If you're a blog reader, chances are you've seen these written about and showcased on many a design blog or community shopping site. But, because it's my job to bring you what's hip, I'd be remiss if I didn't do a post about this rapidly growing trend, Head Hoods.
Now printing or silkscreening on American Apparel Tees and Hoodies is nothing new nor ingenius, but this simple idea has taken off like wildfire.
Taking famous faces like Elvis and Audrey or icons like Skulls and Kings, headhoods has printed these on the "hood' of the hoodies to give the illusion from profile that the head is that of someone else. At $60.00 a piece (custom ones cost more and take longer to produce) they arrive via priority mail in 2-3 days.
Who is Amy J. Rowan? Well, she's the imaginative force behind Art School Girl.
I stumbled upon Amy's work while browsing an online card store and was immediately drawn to not only the charming indie look of her vintage-fabric-on-cardstock cards, but the fact that she took the odd tradition of adding "in bed" to one's chinese cookie fortune and turned them into actual cards (see below):
So, I 'googled' her and found her site, filled with objects of fun and whimsy.
Below are two examples of her hand-crafted one of a kind stationery on her self-proclaimed favorite brown cardstock:
You can order a sampler of her items (as shown below):
She makes everything from hand sewn bookmarks.....:
Journals and notebooks made with recyclables she's cleverly named reNEWed:
Taken from her own "about us" page: Art School Girl's origins can be traced back to owner, Amy Rowan's days as a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. It was there that she constructed what would be the first of several stationery lines—a simple blank journal made from recycled books. Fueled by a passion for paper and a love for specialty printing processes, Art School Girl specializes in one-of-a-kind hand made paper goods. Expertly crafted from recycled materials and often sewn or printed by hand, each piece is artisan quality.
She even sells 'art, some creations of vintage imagery on old index cards:
HP and Artist/toy designer, Pete Fowler have teamed up for a great interactive co-op project that allows you to create your own animated movie with Pete Fowler's Monsterism characters and HP's technology.
Called Toyrama, you can create your own animated movies, pick music, scenes, create dialogue and then submit your film.
The Press Release reads as follows:
Singapore, Aug 2, 2007 – Embarking on magical adventures is not just for Shrek-like ogres and furry animals from Over the Hedge anymore as HP kicks off a unique contest that invites digital animators across Asia Pacific to create, design and direct short, animated skits using high-performance workstations and graphics tools.
Christened the HP Toyrama Contest, this online competition developed by Arc Worldwide Singapore challenges the best digital content creators in the region to create innovative and rich multimedia stop-motion animation starring five toy characters named Sancho, Farm Girl, Ranger, Jogger and Green from Monsterism Island, designed by cult toy designer, Pete Fowler. The contest has two categories – the Open segment, for enthusiasts, amateurs or students with a passion for animation; as well as the Professional segment, for the more proficient animators.
They even have a "professional category" (see below):
Below is a nice example of the "How To" (created by my friends over at NOTCOT), just click on it to enlarge:
For all you Pete Fowler Fans, he's also just created a KIA spot in the uk: Pete Fowler creates new animation for Kia advert
Illustrator and designer Pete Fowler, best known for his work with the Super Furry Animals and his Monsterism.net Website, has animated an advert for Kia's new Picanto range.
The advert is directed by Pete Candeland of Passion pictures, the man responsible for four of the Gorillaz music videos, which similarly made use of the work of cult illustrator Jamie Hewlett, creator of Tank Girl.
This is the first time Fowler's characters have been animated using computer graphics. The challenge for Candeland and his CG team was representing the 2D characters in 3D while keeping Fowler's trademark style. In order to do this, Candeland and Fowler decided to keep certain objects, together with the backgrounds, as flat graphic elements. The 3D characters were then built in Lightwave and animated in Messiah before compositing the background elements in After Effects.
The Kia advert is being screened in TV ad breaks now.
