Location: Melbourne, Australia
Website: Loobylu

Claire Robertson is an illustrator, a writer, a crafter, and an all-around generous creative person. Her blog is a constant source of wonderful links and inspirations, and she’s been at it consistently for over ten years now!

Of all the contributors to the Cloudy Collection, I think I’ve known about Claire’s work the longest. She illustrated the cover of a book written by Derek Powazek that inspired me not only to create my EnchantedCeiling photo project, but also to get myself back into making art and illustration (the contents inspired the website, the cover inspired the art-making.) I also started making plush toys because of her Month of Softies project, which got me into the Plush You! shows I’ve been doing for five years, and which also got me a spot in a book about making your own plush critters.

All that is to say, THANK YOU CLAIRE! You set the ball rolling for me almost ten years ago, even if you weren’t aware of it. It is a true honor to have Claire do a print with us!

Location: Charlotte, NC
Website: DHARBIN!

Dustin Harbin used to be best known as one of the organizers of Charlotte, NC’s, HeroesCon. Of course, that was before everyone realized he was an amazing artist himself. In addition to his fantastic illustration work, his comic strip recently went daily with diary comics, and the world is a better place for it.

I’d heard rumors about Dustin’s driving via another web comic. Fortunately when I was hanging out with him at SPX last year, his car had a flat tire. On a more brotherly note, Dustin (and Scott Campbell and Kate Beaton) took me under their collective wing for the weekend, and my first SPX experience was made because of it. Dustin’s wisecracks sounded gorgeous in his Carolina accent, and it’s even more fun to read his comics now, imagining that voice as narrator. If you ever get a chance to spend some time with this guy and/or his drawings, don’t miss it!

Location: Toledo, OH
Website: Dustin Amery Hostetler
Portfolio: UPSO
Blog: Think Faest!

Dustin Hostetler (a.k.a. UPSO) uses intricate drawings made up of simple lines and sharp bursts of color to set you up and then blow you over. He puts his pens and pixels to work for places like Motorola, Converse, American Eagle, and Verizon, all the way over to Upper Playground, Burton, Kid Robot, and so many more. He recently parted ways with Threadless, but not before curating some amazing shirts into their Select Series. Dustin is also the creator of the amazing art zine, Faesthetic, currently in it’s twelfth gorgeous issue.

Though I have been a fan and collector of Faesthetic for ages, it was his solo show at Carrboro, NC, gallery Wootini where I first saw Dustin’s amazing work collected in one place. His gray-toned illustrations mixed with explosions of color is like dropping chocolate into peanut butter. Filled with eyes and hands and skulls and color, and this one sparrow sitting on a pile of rainbow-colored jewels, I instantly fell in love with his art.

Location: Chatham, MA
Website: Bob Staake Studio

You’ve probably seen his children’s books. Maybe you’ve seen his cartoons. And I’m sure you’ve see Bob Staake’s New Yorker covers. Bob is notorious for insisting on using one of the earliest versions of Photoshop, and his feats of hardware maintenance must be epic to be able to run a Mac old enough to handle the program. But the art doesn’t lie! Photoshop, pencils, ink: all just tools. And in the hands of this master of illustration, who cares what he’s using to make his amazing work?

His clients certainly don’t care. While his website claims the list of those clients is too long to post, you can piece it together (or I have anyway…): American Express, Anheuser Busch, AOL Time Warner, AT&T, Barron’s, Blockbuster Video, Bloomsbury, Boston Globe, Cartoon Network, Chicago Tribune, Children’s Television Workshop, Christian Science Monitor, Coca-Cola, Coors, Disney, Fantagraphics, Foote Cone Belding, Forbes, General Mills, Hallmark Cards, HarperCollins, Hershey’s, Holiday Inn, Hostess, Kenner Toys, Klutz Press, Little Golden Books, Little, Brown, MAD Magazine, Mattel, McDonald’s, Miami Herald, MTV & Nickelodeon, National Football League, Nintendo, Parents, Penguin Putnam, Playboy, Ralston Purina, Random House, Scholastic, Simon + Schuster, Smart Money, Sony Music, Sports Illustrated For Kids, Sunkist, Target Stores, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, TIME, U.S. News + World Report, Viacom, Viking Children’s Books, Warner Books, and probably a lot more. Um, okay, that is a bit long to post.

I’ve been a fan of Bob’s work since I stumbled onto his website almost ten years ago. I always catch myself doing a giddy little double-take when I recognize another one of his books or illustrations. Not that I needed an excuse before, but now that I have a young daughter I don’t feel so guilty buying up a bunch of children’s books. My latest acquisition was a Little Golden Book Bob illustrated of the good old ABCs. While my my daughter’s library will certainly swell along with his “Bobliography”, I’m especially excited to grow my collection of prints with a 4″x6″ letterpressed Bob Staake to hang on the wall.

Location: Brooklyn, NY
Website: Julia Rothman
Blog: Book By Its Cover

Julia Rothman is a prolific illustrator and pattern designer with a list of clients you’ve probably heard of. Places like the New York Times, Urban Outfitters, Details Magazine, and Chronicle Books. And along with her partners at the design firm Also, Julia helped build the entire website for Cartoon Brew, from logo to blog to an online store for vintage animation, and they revamped the popular schmancy-looking-stuff blog Design*Sponge. Julia also recently participated in Design by the Book, a project with the New York Public Library and Design*Sponge to make works based on books from the library’s archives, which resulted in the fabric used on these great pillows.

I first became familiar with Julia through her fantastic blog, Book by its Cover, where she highlights books she’s discovered and collected. After watching the videos from the Design by the Book project, I sought out this great tutorial on creating your own pattern repeats by hand, which I have used for my own purposes as well as for lessons in the classes I teach. Now that I recognize her style, I see her work on everything from housewares to websites to wallpaper (and I don’t mean computer desktops – I mean the wall of your house!) It’s a special honor for me to have Julia in this set because it was her pattern tutorial that gave me the idea for this theme in the first place!