Another Illustration Corner

This week's illustration corner is from Finnish illustrator Anna Emilia Laitinen. She has a sweet blog called Weather Diary where she documents her musings on the colours and things that inspire her artwork. The one in illustration corner is called Tiny Tickles. The one above is called Heterochromia and the one below is called Rain Fresh Tea from a series called Tea Ceremonies (which I've included in honour of Buttonbeano). I love the delicacy of her paintings.

New illustration corner

Time for an illustration shake-up. I like totems (dont ask me why), and the ones in Illustration Corner and to the left are by Raymond Lemstra who I found through a blog called Ape on the Moon, run by two illustrators. It showcases a bit of contemporary illustration every day. I'm a fan of  hand-drawn looking stuff so Lemestra's art ticks that box, and the creepy box too!

Books and bookshelves

Hello, I have some book-related items for your delectation today, pilfered from the English Muse Blog that I've mentioned before. First of all for those of you who like to nose through other people's bookshelves (who doesn't?!) there is a new flickr bookshelf pool where you can unabashedly do so without having to justify your nosiness. Second of all the English Muse also brought to my attention this beautiful series of books from Penguin called Great Ideas. Now, there will be some who object to a  list of books which presumes to limit the world's greatest ideas to one hundred items, chosen by a publishing house - but I would suggest they take it with a pinch of salt. The books are great to look at, unaccompanied by pretext/context, and reasonably priced. Read more about them (and why they made the cut) on the Penguin book blog. I personally would like to buy the series in its entirety but I dont have a thousand pounds spare at the moment. Wouldn't that make a great prize for some sort of competition?! I think I just drooled on my keyboard a little.

Friday song

Ok seeing as the theme is summer songs and I'm doing a Beatles on it, I should really have picked Here comes the Sun, but I couldnt resist going for this one instead; its my favourite song at the moment and I could listen to it all day! So enjoy Michelle by the Beatles.

Social media

I came across some more stuff thats kinda interesting (if not earth-shattering) about social media. I found 'em both on the Pugly Pixel blog - another favourite. The owner shares lots of tips on the technical side of blogging. The two snippets I've chosen were in a Links loved post which directs you towards lots of online cool stuff that Katrina has been enjoying of late. The first is a short video from Techcrunch with entrepeneur Gary Vaynerchuk  about why manners and a human touch matter when using social media for business and how "99.5% of social media experts are clowns". Oh dear. The second is an article called "The illusion of social networks" by Semil Shah, and it somewhat reinforces my own flimsy and dubious stance on social media. Useful yes. Truly social? ...not so sure. I must say I really enjoy the interaction we've been having on our blogs! But that might be because I know you all:)

Old movie alert!

As well as their recent showings of the African Queen, Apocolypse Now and Taxidriver, the IFI has a 'High Anxiety' season coming up (from today until the 26th) brimming with dark and paranoid thrillers like the Manchurian Candidate and Chinatown. Thats if you can stand to be crammed into their uncomfortable seats for a few hours! I know I can, but I have to give somebody else painkillers to get them to come along:)

Illustration Corner from Rilla Alexander

I know, I know; I'm pulling the carpet out from under your feet with a new Illustration Corner post so soon after the last. But I really love this sleepy-looking friendly bear on a bike illustration by Rilla Alexander. I also like his little sleepy freeloading back-friend. She's responsible for the fantastic, graphic ark pattern to the left aswell. I found Rilla on the Animalarium blog which is another of my absolute favourites because (a) I love the iconography of animals and (b) the 'zookeeper' has a great eye for beautiful pictures arranged into interesting categories. For example this post looked at illustrations of animals on bikes. Call me simple-minded (if you must), but does it get better than that? I dont want to know if it does!