Joe Kimberling, 1966-2012

We lost a dear friend of illustration yesterday, Joe Kimberling, the art director and designer of Los Angeles Magazine from 2000 to 2009. There's a lovely tribute to Joe on the LA Magazine site. Joe was born in Nebraska, went to school in my part of the world outside Kansas City and then got a Masters in Chicago, came to New York, worked at Entertainment Weekly where he was managing art director, a short stint with Roger Black and then headed west. An exquisite designer his work was honored by the Type Directors Club, Communication Arts, Society of Publication Designers and work he commissioned appeared in all the illustration award shows including ours. Following his stint at LA Magazine he went solo. His talent, his support of illustrators and good nature will be sorely missed.

3x3 Student Show Ends Today

Today is the deadline for the 3x3 Student Illustration Show. Enter your work now!

Post Illustration Panel Discussion at the AIGA

How has the contemporary illustrator – who is now part artist, part designer, part art director, part storyteller, part entrepreneur – managed to remain living not in the present of illustration but in the future of post-illustration, and to consistently pull that future into the present? How are technology and The Information Age changing the illustrator's creative process, sources of influence, workflow, and rhetoric for relevance?

Panelists: 
Jennifer Daniel, Nicholas Blechman and Christoph Niemann, moderated by Maria Popova

Details and Registration

Wednesday April 18
6:30–8:30pm 

Tishman Auditorium
Parsons
 66 West 12th Street
 New York, NY 10016

6:30-7:00pm Doors open and check-in

7:00-8:30pm Discussion

8:30-9:00pm Book signing

Members $10
General Public $30

3x3 International Children's Show Call for Entries

3x3 Magazine is entering its eighth year judging the world’s best contemporary children’s books judged by some of the world’s best illustrators, designers, art directors,publishers and editors. Still one of the lowest entry and publication fees around and at 3x3 we judge not only published and unpublished children’s books but also young adults, children’s illustration, editorial, educational and programming.

Open to all art directors, editors, designers and illustrators in all countries for commissioned and unpublished work produced in 2011.

This year's categories include: Children’s Book Published, Children’s Book Unpublished, Young Adult, Book Covers, Children’s Illustration Published, Children’s Illustration Unpublished, Educational, Editorial, Children’s Programming & Animation and Miscellaneous.

We're pleased to announce this year's jury that includes Ben Norland, Executive Art Director, Walker Books, United Kingdom; Yvette Ghione, Editor, Kids Can Press, Canada; Alexandra Penfold, Editor, Paula Wiseman Books at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, USA; Lucie Papineau, Author and former Editor at Dominique et Compagnie, Canada and illustrators Ofra Amit, Israel; Bob Daly, USA; 
Binny Talib, Australia and Christiane Beauregard, Canada.

Entries must be either uploaded or postmarked no later than April 17, 2012. Complete details online.

Image by Nick Nelson, winner 3x3 Children's Show, 2011 

Illustrator Confidence Level for 2012

The results of our recent survey shows a slim margin of illustrators see a brighter 
future for 2012. Based on the respondents from the US, Canada, United 
Kingdom, Europe and Asia, 40% see themselves as better off financially 
in 2012 vs 2011, 33% say they will be about the same and 25% say they will be worse 
off.

Looking ahead 38% said they will be better off a year from now, 27% will be the same and only 6% said they would be worse off. Unfortunately nearly a third replied they were unsure about the future.

There was pretty much an even split about the number of assignments during the past twelve months, 33% said assignments had increased, 33% said they'd dropped off and 31% said they remained the same.

Asked about fees, only 9% said they had increased, 23% said they'd dropped and the majority, 65% said they remained the same.

Asked how satisfied they were with their career as an illustrator, 23% said they were very satisfied, 37% satisfied, 29% somewhat satisfied and 12% were not satisfied at all.

Asked about how excited they were about the field of illustration, 45% were very excited, 28% excited, 20% somewhat excited, 6% not at all excited.

The majority said they would be learning a new skill this year, 41% said they would be attending a conference, only 8% said they would be returning to school, 22% said they were changing their specialty and 1% said they were leaving the profession.

A majority said they would be promoting themselves more this year, only 19% said they would not.

Participants included 54% from the US, 14% from Canada and 11% the UK,
 16% from Europe and 5% from Asia. 65% were full-time illustrators, 12% 
were part-time; 53% had a bachelor’s degree, 29% had a graduate degree; 
70% were male, 30% female, 52% were between the ages of 25-44.

There are some interesting conclusions when we look at where both the number of projects and fees had increased. And the comparison of male to female career satisfaction level was surprising and disheartening. We will announce those results along with other insights in our next issue of 3x3 Magazine on newsstands in April but for now we wanted to share these top-line results.

Marshall Arisman:The Ayahuasca Cave

Sacred Gallery is proud to be presenting the latest work from the Ayahuasca Series by Marshall Arisman, internationally known painter, illustrator, educator and storyteller.

To quote Paul Theroux, “A Shaman is an enchanter. A Shaman is a priest, a doctor. He’s someone you would drink Ayahuasca with in an Equatorial rainforest and have hallucinations with. Marshall Arisman, as I perceive him, is definitely a Shaman, an enchanter.”

The exhibit runs from April 5 through April 30. Opening Reception: April 5, 7-10pm

Sacred Gallery NYC
424 Broadway 2nd Floor Rear (Between Canal and Howard)
New York
www.sacredgallerynyc.com

Viktor Koen:Metamorphabets

Metamorphabets showcases Viktor Koen’s ongoing preoccupation with integrating images, symbols, and concepts into typography. For the last fifteen years, illustrated type has been a natural extension of his work as an illustrator and artist.

Drawn to typography in his senior year of art school in Israel, he now considers graphic design to be second nature to him. From the publication of his limited-edition portfolio, Funnyfarm: The Alphabet of Mental Disorders, in 1998 to the most recent exhibition of Warphabet in Athens last November, his commitment to social criticism has found expression in his meticulously structured typeforms. The exhibit runs through April 30.

The Type Directors Club
347 West 36th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenue
Opening March 22, 6:30-8:30pm

TDC Members, Free
Non-members $20
Student Non-members $15