ICON 6 Experience

Wowwee! ICON 6 was a blast. ICON (the Illustration Conference) is held every two years or so, this time in Pasadena. It was joyous, energetic mix of inspiration and education. I met lots of nice folks and am inspired to push my illustration self harder. The emcees, the amazing Brian Rea and Paul Rogers were charming, so relaxed and funny. See their ICON translator above. Yes, there were references to the horrific economy and the world going to hell, but a positive thread held everything together. All in all, the tone was hopeful for the future of illustration and for illustrators to thrive in a world with new possibilities.

See some of the illustration superstars pictured (with red eyes) on the perky Fernanda Cohen’s Drawger blog post. Including the mysterious Jason Holley who created hilarious videos that were shown between sections of the program. Hopefully they'll be posted somewhere soon —they are surely to be YouTube blockbusters (amongst illustrators, A.D.s and designers anyway). I'm so glad I went and am very thankful to all the volunteers and staff that produced the conference. It was a jolt of positive energy for many isolated illustrators, or should I say designer/illustrators and illustrator/educators and students. (Maybe 2% were solely illustrators.)

For myself, highlights were talks by fashion “lifestyle” illustrators Bil Donovan and John Jay Cabuay. It was a treat to hear the amazing, illustrator and NY Times blogger Christoph Niemann share his inspirations (including maps) and his design driven process. Almost every attendee I spoke to said Wayne White’s talk was their favorite (or their new imaginary boyfriend @designjunket). I can’t describe it only to say this man is a genius. Authentic, charming and well, you just had to be there (sorry). Or, buy the book, Maybe Now I'll Get the Respect I So Richly Deserve a monograph of his 30-year career, edited by multi-talented Todd Oldham (also a fascinating ICON presenter). Yes, I think Mr. White deserves lots of respect (and many laughs too). See UK illustrator and ICON presenter Rod Hunt’s photos of ICON 6, including Wayne White shown with some of his word paintings.

Ahh, there was so much more to ICON 6, but I'll never eat dinner if I keep going on and on. Hmmm, I wonder where ICON 7 will be.

(Addendum: First of Jason Holley’s ICON funny (yet a bit sad) videos posted on vimeo. The voices and timing are “fabulous”. Also, for more ICON 6 links and conversation ICON info search Twitter for #ICON6)

Writing for Visual Thinkers

Writing for visual thinkers? That was the illustration assignment for the current SPGA Chapter of the Graphic Artists Guild meeting promotion. The meeting is Wednesday, I'll be there and look forward to Amy Posner's presentation on how to write for social media and personal promotion. I was happy with the illustration, but the printed postcard is much more vivid and more red than it should have been. Ahh, the joys of digital printing without a press check.

This lucky illustrator creates HP “Work In 3G” campaign images

Last summer I was fortunate to have the opportunity to create some fun and unique illustrations for the current HP “Work In 3G” campaign. I collaborated with the talented creatives at McCann San Francisco, art director David Swope and art producer Evelyn Chan. They produced great Flash animation of the key illustration, a pop-up style world of transportation. The big thrill came when one of the ads appeared in the end of the year Time and Newsweek magazines. Imagine my work in the Time magazine person of the year issue with Shepard Fairey’s graphic illustration of Barack Obama on the cover, very cool!

Here’s the set of four ads, these appeared in commuter train cars. Click to see it larger.