Blog: Illustration

Printing cards for AT Open House 2012









We're going to be part of the AT Open House again in May this year, so every spare minute is being spent designing and printing, cards and notebook covers. Such great fun!

They'll soon be available on our Etsy store too, so keep checking!

Tue 06 Mar 2012

Posted under: Design , Typography , Prints , Illustration

4 Comments

Blisters - The Directors Cut

The lovely people at Print Club are now accepting submissions for Blisters - The Directors Cut, their 'big end of Summer hand pulled screenprinted poster show'.

As usual the 40 pieces selected from 40 artists will be from a range of 'established and emerging illustrators, designers and street artists', in editions of 40 and sold for £40!

Anyone can enter and the deadline for entries is Sunday 10 June 2012.

For those interested, here's the brief:

Submit an alternative movie poster in your own style inspired by your favorite film! 

The catch is, you cannot use the title of the film at all.

Use of other text is allowed of course but it should stand alone as an image, scene or typographic piece, it doesn’t have to be an advertisement for the film!

Poster size B2 (700x500mm) and to be screenprinted!

More information here.

Tue 28 Feb 2012

Posted under: Design , Prints , Illustration , Exhibition , Posters

0 Comments

Henri's walk to Paris by Saul Bass & Leonore Klein

I've had this image as inspiration for a few years now and I have no idea were it came from nor did I have any idea what is was. I just liked the bold graphics and quirky type.

Well, how could I not have recognised the work of Saul Bass (don't worry I am truly ashamed!). It turns out that this is a pic of the cover of an original copy of the only children's book he ever designed - 'Henri's walk to Paris'. A book that he designed with Leonore Klein in 1962 and that has been out of print for many years until now.

"Henri’s Walk to Paris is the story of a young boy who lives in Reboul, France, who dreams of going to Paris. One day, after reading a book about Paris, he decides to pack a lunch and head for the city."




As of last week this gorgeous little book is back on the shelves and available here.

Via Brain Pickings.
Images (apart from the top one) from Brain Pickings.

Thu 23 Feb 2012

Posted under: Design , Illustration , Books

0 Comments

The official Roald Dahl stamps – Gloriumptiously collectable






Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake fans alike will be lapping up these 'Wonkalicious. Whizzpopping. Swizzfiggling' new Royal Mail stamps launched, 'in tribute to one of the world’s greatest storytellers, this unique collection celebrates his most famous works, his best-loved characters and tales of his extraordinary life'.

The set of 6 stamps feature original illustrations of some of Dahl's best-loved characters; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr Fox, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, The Twits and The Witches. Buy yours here!

Tue 07 Feb 2012

Posted under: Design , Things to buy , Illustration , stamps

0 Comments

EE Chrisp letterpress printers


I just received this little die-cut card from Phil at EE Chrisp letterpress printers. I love the Advertisers! You need good printing illustration on the back - so true!

Thu 26 Jan 2012

Posted under: Design , Illustration , letterpress

0 Comments

From the reference box # 118





#118 - 1961 Karta över Skansen (Map of Skansen). This beautifully illustrated map is one of my favourites. I bought it purely for the folk style illustrations and had no idea what or where Skansen was.

After some research I was fascinated to discover that Skansen is a living open-air museum in Djurgården, Stockholm, Sweden - the first in the wolrd in fact!

Founded by Artur Hazelius in 1891 as the outdoor annex to his Nordiska Museet (Nordic Museum), Skansen was the culmination of years of collecting and saving ethographical relics. In 1872 he had realised just how quickly life in Sweden was changing and set about " collect clothing, household utensils, furniture and hand-tools from the old farming culture: everything that needed to be preserved for posterity".

"At the beginning of the 1870s, three million of Sweden’s population of just over four million people still lived in the countryside. But country life had changed. The number of independent farmers had declined and the ranks of the landless had grown. The increase in population created a growing body of tenant cottagers, servants to the gentry and indentured labourers. Land reforms that destroyed villages and re-allocated the fields transformed the way of life in the countryside as well as its buildings. Agriculture became mechanized, industrial products did away with crafts and new means of communication opened up more efficient ways of distributing goods."

"The landless classes left their homes to seek work on the railways, in the shipyards and the factories and in the sawmills of northern Sweden. Sweden developed into an urban society. Crop failures at the end of the 1860s caused more than 100 000 Swedes to emigrate to America. This wave of emigration reached a peak in the 1880s when 325 000 Swedes left for America and a further 52 000 emigrated to other countries."


It wasn't enough for Hazelius to show static exhibitions, he wanted people to experience complete environments; the everyday life and sounds of the old Swedish culture, "fully furnished houses occupied by people wearing period costume surrounded by their domestic animals in a natural landscape". 

Skansen is still a popular tourist attraction today, though I think it will look a bit different to how it did in 1961 - here's the full fold-out map from back then in all it's glory...


Unfortunately I couldn't find out who the illustrator was, there is the word Järk in the map border, but that's the only clue. If you do have any ideas as to who it might have been, please let me know.

Tue 08 Nov 2011

Posted under: Design , Ephemera , Reference box , Illustration , Map

0 Comments

Rob Ryan at Castor + Pollux

Rob Ryan launched his lovely new book, 'A sky full of kindness' with an exhibition at Castor + Pollux last week. Once again I missed the preview but I'm really looking forward to seeing it.

"A Sky Full of Kindness’ which has been written and illustrated by Rob using his intricate and beautiful paper cuts, telling the story of two birds who are preparing for their egg to hatch."

The exhibition runs until the 5 December. It's a collection of new prints and hand-cut illustrations from the book, along with a selection of cards, laser cuts, plates, bunting, books and mugs always available at Castor + Pollux. Great for some early Christmas shopping!

Don't worry if you can't get down to Brighton though, there's a great selection of his work available from their online store.

Mon 07 Nov 2011

Posted under: Prints , Illustration , Books , Posters

0 Comments

Lo Cole at Castor + Pollux

Our favourite seafront gallery, Castor + Pollux is currently showing (and selling) illustrator Lo Cole's bold and colourful prints until the 18 October.

Lo Cole is a freelance illustrator and print maker based in Gloucestershire with a career already spanning 20 years and a very impressive client list including; Vogue, The Guardian, Greenpeace, The Royal National Theatre, Harper Collins and Royal Mail Stamps.


All his pieces are vibrant and energetic, but some are simple and graphic whilst others are wild and abstract. It's the more graphic prints that do it for me though, especially the bird one above with the lovely little pink and red birds.

I really need to get down there and see it before it finishes!

Images copyright Lo Cole.

Mon 10 Oct 2011

Posted under: Design , Illustration , Exhibition

1 Comment

Smells I Like by Gordon Stowell














I picked up this gorgeous children's book at the weekend - Smells I Like by Gordon Stowell. The illustrations are fantastic. I think they're paper and line drawing collages which gives them their bold, brightness and wonderful simplicity.

Illustrator and cartoonist Gordon Stowell sadly died in 2003. He sold his first cartoon to a newspaper in 1942 aged only 14. Throughout his very long career he wrote and illustrated many children's books (including the one above published by AR Mowbray & Co Ltd. in 1969) and had his cartoons published regularly in the likes of Private Eye and Punch magazines - he believed, "cartoons could put over serious subjects".

There are 8 more books in this range, so the search is on - not sure how many of them I'll be able to pick up for 20p though!

Wed 17 Aug 2011

Posted under: Design , Inspiration , Illustration , Books

1 Comment

Vintage bread wrappers






Who would have guessed that bread packaging could be so great?!

Bread used to be packaged in a waxed paper and sealed at either end with a sticker (in fact in the UK some brands still use the waxed paper, but heat sealed with a glue at the ends instead of with stickers).

These fine examples are waxed, bread wrappers from the 40's & 50's. I think the Victory Vitality Bread is my favourite because if it's simplicity, although the Skylark is giving it a run for it's money (it's that little chef hat on the skylark graphic!).

Se more of the collection here.

Via the How to be a Retronaut.

Mon 18 Jul 2011

Posted under: Design , Typography , Illustration , Packaging

2 Comments

More Country Fair covers





Remember our post about Country Fair: The monthly journal of the open air? Well we've just uploaded lots more of the gorgeously illustrated 50's & 60's covers to Flickr.

As it's July 1st, the covers above are from July issues only, but you can see the full collection here.

If you like these it's quite likely you'll like these and these!

Fri 01 Jul 2011

Posted under: Design , Illustration , Magazine

0 Comments

Daphne Padden Original Sketches




Cute, original illustrations and sketches by designer Daphne Padden in the 1970's, bought from her estate sale (she died in 2009) by the very lucky Quad Royal.

They discovered she did quite a lot of packaging design in the 70's, mainly for M&S (or St Michael as it was back then) and kept the original design sketches as well as the finished packaging which is really great to see.

I love seeing the original sketches more than the finished design - they have so much more character. So thanks Quad Royal for sharing your bounty!

Quad Royal have been researching and championing Daphne Padden's design work for some time, so there's lots more to read see here and here.

Images copyright Quad Royal.

Tue 21 Jun 2011

Posted under: Design , Inspiration , Illustration , Packaging

1 Comment

Sunny Side Up

Andy Smith's new exhibition Sunny Side Up at Soma Gallery, Bristol promises to be great. It previews on Friday 24th June and then runs until the 20th August.

The exhibition will include 12 new large, hand-screenprints featuring "bold statements, strange visitors, warnings from gurus, the thoughts of CaptainScott and other random themes", new 3d arrows, moose heads, totes and stickers all in the distinctive Andy Smith illustration and lettering style.

All the artwork in the show will be available online too, so don't worry if like me you can't make it over to Bristol for the show.

For more info visit Soma, or see teaser images of Andy's new work here.

Image copyright Andy Smith.

Sat 18 Jun 2011

Posted under: Design , Illustration , Exhibition

0 Comments

From the reference box # 109


#109 - Fly BEA Map of Copenhagen. I picked up this little gem at the weekend. It was the detailed cover illustration that first caught my eye - it reminded me of the E-boy cityscapes.

The leaflet was a complimentary guide given to passengers of BEA when traveling to Denmark's capital city in 1964. It folds out to a large map on one side and is packed with tourist information on the other.

It opens portrait, to a gorgeously graphic map and suggested places to see from 'Kongens Nytorv (The King's New Market) to Tivoli...

Or opens landscape to reveal a 'Railway Skeleton Map of City, Suburban and Districts Services with Connections'. I love the 'S' graphic with the wings and crown...

and on the back has a handy currency guide...

BEA operated domestic and European flights from airports across the UK from 1946 to 1974 when they merged with their parent company BOAC (British overseas Airways Corporation), Cambrian Airways and Northeast Airlines to become British Airways.

Whilst researching BEA, I found some great old adverts from the late 50's and 60's here and also a selection of timetables from the same period here.

Mon 06 Jun 2011

Posted under: Design , Reference box , Illustration , Map

1 Comment

Paul Thurlby's Alphabet Book

We've posted about London based illustrator, Paul Thurlby a couple of times over the last couple of years, mainly about his gorgeously retro Alphabet Prints (above).

Well, his illustrated Alphabet has taken on a life of it's own since we last posted. The lovely letters are now available as signed/numbered, limited edition Giclee prints, as greeting cards and have just been made into a children's ABC book (below)!
Paul Thurlby's Alphabet will be published by Templar and released on July 1st. I for one can't wait to get my hands on a copy - I think it's going to be as popular with adults as it will with children.

Pre-order your copy here for only £8.69!

Images copyright Paul Thurlby.

Thu 26 May 2011

Posted under: Prints , Things to buy , Illustration , Books , lettering

0 Comments

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Welcome to the Delicious Industries blog. We're an independent design studio based in Brighton, UK and this is our scrapbook packed full of design, illustration, photography & typography inspiration. Check out our work here.

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Vintage VW Bus Signage (19 comments)

Country Fair: A monthly journal of the open air (12 comments)

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