Lettering fans, this one’s for you..

Illustrators Ireland member Niall McCormack is a master of the vintage look , with his retro-stylings put to particularly good use on his Japanese-matchbook-inspired piece for The Illustrated Beatles (Tomorrow Never Knows).

Luckily for everyone interested in such things, Niall has put together a brilliant step-by-step for his incredible process for making this piece. The time and thought that went in to the composition and technique is pretty staggering…

Have a read of it here.

The Illustrated Beatles returns to the Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge, Co.Kildare on the 9th of February – so if you missed the Dublin show, we really recommend you make this one..

Also, for fans of period design, check out Niall’s amazing blog of vintage Irish book covers. Retro design drool.

Recently we asked for you designers, illustrators and animators out there to send us in your links, so we can post about the ones we really like. And so, in the first of many posts about the amazing talent that abounds on our little wet island, we direct you to the lovely work of Dublin-based design group, Tatabi Studio.

Their main services are branding, graphic & web design, illustration, & packaging, all done in perfect palettes, and featuring a healthy amount of really nice, quirky illustration (of which we are, of course, huge fans)

What’s more they seem to have worked with some freelance illustrators, including Illustrators Ireland members Poppy & Red, on a really nice Halloween project called ‘BOO!‘.

We also really loved their clever branding identity for Muyum, whereby if you have a bunch of their business cards, you get a free Muyum logo jigsaw puzzle too…

Their site is full of lovely work, well worth a browse.

And now you see, sending in your links is worth it, as we will feature the best ones So keep them coming!

Linotype: the film is a new documentary about the Linotype typecasting machine. Culture File on RTÉ Lyric fm has an interesting interview with the film’s director, Doug Wilson, who calls the machine “the Twitter of 1886.” You can listen to the podcast here.

Visualized is a conference taking place in New York on Nov 8 & 9 to explore the ‘evolution of communication at the intersection of big data, storytelling and design.’ A series of videos have been created for the conference including this one where graphic designer and artist Peter Saville talks about the squiggle cover art for Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures album.

Dan Sinker, the author of ‘The F***ing Epic Twitter Quest of @MayorEmanuel’ gives a brief evolution of Paul Hornschemeier‘s cover for the book here. Do take a peek at Hornschemeier’s quite brilliant daily drawings too.

Designer Teddy Hahn does 15 superhero pictograms.

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.

This Wednesday sees the opening of a very exciting show of the work of Cor Klaasen, curated by Niall McCormack from the fantastic Hi-Tone Blog.

Cor Klaasen: Jackets, Covers & Sleeves

Venue: Adifferentkettleoffishaltogether, 18 Ormond Quay Upper

Times: Daily 11 – 5pm. Thurs 4 – Wed 10 November inclusive

Opening: Wednesday 3 November, 2010, 6 – 8 pm. Guest Speaker: Brian Lalor

Niall will be giving a talk about Klaasen at OFFSHOOT 4 in The Sugar Club on Thursday this week from 7Pm.

Heineken are running a competition to celebrate their new Your Heineken promotion.

Your Heineken Your City People from around the country are invited to take inspiration from the great cities of Ireland and express what the city means to them by designing their own, city inspired, Heineken bottle. The winning designer will then be given their very own part of Dublin, Cork or Galway, to recreate their design on a landmark building in one of the three major cities.

The winning design will be voted for by the public.

What is ‘Your Heineken’? ‘Your Heineken’ let’s beer fans personalise the very bottle that contains their favourite beer. Using the outline of the iconic green bottle as a template, Heineken enthusiasts can fill their bottle with designs, pictures and messages, creating their very own Heineken bottle, delivered straight to their door.

Log onto facebook.com/Heineken to design your own creation or browse the entries and vote for your favourite.