Inspiration: Art & Crafts, Part 2

Today is the second installment in my art & crafts category! I hope you all like the artistic things I have to show you today.

Since the first post in this category was all about art, I thought I'd start off today with a more crafty source of inspiration. Lisa Occhipinti makes neat art out of books, and she just recently released a craft book, Repurposed Library, about how to make some of the things she has come up with. Her stuff is pretty cool. You can find here book on Amazon HERE. But I'd like to show you some of Lisa Occhipinti's art, so I thought I'd post this neat video. It's a trailer for the book and it shows her working.






The video is short, so if you'd like, hit play and enjoy some neat art! Also, here's a picture (sorry for the poor quality) of a project Lisa Occhipinti did for a cafe in South Africa. Isn't it cool?

She is a really creative artist and I've enjoyed seeing her work. I think what inspires me about her repurposed book art is, well, first of all, the creativity of her ideas. But also, I'm inspired by the idea to repurpose things. It's really fun and it's always interesting to give something old a new look.

That can't be applied all that much in graphic design, but I can apply it in other ways. I actually tried to repurpose a book into one of those bookmobile things in the picture. It's in my living room hanging up, and while it's not as professional looking as Lisa Occhipinti's, it was fun. :)

Next up are some prints by Sasha Prood. I heard about her work here on Bloesem. And she does some really neat stuff! Here are two pieces I like in particular:

self promotion | by sasha prood

This was all done in pencil. Whoa. I've been starting to learn how to draw, and it's very difficult. This type of detail with a pencil is quote impressive. I also think that making the letters of her name out of other objects was a creative idea.

typography in watercolor | by sasha prood

Again, the detail of the typography is phoenamenal, especially considering this is watercolor. Using watercolor this precisely has got to take a lot of patience! It looks really beautiful though. I love typography that is hand-drawn or somehow created without the computer...it's so neat! I think what inspires me most about Sasha Prood's work is the detail. It inspires me by reminding me that patience and attention to detail actually does pay off. You can look at more of her great work at her website here.

Next, I want to show you some neat patterned wallpaper by Kirath Ghundoo called the Mix-n-Match 11 Collection. I first saw her work here on Design*Sponge. This could have gone in a number of categories: graphic design or home decor could've been good fits, too. But I had planned it for this post, and it is in fact art! Here are a couple pretty pictures from her website.

Ah, these patterns are so much fun! What inspires me most about them is probably the color choices. They are so joyful and happy looking colors, and even though there are a lot of them, the simplicity of the design elements still gives these papers a modern, minimal look. I love it. These papers show how important color choice is. I also like the creative use of shapes in all the different designs.

Before I close this post for the day, I want to show you some illustration by Paul Thurlby. He does some neat work, and I love how retro some of it looks. Again, this probably could just as easily have gone in graphic design, but illustration is different from graphic design, even though they do work together sometimes. I'm honestly not sure I could explain the definitions of each, but illustration seems to lean more towards the traditional art side in my mind.

Anyway, back to Paul Thurlby. Not all of his work is exactly my preference, but it's clear that he has a lot of skill, and I love his Alphabet Book, which is what I want to show you today. Here's the cover and a couple inside pages:

This really looks like it could be a reprint of a book from the 1960's, which is why I love it. It really has that genuine retro feel to it. But at the same time, the sans serif typeface on the left of each page shown is pretty modern, so in some ways, it combines 20th century retro with 21st century style. The fact that this is a book that is all consistent and matching is really fun...and that inspires me to want to someday design the layout a book, even if it's not a book with all my own work in it.

So that's all for today! Please let me know what you all think of the things I've mentioned. I love hearing what you all have to say.