From the artist
“I consider my art to be incredibly simple, but with a bit of color. I like contrast and some blending when I can. I stick to simple shapes and paths which allow me to fill with color/colors.”

Which ones are your favorites? Like, share and comment below.

The post Meet Featured Artist Mig Sharp appeared first on Art and Design Inspiration.

Some saw all, some saw it obscured. However, for the following designers & artists, the Solar Eclipse of 2017 was a source of visual inspiration and exciting poster design that documented the event.

Check out our curated list of the most interesting and creative posters expressing the American solar eclipse.

Poster sources: Anderson Design Group, Tyler Nordgren, Willamette University & Unknown.

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Milton Glaser live a long and creative life, and died at the age of 91. He emerged as a prolific purveyor of visual culture in the 1960s. Glaser’s brand of graphic design distinctively captured the spirit of the psychedelic sixties. Bob Dylan, The Rolling stones, and The Beatles were all packaged in concert poster and vinyl records with Glaser’s groovy blend of comic book colors and clear-cut images. Glaser’s catalogue of designs certainly convey a Warholesque blending of abstract expressionism with everyday items and the icons of the time. Similar to Andy Warhol, Glaser redefined the Western conception of Popular Art that appealed to the media culture. Graphic design emerged as a standard of twentieth century art due to Glaser’s contribution to advertising popular culture. However, to exemplify the lingering influence of Glaser’s work within the frame of modern culture, his biography will be slightly explored.

Born in the late 1920s in New York City, Glaser graduated from the Cooper Union institute with a degree in graphic design and paved his way as an illustrator during the rise of television culture in the 1950s. Glaser co-founded Push Pin Studios with a group of his fellow Cooper Union graduates and experimentally changed the scope of both graphic design and visual art.

From Bob Dylan to I love New York

Essentially, Glaser sought to redefine the breadth of Modern Art during his early period. Glaser translated the burgeoning counterculture as his fame increased throughout the 1960s. Glaser’s technique of superimposing, or layering, smooth figures with a palette of dynamic colors was famously distinguished in his 1966 print of Bob Dylan. Referred by the Smithsonian as the ‘Sign of the Times,’ Glaser captures the enigmatic persona of Bob Dylan with the blush of psychedelic curls that contrasts his opaque outline. Glaser generated great success after his Dylan portrait was laminated on the cover of his greatest hits compilation, which sold more than six million copies. Glaser’s celebrity heightened as he was contracted to create logos such as the I Heart New York design.

Redefining the Elusive Boundaries of What Constitutes Art

Much in the same way Andy Warhol melded the conventions of high art with popular culture, Glaser expanded the possibilities for graphic designers to infiltrate the economics of the media. Glaser received the National Medal of Arts in 2009, which informs his legacy of pushing the envelope with redefining the elusive boundaries of what constitutes art. Essentially, the twentieth century Postmodern Art movement- which employs techniques such as juxtaposing high culture with low culture, minimal design elements, and collaging different art forms- owes a debt to Glaser for establishing the medium of graphic design within the sphere of Postmodernism.

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Circus Posters & Advertising – Set the Expectation for the Ringling Brothers Circus

When it all began, before the Internet and social media, expectation and promotion for the circus was set with stunning posters that depicted circus acts, animals, oddities, clowns and more. These visuals were installed and promoted weeks ahead of the show and were often the first form of communications. The posters set the stage for excitement and anticipation as bold colorful graphics expressing the awe and excitement of the circus were placed in store windows, telephone poles and billboard signs.

Circus Advertising was a challenge before the media, as we know it today. The circus owner had to create a bold brand and also stir an excitement that no one could miss. These visuals and graphics had to have a WOW impact like no other!

Often these advertisements only ran for a day. Everything hinged on the design of circus poster. Throughout the circus decades there have been dozens upon dozens of unique circus poster designs. Here are a few of our favorites.

Charles Livingston Bull

One of most memorable designs ever produced as a circus poster design was that of a ferocious leaping tiger for Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey combined Shows. The poster was designed by Illustrator Charles Livingston Bull in 1915 and used continuously to 1928.

Edward Potthast

Equestrian acts were a big draw for circuses and in 1920, Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows featured “Chariot Race” on this poster designed by significant 19th-century American artist Edward Potthast.

Take a look at more unique Barnum and Bailey Vintage Circus Posters!

Circus Animals Illustrated

THE LARGEST GORILLA EVER EXHIBITED
Gargantua was one of the most famous headliners in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He was born in the jungles of the Congo in 1929.

Circus Performer’s

Child Protege
Mr. Mistin Jr. was a child prodigy on the xylophone who performed for RB in the early ’50’s.

Clowns

And what is a circus without clowns!

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March 6th marks the death of Nadya Rusheva (1952-1969) who tragically died at 17 years old. In Russia she is well known but virtually unheard of in the West. Her story is one of inspiration to me for several reasons.

At 5 she started drawing and at 7 years old her parents (also artistic- father a theatre artist and mother a ballerina), recognized her talent and encouraged her in the direction of Illustration. Young with adult like insight, she captured everyday scenes and renderings from classic novels. Every day she painted and in one sitting as her father read “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” she drew 36 illustrations expressing the story.

For the time period, the location and the fact of being a young female Illustrator in a man’s realm she achieved fame in Russia. Rusheva is most famous for her illustrations of Mikhail Bulgakova’s Master and Margarita which was originally banned in the Soviet Union because of religious undertones.

Fellow artists and academics have praised her talent. In Russia she continues to be admired. During her short life she created over 10,000 drawings. Impulsive, real and free of all conventions, they were perceived by her contemporaries as a revelation.

Below are from her famous Illustrations of Mikhail Bulgakova’s Master and Margarita and others.

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