The erotic illustrations of Malika Favre

I have been very lucky to have worked with some wonderful illustrators over the years but one stood out to me for her enthusiasm, perfectionism and another ism that I can’t place right now. Not only can she drink me under the table, but she can draw like I have never seen before.

Malika Favre, a french illustrator living in London and working with digital agency, Airside creates character-led illustrations, most notably of the female shape. She is a big fan of the curvy lines of women that men just don’t have and so she says “I can’t draw men, I can only draw women”.

Wallpaper* Christmas subscription © Malika Favre

She created her two-dimensional characters for Wallpaper* magazine’s Christmas subscription promotion a couple of years ago. This work stands out as a stunning piece of promotional graphics… it warrants framing, but is wonderful that it was in every issue of the magazine at that time so that we could all enjoy this illustration.

Wallpaper* Pin-ups © Malika Favre

Adapting her alphabet bunnies to a brief from Wallpaper* magazine for their ‘sex’ issue, a subject that Malika is not afraid to tackle, she created a female character that intertwines with one or two other ladies to form a letter of the alphabet. Not a piece you would want to give as a gift to your mother.

Veg-à-porter © Malika Favre

For a 3D version of her work, she created brooches in her trademark flat bold colour palette, simplifying the shape of the vegetables to as few lines as possible to create a recognisable shape. Yum.

Easy Street or the Road to Ruin?

I have been meaning to blog about the illustrator James Brown for a while and I know for sure that I will blog more regularly about him, but for now I wanted to introduce you to one of his latest prints… ‘Easy Street’ and the accompanying print ‘Road to Ruin’.

Taking these quips and turning them into street signs, James has added his usual humorous illustrative style to these making them beautiful and clever. I would love to have one of these hanging in the corridor at home, although the walls are beginning to cover themselves with his work.

Brooklyn’s Finest… enormouschampion

enormouschampion are Brooklyn-based printmakers, “drawing inspiration from childhood memories, nature, three lovely cats, ephemera, the places we go and the people we meet”.

Each item crafted is thoughtfully considered in terms of the marketplace and the environment and they only use recycled paper, sustainably harvested wood, and minimally treated fabrics in our products. Hurrah!

Everything they produce is designed and illustrated by enormouschampion, although occasionally, they do some nice collaborating with other artists. All good for the soul, I say. I am particularly fond of the houndstooth-esque prints that they do…

There are not many places in the UK that you can pick up their work, but you can buy some of their work from www.howkapow.com which is another great site to take a peek at sometime.

Rob Ryan

If you don’t know who Rob Ryan is then where the hell have you been for the last few years? His work is now so well known that the prices for his incredible hand-cut pieces of artwork have become super expensive.

Crane.tv recently visited the artist Rob Ryan in his studio in Bethnal Green. He showed his otherworldly, sometimes romantic papercut artworks and screenprints, and shares his own love story.

mydeco.com interviewed Rob Ryan last year about his work.

What has been the biggest hurdle you have had to overcome in your career?

A lot of what I do is quite personal. The biggest hurdle has been seeing it slowly become ‘a business’ but being able to somehow keep a part of myself distanced from that, in order to still create with the same sensibility.

What commission are you most proud of?

Ooh – that’s a difficult one. One year I did the Christmas campaign for Liberty; I was on the escalators at Oxford Street tube station doing my Christmas shopping and as I travelled up every single poster was my work. I know it was a temporary thing but I must admit – I was chuffed!