Every weekend Joe List peppers his copy of the Guardian newspaper with cute, slimy, dorky creatures. He gives a face to every faceless object, and ensures that cranky dinosaurs in tiny bowler hats are given their front-page glory! With online news becoming the norm now, he might not have much longer to get these creatures down on actual newsprint, so we best make the most of it while we can, right?

Confession. We've actually mentioned Joe before. OKAT featured The Annotated Weekender on DA in 2009 (yep, that long ago...) but since you probably don't have the spare-time or the breathing apparatus to dive that deep into our archives, here it is again. There's over FOUR YEARS of new content for you to catch up on and giggle at.

Here are a few of my favourites. This was not an easy cull to make!

Sometimes when I'm feeling sad or lost, I doodle. But I've always been a bit ashamed of the doodling I do when I'm not in an upbeat headspace. It's darker and sketchier than my normal stuff. There's a lot of confusing patterns and sad faces. As soon as my pen comes off the paper, all I want to do is scrunch it up and throw it away - maybe because it feels cathartic to get rid of it, but also because I have this notion in my head that doodling should always be playful and happy and fun!

But it doesn't always have to be, does it? I mean, if doodling is an honest chat between your brain and the paper, it can't always be just sunshine and kitten faces and those happy little circle patterns. Sometimes the pen digs in a little deeper.



I started thinking about all this after finding the online sketchbook of 17-year-old Jenny from South Carolina. She posts up pretty doodlings that speak about hopelessness and feeling lost. It quite intimate to scroll through and hear her inner thoughts... like when you notice someone, and they're smiling or whatever, but then for a second you catch a sadness in their eyes and you know that their mind is elsewhere for a moment.

Anyhow, I'm glad Jenny didn't scrunch these up and throw them away, they're lovely.

My visual acuity has just been dominated by Corinne Wright's ridiculously-detailed textured doodles. It is as if, like a virus, each line is slowly overpowering and devouring the landscape they occupy.

Well played Corinne, well played.

If I were to do a big written introduction right now, it'd be like having your big brother stand on his tip-toes and dangle an ice-cream above your head, just out of arms reach. You'd be like, aww come on, JUST GIVE IT TO ME already!

So I'll make it quick. These are the sketchbooks of illustrator, designer & wild child, Natalie Andrewson. They're really cool. OK, bye! *finally drops the ice-cream into your hands and walks off with a smug look on my face*

Heather and Tracy from Sunny Little Studio are bringing your kid's imagination to life by taking their flat 2D drawings and turning them into real-life plush toys. Just looking at some of their examples has re-kindled so much joy within me. Every creation is spontaneous and fun and the end result is some of the most creative plush toys I have ever seen. Wow... do I feel like a kid at a candy store.

I can't recall exactly how I came to find Miguel's work…but I know that once I found it I immediately bookmarked it so I would always be able to go back to it. The playful nature in the forms, the way he interpreted movements, expressions and colors grabbed me instantly and set into motion my imagination.



Having become friends with Miguel I can see a lot of his heritage fused into his playful drawings. Each line has a purpose, every character is loose and full of life. It's such a rarity to find artists / illustrators / designers who throw care to the wind and let there hands do the talking and who are excited about sharing / creating.

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I started doing a drawing a day back in November with some friends on instagram. It started as a way for me to challenge myself everyday with some repetition and also to get more comfortable with being less perfect. My process for this challenge is pretty simple… I just try to stretch myself with materials, subject matter, time constraints, etc. I have found a great love for working in collage and incorporating drawing, typography, and construction paper. Like I said it's a unique opportunity to break out of client work and explore materials and myself at the same time.



I often go to thrift stores looking for different things that I can use in pieces that I am making. I find pulling from the past and combining it with what I naturally do gives work a nostalgic feel that I love. On one adventure to some thrift stores I came across a Presidential Flashcard set from the late 70's. It came with fantastic renditions of presidents on the front and interesting facts on the back. I was immediately drawn to the period clothes, hair and grooming styles. Continue reading »