spring's colorfulness, via Pantone

via Pantone.

Invisible Creature

Y'all check out the fun new stuff by Invisible Creature. They are one of my favorite sites/Tweets around. Always something interesting and beautifully done...


UPDATE: Great little mini-interview about the brotherly duo here, at  Eight Hour Day. Awesome!

My friend Matt

Ever know someone whom you'd normally just loathe due to their being so great at what they do,
but who are just too fun to dislike?

I've worked with a number of outstanding and talented folks, and I'm sure they'd all agree with me
that Matt would be at the top of the list for the best of blends between talent and integrity. He's also screamingly funny with a tasty side-order of dry. Check out the work on his newly minted site mattlehmanstudio.com and watch an interview done a few months back by Art vs. Inspiration ,
found here.

Above, some Nordstrom loveliness, and sweet stuff that he did while at CMT.
Below, his grand illo style and line quality do their mojo depicting a few bearded fellows,
chosen just because they are, like Matt, bearded fellows.

Above, an illustration I remember him working on back in the day. Still think the client should've gone with his take on the beautiful songstress. I'm glad it's still featured there on his site. I can recall a number of hellacious projects (not the one above) that, because of the team involved, either turned out really great or at least provided some interesting/entertaining/incriminating stories. Matt usually provided a lot of the laughs!

Above, various killer logo samples.


We have different illustration styles (read: I suuccckkk), and rarely do I find the kind of jobs on my desk that he has on his, but I do find myself wondering at times just what would Matt do here, or imagining what his sketchbook might look like if he were noodling on the same project. Back when we were just a few cubbies apart, I could go ask him myself and be inspired by his warp-speed brain's never-ending flow of goodness.

He'll be famous one day — I have an uncanny intuition. I'm so thankful to have gotten to work with him for a few years and to see that any possible success and accolades, fame and notoriety won't change the guy; he'll always be mellow, gracious and congenial.

Party on, Matt! You're fantastic!

All images from his site. Except the one below, which is from the far past.

I could use a lil Happy.

Hey, I made it on the Lil Happy SASE site!  But then, I think everyone who sends in does...?
So what, I'm just happy to be in there somewhere....

Invisible Creature is way cool. Crazy fun posters and printed goods in their shop. I'm sad it took me so long to hear about them, but then, better late than never. Really lovely work.

I can't wait to see what they send me back in my SASE. Deadline's tomorrow if you want in on it this year!

Update: look at the submissions! How fun...

Lovely opening sequence.

Watched this again via the lovely The Art of the Title Sequence, and it made me wonder... which came first, 2006's Casino Royale's credits or Mad Men? I suppose I could find out, but I kind of like wondering.

Nice bottles.

Love the wonderful wine labels I've seen here. Fun stuff at Lovely Package. Combining two great things (wine and label design) has been a job-dream. Nobody ever calls with those requests; I'm sure folks are lining up to do labels for free!

Or, just pay me in wine. Divine!

The coolest thing I've seen all year!

Of course it is only January 4th.

I want this...so much. Wonder if my dad could make me one. :)

By architect Ron Arad, found here.

Graphic Design 101

This is what I want to show people when they ask if we "just draw pictures, or what?"

Cover creation from Peter Belanger on Vimeo.

After working on the latest cover for Macworld Magazine I wanted to show what is involved in making a cover. I focused on the three main areas: the photography, photoshop and design. I chose a time lapse format to convey lots of information in a small amount of time. The only drawback of time lapse is that since half a day goes by in 30 seconds, the whole process seam so easy! Lots of details were left out of the design process (like the cover meetings and rounds of layout options). I began to photograph the design process after the layouts had already been narrowed down to just three cover designs.



On the technical side, for the time lapse video, I used the Canon 5D Mark II with a 24mm-70mm zoom. I chose the 5D because of its great image quality with high ISO's. Canon's sRAW1 gave me the flexibility of a RAW file with the file size of a jpeg. The actual Macworld cover was taken with a Phase One P65+ digital back attached to a 4x5 Sinar X camera with a 65mm lens.



Many thanks to Rob Schultz for allowing me to invade his office and literally shoot over his shoulder.



The music was used with permission by The Brokenmusicbox.

Update: for more insight into the creative process, this time with logo design, check out the fantastic work shown here. Via my friend Chris at InkDryer Design.