Recently, I had the pleasure of stumbling upon the work of Kate Harmer, and became an immediate fan. Kate Harmer is an incredibly accomplished designer, creative director and owner of Seattle-based boutique design studio, Hum Creative. Hum Creative focuses on brand and identity development, but their services run the gamut of logo design, illustration, custom typography and more. The studio got its start back when Kate realized that her freelance career was getting to be a bit too much for one person to handle, only a few years after she had graduated from an MFA design program at RISD.
One of my favorite aspects of this studio is their client base. You might recognize clients like Death Cab For Cutie, She & Him, B.J. Novak, 826 Seattle, Penguin Books, and more. Many of their clients are based in the Seattle area, and it’s obvious that Hum focuses on bolstering their local community.
Find out more about Kate, the team, and all that Hum Creative has accomplished so far.
If you’re a digital illustrator seeking a way to make work that looks handmade, you simply MUST check out this huge collection of digital brushes and tools from the great Nicky Laatz!
Equipped with just this pack – you will be an unstoppable watercolour design machine…without even picking up a paint brush :)
Get the pack here!
The fun blog of student Freya Hartas houses a collection of her doodles and collages.
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Student Emily Shaw sends us a heads up about her work-in-progress. Check out her blog!
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I came across this great studio picture of Hallmark circa the 1930’s. Check it out bigger and with more vintage Photos of Hallmark’s past 100 years over at the Hallmark Blog.
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If you are an indie music fan like myself, no doubt you already own Red Hot + Blue’s latest compilation, “Dark Was The Night.” As a visual artist it is highly likely that you also fell in love with this brilliant double CD’s packaging as I did. Not only is it gorgeously-designed, but it features classic illustrations from 19th century french engraver Gustave Doré’s “Paradise Lost.”
Inner panel
Upon scanning the liner notes I found the cover packaging was designed by NYC illustrator/designer Ryan Feerer, and the inner booklet by John Giordani. The common thread between Ryan, John, Red Hot + Blue and “Dark Was The Night” is interactive agency Funny Garbage, which was started by Red Hot’s founder John Carlin, and designer Peter Girardi. In following this chain of hot creative links I landed on Ryan’s website and poked around his portfolio. Inspired, I contacted Ryan and picked his brain, and was rewarded with bits of news and interesting facts about his solo and agency work.
Illustration by Ryan Feerer
First off, Ryan shared that he is currently churning out a series of illustrations that will grace the walls of NYC’s Ace Hotel. This musician-friendly location not only features original illustration in all its rooms, but it also provides guests with unusual sonic bonuses such as turntables, guitars and amps. How cool is that?
Ryan's hand-hewn typography from "Dark Was The Night" in one of the hotel rooms.
Ryan’s design work is very illustrative, and his illustration work well-composed by design—something I admire and have been trying to achieve in my own work. I asked for his thoughts on the marriage of the two:
“I often have difficulty separating illustration from design. They work together in most of my work so combining them becomes second nature to me. For example, while creating the design for Red Hot’s Dark Was The Night compilation I was given Gustave Doré’s image of the fallen angel from Milton’s Paradise Lost. This was the one image the packaging had to revolve around. If you’re familiar with this image you know how beautiful and powerful it is. The mysterious winged figure floating down past stars and clouds through space towards what seems to be earth. When you have to design around such a magnificent piece of art, you have to take precautions. You can’t just slap some type onto the illustration because the original piece of art is so much more beautiful than anything you could possibly do, most likely. Keeping this in mind, I created the cover image and typography using Doré’s illustration as texture and detail. This was an introduction to the rest of the packaging. As you open the packaging the (almost) full Doré illustration is revealed. I think that is where the whole wow factor comes in. You’re able to make the visual connection with the cover without compromising the powerful and original artwork from the interior. Taking details from the existing artwork and using them as accents throughout the design created a strong consistency throughout the packaging. I think its a good example of how to create designs and illustrations using existing illustrations.”
On his illustration background:
“I’ve been drawing as far back as I can remember. My father is a preacher so I grew up going to church several times a week. I was stuck on a church pew for hours at a time with nothing but blank membership cards and pencils attached to the back of the pew in front of me. So, I did what most children do, I picked up the pencil and cards and started doodling. I would draw Biblical characters or other religious imagery pertaining to my father’s sermons. There are only so many Biblical figures a kid can draw, so when I was tired of drawing religious imagery I would start to pull things from my own imagination and draw, and draw, and draw. Although my passion for illustration started long ago, still to this day, when I sit down at church on Sunday morning I have to have my sketchbook and pen in hand. “
Illustration by Ryan Feerer
On his work space:
“I’m sure there are a thousand people that have a more interesting or quirky work-style, but I guess everyone is unique in their own way. In an ideal world I’d do all my work in a small wooden shack of a studio floating in the middle of a foggy lake surrounded by a thick forest. Unfortunately I don’t have that option. Most of my work is done in a small office space in my New York City apartment with a tiny window behind me facing a brick wall which voids my desk of any natural light. It’s definitely not an ideal situation, but its nothing a little Will Oldham and a cold beverage can’t fix.
On his process:
Although my designs and illustrations work together in most of my work, the process of starting a design is quite different than starting an illustration. Design is a lot more structured for me. There are a lot more restrictions and particular problems to solve. I love everything design encompasses but its nice to be able to escape and do what makes me happy. When it comes to illustration, I like to let my mood and music guide my hands. I tend to draw places where wish I could be, a situation I wish I could be in, or a person or thing I wish I could be. I’m obsessed with some of the things that linger in my mind. The stories within it and the things I see have always kept me entertained.
When I was a kid I used to imagine this fantasy world that I could only get to through a small door hidden in my bathroom closet. The world inside was dark and strange. Humid and cold. It resembled what seemed to be a rainforest and inside that forest was a village where strange creatures lurked. That little world that lay within the depths of my bathroom closet has become an ongoing project I started back in grad school called Thy Old Murkville Forest. Murkville encompasses pictures, stories, music, as well as it’s own language. It is my dream world. Throughout the process of creating that imaginary world [I have been able to] view things from a different perspective. It’s like seeing my work from the inside which helps me create something thats more appropriate for what I’m doing. There is so much freedom in illustration. I can delve into my own world and live there as I create my work. It’s a wonderful place to be.”
Thy Old Murkville Forest
Follow Ryan Feerer on Twitter. Vote for his tee design on Threadless.
(Thanks, Ryan!)
“Work/Life is a book celebrating Canadian illustration and photography. Unlike magazine awards annuals or traditional illustration directories that are little more than picture books, our publication delves into what fuels a creative life.
Participants were interviewed about their creative focus and artistic technique as well as their inspirations and aspirations. Sketchbook pages, studio shots, inspirational objects and personal photography allow us to peek into their work and their lives.”
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I’m so excited to be a part of the Work / Life book published by Uppercase Gallery along with illustrators Lori Joy Smith, Rick Sealock, Jody Hewgill, and Doug Fraser (just to name a few!).
Full list of participants can be found here and preview some pages here. Pre-order the book at the Uppercase online store OR if you live in/near Calgary check out the art show that should be opening later this week! Whew, think I’ve provided enough options for you? 
Well, at least the first submission draft is. Officially sold in March and researched, outlined, written and edited by the end of July. What is that - a little over four months? Whew. I feel like I've just sprinted a mile. It's a bit bigger than Something Rotten too - by around fifty pages. How I managed to turn Shakespeare's longest play (Hamlet) into a 200 page manuscript and his shortest tragedy (Macbeth) into 250 manuscript pages is a mystery perhaps not even Horatio could solve.
I also beat my own self-imposed deadline of the end of August. Why push it? Well, not to brown-nose - although the nerd in me does enjoy turning in papers early - but instead to give me more time on the Brooklyn Nine rewrite. A bit of work there, as it's going from nine different first-person voices to a consistent third person narration. I'm also reworking the overall story arc so that there is an overall story arc. (This will make more sense when you can read it. And I certainly hope it makes more sense to me before that.)
Along with the first draft of Something Wicked, I also sent editor Liz a pitch for Horatio Wilkes mystery #3: Something Foolish. This one would be based on A Midsummer Night's Dream, if you hadn't already guessed - from Puck's "Lord, what fools these mortals be!" (Although I had a suggestion from another editor at ALA to call it What the Puck?) Kind of tricky to take a comedy and make it a tragedy, but I have a plan. In many ways Midsummer would be the perfect follow up to where Wicked leaves off, but we'll see. If it's not Midsummer, it will probably be Julius Caesar (Horatio on a college visit to a frat house - think "toga party") or The Tempest (Horatio as an intern at a Disney-esque theme park). That's assuming they want a third book at all!
Here's hoping. I do so love writing these, and Shakespeare does have a few more plays left . . .
