Monday, September 8, 2008

Charley Harper - A Personal Favorite

"I don't count the feathers, I just count the wings" - Charley Harper

I am a HUGE fan of illustrator Charley Harper's work, he is probably one of my favorite artists of all time. I am so inspired by the simplistic, yet precise and geometric approach to his illustrations, as well as his use of silkscreen and layering that works so beautifully with his style. His work is modern and clean, but anything but flat and boring, they are full of life, movement and emotion.

Best known for the children's book The Golden Book of Biology, Harper was an extraordinarily prolific graphic designer contributing his unique, geometric style to a wide range of publications, including Ford Times, Betty Crocker's Dinner for Two Cookbook and graphics produced by the Audubon Society and the National Park Service. I seriously would love to have one of everything he has ever made, including the skate decks he did for Habitat.

Currently, I have only just a few of Charley's books, ABC's and Birds & Words, although I still would love to have Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life - (my birthday is coming up if everyone wants to chip in and get it for me). I am also hoping to purchase some of his beautiful prints in the near future.

Click here for the Flickr group dedicated to Charley Harper.

Here is an essay on Harper by Todd Oldham from Handmade Modern






Just a very very small sample of some of my absolute favorite prints from Harper:







2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have it on good authority that the studio will be releasing a new line of Skate decks later this year. I'm pretty excited to see them.

Hero Design Studio + Boutique said...

ooh well please let us know when they release these. I NEED to get my hands on some.
Thanks