FROM CONCEPT TO TOTE

It was a no-brainer to call on Eva Vazquez, Bob Staake, and Shaw Nielsen to produce illustrations so appealing you'd want to wear them on your shoulder. It has been exciting to watch the artwork of these three diverse illustrators go from concept to tote bag in such a short time! Each bag is adorned with a vintage-inspired hang tag designed by John Pirman. We'd love to hear your feedback, so don't be shy, send an e-mail to
mandi@rappart.com and let us know what you think!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE WORK FROM EVA VAZQUEZ'S PORTFOLIO

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE WORK FROM BOB STAAKE'S PORTFOLIO

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE WORK FROM SHAW NIELSEN'S PORTFOLIO

                             

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE WORK FROM JOHN PIRMAN'S PORTFOLIO

WE ARE DELIGHTED TO WELCOME PUSHART TO THE GROUP!

 

We thought we had all the stylistic bases covered in the world of illustration, until we met the team from Pushart! This latest addition to our group definitely adds a new dimension (pun intended). Pushart conceives, draws, builds and photographs miniature 3D sets. Smart and fast, they are perfect for quick editorial deadlines. 

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE WORK FOR PUSHART'S PORTFOLIO 

JEFF SMITH GOES PULP FICTION IN "SHADOW KNIGHTS"

Book Cover

Noor Inayat Khan, butterfly, at 98 Rue de la Faisanderie, Paris, France

Harry Ree decides to join the fight.

Churchill tells Dalton to set Europe ablaze!

Noor eluding the Gestapo in Paris.

"Liberte!"

Notes From Jeff Smith:

          In January 2009, I got a call from David Talbot. David asked me if I might be interested in a new project; a book titled, Shadow Knights. Well, actually, it didn’t have a title when we first met at the Bel-Air Hotel in Los Angeles.  But the idea of the book would be to tell the story of the courageous men and women who fought a secret war against the Nazi’s and Adolf Hitler. All of these brave souls volunteered to serve as members of Winston Churchill’s SOE (an acronym for Special Operations Executive.) Some were well suited for the job, some were reluctant, and others were as unlikely as a butterfly.  But all of these courageous individuals risked life and limb to undermine Adolf Hitler’s fascist regime, and some paid the ultimate price.
       The scope of this project was important enough to travel, so I decided to take a trip to Paris. I left on June 15^th, 2009.  I wanted to see some of the real places where Noor Inayat Khan lived, fought and died for freedom.  Gary Kamiya, the writer for Shadow Knights, gave me addresses; places like 40 rue Erlanger in Auteuil, where Noor first arrived, No. 3 Boulevard Richard Wallace, mostly occupied by SS officers, 98 Rue de la Faisanderie, where Noor was arrested, Avenue Foch, 82 and 84, where the Gestapo headquarters were, and finally, Fazal Manzil, the house in Suresnes where Noor grew up as a child. Visiting these places gave me the grit to stay focused on a project that would take seven and a half months to complete, to research thousands of photographs from the internet, books, and magazines, to shoot 567 photographs of models and myself, produce 22 photographic comps, many more sketches, 22 full page paintings, and 2 covers for this wonderfully exhausting project.
       I perused the first chapter for this project on October 12^th, 2009, and sent the last illustration on May 28^th, 2010.  Shadow Knights hit the book stands in the first week of October, 2010.

-Jeff Smith

For more on this work click here: http://drawger.com/jeffdraw/

YUTA ONODA: FANTASY & REALITY

 

 This original illustration was created by Yuta Onoda for the cover of David Ward's new fantasy thriller, 

 "Between Two Ends"

The book is due to go on sale May 1, 2011. 

About the Book:

When Yeats and his parents visit his grandmother's creepy old house, Yeats reunites a pair of pirate bookends and uncovers the amazing truth: Years ago, Yeats's father traveled into The Arabian Nights with a friend, and the friend, Shari, is still stuck in the tales. Assisted by the not-always-trustworthy pirates, Yeats must navigate the unfamiliar world of the story of Shaharazad--dodging guards and tigers and the dangerous things that lurk in the margins of the stories--in order to save Shari and bring peace to his family.

For more information on the book: Between Two Ends

“Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother”

Yuta Onoda shows us how his illustrations for The Atlantic go from sketch to completion. The final piece was featured for an article about Amy Chua’s book “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.”

http://www.yutaonoda.com/
Yuta Onoda's blog