Aren’t they cute?! A couple weeks ago I was asked by James Hosking, the art director of the Chicago Reader, to think about cicadas for a cover. Not just any cicadas. THE cicadas. Billions of them, brood XIX and brood XIII, popping out of the ground after 13 and 17 years of larval stage for the Double Emergence. After the eclipse and the Northern lights, it’s time for Illinois to party with bugs.
The cover was made using several techniques, with paper cut by hand and by way of a laser cutter (thanks to Margie of the Itty Bitty Mini Mart) that were then hand-painted. Thank you James for your trust and patience and dedication to the art!
Actually, go check out Jame’s wonderful paper cut art here.
A toast to bugs and all things strange and beautiful.
>> making of “Under the Covers” - mini interview with James <<
Illustration for Field Day at Navy Pier, commissioned Design Museum of Chicago.
The inspiration behind this flag is the plant that gave its name to Chicago : the wild ramp, aka allium tricoccum, aka... "stinky onion!"
Shortly after I moved to Chicago in 2016, a friend of mine took me to the south side to forage some wild leeks.
It took me years to realize that it was the same plant, with its pungent smell and robust taste, that the Algonquin named shikaakwa, later morphing into "chicagou" through the french pronunciation, to finally reach its final form : Chicago.
This illustration is an hommage to the plant as a symbol of the city, tough yet resourceful and abundant. Through the years it has provided me with many opportunities, projects and friendships. I am proud to call this Chicago my home.
Photos of the flag during the Taste of Chicago festival.
Photo credit : Ceninye
A selection of illustrations, some of them unpublished,
some of them from a while ago!
Series of short films by Fact Studio made to debunk a few myths about fair trade labels.
The technique used is a hybrid between classic stop-motion and shadow puppets.
No cacao pods were harmed during the production of this movie (not so sure about field workers).
Illustration d’une nouvelle de Alice Zéniter, parue dans le Magazine Ediles. 2016
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Illustration for a short story by Alice Zéniter, published in Ediles magazine. 2016
Double spread in Paulette, a french fashion and lifestyle magazine.
Photography and art direction by Alice Cuvelier
