UK based artist Stanley Chow has created a wonderful series of celebrity and pop culture portraits.

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Steven Heller, who is appearing at Offset 2010 on Saturday in Dublin, narrates this excellent NYTimes film on the history of the NYTimes Op-Ed page which celebrates its 40th year. Featuring the work of Paul Sahre, Maira Kalman, Brad Holland and many others. The Irish Times, which has wallowed in stock imagery for years now, take note.

As a warm up to Gary’s closing day presentation on Sunday at Offset 2010, our very own award-winning illustrator Steve Simpson will interview the Emmy Award winning artist at 3pm this Friday. So if you have any burning questions you want Steve to ask him now’s your chance to ask them…

You may find yourself starved of visual delectabilities for a week or three – before BANG! Like a good bus, The Guardian picture galleries come in clusters. Not one or two – but three great galleries appear.

First up – to celebrate Polly Dunbar’s appointment as Booktrust Writer in Residence:

Then there is 50 years of John Burningham:

and – saving the best for last – how about an audio slideshow with Raymond Briggs talking illustration, careers and writing:

As part of Offset 2010, 70 of Ireland’s leading illustrators, designers and photographers converge on South Studios on Wednesday September 29th to air their dirty laundry in public. Throwing a spotlight on all things murky, expect guilty secrets, fetishes, embarrassments and one or two skeletons to fall out of cupboards at this one-night-only show.

Wednesday, 29th September / One night only. South Studios, New Row South, Blackpitts, Dublin 2. Open to all.

Do you want to know what goes into making a picture book, where I get my ideas from or simply have a nose around my studio to see how messy I am?

Here’s your chance…
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I was saddened to hear that cartoonist (not to mention children’s book author, performer and playwright) Stuart Hample passed away last Sunday. Briefly an assisant to Al Capp, Hample created the syndicated comic strip Inside Woody Allen, that ran from 1976 to 1984. He also created the strip Rich and Famous under the pseudonym Joe Marthen. Interviewed last year on Inkstuds, Hample gave some great insights into his cartooning as well as some cracking anecdotes.  You can listen here.

The folks across the water have come up with a pretty nifty idea – namely the UK Comics Wiki.

The Wiki covers everything from artist listings and a comprehensive list of comic titles, comic strips, newspaper and magazine strips as well as wanted pages. The pages are growing slowly – with pics of comics and new entries added as people have time.

An interesting place to lose an hour or two! (Impressively, the  most visited page so far is the DFC entry)

UPDATE: Yes of course – I totally managed to miss that there is an Irish Comics Wiki that has been up and running for years! [Thanks Bren] So much for being productive today – I’m off to read this for the day. (d)

In this Motherboard.tv mini doc, Threadless founder Jake Nickell, designer Brent Schoepf, and fans of the community talk about how Threadless went global and what makes the community work.

IGI member Joven Kerekes show us one of his sketchbooks: The Little Book of Monsters.
Enjoy!
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