Here at MDHQ we’re always on the look out for new stuff to inspire us. When we find something we think might inspire others we shove it out to twitter and spread the love to one and all. Recently we came across the work of Timothy J. Reynolds and were instantly captivated by his style and work. Timothy is an exhibit designer and illustrator based in Milwaukee, WI. Born and raised in the south and originally from Winston-Salem, he picked up the random nickname Turnis when he was a kid and it just stuck. He went to school for architecture, worked in a design firm or two, and then his quit his job and sold everything he owned and left. Wow!

We got in touch with Timothy to ask him if he’d be interested in getting involved with our Ten Questions series. He said YES, so check out his replies…

Keep reading…

From his home in Norway, Magnus Voll Mathiassen produces some stunning design and illustration work for a wide range of clients. It’s difficult to describe his style, as he brings a completely new and different approach to each project. In 2009 he parted ways with Grandpeople, the studio he co-founded, and set up shop under his own name. Since then his work has effortlessly crossed the boundaries from hard-edged graphic illustrations to experimental typography treatments to loosely sketched drawing styles to abstract, organic watercolour. Always different and always brilliant, he has collaborated with the likes of Nike, Intel, Microsoft, Sony, Varoom Magazine and Adidas as well as a number of personal projects and exhibitions.

We got in touch with Magnus to ask him if he’d be interested in getting involved with our Ten Questions series. He swiftly obliged and here’s what he had to say…

Keep reading…

It’s been a long time since the last installment in our regular Ten Questions series. Too long. With this in mind, we got in touch with the brilliant Sam Green and asked him if he fancied getting involved.

Thankfully, he was up for it.

Sam is a London-based illustrator who creates stunning, abstract, dreamlike images. Since graduating from Central St. Martins, his work has attracted a client-list which includes 55DSL, Big Chill Festival, Dazed & Confused, The New York Times, Nokia, The Times and Wallpaper* amongst others. We love what he’s doing and can’t wait to see what he’s up to next.

Keep reading…

What Jonathan Zawada does is difficult to define as his work blurs the lines between design, art and illustration. The one thing we’re sure of is he’s a uniquely talented guy and we’re big fans of his. Alongside a number of exhibitions showing his personal work, he has been commissioned by clients such as The New York Times, The Type Directors Club, Nike, Sixpack and Commonwealth Stacks.

Based in Los Angeles by way of Sydney, he works in a way which creates wildly varied and always visually stunning results. Effortlessly moving between commercial client work and experimental personal projects, Jonathan seems to approach each piece from a completely different perspective resulting in a body of work which is both amazing to look at and truly original (the latter of which is a rare thing to see these days).

Mr. Zawada kindly agreed to take the hot seat and answer our Ten Questions. Here’s what he had to say…

Keep reading…

Whether we like it or not, here at Mat Dolphin, we conform to a few incredibly predictable ‘designer stereotypes’. One of the big ones is the fact that we’re unashamedly geeky Star Wars fans. And we’re not alone. Amongst our peers it’s clear that whilst it’s not a prerequisite for a graphic designer to be hugely influenced by the creativity and storytelling of the George Lucas masterpiece, it helps.

So, it’s with great sadness that we heard about the death of Ralph McQuarrie, the conceptual designer and illustrator who’s sketches and paintings played a huge role in defining the look of the original trilogy. Designing key characters such as Darth Vader, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C3PO as well as many of the sets and vehicles, McQuarrie was instrumental in creating what would become some of the most iconic imagery in film.

Also playing the uncredited role of Pharl McQuarrie in The Empire Strikes Back, he has had an undeniable impact on millions and his pioneering, unique vision will be not be forgotten.

George Lucas remembers “…his genial contribution, in the form of unequaled production paintings, propelled and inspired all of the cast and crew of the original Star Wars trilogy. When words could not convey my ideas, I could always point to one of Ralph’s fabulous illustrations and say, ‘do it like this’.”

Keep reading…

This is the 25th post in our Ten Questions series and as it’s a bit of a milestone we thought we’d do something special. Since we started the series, we’ve spoken to some of our favourite designers, illustrators, writers, artists and creative directors. This time, after months of talking to her agent and countless emails, we’ve finally managed to pin down a response from a uniquely talented individual who can turn her hand to all of these disciplines and many more. A true visionary and all round creative renaissance woman, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce Abigail Dixon. Writing, illustrating, art directing and overseeing production of her own independently published books, she has forged a unique, distinctive style that is gaining a huge amount of attention within the creative industries. Expect big things from this one, you heard it here first…

See below for what happened when Abigail was kind enough to take some time out of her day to answer our Ten Questions.

Keep reading…

Jon Burgerman is a multidisciplinarian artist and illustrator who has created a unique, distinctive style of his own. Often working on a large scale, his loose, colourful creations are instantly recognisable and have graced all manner of client commissions, personal work and solo gallery shows around the world. Alongside drawing on stuff he lectures at a number of universities and produces lots of lovely things for you lucky people to spend your money on in his excellent shop – in need of an laptop sleeve, pillow or pair of socks? Get them all and much, much more at Burgerplex.

Mr. Burgerman kindly agreed to be the first Ten Questions participant of 2012 and we’re very happy to get him involved in the series. Read on for plenty of random ramblings, beautiful doodles and a glimpse inside the mans mind – it’s an interesting place to be.

Keep reading…

We realised recently that it’s been AGES since we last posted a Five Things. For the uninitiated, it’s a regular series in our blog in which we share five interesting, creative things that we’ve spotted on the world wide internet over the course of the last week or so. It’s always a mixed bag, and this post in no different. Jelly hand grenades, flying dogs, sitting on Hercules’ face and festive booze are just a few of the things you can expect to see this time round. Take two minutes out of your day, put your feet up and have a look at what we’ve found for you.

Keep reading…

A retreat to Japan in an attempt to escape London for a while was the starting point for John Paul Thurlow’s best known work. Whilst drawing the contents of his room he came across a travel sized copy of British Elle and recreated the cover as a pencil drawing (amending the title to read ‘Hell’ as an expression of his mood). From that point on John Paul has made it his mission to ‘recreate cover art for every great magazine and record’ he owns. The meticulously intricate drawings are far from perfect reproductions – they are filled with his own additional scrawlings, notes, thoughts, feelings and scribbles to make them a one of a kind piece of art based on a mass produced piece of media.

John Paul was kind enough to take the time out to answer our Ten Questions.

Keep reading…

We first became aware of the work of Liam Brazier through the image bookmarking site Ffffound. His illustrations of Star Wars characters and superheroes in a distinctive, skewed style caught our attention = simple, stylish and refreshingly original. We checked out his portfolio and saw a wide range of varying styles and techniques in both static and moving image for clients such as Dazed & Confused, Creative Review, Design Week, Glastonbury, the Museum of London and Virgin TV. So, we thought we’d get in touch to see if Liam would be interested in answering our Ten Questions. He kindly obliged and gave us the following insight into the life of an illustrator – although please, don’t call him that.

Keep reading…

For the latest installment of our Ten Questions series we got in touch with Cornwall based Ben The Illustrator. For over a decade Ben’s unique views of the world have been wrapped around cars, stretched along shop walls, solved problems, covered magazines, advertised fruit juice, satisfied clients, accompanied orchestras, adorned underwear and welcomed you at airports. Having worked with the likes of BBC, Cadbury’s, Girl Scouts of USA, Michelin, Honda and Land Rover amongst others, Ben has helped make the world look a better place. He likes to keep busy too. If you haven’t already seen he’s dreamt up a new way to market himself with bensseasonalbillboard.com, and recently oragnised www.therenmenproject.co.uk.

Ben kindly took time out of his busy day to answer our Ten Questions.

Keep reading…

An Aberdeenshire fish farm is not necessarily the typical breeding ground you’d expect for developing young creative talent, but the flora and fauna surrounding Johanna Basford in her early years had a lasting impact on her work. Her intricate and beautiful illustration style is organic and free-flowing, and she uses the highly futuristic medium of pen and paper — with Photoshop coming to the rescue to remove any tea stains. We’re big fans of her work and it seems we’re not alone — clients such as DKNY, Channel 4, H&M, Creative Review, Heals, The Tate Modern, The Body Shop and Johnson & Johnson have formed an orderly queue to commission her work. And no doubt you know already know about her love affair with Starbucks?

Johanna put the fineliner down for two minutes to answer our Ten Questions.

Keep reading…

For the latest installment of our Ten Questions series we got in touch with Barcelona based Alex Trochut. An illustrator and designer who’s elaborate ‘more is more’ style has gained him a huge amount of attention and a great client list. Having worked with the likes of Adidas, MTV, Coca-Cola, British Airways, The Guardian, Converse and Nike amongst others, Alex has created a look of his own, fusing beautiful typography with fluid, intricate illustrations. His work has gained him a great reputation in the design industry and a number of imitators have emerged in his wake – none of whom can keep up with his constantly evolving style. With numerous personal projects and a recent foray into collaborative 3D sculptural work, Alex certainly keeps himself busy.

He was generous enough to take some time out to tackle our questions. See below to read what he had to say and check out some of his work.

Keep reading…

Being the kind, sharing types we are, we thought it was only right to shine the spotlight on a few other design blogs out there. We regularly stumble across new blogs and thought it would be an idea to share some of the best ones with you. We’ve catagorised them by discipline but most of them tend to cover a wide range of topics so you’re bound to find something of interest. By no means a defintive list, the sites we’ve listed below should at the very least be a good starting point. Get bookmarking!

Keep reading…

The new year sees the continuation of our Ten Questions series in which we ask fellow designers, illustrators, photographers, directors and other random creative folk the same set of questions. The answers always vary and always give an insight into the thought process behind the work. You can see the others in the series here.

I’ve been a fan of Mario Hugo‘s work for a long time. I came across his original site, the now defunct loveworn.com and found the beautiful illustrations and intricate, playful typography a constant source of inspiration. Since I first became aware of his work Mario has gone on to work with clients such as Dolce & Gabbana, Wired Magazine, Microsoft, Channel 4, Interscope Records and, most recently, Stella McCartney. His talent has also caught the attention of design agencies such as Non-Format and Spin, who have called upon his distinctive style for various projects. Somehow he’s also found the time to work on numerous personal projects and exhibitions.

Keep reading…

Hellovon is the name of the London based illustration studio run by Von. Since 2006, Von has been churning out distinctive, beautiful illustrations for a great client list including Nike, Liberty, Glenfiddich, Ministry of Sound and Habitat. His appeared in a number of publications including Creative Review, Dazed and Confused, Rolling Stone and Playboy.

He was kind enough to answer our Ten Questions.

Keep reading…

Peter Crawley is an illustrator who has developed a distinctive style of his own using thread weaved into pierced paper. A product designer by day, the images he creates depicting architecture, animals, geometric shapes and typography are largely personal projects but since his work has been noticed by a number of blogs it’s only a matter of time before the commissions start rolling in.

Keep reading…

Roya Hamburger is an artist and illustrator based in Amsterdam. Her work is a mix of illustration, photography and typography which aims to cross the boundries between the worlds of commercial illustration and fine art. Since graduating from the esteemed Willem De Kooning Academy of Arts in Rotterdam, Roya has worked for a long list of international clients including Cosmopolitan, Elle, M Magazine, British Airways, Postbank, Deloitte and Martini.

Roya was kind enough to take some time out to join in with our Ten Questions series.

Keep reading…

Douglas Bowden is a UK based illustrator and designer working under the name of Panda Yoghurt. His work for high profile clients including MTV, Computer Arts magazine, Wired magazine, Vodafone and Ninjatune has seen him develop his style into a unque blend of fluid illustrations and typography mixed with photography and collage. He was generous enough to take some time out to get involved with our ‘Ten Questions‘ blog series. Read on for his answers and some great examples of his work – more of which can be seen here.

Keep reading…

Five Things part five! The next installment in our regular blog series. We’ve been super busy of late what with new client wins and a much needed overhaul of our site but a few things have come to our attention over the last week or so that we thought were worth sharing.

Keep reading…