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- Apr 27, 2020
- 6 min
Design Matters at 15: Christoph Niemann, Plus 26 Quotes
Christoph Niemann is one of the best illustrators working today. He’s also dryly hilarious. Mindboggingly brilliant. Creatively tortured by design; on the page his work seems playful, simple, created with confidence and ease. It’s anything but—and there’s a great reminder in that. As a complement to this episode of Design Matters, here is a collection of 26 Niemann quotes, with some images from his new book The Paper throughout. Sometimes we riff on guests of the show at leng
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- Apr 14, 2020
- 1 min
10 Mini Portfolios We Love From #PortfolioDay
You might not know what day it is … but at least it’s #PortfolioDay! The Twitter portfolio-sharing bonanza, which was started by Audrey Gonzalez, happens quarterly on the second Tuesday of the month. Hopefully by the time the next one rolls around—July 14—we’ll be living in a much healthier world. In the meantime, here are 10 portfolios we loved from today’s outing. Hi #PortfolioDay! I’m Jenn, a cinematographer + director. I make narrative & documentary films with a passion f
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- Mar 23, 2020
- 4 min
Design Matters: Lisa Congdon
From the briefest of glances, it’s apparent that the artist Lisa Congdon is wholly and profoundly her own. There’s her work: the lively illustrations that dance across page, canvas and garment. There’s her personal style: the striking haircuts and tattoos, the bold jewelry and color pairings. There’s her obsessions and collections: everything from vintage airline tags and golf tees to midcentury paperbacks and antique Hungarian stamps. There’s her story, and the power and pos
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- Feb 24, 2020
- 2 min
Design Matters: Jessica Hische
Print has been acquired by an independent group of collaborators—Deb Aldrich, Laura Des Enfants, Jessica Deseo, Andrew Gibbs, Steven Heller and Debbie Millman—and soon enough, we’ll be back in full force with an all-new look, all-new content and a fresh outlook for the future. As a sneak peek at our new lineup: Expect Design Matters, and an exclusive piece to accompany it, right here, every Monday. Jessica Hische, photographed for PRINT magazine by John Keatley. Writing about
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- Aug 21, 2019
- 6 min
Ideas Designers Can Steal From Great Children’s Books
Children’s Books Are a Source of Endless — and Relevant — Inspiration Kid-less designers: You are beating me hands-down on sleep, gym, social, reading and movie time. Your minds are likely wonderfully clear of logistical tangles like scrounging up non-terrible snacks from a 7-11 in a pinch, or wrangling your kid crosstown rapidly without a carseat handy. But you are missing out in a single, enormous way—and no, I don’t mean the joys of parenthood proper. (Parenthood should re
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- Jul 11, 2019
- 4 min
Remain Sane: Draw!
Spartan Holiday Books is the publishing house associated with DB Dowd, a writer, illustrator, curator and critic in St. Louis, Missouri; he is a professor of art and American Culture Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, and a senior faculty member in the new (2019) MFA in Illustration and Visual Culture (IVC) at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, is also the Faculty Director of the Modern Graphic History Library, which was renamed in his honor in 2016. He p
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- Jun 17, 2019
- 3 min
Everett Raymond Kinstler, R.I.P.
Artist Everett Raymond Kinstler passed away on May 26, 2019, at the age of 92. Known as Ray to his friends, he was one of the few of his generation whose work encompassed the pulps, comic books during the Golden Age, and portraiture, the later his mainstay for over 50 years, going on to paint the official portraits of eight U.S. presidents. I had the great opportunity to spend an afternoon with Ray in spring 2018, at his studio in the National Arts Club in Manhattan, in theor
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- May 22, 2019
- 14 min
Talking Design and Monsters with Illustrator Gary Pullin
The work of Canadian illustrator Ghoulish Gary Pullin runs the gamut of what is possible within the world of illustration. He can do text-heavy layouts, crisp digital line work, or expressive hand-drawn pieces. If the job calls for various characters and chunks of text with a diverse selection of fonts, he can bring it all together without losing the overall point of the design. If the job can be achieved in one bold wordless image, he will deliver a singular illustration tha
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- Mar 21, 2019
- 3 min
The Comics Journal Returns!
After a hiatus of almost 6 years, the original, book edition of The Comics Journal has returned to print. It turns out it was well worth the wait, and it could not be more timely. The cover story is a career-spanning in-depth interview with French author/cartoonist/illustrator Tomi Ungerer, who died last month at age 87. Also covered in this issue is the “new mainstream” in American comics and what the future portends, the role art and comics have in gentrification, a sketchb
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- Mar 15, 2019
- 4 min
George Booth: The New Yorker’s Funniest Cartoonist
The New Yorker is renowned for its cartoons, which have been a mainstay since the magazine’s founding in 1925. It has published the works of hundreds of cartoonists over the years, but few have proved as prolific or as popular as George Booth. Revered among his colleagues as a cartoonist’s cartoonist, Booth has spent five decades mining huge nuggets of off-the-wall humor from everyday life and ordinary people, making him a particular favorite among the magazine’s discerning r
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- Feb 15, 2019
- 2 min
Happy Birthday, Jules Feiffer
Last month marked the 90th birthday of Jules Feiffer. It reminded me of the impact he has had on me and my generation’s intellectual life and funny bone. A Voice in the Village (And Beyond) I discovered Jules Feiffer in the pages of the Village Voice, which my older sister brought home to the Bronx from her sojourns to Greenwich Village. (Later, I’d learn that Feiffer was born in the Bronx.) I would look forward each week to his dancer’s celebrations and political and social
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- Feb 14, 2019
- 3 min
10 Comics for You to Love on Valentine’s Day
Today’s romance comics look nothing like they did in their “golden age,” and thank heavens for that. Once upon a time, romance comic books were more popular than superhero comics. Following WWII, interest in action-adventures such as writer Joe Simon and artist Jack Kirby’s Nazi-punching Captain America was on the decline, so in 1947 they turned their attention to a new series, Young Romance, and gave birth to a genre in the process. A Whirlwind Romance (Comic) By the early 1
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- Feb 12, 2019
- 3 min
Horror Comics: Image Comics is on Top
Horror comics are back. The genre hasn’t really raised its severed head since the 1950s, when an atmosphere of falsehoods, fears, and frightful foreboding infested our nation. And now that clandestine forces have managed to make America grating again, illustrated tales of terror have also once again become a thing. Return of the Scary Thing from the 1950s Graven Image Back during McCarthyism 1.0, our country experienced a glut of comic book publishers – Fawcett, Key, Atlas, e
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- Feb 12, 2019
- 2 min
Drawing Classic Old West Myths
As a little boy growing up in the 1950s and early 60s, it was impossible not to be affected by Westerns. They dominated the popular culture. They were exciting… and also: those great hats.
Joe Ciardiello was similarly inspired, so much so that he was moved to create a series of drawings into a book that takes me back and brings me forward. Here, he chaws a bit on the TV and movie west of yore and show some of the other characters who have inspired him found in his new book, “
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- Jan 15, 2019
- 2 min
3 Best 2018 Comics and Graphic Novels for Teens
No Downside to These High-Quality Stories The good news is that there’s an enormous wealth of options for young comics lovers making the transition from children’s funnies to more mature fare, with a vast array of high-quality visual literature in a wide variety of categories. The bad news… well, there is no bad news. Here are three of the most recent artistically exceptional works in comic book and graphic novels for teens and young adults that will fascinate and stimulate b
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- Jan 7, 2019
- 3 min
An Innovative New Line of Graphic Novels that Draw from Real Life
Humanoids, Publisher of Quality French Comics The French comics publishing house Humanoids is primarily known in America for its interplanetary science fiction action adventures, as its robotic name might suggest. But back in March, it announced a new imprint, “Life Drawn,” dealing with “personal stories and provocative, political narratives” on a… well, a human scale. True-life comic book chronicles tend to be drab affairs, visually. All too often, our eyes slosh through pag
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- Jan 4, 2019
- 2 min
3 Best Graphic Novels for Kids
A 2018 International Design Report From the earliest newspaper strips, comics have always been for kids everywhere. And they continue to delight youngsters all over the world. So here’s a global survey of three of the most visually outstanding graphic novels for kids published in the past year, from China, France, and Italy. • • • My Beijing. Four Stories of Everyday Wonder writer/artist: Nie Jun (Graphic Universe) In My Beijing: Four Stories of Everyday Wonder – original
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- Jan 4, 2019
- 3 min
3 Best Biographical Comics of 2018
A Designer’s List of Favorites If your strongest attraction to comics is for the most visually exceptional ones, then there’s a chance that you just might be me. And if you also find yourself reflecting on the most memorable and engaging graphic narratives you’ve encountered this year, then you – a.k.a. I – also might feel compelled to share your findings with printmag.com readers. So let’s get started then, with three outstanding biography comics. icon artist: Elsa Charretie
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- Nov 5, 2018
- 3 min
POZ Takes On the World!
I’ve worked with Peter O. Zierlein as an art director at PRINT and The Nation, where his quirky, conceptually based illustrations never failed to delight. His editorial art has also graced the pages of the NY Times, The Washington Post, Berliner Zeitung, The Boston Globe and myriad others. Over time Peter, who signs his work POZ, has moved onto the streets and into the third dimension, with street installations, many centered in his current state of Massachusetts. Most recent
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