b* creative magazine issue 8 september 2010

contents**con-tents [kon-tents]: the material, including text and images, that constitutes this publication document.

A while ago we posted a very interesting piece of work on our Facebook Fan Page that stimulated a lot of talk about sketching and doodling. The piece itself was done by an artist we have featured in this months issue, an artist with a very unique and interesting style - Andrea Joseph. Her drawing of two converse sneakers amongst a million doodles and sketches evoked in us a feeling of longing for the good old days, when digital drawing was but a distant dream. It reminded us that even in this day and age, creating something with your own bare hands without the help of technology truly is gratifying.

And so the sketch and doodle issue was born! This month we have collected an amazing array of work by artists who still use pen and paper (okay, so maybe its not always a pen they use, but you get the drift). There are sketches and doodles of all sorts, with themes from life drawing to the com-pletely abstract. The artists we have chosen to interview all have their own little twist on how they create their masterpieces and we think youll be very impressed with their efforts.

A recurring tool weve seen used by many people whose work weve showcased in this issue seems to be the Moleskine notebook, something we simply had to find out more about. If youve ever bought one of the legendary Moleskines you will have received a little history pamphlet with it that is rather inspirational. To quickly summarise, Moles-kine is the celebrated notebook used by European artists and thinkers for the past two centuries, from Van Gough to Picasso, from Ernest Hemingway to Bruce Chatwin. A simple black rectangle with rounded corners, an elastic page-holder, and an internal expandable pocket: a nameless object with a spare perfection all its own, produced for over a century by a small French bookbinder that supplied the stationery shops of Paris, where the artistic and literary avant-gardes of the world browsed and bought them. A trusted and handy travel companion, the notebook held invaluable sketches, notes, stories, and ideas that would one day become famous paintings or the pages of be-loved books. In the mid-1980s, these notebooks became increasingly scarce, and then vanished entirely. In his book The Songlines Chatwin tells the story of the little black notebook: in 1986, the man-

ufacturer, a small family-owned company in the French city of Tours, went out of business. Le vrai moleskine nest plus, are the lapidary words he puts into the mouth of the owner of the stationery shop in the Rue de lAncienne Comdie, where he usually purchased his notebooks. Chatwin set about buying up all the notebooks that he could find before his departure for Australia, but there were still not enough. In 1997, a small Milanese publisher brought the legendary notebook back to life, and selected this name with a literary pedigree to revive an extraordinary tradition. Following in Chatwins footsteps, Moleskine notebooks have resumed their travels, providing an indispensable complement to the new and portable technology of today. Capturing reality in movement, glimpsing and recording details, inscribing the unique nature of experience on paper: Moleskine notebook is a battery that stores ideas and feelings, releasing its energy over time.

Not long ago, something called the Moleskine Ex-change began. Its a project where several artists, each with their own Moleskine notebook, draw something on two facing pages of their book. They then send their book onto the next artist (a prede-termined list is established in advance) and receive a book from another artist. They draw something on two facing pages and send the book onwards. This process is repeated until the artist receives his/her original Moleskine notebook. Talk about inspiration and history in the making! Many Moles-kine Exchange programs are being conducted as I write this note and I urge you to begin your own, or join one. Were thinking about starting a b* creative Moleskine exchange very soon.

So to sum up this month is all about natural! Its about loosening your wrists and letting your imagi-nation flow. Its about not worrying if the lines are correct and if the colours match. Its about putting pen to paper even if your concentrating on some-thing else (my personal favourite time to doodle is when Im talking on the phone). Youll notice our illustrator Robine Vaauli really went out of his way this month, not only to sketch our cover, but to draw each one of us. How awesome!

So until next time dear friends and readers, dont forget to: Imagine. Believe. Create. Achieve.

Editors Note

Title: Sketching Photos

Sketch by Robin Vaauli

6inspiration**in-spi-ra-tion [in-spuh-rey-shuh n] : a) stimulation of the mind or emotions to special or unusual activity or creativity; b) divine guidance or influence exerted directly on the mind and soul of humankind.

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inspiration**in-spi-ra-tion [in-spuh-rey-shuh n] : a) stimulation of the mind or emotions to special or unusual activity or creativity; b) divine guidance or influence exerted directly on the mind and soul of humankind.

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Discipline in art is a fundamental struggle to understand oneself, as much as to understand what one is drawing.

- Henry Moore

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featuring**fea-tur-ing [fee-cher-ing]: a) giving special attention to; b) including as a prominent part.

began then. Ive always been hyper creative. For as long as I can remem-ber.

4. What sort of education have you had?Bog standard UK comprehensive school. No illustration education. Im self taught.

5. If you could describe your work in 3 (or 5) words, what would they be?Ah, this is too hard. I dunno. My friend always says it has a deep deep sad-ness to it. I like that.

6. How do you go about creating a piece of work? Where do you draw your inspiration from?Everywhere. Inspiration comes from everywhere. Music. Art. The weather. A pair of shoes on the floor. The cat. Everything and everywhere.

As for how I go about it. I just sit down in the chair and draw. I do like to be alone to draw. I get too dis-tracted if there are people around. So I like solitude.

7. Tell us your philosophy on creativ-

1. Name, surname and place of resi-dence.Andrea Joseph. Derbyshire, UK.

2. What sparked your passion for il-lustration/ graphic design / art?Nothing specifically.

3. How creative were you as a child?Yes, my passion for drawing certainly

Featuring: Andrea Joseph

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ity.I have no conscious philosophy. I just like to draw.

8. Whose work do you admire and why?I am more influenced and inspired by music, as opposed to visual artists. I am a huge music fan, so its people like Paul Weller and Neil Young who I admire most. Saying that, my favou-rite artists include Peter Blake and I love the Pre Raphaelites. Im also a fan of childrens book illustration. The good ones. Theres a lot of crap out there.

9. What has been your greatest achievement so far?Hmmmm. I dont know. I was very pleased to be granted the award for excellence at Bologna Childrens Book Fair last year, and to have my work exhibited alongside one of my favourite book illustrators Shaun Tan.

I think my greatest achievement is my blog, though. I feel proud of my drawing blog. And the following that it has gathered. Theres nothing better than knowing that people have been

touched in some way by your work. Nothing better than that.

10. What is your advice for aspiring creatives?Follow your own path. Let your draw-ing (or whatever field you are in) tell you where to go, and what to do, next. Let it all unfold in front of your eyes. Its the most interesting trip.

w: http://andreajoseph24.blogspot.com/f: http://www.flickr.com/photos/andreajoseph/

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Drawing is the honesty of the art. There is no

possibility of cheating. It is either good or bad.

- Salvador Dali


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Buustamon @ The Dieline

Swedish design agency Summer has devised the concept and design for the bottle labels of Swedish ski lodge Buustamons Fjllgrd that also houses a small exclusive distillery in their cellar.

Buustamons Fjllgrd is a rather lonely place on the west side of the mountain of ski resort re in north of Sweden. It opened 1952 as a lodge and restau-rant, but since 2000 they also have a small distill-

ery in the cellar. Summer homed in on the theme of Buustamon Fjllgrd as a final outpost, just as in the world of fantasy and fairytale, with the inn located where the road ends, offering the traveller one last opportunity of refreshment before setting forth on the great adventure. Each bottle carries three labels: a flavour label, a Buustamon Brnneri (distillery) label and a reverse label. All labels are applied manually at the distillery and stamped with the batch number.

There was a time when people climbed mountains, crossed deserts and oceans without artificial fibres, weather forecasts, satnav and rescue services. There was a time when an adventure was an adventure, a voyage into the unknown and uncer-tain. Out into the white patches on the map, along unsounded coasts and up to unconquered peaks. Among wild God-knows-what animals in caves, oceans and primeval forests. Buustamons Aqua Vitae (Water of Life) is distilled as a tribute to those dauntless travellers.

- Salih Kucukaga for The Dieline

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A drawing is simply a line going for a walk.

- Paul Klee

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Chocobrain@ The Dieline

Healthy Hot Chocolate on your mind. Experi-mental identity project for Hot Chocolate Cafe. Without any big focus on the name or typeface, the illustration becomes a dominant part of the identity and are the most reconizable element. Designed by Jeksel.

- Andrew Gibbs for The Dieline

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1. Name, surname and place of residence.Mattias Adolfsson, Sigtuna Sweden

2. What sparked your passion for illustration/ graphic design / art?Nothing sparked I just drifted towards it, I studied quite a lot of other things before majoring (technology, architecture)

3. How creative were you as a child?Nothing as I though as spe-cial at the time, I was probably amongst the best at drawing while at school but I didnt give it much heed at the time.

4. What sort of education have you had?I have a Major in Graphic de-sign, not much focus on Illus-tration while at college, it was focused mainly at design

5. If you could describe your work in 3 (or 5) words, what would they be?Detailed, clean and pale

6. How do you go about cre-ating a piece of work? Where do you draw your inspiration from?I get most of my inspiration from what I read and hear, I also

get inspiration from the nature around me

7. Tell us your philosophy on creativity.If youre mind is empty start drawing anyway

8. Whose work do you admire and why?Im a big admirer of the late Frank Zappa, not only for his music but also for his humor and intelligence.

9. What has been your great-est achievement so far?My greatest achievement this far is to have survived the last three years in the Illustration field, I just got a grant from the Swedish Arts Grants Commit-tee so I expect to survive for at least one year more.

10. What is your advice for aspiring creatives?Its nice to be important but its even more important to be nice.

w: http://mattiasa.blogspot.come: [email protected]

Featuring: Mattias Adolfsson

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Drawing is still basically the same as it has been since prehistoric times. It brings

together man and the world. It lives through magic.

- Keith Haring

Drawing is still basically the same as it has been

since prehistoric times. It brings together man and the world. It lives through

magic. - Keith Haring



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Good Ol Sailor Vodka@ The Dieline

Now this is how you do plastic bottle Vodka!

Swedens first vodka in PET bottle. Its also one of the first vodka made of organically grown, Swedish barley. The new Swedish eco-vodka is distilled four times and has a clean, fruity nose with some spicy aftertaste and released in a Swedish-made PET packag-ing for minimal environmen-tal impact. We have worked closely with Technologists at

Petainer. Together we have produced a container which is environmentally friendly, has high levels of clarity and great shelf appeal, whilst at the same time is easy to manufacture in high volumes. We wanted to exploit the phenomenon of PET in the best possible way. The goal was to design would be integrated with the bottle.

Designed by Mattias Brodn

- Andrew Gibbs for The Dieline

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It is only by drawing often, drawing everything, drawing incessantly, that

one fine day you discover to your surprise that you have rendered something in its true character.

- Camille Pissarro


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sketches that I accumulated from the figure drawing

classes I once instructed. - Frank Bruno

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draw for hours. Stuff like making my own comics, characters, superheroes.

4. What sort of education have you had?A diploma in Graphic Arts and a Masters in Fine Arts.

5. If you could describe your work in 3 (or 5) words, what would they be?Fantastical, layered, kinetic.

6. How do you go about creating a piece of work? Where do you draw your inspiration from?I start rough and concentrate on more ab-stract concepts composition, concept, design... lots of thumbnails! After I think

1. Name, surname and place of resi-dence.Robert Scholten Melbourne, Australia.

2. What sparked your passion for illus-tration/ graphic design / art?I think its the usual story of being ob-sessed with drawing for as long as you can remember. And when you become involved in image-making, you naturally go down theses illustration/graphic de-sign/art paths that involve images and communication.

3. How creative were you as a child?Very! Im an only child, and would just

Featuring: Robert Scholten

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one of my ideas is going somewhere I try to refine it. And usually during this pro-cess little connections might occur that reinforce the overall concept.

7. Tell us your philosophy on creativity.Creativity is like a good pair of jeans its best used when used a lot!

8. Whose work do you admire and why?Tough question. But Ill pick Picasso. Because especially during early Cubist years - he was able to channel the feeling of the age, examine the way we perceive things, and redefine art in the process. The other thing I like his utter playfulness. He would just grab any medium and push it, develop new techniques. I think when looking at his work you can feel his inten-sity but also his passion and love of cre-ating. And last, I love his work ethic. The man was a machine!

9. What has been your greatest achieve-ment so far?To be honest, I dont know. Ive got a great wife, been able to travel, work on great projects. Ive got a zen-like ap-proach... each day is great, and as long as Im able to draw, Im fortunate.

10. What is your advice for aspiring cre-atives?Work a lot, learn a lot, do your thing and be happy!

w: http://robowhat.blogspot.com/w: www.robobop.com

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vineyards while we suggest that union between families. The order of wines from younger to older is: Latria, Xabec, Besllum, Malon-dro Blanc, Malondro, Coelum. - Andrew Gibbs for The Dieline

Malondro@ The Dieline

Spanish graphic designer, Clara Roma designed this for Malondro.Malondro is a family winery located in Cornudella de Montsant. It is the result of the union between two families that share the same devotion to the land and wine.

So the solution that we propose for the labels was a design and artistic free lines that remind us the same, to the folksy, something made with care and dedication. The rounded lines and bonds represent the grapes and the

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Even drawing gray hair at all is difficult to render in

black and white. - Alison Bechdel

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I have been drawing all my life. - Dick Bruna


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Natura Girl@ The Dieline

Nature Girl uses all natural, organical-ly grown and wildcrafted ingredients, carefully cultivated on small family-run organic farms from all regions of the

world to provide you with products that protect and nurture your skin and your health while also protecting the environment. We do not use any synthetic fragrances, synthetic dyes or animal testing. All of our nut, seed plant and flower oil are cold pressed and refined using old fashioned meth-ods such as paper filters and natu-ral clays, and our essential oils are organic or ethically wildcrafted and steam distilled.

- Salih Kucukaga for The Dieline

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1. Name, surname and place of residence.Paul Heaston, San Antonio, Texas

2. What sparked your passion for illustration/ graphic design / art?My mother always drew, and had art on the walls, so I sup-pose my interest in art is a natural extension of her inter-ests. For years she had a print of Picassos Three Musicians hanging in the living room.

3. How creative were you as a child?I drew constantly, and was always encouraged to do so. My drawing always followed my other interestswhen I became interested in whales, I drew them over and over. When I got into comic books, I had to master the figure and anatomy, and learn about hatching. When I was ob-sessed with dinosaurs, I had to master drawing dinosaurs, etc.

4. What sort of education have you had?I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Texas at San Antonio and a Master of

Fine Arts from Montana State University in Bozeman.

5. If you could describe your work in 3 (or 5) words, what would they be?Focused, detailed, engaged

6. How do you go about cre-ating a piece of work? Where do you draw your inspiration from?Im fond of this Chuck Close quote: Inspiration is for ama-teurs. I just get to work. I cant sit around and wait for the appropriate moment to make artI make myself work.

7. Tell us your philosophy on creativity.Its similar to the idea expressed in that Chuck Close quote on inspiration. I had an old pro-fessor once tell me (and Im paraphrasing) that everybody has a thousand lousy paintings in them, and the quicker you get rid of them (ie paint them) the quicker you can get to the good ones. In my experience at least, I have found this to be completely true. You cant think really long and hard and then produce a good work of art. Youve got to go ahead and just

Featuring: Paul Heaston

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make something. And then make something else. The good news is, once in a while you will come out with some-thing really good, and that will become more and more fre-quent the more you make. The thousand lousy works arent all consecutive.

8. Whose work do you admire and why?As a painter I will always say Velazquez first and everyone else second. I love Chuck Close, Wayne Thiebaud, John Singer Sargent and Alice Neel as well. As an illustrator/drafts-man, Im fond of Robert Crumb, David Macauley, Mateo Pericoli, and Heinrich Kley among many others.

9. What has been your great-est achievement so far?I dont know about great, but my favorite piece I think Ive done so far is my Bozeman sketchbook project Every Building in Downtown Boze-man. Over the course of about 7 or 8 months I drew, in order, every building on Main Street in Bozeman, Montana between Grand and Rouse Av-enues. I started with the north

side of the street heading east, then turned around and did the south side of the street heading back west. I really enjoy that the investment of time and the limitations I placed on myself paid off in a work Im proud of. Im also proud of being a corre-spondent for UrbanSketchers.com, and being part of such a fantastic community that shares such amazing world fro all over the world.

10. What is your advice for aspiring creatives?Working on anything is better than working on nothing. In the past Ive worried too much about finding the right kind of content to draw or paint. In fact, I think your content, or your subjects, or your style will eventually find you, so long as you keep working. Hesitation is a dangerous habit to have as an artist, and it comes from too much deliberation, which is of-ten really just fear. Im remind-ed of another quote by Jasper Johns which Ill paraphrase: the creative process is not a delib-erate one, but a helpless one.

w: http://paulheaston.blogspot.com/e: [email protected]

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Drawing is . . . not an exer-cise of particular dexterity, but above all a means of

expressing intimate feelings and moods.

- Henri Matisse


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references

1. http://frog-vamp.deviantart.com/art/doodle-sketching-002-157330492. http://www.behance.net/gallery/Hip-Hop-Portrait-Sketches/2634983. http://kidnotorious.deviantart.com/art/Arkham-Riot-sketch-card-1591791624. http://ryanbnjmn.deviantart.com/art/Batman-Con-sketch-989861075. http://wya.deviantart.com/art/Card-board-doodle-1188677746. http://heathencomics.deviantart.com/art/Batman-Sketch-1738119607. http://www.behance.net/gallery/Moles-kine-2/2730958. http://sharmz.deviantart.com/art/Biro-eye-doodle-1267285339. http://zhuzhu.deviantart.com/art/BW-SKETCH-02-15668622910. http://theirison.deviantart.com/art/Con-Sketch-Super-Con-16082250211. http://tarrzan.deviantart.com/art/Crea-ture-sketch-6703690212. http://mikechoi.deviantart.com/art/Death-Sketch-6296131413. http://www.behance.net/gallery/Hip-Hop-Portrait-Sketches/26349814. http://stevensanchez.deviantart.com/art/Deidara-SKetch-8305043215. http://shoulderblades.deviantart.com/art/doodle-1-11792558216. http://thesublime514.deviantart.com/art/Doodle-1-4518341517. http://www.behance.net/gallery/Mole-skine-2/27309518. http://blueabyss17404.deviantart.com/art/doodle-174963390

19. http://dropsofjupiter88.deviantart.com/art/Doodle-11086372920. http://00ratboy.deviantart.com/art/Doodle-879824021. http://humming-fli.deviantart.com/art/Doodle-6123914722. http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2010/9/10/buustamon.html23. http://kerenweezer.deviantart.com/art/Doodle-7111142724. http://kialeo90.deviantart.com/art/doodle-6844820425. http://pencilbutt.deviantart.com/art/Doodle-6968259826. http://zawy.deviantart.com/art/doo-dle-1051774327. http://razzledazzle.deviantart.com/art/Doodle-5947117528. http://tweeny.deviantart.com/art/doo-dle-with-red-2467050829. http://aeterne.deviantart.com/art/gei-sha-sketch-17067155630. http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2010/8/30/chocobrain.html31. http://toonrama.deviantart.com/art/Hand-sketch-4818181732. http://reiq.deviantart.com/art/Honey-Bunny-Sketch-7645742733. http://deathofrats.deviantart.com/art/marker-doodle-15172862334. http://caramelaw.deviantart.com/art/NaDOoDle-3834214335. http://eonlegend.deviantart.com/art/Paramore-doodle-18043386336. http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2010/9/21/good-ol-sailor-vodka.html

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37. http://angel-blue.deviantart.com/art/phone-doodle-3678925738. http://kaminary-san.deviantart.com/art/Sailor-moon-pen-sketch-11014825739. http://zhoupeng.deviantart.com/art/sketch-5-16772423540. http://zahirahneonpink.deviantart.com/art/simply-sketch-7299516041. http://kaminary-san.deviantart.com/art/Sketch-4-17337046842. http://insipid11.deviantart.com/art/sketch-008-5256707243. http://matteoscalera.deviantart.com/art/sketch-97-13785166344. http://matteoscalera.deviantart.com/art/sketch-128-14229055345. http://www.behance.net/gallery/Sketchbook--2008/18433146. http://wine.thedieline.com/blog/2010/9/28/malondro.html47. http://jeffsimpsonkh.deviantart.com/art/Sketch-1373413348. http://www.behance.net/gallery/Sketchbook-Dump-2003-2009/41172549. http://vyrl.deviantart.com/art/Sketch-13088253050. http://flowerzzxu.deviantart.com/art/sketch-15170036851. http://lolita-art.deviantart.com/art/sketch-8882617852. http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2010/9/27/natura-girl.html53. http://www.behance.net/gallery/SKETCHBOOK-II/21967454. http://giljimbo.deviantart.com/art/sketch-83901147

55. http://genzoman.deviantart.com/art/Sketch-dump-1-14030553256. http://www.behance.net/gallery/Sketchbook/13264357. http://passinglife.deviantart.com/art/sketch-for-painting-8215182058. http://alanrobinson.deviantart.com/art/skull-sketch-9415579359. http://kidnotorious.deviantart.com/art/Sweeney-Todd-sketch-card-16174334260. http://shojojim.deviantart.com/art/Stevie-Doodle-10322338661. http://www.behance.net/gallery/The-black-notebook-of-illustrations/38634762. http://biz02.deviantart.com/art/tablet-sketch-2-40943526

FeaturingAndrea Josephhttp://andreajoseph24.blogspot.com/

Mattias Adolfssonhttp://mattiasa.blogspot.com/

Robert Scholtenhttp://robowhat.blogspot.com/http://www.robobop.com/

Paul Heastonhttp://paulheaston.blogspot.com/

b* creative magazine issue 8 september 2010

Documents

legendary notebook

moleskine notebooks

tents kontents

little black notebook

celebrated notebook

life drawing

work weve

interesting piece of