The hottest Art & Illustration Substack posts right now

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22 questions with a designer: Hugo Cornejo

Design Lobster • 379 implied HN points • 04 Dec 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. Hugo Cornejo designs digital products and follows universal design principles from small items to large projects.
  2. He reflects on the tradeoffs in design decisions, emphasizing the importance of understanding and communicating tradeoffs in the design process.
  3. Cornejo expresses optimism in design, sees it as an exercise in believing in the future, and enjoys relaxing with activities like playing tennis and watching his wife work.

How the viral Steely Dan action figures were made

Expanding Dan • 353 implied HN points • 14 Dec 23
🎨 Art & Illustration
  1. Dano Brown started making custom action figures as a hobby before becoming a full-time toymaker.
  2. One viral creation of Dano Brown, an action figure of the yodeling boy Mason Ramsey, led to global recognition and lucrative commissions.
  3. The success of his unique action figures led Brown to transition from his job at a warehouse to working on his creations full-time.

(The Divine) 1. Voracious Life (Khepri)

Microanimism • 79 implied HN points • 01 Jun 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Religion Microbiology Nature Philosophy
  1. The sun has a profound connection to humanity and microbial life, influencing circadian rhythms and photosynthesis.
  2. Khepri, the scarab-headed god in Ancient Egyptian religion, symbolizes the life-giving and renewing qualities of the sun through resurrection.
  3. Bacteria can enter a state of suspended animation by forming tough spores, demonstrating voracious life deriving seemingly from nothing.

Warp & Weft

Austin Kleon • 1718 implied HN points • 06 Sep 22
🎨 Art & Illustration Music Creativity Literature Tradition
  1. Weaving has two main threads: the warp, which is the tense thread on the loom, and the weft, which moves over and under it. This can symbolize how we create things from both old ideas and new ones.
  2. The concept of warp and weft is often used in writing and art to describe how we all borrow from traditions and influences. Nothing is completely original because we all build on what came before us.
  3. Anni Albers' work connects weaving to creative expression, showing how different materials can inspire and shape our artistic processes. Learning about materials can open up new creative possibilities.

A Game About Bad Dates Is Also About Parents and Children Trying (And Failing) to Understand Each Other

Crossplay • 294 implied HN points • 11 Jan 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Video Games Parenting Immigration Personal experiences
  1. Game 'Thirsty Suitors' explores parents and children connecting through gaming.
  2. The game reflects the creator's personal experiences with parenting his own kids and caring for his parents.
  3. As a game developer, juggling parenting and work life balance is a challenge.
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The Phantom Legacy of Errol Le Cain

Animation Obsessive • 2780 implied HN points • 31 Jul 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Animation Visual art Anime
  1. Errol Le Cain was an influential illustrator and animator, known for his work on Richard Williams' films like The Thief and the Cobbler.
  2. He had a unique artistic process that deeply involved his personal experiences and cultural background.
  3. Animation in Africa is experiencing a significant growth, with projects like Kizazi Moto and Supa Team 4 gaining international attention.

430: Bytedance's Massive Nvidia Order, OpenAI App Store, Amazon Logistics & Ads, Shopify + Flexport, EV vs Hybrids, and the Beatles

Liberty’s Highlights • 491 implied HN points • 21 Jun 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Generative AI Digital Art Artistic Process
  1. Art is about how it makes us feel, not how difficult it is to create.
  2. AI allows for unbundling creativity from execution, making art more accessible.
  3. Organizations struggle to scale AI use because it's probabilistic, not deterministic like traditional software.

Easter Eggs & Behind the Scenes of 100 Mighty Dragons

Am I Doing This Right? • 491 implied HN points • 04 Apr 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Illustration Book Sketches
  1. The book '100 Mighty Dragons All Named Broccoli' has detailed and fun illustrations, including epic title pages with dragons relaxing on sun chairs and rock & roll dragons in New York.
  2. The process of creating the book involved adjustments and decisions, like changing a dragon from two-headed to one-headed for clarity and making tweaks to keep the content appropriate for readers.
  3. The illustrations in the book include interesting Easter eggs like dragons eating tacos and a reference to Shrek, adding layers of fun and creativity to the overall story.

'The Old Man and the Sea' Is a Tremendous Spectacle

Animation Obsessive • 3498 implied HN points • 20 Mar 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Animation Film Visual Arts Cinematography Storytelling
  1. The film 'The Old Man and the Sea' is a spectacular visual experience that sticks with you.
  2. Director Alexander Petrov used a unique 'paint-on-glass' animation technique, creating a massive, enveloping spectacle.
  3. The film faced controversy for drifting from the original story, focusing more on visuals than the narrative.

PhD, Latent Dispatch, Patterns of Entanglement

mattdesl • 42 implied HN points • 11 Dec 25
🎨 Art & Illustration Generative Art Digital Art Interactive art Exhibitions
  1. The project pairs machine-generated, statistically averaged single-line plotter drawings with playful hand-drawn doodles from visitors, highlighting a dialogue between machine precision and human variation. Audience drawings can be used as future training data, creating an ongoing feedback loop.
  2. Technically, it combines implicit neural representations (SIRENs) to encode continuous doodles with evolutionary optimization (sNES) and CLIP-based ranking, all visualized and run in the browser to produce pen-plotter-friendly curves. This setup works without traditional gradient-based training and lets the system evolve in real time.
  3. The work is framed as ongoing research connected to a PhD and will continue to evolve, with plans to explore multi-pen colour optimization, other types of imagery, and smaller models that run efficiently on WebGPU, alongside possible academic publication and further exhibitions.

65 – A contemporary ceramics fair in Brussels

Ceramics Now Weekly • 275 implied HN points • 17 Jan 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Ceramics Exhibitions Artists Conferences Residencies
  1. The first major fair dedicated to contemporary ceramics, ceramic brussels, will take place in Brussels between January 25-28, 2024.
  2. New featured artists are showcased in Ceramics Now, presenting the work of Kensuke Yamada, Jacaranda Kori, and Maria Diletta Rondoni.
  3. Various opportunities and events in the ceramics world are highlighted, including residency programs, exhibitions, and conferences.

Open Call 2024

Do Not Research • 359 implied HN points • 04 Dec 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Guidelines Community Events Subscriptions
  1. Do Not Research is accepting submissions for their next issue in 2024, including art, essays, videos and more.
  2. All submissions should be work created within the last year, and contributors will be paid an honorarium and receive a complimentary lifetime membership.
  3. The deadline for submissions is January 15th, 2024. Submissions should be sent via email to [email protected].

Matti Friedman: The Song of the Israel-Hamas War

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 1729 implied HN points • 07 Mar 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Music Israel Conflict History
  1. Matti Friedman is a well-known nonfiction writer, reporter, and columnist, whose work delves into Israeli history and identity.
  2. His song 'Canaan' captures the dark and existential realities of the ongoing war, challenging the notion of reaching a promised land and questioning the concept of homeland.
  3. Shaban's songs, like 'Canaan' and 'A Practice Run for Waking Up,' seem to foreshadow Israeli conflicts, evoking deep emotions for those directly involved in the war.

Grow

ASK MOLLY • 471 implied HN points • 02 Mar 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Creativity Advice
  1. The importance of trying, failing, and trying again.
  2. Valuing your own perspective and not always conforming to others' expectations.
  3. Respecting boundaries by not giving unsolicited advice.

How I make color brush pens

Austin Kleon • 2218 implied HN points • 19 Apr 22
🎨 Art & Illustration Drawing Painting Techniques Creative Process
  1. You can make your own colored brush pens by refilling exhausted cartridges with different ink colors. It's cheaper and creates less waste than buying new pens.
  2. Mixing inks in the cartridges allows for unique colors and adds fun to the creative process. This can help you explore and discover new ideas through play.
  3. Using colored tape to identify different ink colors is a simple hack that makes the creative process easier and more organized.

The Olympian

The Recovering Academic • 415 implied HN points • 03 Nov 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Poetry
  1. The post shares a poem titled 'The Olympian' dedicated to Simone Biles.
  2. The poem vividly describes Biles' movements during a vault performance.
  3. The poem reflects on the idea of legacy and inspiring future generations in the world of sports.

The worlds inside us: a personal essay

Design Lobster • 419 implied HN points • 30 Oct 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Imagination Design Creativity Inspiration
  1. Nurturing imagination and inner sight is important for personal growth and creative processes.
  2. Society often undervalues the role of imagination in design, but it is a fundamental aspect of creating something meaningful.
  3. Disappointment can be a result of high imagination, but it should not deter one's commitment to nurturing the wonders of the mind's eye.

Basic human situations

Vague Blue • 299 implied HN points • 27 Dec 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Film Literature Visual Arts Short Stories Performance art
  1. Basic human situations are simple yet universal experiences that involve conflict or tension between people.
  2. Two people with conflicting ideologies often lead to conflict, but even everyday interactions can become a basic human situation.
  3. The essence of a basic human situation can be seen in the waiting and dependency depicted in plays like 'Waiting for Godot' as well as in personal struggles and choices like in the film 'Wanda.'

What darkness reveals

lifeboat • 393 implied HN points • 08 Nov 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Nature Writing Light
  1. Winter brings darkness, but it's time to embrace it and find beauty in it.
  2. Darkness isn't just the absence of light; it has its own role and significance.
  3. Exploring darkness can lead to insights about creativity and nature's wonders.

The Wit's Guide to Hats

Get Wit Quick • 452 implied HN points • 15 Jun 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Fashion Humor Literature
  1. When wearing a hat, consider if you look ridiculous but don't let it dictate your style.
  2. Hats often make a statement and can have varied meanings depending on the style chosen.
  3. Wearing a hat is a personal choice, don't worry about societal perceptions and embrace your choice confidently.

off to the printers!!

vrk loves paper • 139 implied HN points • 03 Apr 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Design Illustration Publishing Marketing Stationery
  1. The first issue of Pouch magazine is ready for printing. It has 50 pages packed with content for stationery lovers and journalers.
  2. A new cover design was created to better represent what Pouch is about. It now clearly targets a specific audience and reflects the magazine's fun vibe.
  3. The creator is taking time to develop Pouch carefully, treating the first issue as a pilot study to gauge interest and improve their skills in print design.

Dana Dawud: Palcorecore

Do Not Research • 139 implied HN points • 02 Apr 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Visual art
  1. The post features Dana Dawud's art project called Palcorecore.
  2. The project includes a single channel video created in 2023 with a duration of 5:35 minutes.
  3. Readers are encouraged to subscribe and engage with Dana Dawud's work on various platforms like Instagram.