2006 saw the launch of Illustrative, a new festival/exhibition in Berlin that celebrates illustration and graphic art. Having taken place this year in Zurich between the 18th and 26th of October, it drew 35 different artists, and showcased over 400 works.

Its main thrust is described as “documenting the influence of illustration and graphic arts on other disciplines like book illustration, fashion and textile-arts, pottery, and animated movies.” The point is to trace how illustration and graphic art feature in, or are essential parts of, the many facets of ‘contemporary art’.

What this really means is you’re getting a ton of great illustration gathered all in one place. And as an excellent sideline, the exhibition hosts a Young Illustrators Award, in three separate categories that include Illustration, Book Art, and Animation.

A funny thing: even though I’m writing on design all the time, I’m still often in the dark when it comes to the genre terms “illustration” and “graphic art”. That’s fine: part of the point of their recent resurgence is the inability to pin contemporary illustration down into one, specific category, as was possible 100 years ago.

Take a look at this interview with Pascal Johanssen, one of the two Berlin-based curators of Illustrative, who outlines what “contemporary illustrative art” means to him:

It’s a new art movement. Unlike classic illustration it is a mix of influences from comic art, graffiti, fashion, advertisement, set design for computer games or animation. This form of illustrative art is marked by very different creative impulses and thus can be design or art.

He also describes the fundamental differences between what he sees as the previous generation of illustrators and today’s. I’ve never really thought about things in these terms before:

The parent generation for me is represented by illustrators like Tomi Ungerer. These have been willful, charismatic drawers. They were close to political caricatures, which was in accordance with the common operational fields of illustration back then. Today´s illustrators are mainly avant-garde regarding innovative means of design.

And finally, he’s asked in which direction illustration is moving at the moment. His answer is probably prescient, but it’s strange–I’ve been hearing a version of this answer, across several disciplines, for some time now. Read on:

Game Art will come up. This will be an art genre which will not only copy the aesthetics of computer games, like Eboy, but uses the graphical, narrative and technological means emerging from computer games and making them possible. Something new will develop in this field.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read that games are the new, growing, soon-to-be-fundamental frontier for: advertising, literature, interactive experience, socialization, social networking, and entertainment in general. No one actually knows if it’ll happen, but for the moment I see games as still, essentially, games.

Yeah, there are massive networks like World of Warcraft. There are games everyone in the world plays, like Grand Theft Auto 4. There are games like The Sims 2. But they’re still just games. There are still stores that sell only video games, all staffed by the same 5 dudes that ran them when I was 10. Or at least it seems that way.

I’ll save a further exploration of that subject for another day, but it strikes me that Johannson’s answer here is actually not overblown like many of the video-games-are-taking-over-all-media claims: the area in which games and art will strongly converge might indeed be one where the very facility of young designers with video games (and the technologial means that bring them about) could actually create an entirely new field of art, and a big one at that. Just a prediction.

One can’t miss event during the exhibiton–especially for anyone interested in vintage art or just wonderfully detailed design–was Roman Bittner’s talk on his “Ancient Cities of Tomorrow” series. These are e-boy like illustrations taken to another level and really, really captivating. Check out his studio here.

Anyway, if you were lucky enough to be wandering around Zurich in October, staring at mountains and drinking their water straight from the clean, fresh rivers, hopefully you caught up with Illustrative.

Sarah McLellan and Kristina Ortega have discovered a whole new form of artistic jewelry. In Autumn of 2007, these two pre-med students decided to change majors and go into design. Inspired by their science backgrounds and knowledge of organic chemistry, but driven by their love for fashion, (and Bill Nye the Science Guy.) they started Mctega. What makes Mctega’s pieces so aesthetically exciting are the contrasts found in them. No two are alike and all of them are absolutely exquisite.

Mctega’s collection looks like beautiful disorder. Consisting of shapeless geometric chunks of crystal, gold, copper foil and toy animals, every single one is chaotically put together with the greatest of care and dexterity. Each piece of jewelry is hand-made and unique right down to the materials used; polypropylene, polyester resin and injection molding among other things. The best part: With a price tag of $100 – $325, Mctega allows any fashion-privy chick to order a custom piece without completely breaking the bank.

These two friends decided to start creating jewelry because it presented a new challenge. They are quite the duo; always pushing each other and encouraging each other to take risks and try new things in their art. McLellan and Ortega say that they love coming up with ideas and then trying to figure out how to make those ideas come to life in a piece of jewelry. “It’s a lot more research and trial and error then we thought it would be, but the best thing we allow ourselves to do is make mistakes. They have lent themselves to some of our best pieces.”

The Los Angeles based Mctega-girls have also been thinking about creating a clothing line. It’s not clear when they will be able to start working on it. However, the creation of a clothing line has been one of their goals since Mctega’s inception. “We thought it was much more manageable to work with jewelry first.” The girls say. Right now, they are both working full time jobs to support their artistic-genius alter-egos. But, they say they can’t wait until they can work on their Mctega projects full-time.

Mctega was recently made the cover of Nylon Magazine. You can find more about these intelligent designs on their website at Mctega.com or at Mctega’s MySpace.

Poketo, one of my favorite everyday-wearable-useable art websites, has come out with a new line of eight soft and comfy, prewashed cotton tees. These artsy, fun and colorful shirts (and other aesthetically amusing stuff,) were designed by some of my own personal favorite indie artists including Pepa Prieto, Lisa Congdon and Pietari Posti. Their inspirations vary from ice cream to hairy masked wrestlers dancing to the beat, making them the most fabulous works of wearable art around.

Betsy Walton’s “Swim”
This shirt was inspired by Walton’s love of swimming, magical lakes and cute swimming suits. Walton creates most of her art based on daydreams and her knowledge of print-making and knitting. More of this Wisconsin native’s work can be found at poketo.com, morningcraft.com or monsieurt.net.

Pepa Prieto’s “Ice Cream”
I’m from a region of the United States called “New England.” Although we endure some of the longest and coldest winters here, we are still the number one consumer of ice cream (in the USA) all year round. It’s no wonder then why I LOVE this tee shirt! I’m against buying for myself for fear I may eat it.

Prieto is, as I mentioned, one of my favs. Born in Granada, she studied fine arts and was inspired to create this shirt because of her own love of ice cream, laughter and all things reminiscent of childhood.

“Creature Friends” by Melissa Contreras
This colorfully busy shirt was inspired of course, by nature and of her experiences of “Guatemalan Summers and California Nights.” Contreras is a Californian with big ideas and the creativity to pull them off. I just adore the bold colors combined with soft, rounded edges. You can find more of Contreras’ designs on axelhoney.com.

Maki’s “Bear Camp”
In keeping with our nature theme, Maki has created this hilarious tee-shirt inspired by the Murphy’s Law of camping; complete with rain, bears, and angry trees. Based out of the Netherlands, Maki is used to having his art described as edgy, humorous and intelligent with lots of urban-appeal. He also created another hot-ticket item on Poketo, “Goldrush Rainbow.”

Peskimo’s “I Want to Dance”
“…with my hands in the air so everyone can see my armpit hair!” You have to love a scene this funky and funny. Inspired by Mexican culture and its love of dancing and moustaches, this shirt is funky enough to get anyone in the mood to groove.

Peskimo are a UK based dynamic-duo, with a ingeniously quirky team. Together they create little monster illustrations around the world. They’ve produced art for vinyl toys, TV shows, magazines and more. You can check out more of their little monster funk-o-saurs at peskimo.com.

“Stay True” by Ashkahn
No one describes Ashkahn’s work better than he does: ““Those who stay true to themselves and are able to express themselves fully without worrying about what others might say. Those who can wear mismatching socks and laugh in its delight. Those who can embrace the free flowing foreverness of their being!!! Wake up to uncover the pink moon!”

Working out of California, Ashkahn has a few projects in the works. Be on the look out for the “Don’t Stop Studio” and his own new tee shirt line “Cryin Tiger.” You can find more on Ashkahn at DontStopStudio.com

“Deer in the City” by Pietari Posti
Straight out of Finland, Posti has been drawing and designing since he was a kid. Now working as a freelance illustrator in Barcelona, you can find most of his work on display at PPosti.com. “Deer in the City” is part of a larger project entitled “Giants.” It is essentially a “what-if” collection of gigantic animals walking around in cities. It sounds quirky because it is. What else is it? A must-see collection.

“Radiolarians” by Lisa Congdon
Lisa thinks scientific imagery is really cool because it often reflects the perfect balance and symmetry that nature has to offer. “Radiolarians” is inspired by the real life single cell organisms by the same name which dwells in the ocean.

Ms. Congdon, a natural artist, lives in San Francisco and prefers to follow her own sense of what art is rather than a so-called “refined technique.” She gets her inspiration from flea markets, natural science and life.

Want to get your hands on these? All shirts are available in women’s and unisex styles, and are just $28 online. Other fab pieces of work are available too. But you have to be on your toes, because once stuff sells out it will typically be discontinued.

All of the artist’s work can be found on Poketo’s website in various forms including wallets, prints, accessories, stuff for your house and stationary.

Art and science are not so difficult to associate with one another since there is so much technology involved in creating art. But the marriage between art and science is about more than just the creation, it’s about inspiration meeting functionality. Artists have been taking queues from science for years. Art consistently meets science in the techno-colored photographs taken of the universe as it expands. It can be found in the way that cells, micro organisms and ice crystals form the most precise yet masterfully chaotic of patterns. A certain aesthetic beauty can even be found in the MRI of a human brain.

Model of Human Heart formed from MRI Images.

Recently, science has found compatibility within the textile industry. The University of the Arts in London and a few Nobel Prize winning scientists and research fellows from Central Saint Martins College have combined forces in order to form Nobel Textiles. Each artist has been paired up with a scientist for inspiration and will put their work on display at London’s Design Festival on 14-21 September 2008.

Nobel Textiles

This is a truly unique event. Five textile designers and five scientists have been formally paired up, neither one really knowing much about the other. The result is some of the most innovative and functional textiles that have been created in a long time. A few of the artists-scientist couples include:

Rachel Wingfield is introducing “Metabolic Media.” She takes her inspiration from studies in ATP energy conversion done by John E. Walker, and more recent work done in the areas of architecture, agriculture, sensor technologies and geotextiles. Using lace and weaving techniques, she hopes to create small structures from all new composite materials that will enable and promote urban gardening. Examples will include specially designed stakes for plants to grow along and even small collapsible greenhouses which can save space, protect plants and enable gardens to grow virtually anywhere.

Rachel Wingfield's "Metabolic Media" inspired by John E. Walker

Rachel Kelly inspired by Tim Hunt’s “Now You See It – Now You Don’t” report delves into how Cyclin B appears and then disappears leaving a memory imprint on the DNA of cells. He made this discovery through the study of sea urchin eggs. Rachel is focusing on a unbounded circular theme. She will be using new specialized drawing and printing techniques on a medium of paper lanterns and transparent wallpaper.

Rachel Kelly inspired by Tim Hunt.

Philippa Brock’s work is motivated by Sir Aaron Klug’s research on viruses. Klug discovered that a three-dimensional virus model could be created based on information obtained by studying two-dimensional viruses. Philippa Brock has been experimenting with the creation of three-dimensional textile structures by folding and weaving two-dimensional pieces upon themselves.

Philippa Brock inspired by Sir Aaron Klug.

Kristin Von Glasow has created a documentary on the scientist-designer collaborations which can be viewed from the Nobel Textiles website. The festival will be held at the ICA and Saint James’ Park.

Looking through the inspiration section on del.icio.us, I came upon this great livejournal, showcasing the work of Russian artist Dmitry Maksimov.

His art evokes the spirit of Japanese toy design, implanting its imaginary creatures into a surreal context, using photoshopped photographs that retain enough reality to be off-putting and familiar at once.

The other reason this evoked a Japanese aesthetic for me is Maksimov’s usage of tilt-shift effects, which mimic miniature photography on a grand scale. He’s just taken it one step further, and actually inserted his own “miniatures” into the landscapes. The double-take we all did when we first saw those amazing Japanese tilt-shift photos is carried to its logical end here.

It immediately made me think of what a live-action Hayao Miyazaki film would be like, marrying his blob-like designs with realistic backgrounds. Although a large part of Miyazaki’s charm comes from the fully animated realization of his world, it made me wonder how well his aesthetic could translate into a live action feature.

Imagine Studio Ghibli and Pixar teaming up to create an animated feature with near photo-realistic backgrounds and a perfect CG integration of Miyazaki’s patented style. Disastrous or wonderful? Would their two approaches be compatible? Pixar’s debt to Miyazaki’s storytelling chops is well-documented, but I wonder if each studio’s visuals could ever be brought together. Maybe one day.