Subscribe to 3x3 Magazine - A great gift

The final issue of 2020 is on press, now’s the time to consider subscribing for our next three issues.

We’re excited to be featuring Brian Stauffer, Sandra Dionisi, Jon Han and Martha Rich, ICON in our first issue of the new year. Along with our standard features of surveys, book reviews and our special Seen & Noted section where we showcase artists from around the globe that have caught our eye—some you’ll recognize, others we’ve discovered.

Since 3x3 is now a subscriber-based publication you’ll need to sign up for the year to receive all three issues—individual print copies will not be available*. All subscriptions include a free digital copy in two formats: flip-book so it’s just like thumbing through our magazine and a standard pdf, perfect for the small screen.

And this year, subscribe and receive 10% off your entry fees in our 3x3 International Illustration Show No. 18.

A great gift that keeps on giving.

Subscribe today

3x3 Magazine
8.5 x 11.8-inches
80 pages, plus cover— over 75 illustrations

Cover mockup illustration by Brian Stauffer

*Digital subscriptions and individual digital copies are available throughout the year

Mark your calendars for 3x3 Annual 18

With 3x3 Annual 17 on press and soon to be delivered we’re turning our attention to Annual 18. 

The Call for Entries poster is in the works, Sisi Yu is our artist this year. And we’re gathering our panel of judges which we’ll be announcing soon, so the ball is rolling. 

We’ll be opening up the show in early January for entries, the final deadline is March 26, 2021 with a late deadline of April 2nd.

3x3 International Illustration Show No. 18
Deadline: March 26, 2021

Italian AI Annual 2021 Call for Entries

The Italian AI Annual 2021 illustration competition celebrate it’s fifteenth showcase and we invite all artists to help us turn Annual 2021 in a truly special edition! 

Set up in 1990 to offer a testimony of the high quality of illustration made in Italy, and relaunched in 2005 to continue in its intent, Annual 2021 is now considered to be one of the most comprehensive publications. 

The 15th anniversary will be crowned by world renown Italian illustrator, cartoonist and artist Lorenzo Mattotti as president of the jury that will select and award the entered works. 

Awards 

With its 27 Awards in 9 categories, 2 excellence awards offered by LYRA and WACOM and the Toppi Prize worth 1,000 euros, AI Annual 2021 is one of the most inclusive and important showcases of Italian illustration.  

Eligibility 

All illustrators who work for the Italian market or Italian illustrators who work with international clients are invited to participate. 

Fees 

The competition is subject to a fee, but members who are part of Associations in the EIF network can enter work at a reduced rate. Each selected illustrator receives a free copy of the publication with a commercial value of 30 euros. For those who are not selected, we reserve the possibility to purchase the book at a reduced rate. 

Deadline: Monday, December 7, 2020 

Enter today

Remembering Milton Glaser, Class of ’51

Remembering Milton Glaser, Class of 1951, a new exhibition in the colonnade windows of the Foundation Building at Cooper Union, celebrates the work of one of the most influential graphic designers of the 20th century.

Recognized for the iconic I ♥ NY logo, a design Glaser created that succinctly expressed love for New York City, the exhibition features that famous mark and 24 additional design pieces that he created for New York and beyond. These include some of the city’s loftier institutions and its most quotidian—iconic posters for Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Brooklyn’s Theater for a New Audience, identity for the Grand Union supermarket chain, branding for the Brooklyn Brewery, and the design of New York Magazine, a publication he co-founded in 1968. Remembering Milton Glaser, Class of 1951 also features a whimsical tourism poster for the Catskills (think cats and mountains) as well as unforgettable advertisement posters for albums by Bob Dylan, comedian Dick Gregory, and more.

The Cooper Union  
Located at 7 East 7th Street, between Third and Fourth Avenues

Opening Friday, November 13, 2020 5PM through January 15, 2021 

Pictoplasma 2020 - Free Broadcast

For obvious reasons, Pictoplasma had to cancel their 16th Pictoplasma Conference scheduled for May 2020 and are now streaming a free 2-day livestream conference on September 18+19.

The event features more than 40 artist talks by and conversations with illustrators, animation filmmakers, visual artists, and designers, as well as performance artists, activists and academics. Speakers include internationally renowned illustrators such as Cristina Daura, Dan Woodger, Jing Wei, and Miranda Tacchia.

This year's symposium The Mask in Visual Culture expands on Pictoplasma’s ongoing research into how characters relate to, invade, take over and warp the human body, reexamining one of our most ancient cultural artifacts in a new light. Speakers include Ines Alpha from Paris, known for her 3D make up; and Damselfrau, one of the most prolific artists currently working with masks.

Register at conference.pictoplasma.com.

PICTOPLASMA IN ISOLATION
18+19 September 2020

Steve Heller: The Re-birth of 3x3 Magazine

 As many of you know, Steve Heller has been an advocate for not only graphic design but also illustration with any number of books and articles on each.

As the founder of 3x3, The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration, I am so pleased that Steve has once again shined a light on the magazine. 

From today’s posted interview: “During the unpleasantness of 2020, a print magazine—in fact, the most luscious of all magazines devoted to the wonderful art of illustration—is coming back to life after more than a half decade of dormancy. 3x3, founded, edited and designed by Charles Hively, is twisting fate and taunting the odds. And I think—and hope—it will succeed.”

Milton Glaser R.I.P.

The world lost perhaps the most erudite designer, artist and illustrator this past week. At the age of 91, Milton Glaser passed away but his voice remains.

I’m sure all of us have looked back on our various influences and appreciation of Milton’s work. Introduced many, many years ago to the work of Push Pin Studio, scraping up the money to buy their book Push Pin Style in 1970 which showcased the studio’s output as exhibited at the Louvre’s Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Pouring over the pages, pulling it off the shelf innumerable times throughout my career, it become a guidepost for me. Now with his passing we are left with our experiences of hearing him in person, which I have done several times including this past December, or more recently in the past couple of days, online.

His voice still speaks to us. I would suggest that the Steven Heller interview from 2014 on Vimeo is one of the best examples of his passion, fortitude (I can't image I will be as clear-headed at 85) and somber advice to graphic designers, young and old. It will be a source of continued admiration for the man and a resource for reminding myself to “do no harm”.

Milton Glaser | Offset 2014

3x3 Magazine is Back - Subscribe Before May 22

3x3 Magazine is back!

We’re pleased to announce that we’re bringing back 3x3 Magazine with both print and digital editions.

We’ve missed having the opportunity to promote contemporary illustrators and feel, even in this uncertain time that our publication is needed.

But it’s not just what we think. We asked our prior subscribers what they thought of the idea and got an overwhelming positive response, affirming our hopes of publishing 3x3 once again.

We’ve Added Some New Features
The basic format of 3x3 is the same: featuring three illustrators in each issue and publishing three times a year.

In addition to our profiles and surveys we’ve done in the past we’ve added some new features. We plan to cover the news from the industry, add book reviews and another feature, “Seen and Noted” where we present outstanding images from around the globe. We’ve formed an editorial staff and will hire writers and a copy editor to create our articles. And subscribers will get links to videos of several of our featured illustrators’ home/studio tours.

Subscriber-supported
The magazine will not carry any advertising, it will be primarily subscription-based other than a limited newsstand presence in Europe through our London distributor and newsstand.co.uk. We will only offer annual subscriptions, so to get all three issues in 2020 you must subscribe by May 22. We will not accept subscriptions for the first three issues after that date. We’ll only print what is ordered alleviating the need for costly inventory storage. Our 2021 subscription deadline will be in January.

Our First Two Issues
Our first issue, Issue 23, will feature Melinda Beck, James Yang and Daniel Bueno with our Icon Joost Swarte—we're looking at going to press in a couple of weeks. Issue 24 features Dale Stephanos, Andrea Ventura and Piotr Leśniak and Philip Burke, Icon. We'll announce our third issue soon.

Print Subscription
Subscriptions for the United States will include free shipping and handling, subscriptions outside America will only add the actual postage cost.

Print, includes a free digital subscription
US Subscription = $36, including shipping
Canada Subscription = $45, including shipping
All other countries = $54, including shipping

Digital Subscription – Two Options
Our digital subscriptions will include two options, page-flip or the standard pdf. The page-flip option is just like having our magazine in front of you, turning pages to see each spread—perfect for a monitor or laptop. The pdf is good for smaller screens.

Digital Subscription = $30
Format will be page-flip and standard PDF

We will offer free digital issues to art directors here and abroad.

Size: 8.5x11.8-inches (21.59x29.97cm)
80-pages plus cover, with over 78 full-color images
3 issues produced during a calendar year

Annual Subscription Deadline: May 22, 2020

Order Today.

Cover art by Melinda Beck

Meet Our Illustrator Judges for Annual 17

As in years past we have gathered an outstanding group of illustrators for our jury. Here's a little about each one.

A graduate of the MFA program at the School of Visual Arts, Rafael Alvarez is now based in Berlin. A few of his clients include ESPN—both print and online, Scientific America, Men’s Health, Billboard, Hollywood Reporter, Sports Illustrated, The Washington Post, New York Times, as well as animated promotions for the NFL. His work has been recognized by American Illustration, Society of Illustrators, Society of News Design, Creative Quarterly, 3x3 and was a finalist in both the World Illustration Awards and Illustrative Berlin.

You’ll find Thomas Danthony in either London or Barcelona working on a client list that includes Google, New Yorker, Transport for London, Hennessy, The English National Opera among others. His work has been recognized in a number of award shows including the Cannes Lions and D&AD for his work in advertising campaigns. In addition, his gallery work has been shown in both Paris and New York.

Former advertising art director and creative director Takahisa Hashimoto now devotes his energy to illustration whether it’s book covers, posters for the Tobu Department Store or work for Mazda, TRANSIT magazine, WIRED or Yoga Journal. His long list of awards includes gold medals from the Society of Illustrators, Art Directors Club of New York and 3x3; other awards came from American Illustration, One Show, Tokyo Art Directors Club and Tokyo Illustrator Society as well as being named on of the top ten artist at Artexpo New York.

Blood Bros. is the brainchild of Tokyo-based illustrator and animator Emile Holmewood. Originally from New Zealand working as a graphic designer before making a career shift to illustration while living in London. His international roster of clients includes The Guardian, Apple, Bank of America, BBC, Harvard Business Review, Seamless and The Sunday Times to name a few.

A graduate of the Art Center College of Design, Tatsuro Kiuchi illustrates books—his first children’s book sold 200,000 copies worldwide, as well as book jackets, advertising campaigns and editorial. With clients in both Japan and America he’s worked for the New York Times, New Yorker, Boston Globe, Fortune, Travel & Leisure, Bloomberg Businessweek, Golf Digest as well as FIFA, Airbnb, Penguin Books, Simon & Schuster, United Airlines, Starbucks to name just a few. He has gained recognition from Communication Arts, American Illustration, including five gold medals from the Society of Illustrators.

Born in Russia, Natalie Pudalov was educated at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem and the Academy of Art and Design in Stuttgart, Germany. Now a full-time children’s book illustrator in Israel she’s a seven-time finalist at the Bologna Book Fair, a Golden Pinwheel winner in Shanghai, Best of the Best category in a recent Hii Illustration Show as well as Communication Arts, 3x3, Graphic Designers Association of Israel and winner of the Yossi Shtern Prize for illustration excellence.

Mexico City-born Cecilia Ruiz is an author, illustrator and graphic designer now based in Brooklyn. She has a degree in graphic design from Universidad Iberoamericana and a MFA in illustration from the School of Visual Arts. Her work has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators and American Illustration. Some of her clients include he New York Times, Google, Penguin Random House, Fast Company, Atlas Obscura, Dropbox and The Brooklyn Museum. Her debut children’s book as author/illustrator was considered the most imaginative books published in 2015 and her first picture book was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection.

We are pleased to have these distinguished illustrators on our jury along with art directors Benjamin Bours, Nathan Huang, Katja Kollmann, Victoria Bee and design director Syndi Becker.

Our show is open to all illustrators, art directors, publishers, educators, students in all countries for commissioned, no-commissioned and personal work produced or published prior to our show deadline.

3x3 International Illustration Annual No. 17
Deadline: March 27, 2020 (midnight EST)
Late Deadline: April 3, 2020 (late fees apply)

Open for entries

Meet Our Judges: Victoria Bee, AD

This Belgium-native makes her world out of paper. Her 3-D designs, many deliciously large and surreal, have graced advertising campaigns around the globe.

After graduating in 2011 from Belgium's Haute École Albert Jacquard (HEAJ) with honors, Victoria found work first in Montreal as a junior art director for Brad Inc., working primarily on Lego and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Then after a year, she was in Paris working as assistant head decorator for Solab Pictures, a consortium of directors for film and television, where she was involved with set design. Then on to London to work with Nearly Normal production studio as art director where she was involved in producing three-dimensional props for use in television commercials and stop-frame animation. And in 2015, she opened her own studio in Berlin where she is now based working as art director, prop maker and photographer for a host of international clients. Her particular focus is on paper sculpture working through her two artist rep firms, 2Agenten and Colagene.

Asked how she ended up where she is, she commented, “It totally came to me by happenstance. After making some 2D paper-cut illustrations for myself and some friends, a guy in Brussels asked me to build some paper bird-head masks for his art project. It worked out really well, and I got a lot of positive feedback. I accepted a few other projects and started to build a portfolio...was quickly hired  by a studio in London and from there it became official: I could make a living out of this.”

You’ll find her in the studio making everyday objects like pineapples, giant lipsticks, wrenches and razorblades out of paper, foil lobsters and just about anything her client’s need. Victoria has been featured in Computer Arts, Working Woman, SixtySix, Page and was named 2019’s best up-and-coming illustrator by Digital Arts magazine.


We are pleased to have Victoria on our jury along with fellow art directors Benjamin Bours, Nathan Huang, Katja Kollmann and Syndi Becker. Illustrators Rafael Alvarez, Tatsuro Kiuchi, Emile Holmewood, Cecilia Ruiz, Natalie Pudalov, Thomas Danthony and Takahisa Hashimoto round out our distinguished panel of judges.

Our show is open to all illustrators, art directors, publishers, educators, students in all countries for commissioned, no-commissioned and personal work produced or published prior to our show deadline.

3x3 International Illustration Annual No. 17
Deadline: March 27, 2020 (midnight EST)
Late Deadline: April 3, 2020 (late fees apply)

Open for entries

Meet Our Judges: Syndi Becker, Design Director

Syndi Becker, a graduate of the School of Visual Arts, has built her career around magazines. Starting at New York magazine back in 1989 where she stayed for seven years—that's 350 issues including special issues, features and departments as well as supervising junior designers for other sections of the magazine.

From there she moved to American Health magazine as art director helping rebrand the general health magazine into a women specific publication. Followed by a stint at Smart Money landing at Money magazine next for another seven years, which included a total redesign of the magazine, before moving to Alix Partners as consulting design director developing branded content for their website. And then fourteen years with Time Inc Content Solutions overseeing the design for digital and interactive projects as well as custom published magazines, e-newsletters and related collateral. Her background in commissioning illustration and photography is extensive.

Currently she is Executive Design Director at Foundry 360.

Syndi has won numerous awards from Society of Publication Designers, American Illustration, American Photography, Print, Type Directors Club among many others.

We are pleased to have Syndi on our jury along with fellow art directors Benjamin Bours, Nathan Huang, Katja Kollmann and Victoria Bee. Illustrators Rafael Alvarez, Tatsuro Kiuchi, Emile Holmewood, Cecilia Ruiz, Natalie Pudalov, Thomas Danthony and Takahisa Hashimoto round out our distinguished panel of judges.

Our show is open to all illustrators, art directors, publishers, educators, students in all countries for commissioned, no-commissioned and personal work produced or published prior to our show deadline.

3x3 International Illustration Annual No. 17
Deadline: March 27, 2020 (midnight EST)
Late Deadline: April 3, 2020 (late fees apply)

Open for entries

Meet Our Judges: Katja Kollmann, Art Director

Katja Kollmann is an award-winning art director whether it was with Die Zeit or her current position at Der Spiegel. Kollmann studied graphic design at The Hochschule Wismar, University of Applied Sciences: Technology, Business and Design. Following graduation she joined Die Zeit, the German national weekly newspaper in 1998 working in different positions including Zeit-Leben and Zeit-Geschichte. In 2007 she became the art director for Zeit-Magazin. And starting in 2014 she was art director of the business magazine, Bilanz. Other magazine experience includes a stint at L'Officiel.

In 2017 Kollmann moved to Der Spiegel to manage the cover picture department. A huge fan of illustration she has commissioned the likes of Edel Rodriguez, Nishant Choksi, Ben Wiseman, Francesco Ciccolella and Zohar Lazar as well as the omnipresent Tim O’Brien. She is producing graphically stunning and successful covers that have an immediate response. She and her team are also responsible for covers for Dein Spiegel, Spiegel Geschichte and Spiegel Biografie.

Kollmann has received numerous awards from the Art Directors Club and Society of News Design including gold, silver and bronze medals for design of Zeit-Magazin and Zeit-Leben.

We are pleased to have Katja on our jury along with fellow art directors Benjamin Bours, Nathan Huang, Victoria Bee and executive design director Syndi Becker. Illustrators Rafael Alvarez, Tatsuro Kiuchi, Emile Holmewood, Cecilia Ruiz, Natalie Pudalov, Thomas Danthony and Takahisa Hashimoto round out our distinguished panel of judges.

Our show is open to all illustrators, art directors, publishers, educators, students in all countries for commissioned, no-commissioned and personal work produced or published prior to our show deadline.

3x3 International Illustration Annual No. 17
Deadline: March 27, 2020 (midnight EST)
Late Deadline: April 3, 2020 (late fees apply)

Open for entries

Meet Our Judges: Benjamin Bours, Art Director

During his studies at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) his goal was to join one of the leading design firms in New York as a brand designer. While his love for magazines, the design, the photography had always been there he never considered it as a career path. Close to graduation he stumbled upon the Society of Publication Designers annuals and could see that designing for magazines was a lot like building a brand. Upon graduation the resumes went out to design firms but it just happened there was an opening at GQ magazine, he got the job and spent the next five years reshaping what he thought about design.

Next came Bloomberg where he was art director for the Pursuits platform while also working on Businessweek. After a couple of years he headed back West to work for Wired. His job there entailed not only being the art director for the magazine but also working on webpages, videos and daily illustrations.

As an amateur illustrator he enjoyed commissioning artwork and working with artists—he’s always had a long roster of illustrators to go to. Personally he was instrumental in developing a design system to create artwork for Wired’s Ideas platform. Icons that required a fast, sometimes same day turnaround. Relying on their own icon illustrations as well as picking from Noun Project’s vast archive and a icon suite by Luzi Type the team could tackle abstract concepts with clean, graphic visuals.

Treating icons as design elements helped overcome the lack of training as an illustrator. Not only was there work for him at GQ but New York Magazine and Consumer Reports came calling. His go-to for inspiration is Gerd Arntz which also helped him better understand basic human forms and other isotypes.

For design inspiration he enjoys Coverjunkie, the up-to-date collection of print covers from around the world, he’ll listen to The Stack, a Monocle podcast and for typography Typewolf, It’s Nice That and a small blog, Dark Side of Typography.

Awards have followed Ben every step of the way including The Society of Publication Designers, Graphis, Communication Arts, Type Directors Club and Print.

We are pleased to have Ben join our jury, his design background and well-rooted appreciation for illustration makes him an ideal judge. Ben is joined by fellow art directors Nathan Huang, Katja Kollmann, Victoria Bee and executive design director Syndi Becker. Illustrators Rafael Alvarez, Tatsuro Kiuchi, Emile Holmewood, Cecilia Ruiz, Natalie Pudalov, Thomas Danthony and Takahisa Hashimoto round out our distinguished panel of judges.

Benjamin has just recently moved on to his new position at Apple.

Photo by Evan Ortiz

Our show is open to all illustrators, art directors, publishers, educators, students in all countries for commissioned, no-commissioned and personal work produced or published prior to our show deadline.

3x3 International Illustration Annual No. 17
Deadline: March 27, 2020 (midnight EST)
Late Deadline: April 3, 2020 (late fees apply)

Open for entries

Meet Our Judges: Nathan Huang, Art Director

We’ve been fans of both The New York Times’ OpEd and Sunday Review sections for years—our judge has been art director for both sections. Meet Nathan Huang, art director, designer, animator and illustrator, a graduate of the Art Center College of Design with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in illustration.

Currently, Nathan is the art director of the Sunday Review section of The Times as well as working as a freelance illustrator. His editorial clients have included The Times along with The New Yorker, PlanAdviser, PlanSponsor, Entertainment Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, Paste and Good to mention a few.

Nathan arrived in New York from his hometown of Los Angeles, worked for Strategic Insight—the folks behind PlanSponsor and PlanAdviser magazines—as senior designer for web and print. After four years he moved on to The New York Times where he’s been for the past five years.

His work has been recognized by American Illustration, the Society of Illustrators, Society for News Design and Communication Arts.

We are pleased to have him on our jury along with fellow art directors Benjamin Bours, Katja Kollmann, Victoria Bee and executive design director Syndi Becker. Illustrators Rafael Alvarez, Tatsuro Kiuchi, Emile Holmewood, Cecilia Ruiz, Natalie Pudalov, Thomas Danthony and Takahisa Hashimoto round out our distinguished panel of judges.

Our show is open to all illustrators, art directors, publishers, educators, students in all countries for commissioned, no-commissioned and personal work produced or published prior to our show deadline.

3x3 International Illustration Annual No. 17
Deadline: March 27, 2020 (midnight EST)
Late Deadline: April 3, 2020 (late fees apply)

Open for entries

3x3 Annual 17 Judges Selected

Thanks to our Show Chair Christian Gralingen our judges for the 3x3 International Illustration Annual No. 17 are in place.

As always we weight our judges on the art direction end so we’re pleased to have Benjamin Bours, formerly Design Director at Wired Magazine and current Art Director at Apple; Katja Kollmann, Art Director for Covers at Der Spiegel, Germany; Nathan Huang, Art Director for The New York Times Op-Ed; Victoria Bee, freelance Art Director and Illustrator, Belgium and Syndi Becker, Executive Design Director, The Foundry.

In addition our international line up of distinguished illustrators include Rafael Alvarez, Germany; Tatsuro Kiuchi, Japan; Emile Holmewood - Blood Bros., New Zealand; Ceclia Ruiz; Natalie Pudalov, Israel; Thomas Danthony, United Kingdom and Takahisa Hashimoto, Japan.

We’ll begin promoting each of our judges in the coming weeks so you can get to know them better. All judging is done independently over a two week period. A majority of the judge’s votes are needed to make it into our show.

Our show is open to all illustrators, art directors, publishers, educators, students in all countries for commissioned, no-commissioned and personal work produced or published prior to our show deadline.

3x3 International Illustration Annual No. 17
Deadline: March 27, 2020 (midnight EST)
Late Deadline: April 3, 2020 (late fees apply)

Open for entries.