I have an affinity for illustration. I can't count the times a talented illustrator has made me look like I knew what I was doing.
Truth be told, I am more likely to hang a poster than a painting. Here are two sites where you can buy originals and prints of published and unpublished works by both well-known and not-so-well-known illustrators.
In the Ideabook Design Store: Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines...
If you enjoy showing off the work of other artists, you'll appreciate the Lure Design Store and the many posters they offer.
An example of their theater posters...
Best known for helping to launch Wired magazine in 1993 and serving as its Executive Editor, Kevin Kelly is also the host of an online directory of “Cool Tools.” He defines a cool tool as, “any book, gadget, software, video, map, hardware, material, or Website that is tried and true. I am chiefly interested in stuff that is extraordinary, better than similar products, little-known, and reliably useful for an individual or small group.”
(Don't miss the long list of categories on the left...)
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/index.php
The other day, as I was searching for Fling the Monkey, I came across sweatyfrog.com and their lineup of Kubricks, Minis, and Vinyls including Chihoohoo, DousDous OctoKakie, and the Peter Bagge Alien Family. Huh?
If you do not yet carry a Moleskine pocket notebook, you probably have never held one. I find it to be a near-perfect design tool for sketching and note taking. Now available in the ideabook.com store.
http://www.ideabook.com/006_mlsk/moleskine.htm
I've always been a catalog nut. I enjoy getting them in the mail and leafing through them to identify by specific item numbers, sizes, and colors, all the stuff I don't need. Plus they're a good source of design inspiration. If you're a catalog junky, you'll flip over Google Catalogs. They scan the pages of recent print catalogs (over one thousand of them), and provide the tools necessary for viewing and keyword searching them. Great idea, great execution.
