Le Shouvre

Pencil Squeezing is the blog of contemporary artist Michael Gillette. He’s perhaps most well-known for his recent series of covers for the new Penguin editions of Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007 novels (link here). Several years back he also designed the artwork for the Beastie Boys’ album, To the Five Boroughs (link here).

A quick browse through his blog, which he basically uses to showcase some of his work, will reveal how varied his work can be. He’s had a considerable amount of commercial success, illustrating for a wide range of professional clients, including big names like Microsoft and Apple. He uses a lot of watercolour, and his portraits in particular can be really vibrant. Plus, you gotta love those rock-star insects.

William  J. O’Brien is a Chicago-based artist, who is currently gaining some attention in the alternative music circuit, as he is responsible for the artwork for Grizzly Bear’s new album, Veckatimest.

I’d not heard of him before, but there’s something very soothing about the types of colours he uses. Many of his drawings are simply colour pencil and ink on paper, and they can have an almost

kitsch-like quality to them at times, but I really like the overall feel, and the simple, unassuming patterns. These sorts of designs could probably look really effective on a pair of shoes, and pastel tones would create a bright but unostentatious result. 

The pictures here don’t do the drawings full justice however, as the the colours have lost a lot of their saturation from the scanning. For a better idea, go to the Grizzly Bear website and check out the backgrounds of each page.

I’ve received an order for a pair of espadrilles, a day after I’d been perusing the shops and decided it would be cool to try customizing a few pairs anyway. Maybe it’s the incredible weather we’ve had in Edinburgh for the past few days warping my brain, but it seems like they’re ideal for long, hot sunny days.

Typically made out of a thin layer of soft canvas, with some form of rubber and string combination for a light, unique-looking sole, they’re usually quite cheap (between £10-£20), and they practically embody sunshine.

I’ll see how the commission goes, but they should be fun, and will hopefully look great. Having originally been quite rude about them when they started making a fashionable comeback a couple of years ago, I’ve gotta say, now I’m starting to warm up to them… (No doubt the inevitable Edinburgh rain will bring an end to such thoughts!)

I’m thinking the ol’ Rubik’s cube works wonders. The first shoes Lyle and I made, way back in the darkest days of early 2007 had the classic symbol of pop culture as their centrepiece, so it seems fitting that it become a resurfacing image to associate with the brand. 

This is the latest logo I’ve been working on with the whole Rubik’s theme. Quite a few of its predecessors have revolved around cube formations, but I think this works nicely.

I recently went out and bought a “fun cube” (the lesser-known little brother of the official Rubik’s Cube (registered trademark), who happens to be a fraction of the price). Instead of coloured stickers, it has capital letters, so you can in theory rearrange the cubes until the squares spell out funny three-letter words, Boggle style. It seemed like a good purchase at the time; it has since proven completely useless. It’s like a really, really crap Boggle.

Note to self: stick to the colours. Rubik knew what he was doing.