Ok, so they were originally printed in the 1960′s but even 40 years ago Miroslav Sasek’s ‘This Is’ series of books walked a tightrope between cliché and compliment. For all the enormous charm of the illustrations, The Irish edition probably faired one of the worst in the blarney category; ‘the Emerald Isle, where the shamrock grows and a leprechaun stands at the end of every rainbow, guarding a crock of gold’. Despite this, the book series have all been re-printed in recent years and are enjoying renewed interest in the work of Miroslav Sasek’s vibrant illustrations which can be no bad thing.

You may know the work of Brian Taylor better from his Rustboy project, going back a few years. Obviously not a guy to dawdle around, Brian has been busy with a host of other activities under his Candykiller persona. You can check out some of his illustration, toys , paintings and a whole lot more besides on his blog.

I’m really into his moleskin sketches, which form the basis of a lot of the finished work you’ll see on the site. These sketches are immaculate tasters of a playful mind. Enjoy!

Check out this great blog resource for vintage illustration.

Today’s Inspiration is run by, Canadian illustrator, Leif Peng. A blog for those with an interest in illustration from the 40′s and 50′s to share their knowledge, views and opinions.

I’ve been checking into this blog on a regular basis and is well worth bookmarking.

Something I’ve only just discovered is Leif Peng’s Flickr site. Here you’ll find the same vintage illustrations from his blog site archived alphabetically into sets by subject and illustrator.

Currently Leif is looking at The Avante-garde School: Fletcher Martin