Jon Jones – Illustration Process

Jon Jones is a South African illustrator we love and here we share just what goes into making his illustrations as great as they are. Sometimes as a viewer, you see a finished product and while you appreciate it, you don’t really see what goes into it.

This is why we love these examples of how Jones goes about his work. Especially in this day and age, where the internet has spoiled us with beautiful images, we don’t always realise what goes into them.

To see more of Jones’ distinctive style, check out his website here.

Dominic Roberts – Houtstraat Publishers

Dominic Roberts is a local illustrator and designer who began his life in the Eastern Cape but since found his way to Cape Town. We love his dedication to design principles and attention to detail.

Here, we share his work for Houtstraat Publishers, which incorporates not only corporate identity but also publication design. Truly, is there anything more beautiful to a designer than a perfectly laid out page?

To see more of Roberts’ work, have a look at his website here.

Mervyn O’Gorman – Early Autochrome Photographs

Mervyn O’Gorman was an early pioneer of photography in the days when colour was just coming in. Here we see a number of portraits of his teenage daughter, colourised with the autochrome process. We love the dreamy, somehow timeless feel of these photographs. Beautiful images!

To learn more about autochrome, check out the wikipedia page here.

PFLAG – Nobody’s Memories

As South Africans, it can be easy for us to forget how modern and forward thinking our society truly is. Here, we’re sharing an ad for PFLAG – an LGBT advocacy group in Canada. This ad tells a terribly sad story of how for many LGBT people across the world, they were never allowed to form any memories of their wedding day.

We love the old time art direction and we must admit the story it tells is so powerful, it does bring a tear to the eye!

It’s all tied together with a great message: Let’s make marriage legal for everyone, everywhere.

Marco Mazzoni – Illustrations

Marco Mazzoni is an artist and illustrator from Milan who specialises in intricate pencil drawings that take inspiration from old scientific illustrations. We love the lush, almost surreal style that he achieves. Mazzoni is truly a master of his medium.

To see more of Mazzoni’s work, have a look at his site here.

And if you’re looking for some more inspiration (and some pointers) – here’s a how-to video he did.

Brittany Wright – Food Gradients

Brittany Wright is a food photographer who works in Seattle. We loved this fresh take on food photography where she uses the natural colours of fruit and vegetables to show the range of colour and gradient nature produces.

Great idea, great photography and a new way to look at produce!

Check out more of Wright’s work at her website over here.

Cindy and James Searles – Ceramic Cephalopod

When we came across this airplant holders by Cindy and James Searles we had to share them. They are just so much fun and so whimsical.

We always say that the mark of really good design brings you that moment when you think: Ah! It’s so obvious! This is a perfect example of that. Spot on product design.

Tolga Girgin – 3D Calligraphy

Tolga Girgin is a Turkish calligrapher with unbelievable skill. We featured just a small amount of his work here to whet your appetite, but there’s much more to be seen on his Behance page.

What a great treatment of typography – and it’s all done by hand! As designers we always talk about the beauty of typography and here we see it come full circle.

Pieter Hugo – In The Tenderloin

Pieter Hugo is one of South Africa’s most well respected photographers. His signature style is instantly recognisable. Here, we see his work in The Tenderloin district in San Francisco. By turning his lens toward marginalised, poverty stricken people in the middle of a rough neighbourhood – we see a different side to them, somewhere between portraiture and documentary.

Beautiful, poignant work.

Stephanie Clark – Thread Illustrations

At the Stellenbosch Academy we encourage our students to think outside the box and use new ways of thinking but also new ways of doing.

This is why we love this work from Stephanie Clark. She steps outside the boundaries of illustration and embroidery and finds a new place where they are perfectly in sync with one another. These impressionistic images of homes have an amazing painterly feel to them and yet are created using nothing but needle and thread.

This new way of doing is just so exciting. It’s a totally new form. We cannot wait to see what Stephanie will produce in the future…