Last September I made a post about UK based artist Stanley Chow’s fantastic celebrity portraits which included one of Don Draper from Mad Men.  This month the lawyers from Lions Gate who make the TV show instructed Chow to not only stop selling his Mad Men illustrations as prints but to remove them entirely from the face of the internet. You can read Chow’s post about it here and as Drawn points out, removing the images from the internet is easier said than done . . .

IGI member, Peter Donnelly has just launched “Imaginations” a two week illustration exhibition beginning March 7th until March 21st 2011

Venue

Rush Library, Chapel Green, Ruch Co. Dublin.

Here’s two interesting recent reads on the poor uptake in the use of illustration editorially online, and yet how valuable illustration can be in adding uniqueness to a website.

Three have just announced an exciting new illustration competition to mark their re-branding.

Three will be using some of Ireland’s leading professional illustrators in their upcoming campaigns but they’re also supplementing that commitment with an exciting competition open to all but certainly appealing to young design & illustration professionals, recent graduates and students.

Each artist must respond to the simple brief http://www.three.ie/blankcanvas and upload their entry to the site.
All entries will be featured in a gallery style website along with all entrants contact details.

The first prize is 2000euro, an iPhone 4 on the Three network and your work on a limited edition iPhone 4 cover! Which seems to be enough of an incentive to enter to me but your work could also be featured in a future full campaign too. This is definitely one of those rare cases where entering will actually be good for your portfolio and your bank balance!
The three category winners will receive 500euro each and be featured in a launch event in a Dublin exhibition space coinciding with the announcement of the overall winner.

BRENB (that’s me!) will also act as a mentor for the winner, to assess their portfolio and to advise on how to further their career.

The judging panel will be made up of BRENB/Bren Byrne – Illustrator and director of The Small Print, Elaine Carey – Sales and Marketing Director for Three & Shay Madden – Creative Director with McCann Erickson.

You can visit the full competition site at http://www.three.ie/blankcanvas for details on the brief and how to enter.

Illustrator Shaun Tan has won his first Oscar for best animated short at the Academy Awards in Hollywood. The Australian artist won for The Lost Thing, which was praised by critics but considered a longshot for the Academy Award. The 15-minute computer generated and hand-painted movie was only supposed to be a picture book. “Wow, this is quite surreal,” he said on stage. “Our film is about a creature that doesn’t get any attention so this is quite ironic.”

Here is a trailer for The Lost Thing…

Shaun is an incredibly talented childrens book illustrator as anyone who has marveled at The Arrival to name just one will testify.

He is also an extremely nice guy and I was very lucky to have met him 2 years ago during a special coffee morning in the Children’s Book Ireland office.

The Guardian carried a gallery from Emily Gravett’s books – a great introduction to anyone who doesn’t know her work.

Click to see!

Maximidia have produced a set of 50′s ‘future ad’ posters with the help of Moma Propaganda. Brilliant!

Click to see/download the full set.