The Stairwell

We love this tour poster! Its rich colors and strong outlines are reminiscent of Toulouse Letrec, but its typeface is undoubtedly modern and oh so smooth. It also helps that one of our team members is in the band - The Rempis Percussion Quartet' - featured herein. Described by Downbeat as "one talent deserving wider recognition," and also featured in All About Jazz they are now making the rounds in Europe and all of us here at Billups Design wish them well. If you don't have tickets to a Cubs or Sox game next week, you can catch them in Utrecht, Amsterdam, Krackow, Wroclaw, Gent, and Dresden. Knock 'em dead, travel safely and don't forget to bring us all back a tour t-shirt, guys.

Patrick Corrigan is an old friend and designer we hired at Web Design Group, Inc. (back in 1997!). Here are his two portfolio sites that we thought our readers might like to check out:

www.workingempire.com
www.burndowntheweb.com

Our friends Dean Vukas and Josh Hatwich are moving this week, so I snapped this photo at a going-away party in their neighborhood. The bar, signs and weather are just perfectly 'Chicago'.

Cheers!

Jamie Hewlett is the Mexico-born illlustrator behind the Gorillaz imagery lo these past several years. We love him because he's doing something unique: he's replacing our identities as defined for over one hundred years by cameras with artistic interpretation once again. This is very convenient for his famous subjects as they remain veiled in some kind of anonanymity; privacy preserved against the ravages of fame.

These are not portraits by any means, but they are skilled attempts to identify and project the inner spirit of his subjects in a way that is both engaging and slightly repulsive - but always accurate. And as versatile as a any camera.

Now everyone wants to have themselves cartooned (or at least wants to illustrate stuff like his) for their official digital avatars. I do, too! That's influence. Thanks, Mr. Hewlett.

What more needs to be said about this giant in American 20th century art? His contributions to the art world are well documented.

We love him, like everybody else, because he's first and foremost honest in his beliefs and in his art. But we also love the way his faith infused each and every one of the 14,000 pieces of art he created from the age of 45 until his death two years ago.

> More

If you watched cartoons in the 1980's you know the Smurfs. Pierre Culliford, known as Peyo, was a Belgian comics artist that created and introduced Smurfs in 1958 in the Johan and Peewit comic. I wanted to take a minute to recognize his creativity and vision with a link to our medieval little friends.

> More

We were very saddened to learn that Bob Bernard passed away unexpectedly this week. Mr. Bernard was a well liked figure here in the Chicago technology community who had a lasting and positive effect on many digital agencies around the city.

> More

Once in a while a true genius graces our small world, and in some instances for only a short period of time. Captain George Rarey flew in the Army Air Corps during World War II, and during that time he kept a cartoon journal of his daily life. Had he not been killed in combat over France a few weeks after D-Day, he surely would have joined the ranks of our beloved Norman Rockwell or Charles Schultz.

> More

We're always searching for great illustrators and photographers. Sometimes, we discover they're in our own family! Bill Stevenson has emerged as one of America's superstar outdoor sports photographers. Treat yourself to some beautiful images. Here are some of his latest and greatest.

When you're looking for one of the very best digital video special effects artists in Hollywood, you'd better call Scott. His production company, PixelMonger, is a leader in the special effects industry there and we can see why. He's not afraid to rewrite the rules of the industry for its own betterment - and that's what we love.

> More

Sometimes, when developing an ad campaign for a client, we look for powerful illustratiors that can sometimes convey a stronger message than photography. When we discovered Ms. Jay's breadth of work, that's exactly what we had in mind.

> More

Recently, Mr. Etheridge was hired by a BD client to develop several illustrations for an upcoming campaign. We recommended him because of his visual agility and style maleability - which is great when doing multiple image campaigns.

> More

Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting one of Chicago's most celebrated journalists, the award-winning Chicago Tribune photographer, Charles Cherney.

> More