Culture Soak

I can’t get enough of Borja Bonaque’s illustration and design. Check out more work here.

I’m thrilled to announce that Elevation Creative Studios has won 9 Gold Addys and Best of Show at the 2009 Addy Awards in Lexington Ky. I’m very proud to have worked on these projects and want to say thanks to our clients and to the team I’m surrounded by at work everyday. Congrats guys and gal its going to be a great year.

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A great interview with Gary Baseman. He discusses the influences and motivations behind his artistic pieces. Interesting guy for sure. If you can’t view the interview click here.

The G.I. JOE: Rise of Cobra TV spot that aired during the Super Bowl last night brought back some fond memories of my childhood. G.I. JOE was hands down my favorite toy as a kid. My other love was skateboarding and of course Powell Peralta. You can imagine my excitement when I ran across RetroSkateStickers.com today while I was already on an all-things-retro high. RetroSkateStickers.com currently has over 375 vintage skate stickers in their gallery with many of them for sale. Above are some of my favorites. I remember buying every deck back in the day because of the graphics which meant I always bought VCJ illustrated Powell Peralta. Man, I miss those days. It kind of makes me want to dig out the old McGill board from the attic… maybe I’ll grab the G.I. JOEs while I’m up there.

Be sure to check out Handmade Font a new design company that specializes in developing unique and untraditional fonts. They have some really cool designs and are interested in requests for developing new and unique fonts for advertisement campaigns, packing, magazine covers etc.

If you’re looking for some gift ideas we are going to start posting some of our favorite things we find. Hint hint to our friends and families. We have also added a category so you can go back anytime for ideas. First on the wish list Gela Skins. Check out the site I know you’ll find something. Some of my favorite artists are participating, here’s a short list: Jason Freeny, Brian Despain, and Gianluca Mattia etc. Gela Skins cover iPod, Phone, and laptops, awesome deals on fine art prints and more.

Pet Milk kicked off Saturday night in Lexington at ArtsPlace. It was shoulder to shoulder with people reading their books filled with poems and short stories as they viewed all the great artwork that was inspired by it. The night included music, cookies and what else Milk, fantastic art, and a very creative group of people. Pet Milk proves we need this more in Lexington. The interest and talent is here. Above is just a small peek at the crowd, the cool book and CD they handed out at the door plus check out the killer rabbit admission stamps. Just wish I would of picked up the very cool poster printer by Cricket Press. Congrats Kelli on a great event, we are looking forward to the next one. Read more about Pet Milk here.

Don’t miss the Lexington Downtown Gallery Hop. The next Hop is scheduled for tomorrow Friday November 21st from 5:00pm to 8:00pm. Check out local artist in around 30 different galleries and studios in Lexington.

Sasha Barr is a Seattle based illustrator/designer with an impressive portfolio over at thisisthenewyear.com. There is also a ton of great work for purchase in his shop including screen-printed posters, apparel and several limited edition art prints. (some of the sale posters are only $5). Get over there and take care of those artist types on your Christmas list with some hand-made goodness.

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I ran across this video of illustrator Emmanual Guibert the other day and I had to post it. I’ve never seen anyone do this. Give it a second the pay off is very cool. If you can’t view the video click here.