigeon feathers as they come from a bird that is generally reviled — regarded as vermin and referred to as “rats with wings”. I started to collect pigeon feathers that moulted from the birds in a shed next to my studio. I realized that they were actually very beautiful’.
Johnny Kelly designs the Don’t Panic poster
The latest Don’t Panic poster artist to create free art for your walls is Johnny Kelly, who drew on the theme of Democracy. Rather than just opening Illustrator and vectoring out something about Obama and his dog, Kelly created a super-detailed paper sculpture of the human head as a giant machine, and then photographed it. Of the project, he says: ‘The model was first sketched out a number of times in my notebook. Once that was fully worked out, I planned out the model more rigidly on computer, then got cutting. After everything was stuck into place, my friend Linda Brownlee — a photographer — came over and shot it with a Hasselblad camera. The actual model is A1 in size, so we needed to shoot it on film rather than digital to make sure we could capture as much detail as possible’.
YOU'RE SAYING (0)
No comments yet.
HAVE YOUR SAY
I really really dig the busy, fragmented paintings of Jason Jagel. It’s full of colourful stencil-like shapes and free form doodles and it’s all crammed together into the claustrophobic quarters of his paper like an oversized sketchbook come to life.
Dutch designer Daniel Schipper, the man behind the awesome, oragami-like folding shelter, has just unveiled a frameless, foldable greenhouse that is aimed at the growing urban gardening and farming market.
Do you want to be transported back to your childhood dreams? Check out Nike’s latest Dunk Hi for grrrrr girls. Pink, red, green, yellow, blue, white and, wait for it, a golden metallic orange. Oooohhhh. Be your own Rainbow Bright on a mission to save Rainbow Land. Just in time for the London sun, too.
Ok, a confession. And one made with the full weight of its implications bearing down on me like a load of feathers. Extra soft ones of course (well, it is my confession). When I see bands play – and I mean good bands; bands with rhythm – my right leg gyrates like a stunned jellyfish. Read more
I’ve been reading Julia Wertz’s web comic, The Fart Party, which is simply a first person account of her every day life. The artwork is pretty rudimentary, but that works to the comic’s advantage, making it rather accessible and earnest seeming. Updated every few days, it’s not hard to keep up, and you never have to wait long to get your next fix.
Seldom has black humour been done so well. On the surface, this film about the everyday lives of some unusually mundane characters, sounds extraordinarily boring. But it is instead a cutting comment on the absurdity and drudgery of everyday life. The characters try to break out or change their lives without success, and the results are bleak and hilarious. Read more
I got to check out Extra Golden the other night at the Floristree in the H & H Building in downtown Baltimore. Despite a bill of heady, contemplative, experimental music that preceded the DC-based band, the crowd was chomping at the bit to see them when they finally hit the stage well past 1am. It’s still cold and rainy here in Charm City, but these guys made it feel like summer with their sunny blend of Kenyan benga music and guitar-driven psych rock.
WE'RE RESPECTING
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Creative advertising packaging
Despite the intentions of many, it’s not so often that advertising — as an industry — truly thinks outside the box. Yet, when executed well, clever eye-catching advertising actually works. It does. As these examples will attest to. Read more
Our celebrity-saturated culture makes many of us irrationally hateful of the faces we see on our TV screens and magazine pages. Good thing there’s Celebrity PunchOut to let off some of that steam.
There is not a medium that UK illustrator Lizzy Stewart cannot wrap around her little finger to make the most beautiful, whimsical images. Read more
Good thing Kris Kuksi channelled the trauma of growing up with an alcoholic stepfather, his disdain for ‘the typical American life and pop culture’, and his fascination with the macabre into obsessive, baroque assemblages, paintings, and drawings. Read more
Thanks to Sony Australia, four Lost At E Minor readers will win personal audio prizes, including the new 8GB Walkman S series video MP3 player and the MDRXB500 Extra Bass headphones. Read more
New York-based designer Ryan Sullivan’s shirts are printed in his studio in low runs. His latest batch works with geometric space on silky cotton poly blend shirts. Read more
FOLLOW US
DISCOVER MORE
SO...
SEARCH: Can't find what you're looking for? Do a search..
IS IT GOOD FOR YOU TOO?
We hope you're enjoying your time on Lost At E Minor, but it’s not over yet. Got something to share? Tell us about it and we'll look to publish it. If you want to have your work featured on the site, we'd love to hear from you. Pssst, we also have an online store stocking some of the goodies we feature on the site.
If you're a media agency and want to use this platform to connect with our readership, then drop us a line and tell us about it. Oh yeah, and we do digital consulting for cool brands that want to reach the sort of demographic that visits this site.
