We’re very pleased to announce that Pikaland will be offering studio services from September 2011!

We’re based in South East Asia and our studio will be representing artists and illustrators from all over the world, as well as working with them to bring concepts and ideas to life for select clients.

If you’re a client and would love to add flair to your campaigns and products, please don’t hesitate to contact Amy directly at studio{AT}pikaland.com.

If you’re an illustrator/artist who is interested in sending your portfolio for consideration for future projects, do drop us a note at studio{AT}pikaland.com.
(Please do not send large files above 2MB – let us know if your file is larger and we will arrange for an alternative service for you!)

More updates to come soon!

~ Amy

Hyesu Lee’s work is nothing short of amazing — the stuff she conjures up is all from her imagination; all the creatures, people and environments are simply out of this world! I caught up with her for a quick tête-à-tête with the artist who is currently living between New York and South Korea. I’m currently reading her comics blog Dear Anne and I love the quirky one-sided conversations she’s got going on in there!

Tell me a little bit more about yourself!

Well, well, well, this is one of the most difficult questions for me to answer as always. 🙂 I am Hyesu, I am silly, clumsy, happy, messy, all of the place very often just like my illustrations and I love to share the hidden beauty and the subtle happiness with everyone through my work, and my belief is that anything warm and cheerful is highly contagious.

Your style is amazing – quirky, offbeat and colorful! Has your style always been this way, or has it evolved from something else?

To be honest with you, I always draw the way I draw now since I was a kid, isn’t it weird? Because sometimes in the past I tried really hard in order to draw really well, but it never worked out for me. So one day I just gave up and started to do my own things. I am still jealous of people who draw and paint so well, but I am just happy with who I am. 🙂

How/Who/What are you inspired by?

Of course, there are so much inspirations and brilliant artists who inspired me out there, so that I am not snobbish to choose ones. 🙂
Not only I am really inspired by all worldly things animals, plants, and the web-like connection between everything in nature, but also I am fascinated with my relationship with others around me.

I really want to have a better understanding about the essence that connects me and everyone else and interprets it into a visual. That’s one of my missions I am on. 🙂

What’s your favourite medium?

I love the mixture of all different kinds of medium. When I am lazy I use crayons, when I feel more lazy I use Photoshop, when I feel messy, I use collage, when I want to feel more like grown-up I use paints, when I miss my country I use Korean paints.

Who would be your dream client? / Who would you like to work for?

Ooooooo, I need so much space to answer this question, because there are so many clients I want to work for.

But if I have to choose one, I would love to work with Chronicle Books, because there have been so many books that inspired me from the publisher, so I am sure that they would appreciate great artists, and art.

{Thanks Hyesu!}

Alexx Boisjoli runs a small design studio in Toronto that focuses on ceramics, and he emailed me about his latest project that involves the production of one thousand bottles with ten illustrators.

Alexx says:
The Bottled Project hopes to create a direct connection between the craft world and illustration, we hope to give the opportunity of ceramic production to ten designers who may not have the chance otherwise. In collaborating we’re hoping to expand skills of ceramics with the creative talents of emerging illustrators.

Their first illustrator is Nolan Pelletier (whom you may remember from my post here ) and it looks absolutely lovely! I think he may still be looking for an illustrator or two, and you can contact him directly for more information — here’s the design brief.

For those who’d like to collect these pretty little works of art, you can head over to Alexx’s Etsy shop.