Inspiration: Oliver Jeffers' One City, Five Hours

You know how I love maps.
And city guides.
And oh, oh, Oliver Jeffers. I once heard someone say he's kind of a prick, but I don't believe one word of it because I mean, how can he be when he draws books about crayons that go on strike? It just isn't possible.

Anyhow. Drawn maps + city guide + Oliver Jeffers = Magic.

I found these amazing illustrations from Oliver Jeffers' "One city, Five Hours” project via Messynessychique. They appear regularly in the United Airlines magazine, Hemisphere, pairing Jeffers' illustrations with various travel writers’ five hour guides to common layover city stops.

Just amazing. I clearly need to fly United more often (to far away fun places).

Shanghai © Oliver Jeffers for Hemisphere

Stockholm © Oliver Jeffers for Hemisphere

Many many more city guides here.

Inspiration, City GuideAnna Denise FloorJuly 2, 2014Comment

Inspiration: Mogu Takahashi's Sketchbooks

The amazing Amy Ng from Pikaland posted these video's earlier this week and I think I've since seen all three of them at least five times. The video's show Mogu Takahashi's amazing sketchbooks. They're fun, full of color, joy, and child-like imagination. Also: yay! Video's!

InspirationAnna Denise FloorJune 25, 2014Comment

Inspiration: Emma Sylvie's Snippets

Ever since I came across her work on Doodler's Anonymous, I've been obsessed with Emma Sylvie Fick's travel journals. Fick is a 22-year-old from Louisiana living in Serbia and teaching English on a Fulbright scholarship and sharing her European adventures with us via Tumblr.

The drawings are stunning, the narration interesting, and above all I love how the moments she chose to draw are just a little different from what you'd typically expect.

Travel isn't about seeing the famous landmarks, or visiting that one particular café - it's about all those little moments in between when you can look around, truly open to everything around you, and capture a sliver of what daily life must look like in that strange new place. She captures these moments beautifully and it feels like you're there with her, even just a little bit.

Visit Emma Sylvie's Tumblr here for a little mini-vacation of the brain.

Blogs, InspirationAnna Denise FloorJune 4, 2014Comment

Journal Pages: Hair, Kittens, and Comics

I've been feeling tremendously inspired these past few weeks. Inspired to read, inspired to work, inspired to draw, inspired to... cuddle with my new kitten MISO! AAAHHH!!!

This last weekend, the Stripdagen Haarlem took place in... Haarlem, a gorgeous town not far from Amsterdam. I'll devote a separate post to some of the artists I saw, discovered, and rediscovered while browsing the many booths and exhibitions, but it was a lovely day and I'm still riding the wave of creative energy it gave me.

What inspires you? Who inspire you (right now)? I'd love to know!

Inspiration, Journal Pages, PersonalAnna Denise FloorJune 3, 2014 Comment

Picturing April

Set du Jet

I try not to complain about traveling lots for work, because to be honest - I love it. Sure, I don't always get to see much of the city I'm in, and I often miss Mr. Floor terribly, but I'm working my dream job, and I've got amazing colleagues who will put up with me dragging them along for a 2 hour walk along the Thames after working hours. I did feed her Indian food afterwards, that helped.

Lines

Married life is amazing. I know people often say getting married didn't change anything for them from when they were dating, but I disagree. Of course, I wouldn't really know, since Mr. Floor and I have been married for much longer than we had been dating before we decided to get married, but still. I feel connected, protected, loved. It feels very special that the one person I care about and admire most in this world, chose to go on this journey with me, and promised me, my family, the state, everyone, that they'd be there for me always -and vice versa. We've entered into a pact together, it's us now, no matter what this crazy adventure will turn out to be. I don't necessarily think getting married is the only way to make that pact, but it's what we did, and it's awesome. It also a great comfort to me when we're both busy with work and traveling, and it makes those shared moments together even sweeter. Like, we're building something here. This month was full of those sweet moments, like when we went to the Kröller-Muller Museum together, biking around the national park, playing in the sculpture garden. Or that day we spent in the sun, sipping coffee, reading books.

Nothing To Do

If you had gone to college with me, and had been so fortunate as to have been invited up to my room, you'd have noticed one thing, immediately: I keep lists. I used to have three big to do lists taped on the inside of my dorm room. One for study tasks, one for 'private' tasks, and one for long term dreams and goals. I was a very serious student and I guess being able to get up from my desk and cross a task of my list made me less anxious, but I don't feel like I'm very serious adult (heh, adult), and I still keep lists, just a lot less visible. Anyhow, we were going on vacation, and I finished every tiny little to do off my list and it felt awesome. You see what I did there? Turned this mundane and slightly OCD event into a story. And that's how blogging is done, y'all. Booyah (do people still say that? Probably not, eh?)!

Prague X Art

I tried to come up with a clever name for this bit, like a combination of the word 'Prague' and 'Art' but all I could come up with was 'Partgue' - but that doesn't mean anything at all, so that'd be weird. But yes, we went to Prague!

Not only is Prague one of the prettiest cities I've personally ever been to, it's also filled to the brim with art. Gorgeous art nouveau buildings everywhere. Mosaics for all. Golden cafés with Mucha illustrated menus and Jugendstil silverware. Pubs filled with dreamlike (or nightmarish) cartoons and graffiti. Large canvasses of naked women and poems for sale in a wine bar (65 kronen for a glass of Moravian red, canvasses: price on request). An Italian restaurant with an eclectic art collection (gifts? friends? family?), where well done copies of seventeenth century vanitas paintings are hung alongside Schiele-esque portraits of the maître, the obligatory painting of a crying gypsy boy, and a well done sketch of the Vlatava and it's many bridges. I drew a lot, photographed a bunch, and a week felt like two weeks.

Did you go anywhere over Easter? Let me know in the comments.
Also - follow me on Instagram here (and I may follow you back!).

Inspiration, Instagram, PersonalAnna Denise FloorMay 5, 2014 Comments

Inspiration: Alex Noriega

I love this video about Alex Noriega's work. I started following him back when he was still making the most amazing comics and illustrations, and now he makes beautiful paintings, or 'emotional sculptures' on canvas.

I find this video especially inspiring, not just because his style appeals to me tremendously, but also because it shows that illustration and fine art (painting) are just various ways of visual expression. I've always struggled with the so-called divide between illustration or other applied arts / crafts and fine art, even back when I studied art history. From my own practice, it really didn't feel like abstract painting, making a zine, or designing a poster for someone were very different things - yet we would study only the 'fine' arts bit (I'm aware that this may be different at other universities). It's been great to see how that divide is being broken down bit by bit, even if it leads to people using pretentious terms like 'sequential art' to describe comics and whatnot. We're all artists in my mind, and we've all got a degree to which and a way in which we engage with this side of ourselves. A little bit off topic, but I feel the same way about the division between 'amateur' and 'professional' arts, which I know can be qualified but feels like it's often just used as a qualitative judgement.

Anyhow - yay! Alex Noriega!

Inspiration, BlogsAnna Denise FloorMay 4, 2014Comment

Journal Pages: Prague Sketches

Last week, Mr. Floor and I went on a weeklong city trip to Prague (Czech Republic)!
The man had never been, and I hadn't been in about seven years and obviously needed a hit of art nouveau art and architecture after having moved out of my old beautiful art nouveau neighborhood of Ixelles in Brussels.

Day 2 in Prague © Anna Denise Floor - Click to enlarge

Prague did not disappoint. Even though one of the main art nouveau landmarks, Grand Hotel Europa was closed, we sought refuge in Cafe Savoy, and drank in the splendor of the Municipal Hall (or Obecni Dum). Mr. Floor also surprised me when treating me to coffee with an amazing view from the Hotel Golden Well.

Day 3 in Prague © Anna Denise Floor - Click to enlarge

We, of course, of course, had to visit the Mucha museum. I am a huge fan, and found the (tiny but full) museum absolutely amazing, although I must say I was a little creeped out by the nationalist work Mucha did as well (this angry girl has been in my nightmares). I also drew some buildings and we found out that Czech food isn't really our 'thing' (very heavy on the meat), but found an amazing Italian restaurant: Trattoria Cicala. The restaurant, filled with an eclectic collection of art and very friendly staff is apparently frequented by the likes of Morgan Freedman and Johnny Depp, which isn't BS - we saw the pictures on our way to the bathroom. BAM! So close to hanging with the famousses, us jet setters, we are. Oh, and now that we're talking food - THIS is the most romantic and surprising place I've ever had dinner. Go there. Do it.

Day 4 & 5 in Prague © Anna Denise Floor - Click to enlarge

Halfway through the week our legs were hurting pretty bad from all the walking, so to remedy the issue - we walked some more! The weather was mostly great, apart from one magnificent thunderstorm, and we scoped out most of the city on foot. Once Pesach was over, we headed over to the old Jewish cemetery. I had seen it on my previous visits, but it didn't fail to impress this time around and we sat for a while, drawing some of the tombstones.

Day 6 in Prague © Anna Denise Floor - Click to enlarge

On our final day (well, last full day, we flew back the day after), we had breakfast at Café Louvre (pretentious, and the food wasn't great, but the interior is nice), spent all day looking at art in the Veletrnzi Palace (part of the National Gallery), drinking coffee and sketching in the awesome museum cafe, Café Jedna.

I'm sure I've missed a ton of things we did in this post, but since we mostly walked around all the sights and parks, I didn't do any more drawing than this.

Do you draw a lot on your trips? How long will you spend on each session? What tools did you bring? I may actually do a separate post on this, so I'd love your input!

City Guide, Inspiration, Journal Pages, PersonalAnna Denise FloorApril 29, 2014 Comments

Journal Page: Sunday Sun

Last weekend was a fun one with lots of books (reviews to come!), terribly romantic walks, perhaps a tad too much alcohol, too little yoga, and some great music.

If you're looking for a sunny soundtrack to your life this spring and summer, may I definitely recommend Sunday Sun. Some of my favorite songs are 'Sunday Sun', 'Highly Respected Rebel', and 'Ordinary Love' - but to be honest, almost all of their songs are absolutely charming, fun, with a slight Beach Boys vibe to them.

What are your favorite books and albums right now? Please share in the comments!

Journal Pages, Inspiration, PersonalAnna Denise FloorApril 18, 2014Comment

Dead or Happy

One for the Dutchies out there, just a little play on words with an expression we use in The Netherlands when someone gets you all excited over something, but then it turns out not to be so - "to be made happy with a dead sparrow". I turned it around and imagined what it would look like if you were killed with a happy sparrow instead. Possibly even more sucky.

InspirationAnna Denise FloorApril 13, 2014Comment

Podcast: Make It Then Tell Everybody

I love hearing artists talk about their work and their making processes. It is one of the reasons I studied art history in college. By the time I graduated, however, I had figured out that the artists you study in art history are pretty much all dead and they don't tend to do a lot of talking anymore (at least, not to me, although that would make for interesting yet questionable research). Fortunately, some left diaries, which is how I found out that Van Gogh was kind of a dick, which then kind of made me sad.

Nowadays, besides working at Etsy and helping makers get started on their own business, I love listening to podcasts while I draw and paint. I've recently discovered a new one to add to my playlist: 'Make It Then Tell Everybody'. In interviews of roughly an hour, cartoonist Dan Berry talks to fellow illustrators, comic artists, and designers. Conversation flows naturally, and Berry covers topics like materials, working habits, and making a living as an artist, but also discusses more theoretical topics like visual literacy, art as journalism, and authorship. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable and interesting podcast, and I've bought a few graphic novels just from hearing the author's talk about them (reviews soon).

Make It Then Tell Everybody Website
Subscribe on iTunes

Podcasts, InspirationAnna Denise FloorMarch 26, 2014 Comment

Journal Page: Starfish Style + Reclaiming My Journal

Last weekend was a good one, I got spoiled by my man, slept in, went out for coffee, cake, and vintage record buying. Also: I drew a journal entry! Click on the image to see it larger.

I know, yay, right? But I can hear (at least one of) you thinking:

What happened to the daily journal pages?

Sometimes people ask me what happened to my daily journal pages (on paper). Well, to be honest, after almost six years of doing daily illustrated journal pages (see them here), I was just kind of worn out. It wasn't exciting to me anymore, I felt empty, uninspired, even a little resentful. The daily drawing and sharing came to feel like a task. Another thing to do on my never ending list. With the crazy changes going on in my life last year and the months leading up to it, I just dropped it. I had nothing to say, and the things I did draw felt too personal to share.

When I started in 2007, the daily drawings were a way of getting back in touch with my creative side, to re-train my hand-eye coordination, to turn drawing into a habit. It then changed my life. I started drawing and sharing my work, I met other (closeted) creatives and collaborated with some amazing artists, I started working on my Etsy shop, got involved in the community, and finally started working at Etsy in my dream job where I can both be creative and feel inspired, use my intellect and OCD-style love for organization, and benefit from running a blog and freelance business on the side. Mission accomplished, and the daily drawings no longer felt necessary (and I'm a sucker for goals. I'm kind of like a dog, really, if you switch balls with goals, minus the drooling and hair and yucky smell. I don't like dogs). Kthxbye.

I let days, trips, travels, big life moments, go by without recording them on paper, and I didn't really care. I wrote some, got addicted to Instagram, did the occasional commissioned piece, but mostly just let it be.

Having fun again

And then I started missing it again, and now I'm ready to reclaim this journaling thing for myself again. That probably will mean that I'll do them in this new semi-digital format, as it's more of a challenge to me, and right now I'm inspired by doing this. I'll probably only do it on weekends only, not daily (unless I feel like it), but I'll make it a goal to actually do it. In short: I'm ready to have fun with this once more. So stay tuned!

Etsy, Inspiration, Journal Pages, PersonalAnna Denise FloorMarch 4, 2014 Comments

Book Review: A Map of the World: The World According to Illustrators and Storytellers

You may have spotted it on my illustrated journal page back in December, but I got A Map of the World: The World According to Illustrators and Storytellers for Sinterklaas. I apologize for not reviewing it earlier, because let me tell you: if you haven't seen this book (or own it!), you're missing out! Big time.

I LOVE me some maps, and the good folks over at Gestalten collected more than 500 of them, done by artists, illustrators, and designers. Boy, oh boy, oh boy! The maps are from all over the world and range from abstract to sketchy, from highly detailed and realistic, to utopian and imaginative.

Some of my favorite maps were done by Oliver Jeffers (OMG This Man. I LOVE him), Antoine Corbineau, Zoe More O'Ferrall (such a pretty website!), Marlena Zuber (who did a very inspiring personal map called 'lovers lane', about the neighborhood she lived in and cycled through to her lover!), Borgarmynd, James Gulliver Hancock, and many, many more. I had a hard time selecting pictures for this post, as each of the maps tells a different story, it makes for hours of fun. This is NOT one of those coffee table books you'll buy and never look at, I promise you. You can leaf through it, put it back, pick it up again, get completely lost in a visual story, again and again.

You can buy a copy on Amazon (and if you do, please use that link :-)), or support your local bookstore and get it / order it there (even better)!

Book Review, InspirationAnna Denise FloorFebruary 21, 2014a map of the world, illustration, artists, designers, maps, cartography Comment

Instagram L♥ve (1): Annings

I love Instagram. Ever since I signed up almost two years ago, it has knocked all other social media apps right off of their dusty little pedestals and has gradually turned me into a food-photographing d-bag. But, seriously, what's not to love? It has great creative potential, it's fun, easy, and if you follow the right people, pictures of food and kitties have replaced vague status updates and duck faced selfies (except for the 'ironic' kind, of course).

This month, as I'm working on my hand lettering skills, I'm loving Annings' Instagram feed to bits. Annings, who outside of Instagramland is called Anna Ignacio, is an artist and designer from Manilla, currently located in Singapore. Her feed is a delicious and bright concatenation of coffee, hand lettered quotes and wisdoms, and breakfast.

Oh, I so love the idea of mornings.
The fact that I have not recently enjoyed any mornings myself where I was both conscious and not in terrible agony, longing for caffeine, doesn't change this. I love the concept of mornings.

Quick links: You can follow Annings on Instagram here & you can find my duck faced selfies and complaints about the weather here.

Inspiration, InstagramAnna Denise FloorJanuary 29, 2014Comment

Oh Marie: Kitteh Crush

This month's Etsy crush for Oh Marie! Magazine is all about the kittens. Because everything actually is about kittens. And things your kittens will mind control you to buy for them. Like gorgeous kitten furniture by Vurvdesign. Absolutely stunning.

Read the entire post here.

Etsy, Inspiration, Oh Marie!Anna Denise FloorJanuary 21, 2014oh marie, oh marie blog, etsy, etsy shop, kittens, kitteh, cats, cat furniture, kitten furniture, vurvdesign, glen ross, drawing, illustrationComment

I'm a fan of... (2)

I've only JUST discovered her blog 'French Fries and Waffles', but I'm already hooked on Luchie's (or Lucie Bryon) blog. She's a French gal studying comics in Brussels (aaah, I miss you BXL...) and I think she can just stop studying.

Her comics and sketches are crisp and absolutely delicious. She has an English tumblr and a French page with roughly the same work, but for all you Frenchies out there - voilà! She also has a shop that desperately needs restocking (as I very much want to buy a copy of her 'Introversion' comic).

Inspiration, BlogsAnna Denise FloorDecember 9, 2013 Comment

The Face-O-Mat

Just came across this on Doodlers Anonymous and I just HAD to share. A project by Tobias Gutmann, the Face-O-Mat is a portable drawing booth, simulating an analog drawing 'machine'. Gutmann dragged the beautifully designed booth around the globe with him, drawing over 700 portraits (and counting). Love, love, love.

InspirationAnna Denise FloorNovember 28, 2013face-o-mat, illustrations, illustrator, tobias gutmann, drawing, portraits, drawing machine, videoComment

Museum Review: Tomi Ungerer (Strasbourg)

This weekend, I went on a surprise trip to Strasbourg. and I'd like to share with you a review of an exhibition of Tomi Ungerer's work.

Tomi Ungerer is a French illustrator born in Strasbourg, who did most of his work while living in New York (I think he's back in Strasbourg now, not sure). In 2007, the Tomi Ungerer Museum in Strasbourg was opened in honor of this living legend and we decided the pay the museum a visit.

The museum is not very large, but it's an absolutely gorgeous building. Light, white, and with a fun little sculpture garden out front. The works inside were carefully displayed and the accompanying texts were concise and informative. The exhibition on display was called Tomi Ungerer, a Multifaceted Artist, and boy, what an apt title that was.

0) BOOKS, TOYS, AND THE THREE ROBBERS

The ground floor of the museum was dedicated to Ungerer's toy collection and children's books drawings. I loved that the museum showed both the inspiration behind his works, his sketchbooks and the sketches that led up to the final works and published books. I don't believe I've ever owned one of his books as a kid, but his style definitely rang a bell and reminded me of some of the books my dad grew up reading (and passing onto us). Colorful, witty, but with an edge. On this floor, we also saw a selection of tv cartoons that Ungerer made, my favorite being the 'Three Robbers'. LOVE those sound effects.

1) SHARP SATIRE, BUTTS, AND BEANS

The first floor (or second, if you're American) showed some of Ungerer's more commercial and controversial work. Among the brilliantly executed anti-Vietnam war posters and Bonduelle vegetable commercials, we also saw a series of 'erotic' jewelry he designed and a series of designs for playground buildings and public bathrooms (my favorite being a square building with a giant butt on top it).

-1) FROGS AND THE DARK SIDE

It was in the basement (where else?) that we began to understand the true meaning behind the 'multifaceted' aspect of Ungerer's work as we encountered a warning that the images we were about to see weren't suitable for a younger audience. A series of sketchbooks on SM prostitutes, another series of frogs having sex with not only each other but with objects and plants ('the joy of frogs', the series was called - it really was kind of funny) and an entire room full of mangled Barbie dolls being molested by animals and other crazy creatures. Multifaceted, yes, definitely. Personally, if I were a children's book author still alive and publishing, I would have left my molested Barbie dolls hidden in the back of that closet, but perhaps I'm being too prudish. I'm not against some good erotic art every now and then (and the frogs were hilarious), but I suppose the violence of it kind of threw me off after seeing the children's book drawings. That, or I'm clearly still not over the trauma of that one time when the neighborhood bully burnt the face off my favorite Barbie doll.

All in all though, the exhibition and museum were very inspiring! I absolutely loved Ungerer's children's books drawings, the movies, and the whole presentation. I really feel I've learned more about the artist, his inspirations, and the way he works. The museum was a pleasant space to spend some time in, also because people were hanging out everywhere with their sketchbook in hand. Even the guard upstairs was doing a little sketch whilst keeping an eye on us. If you're in Strasbourg, and you're not familiar with Ungerer's work, I'd recommend going, but yeah... keep your little ones out of the crazy Barbie-room, hehe.

Links: Tomi Ungerer's website | Tomi Ungerer Museum

InspirationAnna Denise FloorOctober 17, 2011Tomi Ungerer, Strasbourg, Exhibition, Review, museumComment

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