Our artist of the week could be described as a wunderkind: Rui Ricardo was only fifteen years old when he published his first artwork. He had developed his drawing skills at quite an early age, it is written in his profile, and improved them by studying graphic design at the University of fine arts in Porto.
That Ricardo not only loves to spend his time with illustrating, but with travelling as well, becomes obvious when opening his webshop on ARTFLAKES: It is full to the brim with vintage looking illustrations of cities, sights and countries that make you want to go there instantly. The picture of a London bookshop, the bold green illustration of Vietnam or the mystical math for Indonesia all contain their own special charme. Buy them in high quality as framed art print, poster, GalleryPrint, canvas print or greeting card in the ARTFLAKES-shop of Rui Ricardo!
Ever wondered how the heck those tiny manufactured ships get into those likewise tiny bottles without breaking? Our artwork pick of the week probably has the solution: Those ships aren’t surrounded by bottles, but soap bubbles instead. And who else should produce those soap bubbles than sailors? Right.
This lovely painting was made by Riki Blanco and is called “Sailor” of course. You can buy ist as framed art print, poster, GalleryPrint, canvas print of greeting card in various sizes on ARTFLAKES. Take a look at the shop of Blanco as well, where he sells even more of his wonderful artworks.
Welcome Mads Berg today: He is an illustrator living and working in Denmark. His artworks – although it must be said that Berg doesn’t see himself as an artists – are a modern interpretation of Art Deco motifs, a design style from the 1920s to 1940s.
In our interview you can read more about Mads Berg and his work and life.
“Oh, you look just like your mother!” “Really? Most people say there’s more of my father” – I guess most of you have had conversations like this. If you don’t happen to meet photographer Ulric Collette, you probably will never find out which of your parents you resemble more.
Collette has taken pictures of the members of his family, called Portraits Génétiques, in order to blend them into one picture afterwards. Taking the example above it becomes obvious that we’re looking at mother and daughter here – but seeing other photographs Collette has taken you possibly wouldn’t think the people were related even!
Alvaro Tapia Hidalgo is a graphic designer and filmmaker from Chile, now living and working in Granada, Spain. He has been selling is wonderful pictures on ARTFLAKES for quite some time now – please take a look at his shop as well as his portfolio to see more of his capturing work.
We were fascinated by his colourful portraits of people and animals instantly and asked him, whether he would mind answering some questions for our blog. Here are his answers!
There’s no way past Facebook nowadays, so don’t underestimate the power of the web 2.0 and social media when it comes to market your art! Setting up a profile on Facebook is easy – afterwards it has to be taken care of, however.
1. Set up a profile Registering at Facebook is free and easy. Type in your name and a valid email address and your profile will be online right away. Now upload a picture of yourself and start adding contacts – there’s so much to see and do on Facebook!
2. Create a fan page for your art Once you have got your personal profile, you can add a fan page for your artwork or homepage as well. The difference to your normal profile is the fact that this page can be “liked” by everyone around the globe (by simply clicking on the “like”-Button), whereas on your private page you have to add them as friends. As soon as more than 25 people have liked your page you can change the URL into the one you like: E.g. you can find ARTFLAKES on Facebook if you type in www.facebook.com/Artflakes.
3. Add information about you and your art People who visit your Facebook page want to know who is writing here – so add some information about yourself, your education and profession or how and when you started doing art. This is the place for adding links to your webshop, blog or homepage as well.
4. Add pictures A Facebook page without pictures is boring, so go on and add some! This can be files of your artwork, pictures from exhibitions or your studio. Whatever you like.
5. Give status updates Tell people what you are doing: Are you planning an exhibition? Are you working on a new piece of art? Use the status update field to add pictures, links or videos as well. All users who like your page can now like your doings or comment on your updates.
6. Add events You can create events you would like people to join: Your fans can tell you whether they are going to come over or not. This is a great way to spread the word about exhibition or other events organised by you – and to see about how many people will turn up.
7. Use Apps Facebooks has a lot of apps in store making it easy to integrate several handy functions: Use the question tool to encourage a discussion or do a little survey about your art. Use the video or picture tool to add more insights into your work or link your facebook page with Twitter.
From rags to riches – this slogan could be a matching one for the career of Jeff Hubbard, who is our artist of the week on ARTFLAKES. Being homeless in 2007, Hubbard attented workshops at a homeless charity and became interested in art.
Two years later he had not only bought himself a second hand camera, he was already on the road taking photograhps a lot. In 2010 he shot a portrait of Prince William which sold at an auction for a lot of money. Hubbard’s pictures are down-to-earth and more than authentic. In his ARTFLAKES-shop you will find black and white portraits as well as still lifes or photojournalism like in “London Calling“.
Ever wanted to do Grafitti yourself but were a bit too scared to get caught by the police? Well, then this might be your chance: If you’re lucky enough to have an iPhone, just download the free new app called “Street Tag“.
Having done this, you can turn your mobile into a virtual graffiti can and leave your mark in a city of your choice! You don’t have to fear punishment anymore and furthermore can tag and geo-tag your arty farty creatings on a map to share it with others from all over the world.
Now other people can see what you decided to adorn that shabby looking Eiffel Tower with when climbing up the stairs, or add their personal work to your sign on the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin…
Are you using apps as well? Tell us which one is your all time favourite!
Have a cat? A scanner? And too much time? Well, these are the perfect conditions for becoming a part of the hilarious tumblr-page “The Cat Scan” that we read about on It’s Nice That. I guess it’s not the hardest task to get your cat on the scanner, as it’s warm and cosy up there and somehow, well, interesting… Browse through all those cute pictures and have a good laugh.
The scanned cats might be your own product, but be sure that the rest of all those “LOL cats” etc. are simply a production made at “Kittywood Studios” – at least this it what the funny video we saw on Nerdcore tries to tell us: Kittys walking around like a human being? It’s just an animation, not real!
In comparison, the “Flash mob wedding proposal” in a mall in Sandton City was more than real: To all passers-by it might have seemed like random people had just started to sing and fooling around, but of course this had been planned accurately before. What a nice surprise to be asked THE question while going shopping, isn’t it?
Loads of people where involved as well when at Chambley-Bussieres Aerodrome in France the attempt was make to let the most hot air balloons ever taking off together. The record has not been confirmed yet, but with 343 balloons floating in the air there might be a good chance for it, says The Laughing Squid.
HTML looks Double dutch to you? CSS codes make you cry? Don’t worry: The Nerds are here to help you. At least when you watch this little video “Don’t fear the internet” that was presented on Pikaland. The tutorial made by Jessica Hirsch and Russ Maschmeyer is intended to help non-designers get an easy insight into webdesign.
Dominique Byron is an illustration student living in Manchester and with a liking for science fiction – which can be seen when taking a look at her portfolio.
Please read what she had to tell us about her art and inspiration after the click!
