Bob Eckstein: Postcards from 2008

The NY Times’ George Vescey takes a look back at the year in sports with a little help from Bob Eckstein.

Ispotters Abound in Harper’s January 2009 Issue

Starting with Tim Bower's $10 trillion hangover cover, theispot subscribers kick off the New Year in style with the latest issue of Harper’s magazine.

Rob Perry: Blocked Nose?

Rob Perry's four images of pointing dogs - produced for Saatchi & Saatchi's Novartis Otrivin nasal spray campaign - have recently earned him a Gold Medal at Europe's premier creative awards ceremony, the EPICA.

2009 NPR Calendar

Imagine our thrill when we found that eight ispotters were included in the 2009 National Public Radio Calendar. What a terrific way to ring in a Happy Creative New Year!

Astrid Mueller: Happy Holiday Angels!

These little angel stickers, created by Astrid Mueller, aka PotatoMamaDesign, for the German magazine LISA, shall bring you luck as you begin the New Year. Happy Holidays, and all the best for 2009!

Colin Hayes: The Future of Aging

This illustration, created by Colin Hayes for “Military Officer's Magazine,” displays ideas for a "smart house" for senior citizens.

Elizabeth Rosen: Jewish American Heroes

Artist Elizabeth Rosen has teamed up with writer and rabbi Malka Drucker to create “Portraits of Jewish American Heroes,” an absorbing, inspiring tour of the 350-year Jewish American adventure.

John Weber: Real World Compositing

Adobe Photoshop CS4, Photoshop experts Scott Valentine and Dan Moughamian have a beautiful John Weber cover for their new book, “Real World Compositing,” for Peachpit Press.

Vecdr Studio: Cloud Card for NBC

John Gavula of Vecdr Studio just finished collaborating with Cloud Cards to illustrate NBC Universal's 2008 Holiday Card. (Yup, that’s the peacock in the center of the snowflake!)

Matt Dorfman: Scandals To Warm To

The New York Times’ Week in Review featured this double portrait of Bernard Madoff and
Rod Blagojevich by Matt Dorfman.

Ted Wright: Snow-scapes for Ambleside

Just in time to brighten a gloomy day in New York, Ted Wright shares a winter poster series for a Canadian land development named Ambleside.

David Hughes: Dead Man Laughing

In this week’s New Yorker, David Hughes illustrates a Personal History piece by Zadie Smith titled “Dead Man Laughing.”

Lara Tomlin: Elvis Costello for The New Yorker

Elvis Costello mines pop-music history on “Spectacle,” his new weekly talk show. Lara Tomlin captures him (signature specs and all) with his first guest and executive producer, Elton John, for Nancy Franklin’s review in this week’s New Yorker.

Tim Zeltner: Holiday Animation for United Airlines

Here’s a wonderful little animated Christmas card that Tim Zeltner created for United Airlines. Tim made his images traditionally, and the work was brought to life through “the wonders of modern technology” ...with none of the traditional handmade charm lost!

Spectrum 15: Loaded With Ispotters

Each year, Spectrum celebrates the very best of fantasy art. Once considered an area specific to only a handful of artists, Spectrum now honors illustrators from a wide range of disciplines whose work is truly… fantastic!

The latest edition - Spectrum’s 15th! - is out, and once again, among the ranks of winners are numerous ispotters, many with multiple pieces. Congratulations to all!

Matt Dorfman: Loudmouth Silver

Matt Dorfman recently learned from the Society of Illustrators that his 'Loudmouth' piece was awarded a Silver Medal in the Advertising, Institutional, and Uncommissioned category.

Jamie Hogan: Happy New Year- Twice!

Jamie Hogan recently completed two calendar projects for 2009, both fun flights of fancy.

An Illustrated Life

Earlier this week, Mattias Adolfsson alerted us to the long-awaited arrival of Danny Gregory’s book, “An Illustrated Life.” Our copy was delivered to the office today and we were thrilled to see how many Ispotters appear within its pages. Each artist contributed a brief essay on their approach to maintaining a sketchbook; the writing is accompanied by several pages from their visual journals.

Chris Gall: Just Another Day on the MTA…

If you’re a New Yorker, you’ve likely eyeballed your share of art posters in the city’s subway cars. Since 2000, the MTA has been commissioning these horizontal pieces so that we commuters have something interesting to gaze at while we stealthily avoid eye contact. The latest artist to interpret our daily commute is Chris Gall.

Brucie Rosch: Building a Better Investing Mousetrap

Brucie Rosch illustrated an opener and two accompanying images for this week's U.S. News & World Report. The article, entitled: "Building a Better Investing Mousetrap," is a guide to investing in Exchange-Traded Funds.

John Perlock: Where the Feet Have No Name

Body parts washing up on Pacific Northwest shores are no cause for alarm, according to the cover story of the current Seattle Weekly. John Perlock's retro horror illustration tells a slightly different story…

Ruth Rowland: Wanderlust Magazine

Ruth Rowland re-designs the logo/masthead for Wanderlust, who is celebrating 15 years of publishing with a new logo.

Mattias Adolfsson: An Illustrated Life

Swedish artist Mattias Adolfsson is one of 50 artists included in “An Illustrated Life,” by Danny Gregory. Artists from around the world show their work through the pages of their personal visual journals.

Andrea Cobb: Secrets of Simplicity

Andrea Cobb worked with Jennifer Tolo Pierce at Chronicle Books on this inspiration notebook by Mary Carlomagno.

Mary Reaves Uhles: Creating a Lift-the-Flap book

Mary Reaves Uhles talks about the challenge of creating her first Lift-the-Flap book.

Louisa Bertman: Sarah Silverman Centerfold

Louisa Bertman created a Sarah Silverman centerfold for the current issue of YRB magazine.

Kim Rosen: Kim and Ingmar Bergman

Kim Rosen illustrated a review of Ingmar Bergman's 1972 film "Cries and Whispers" in this week's New Yorker.

Todd Umbarger: The Year in Retail

Todd Umbarger has been a regular contributor to Retail Traffic magazine for over five years. Here, he presents a few pieces from 2008 which mark the downward trajectory of a discouraging year for both shopping and real estate.

Karen Craig: Holiday Cards for MoMA

The Museum of Modern Art has published two pop-up cards by Karen Craig for their Holiday Collection. “Champagne Celebration,” first published in 2007, received a Greeting Card Association of America Louie Award Nomination for Best General Holiday Greeting under $3.00.

Cedric Hohnstadt: Animated Rooster Characters

Snert Studios recently commissioned Cedric Hohnstadt to design a pair of cartoon roosters for an educational website. Below are some rough concepts and the final designs. The characters are currently being animated in Flash.

Chris Gall: There’s Nothing to Do on Mars

“There’s Nothing to Do on Mars”, written and illustrated by Chris Gall has been named a 2008 Kirkus Best Chidren’s Book.

IC14 is Full of Ispotters

The Illustrators Club of Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia — IC for short – is holding its 7th Annual Members Show this month at the Art Institute of Washington. Included in the show is the work of ispotters such as Michael Gibbs.

Chris Whetzel: MyBusiness Magazine

The Nov/Dec issue of MyBusiness Magazine boasts a strong cover about our weak economy by Chris Whetzel.

Richard Downs: The Devil and Ronnie Marquez

Richard Downs' powerful illustration for Phoenix Magazine will be included in the New York Society of Illustrators 51 Annual.

Joe Rocco: Christmas Consumption

Here's a piece by Joe Rocco for New York Newsday this week about Christmas Consumption.

Ron Barrett: Magical Crackers for Kraft

Ron Barrett, has created illustrations in his signature warm, humorous style for Kraft Foods' holiday promotion, The Tale of the Magical Crackers.

John Steven Gurney: Setting Up Perfect Reference Photos

John Steven Gurney had what he thought was a neat idea for a holiday card: Penguin "reindeer" pulling a "Santa" polar bear. Unfortunately, he wasn't aware that polar bears and penguins do not live in the same hemisphere...

Lucie Rice: Cops ‘n’ Kids

Sometimes the freelance life results in two very contrasting jobs breaking at the same time. Lucie Rice illustrated the cover of this week's issue of the Nashville Scene cover article: Police State.

Liz Lomax: PRICELESS for Mastercard

You’ll be seeing the latest “Priceless” campaign for MasterCard, created by Liz Lomax via McCann-Erickson, everywhere this holiday season.