Who: JW and Melissa Buchanan
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Website: The Little Friends of Printmaking

JW and Melissa are amazing artists who are masters of their craft, from design to drawing to brilliant tricks of transparent ink and layering in their screenprints. There is always a hidden gem or two or three that you don’t notice until you’ve stared at the print for a while, scooped your jaw up off the floor, taken a break to finish your beer and recover, then go back again for another viewing. The work is like the offspring of Richard Scarry, Charley Harper, Little Golden Books, Mad Magazine, and heaps of magic. They’ve been featured in design annuals, magazines like Juxtapoz, and blogs from here to next century, with clients big, clients small, and clients always a little bit awesomer after they’ve worked with the Little Friends.

I knew about JW and Melissa and their screenprints through Michael and Dan over at Aesthetic Apparatus, but it wasn’t until JW sat in on some projects at Planet Propaganda that I got to know them in-person. Sarcasm seems downright jolly after chatting with this hilarious pair for a while. Dark and ridiculous and passionate and caring, they pour themselves into their work, and it shows. I just wish I had more rooms in my house to hang their work.