Levon Jihanian is a BFA high honor grad from Art Center in Pasadina. His stuff doens't seem super influenced by all those art school kids, its still genuine and a style all his own. Its unrefined, but bold. His illustrations look almost like they were done with 25 cent bic pens. Anyway, they've got alot of personality. Give'em a glace on his site.
This guys a loopy character. I really can't find out much about him, besides he's a canadian, he's pretty respected among the low-brow artists up there, and his work is pretty distinct. It does remind me of David Shrigley though, but a little less thoughtout maybe? I dunno what I think of this guys stuff. I wish I could see a little more. His work consists of his corky root/poop/weed characters, and his dog renderings which he adds nice effects to with airbrush. He also does a lot of animation, graffitti, and sock puppets. A pretty unique combination of works. Anyway, some of his drawings and animations brought a chuckle to my throat, so I thought I'd share his link.
I also found this short interview he did, it was interesting: interview link
For those of you who don't know who Ed Gorey is, you will soon enough (I'm designing a website about him for a class, and I'll inform you). Anyway I made my first Flash animation, and I'm sure I'll regret posting this for all to see, because I'll later learn alot more about using Flash and this animation will embarrass me. But until then, enjoy: here's the link. The music is compliments of the talented Zach Carr. If you're bored click the link above the animation and browse my updated portfolio.
Let me know what ya think
So I'm guessing everyone is familiar with Banksy (if not, get familiar: http://www.banksy.co.uk/). He is holding a renegade warehouse expo in LA, Sept. 15th, 16th, and 17th. I plan on being in attendance and there's a good chance I may be at the press conference on the 13th to conduct an interview/informative piece for SLUG magazine. For those of you who enjoy Banksy's work and are curious about the mysteriouso himself; post questions that you may have and I will do my best to solicit the good ones.
Dave-eh Leflair, coming from Ivins France, is one of the more original groundbreaking artist who will soon release his own website, filled to brim with his eyepoping illustrations, and word is he is currently creating resin casted zombie-head shift nobs for HotRod enthusiasts. Stay tuned for more news on this new artisitc enigma. 
I read this this article Derek Lamb (a wellknown 1970's animator) wrote about meeting with Edward Gorey. They wanted to work with Edward Gorey in desinging the opening titles to "Mystery" a PBS program.
"Gorey had arrived at the meeting with a fully scripted idea for the title sequence, an intriguing concept using a Victorian children's puppet theater. Unfortunately the script timed-out at twenty minutes in length. Joan needed a mere 40 seconds. An impasse already."
Although they ended up having to re-design the title sequence on their own after reviewing Gorey's ideas and books, I so wish I could watch his actual original 20 min version!
Here's a few peices of art he created for the his original 20 min script.
And here is the final product for PBS's progam "Mystery" title sequence
Amazing in all styles, his simple cartoon stetches, his classical paintings, realistic or non, he's staggering. Check out all of his portfolio, he's incredibly versatile. He did a lot of conceptaul illustrations for the movie Monster House. Which I recommend, it was an entertaining film, scarey, funny, different, and visually remarkable. Defiantly not just another animated Pixar type movie.
link Froghat Studios
I was never really into portrait photography, until I came across the creative genius of the folks at istoica everyday.
Ron Mueck's disturbingly hyper-real sculptures are finally being brought together in a long-overdue show in Edinburgh.
Article link
click the "In pictures: in the studio with Ron Mueck" link at the top of the article to see a slide show of him working on his stuff. Pretty wild.
Eltono & Nuria are Spanish artists that do incredibly simple yet detailed and smart line designs. The colouring is usually bright and lovely and the placement of the exterior pieces always give off an unobtrusive, yet concentrated 'fit.' The patterns only slightly deviate in style and form, staying relatively consistent, but always look new and refreshing in each piece. I'm thoroughly impressed by the the subtlety and design of their work and the 'canvas' use that compliments rather than distracts, making for an appropriateness that many artists lack in their street applications.
Easily one of my favorite artists right now. I've put a new emphasis on pattern-making lately because of these two. http://www.eltono.com/
