Issue 9 {Where are they now?}

It’s been a little time inbetween the ‘Where are they now?’ posts but it’s time to pick up where I left off! For those of you who are just joining in – these posts are where I take a look back at past issues of Blanket and catch up with the artists, designers and photographers we have uncovered in the pages of Blanket over the past 3 years. This post we will be looking back to April 2008 when Issue 9 – The Music Issue was released.

{You can catch up with previous ‘Where Are They Now?’ posts here}



Looking back now I wonder how this issue ever came out – and on deadline. Just to give you a little insight into what was going on behind the scenes in April 2008 when Issue 9 was released… I had just taken over the sole running of Blanket {a scary but exciting venture!}, moved states from Brisbane to Melbourne, and was busy organising the upcoming wedding of John and I {another scary and exciting venture!}.

I had also put in motion plans for the Blanket online store which would include Blanket Artist Badges featuring work from our readers and the first printed item from Blanket – The Blanket Poster!

The Blanket Poster

The Blanket Poster – available to purchase in the Blanket Online Store {hint hint}

The Blanket Poster was the most ambitious print job I had ever undertaken. It involved co-ordinating 56 artists, designers and photographers that had been interviewed in the first 9 issues of Blanket to all feature on one massive poster. I designed it to be a happy, colourful patchwork of art, design and photography that would continue to inspire the viewer every time they looked at it. And just for some extra detail {the beauty is always in the detail} I decided to create a sleeve with an origami fold, type deboss and a UV offset to make the type shine! Admittedly it might have been a little over enthusiastic for a poster and boy was that origami fold a killer {they were all hand folded and glued}  but I think the results – and the hard work – were more than worth it!

Re_action

The Blanket Badges – available to purchase in the Blanket Online Store {hint hint}


I thought I would put a little mention here about our Re_action section because we had a record number of reader submissions. I guess it’s not surprising that the Music issue proved to be so popular. I know I would be lost if I didn’t have my music selection keeping me company and inspiring me throughout my working day – and obviously I am not the only one out there!

We had so many wonderfully diverse submissions it got me thinking… why not turn some of the artwork into badges? It was a great way to promote the artists beyond just the pages of the magazine. Here’s a brief selection of some of the artist we featured….

Dave Hughes

The Re_action section for the Music issue was when illustrator/designer Dave Hughes, the man behind Ammo Magazine first contacted Blanket. We’ve kept in contact over the years and when I moved to the UK we finally met in person. We have recently formed the Publishers Club {along with that other fellow Jules from New Sugar}

Courtney Brims

One of the submissions that really stood out to me was the dreamy, delicate work of Brisbane artist Courtney Brims. Her piece referenced one of my favourite songs from the Carpenters “Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear?”.

Fulvio Ghemasi

Another submission caught my eye because of the intricate detail and it’s quirky subject was the work of Fulvio Ghemasi. I fell in love with this piece instantly – and I’ve never fallen out of love with it.

Issue 9 cover artist – Kareem Rizk

 
 
Our cover artist for the issue was Australian collage artist Kareem Rizk. We had featured Kareem’s work in theHere’s my work… section in Issue 4 of Blanket and I always had him in mind for an interview. In fact I had already interviewed him to feature in Issue 8 of Blanket but pulled the feature at the last minute to ask him to be our cover artist for Issue 9. Luckily he agreed and came up with our cheeky cover image for the Music issue.
If you weren’t introduced to Kareem by the cover art he created for Blanket then no doubt you will have seen his work all over the web or via his Etsy store. We also featured his current work in Issue 19 and Issue 20 of Blanket Magazine.

Sanna Annukka

I was so excited to interview illustrator Sanna Annukka for the Music issue because I had discovered her work via the album cover she created for the band Keane. At the time the music industry was going through a bit of change – iTunes was becoming more popular and suddenly we found music being distributed digitally. So I wanted to ask Sanna’s opinion, as an artist, what she thought of the impact it might have on artists. Here’s a little snippet from the interview… “The music industry is such an important outlet for artists to showcase their artwork, it’s really important that record/album design doesn’t become something of the past due to the digital (downloadable) era that we are entering further and further into. I still want the appeal to be really strong for music lovers to go and buy CDs so you can enjoy the cd covers/pull outs/- the merging of music and art- and actually physically own it not just have something that just exists on your itunes. Albums covers are great canvases for artists.” {Quote taken from Blankets Sanna Annukka’s interview in April 2008}

Sanna has recently launched a new website and shop which features beautiful lithographs, screenprints and wooden birds.

Alison Richards

Blanket editorial spread designed by Alison Richards
 
Illustrations by Alison Richards


You may recognise the name of Sydney illustrator/designer Alison Richards as the newest Blanket contributor! I first e-met Alison back in 2007 when she submitted an illustration for our Re_action section. When we interviewed Alison in 2008 for Issue 9 she had bravely embarked on a new career path – graphic design. Fast forward to 2010 and she has recently graduated and is currently looking for work as a graphic designer – and as you can see from the recent editorial design spread she did for Blanket she is one talented designer!
To finish off this post I decided to ask Alison Richards to write a little something about what Blanket had meant to her an artist… {thanks Alison!}

“Blanket has been very supportive of my work, and I really appreciate the magazine and the effort that goes into it because it’s a great way for artists and illustrators to get their work out there. As for my own experience, it was awesome being interviewed – it made me feel like a real illustrator rather than just someone pottering around with pens and pencils. Especially when people that I admire like Deanne Cheuk, Mike Perry and Jessica Hische are interviewed as well. And I love that I can now contribute by designing spreads!!”


{You can still get a copy of Blanket Magazine Issue 9 – The Music Issue – just click on the relevant picture to download it}