The Friday Five | No. 5
Five Newsy Nuggets in Five Minutes, Issued Every Friday
Welcome to The Friday Five, a weekly digest of 5 things that caught my attention in the past week. Welcome to Issue No. 5!
Is there something you think I should share next? Send your newsy nugget suggestions to hello@tomfroese.com.
01 Industry News
Snuggle with a Real Life Jon Klassen
Canadian illustrator Jon Klassen just launched a new collaboration with knitting artist Donna Wilson. They teamed up to make plush versions of Jon’s beloved kids’ book characters, including Bear and Turtle. Sadly, Bunny (RIP) couldn’t join them.
The stuffies are currently in preorder at Donnawilson.com.
02 Worth a Follow
David Vanadia
This jazz poster by French artist and illustrator David Vanadia recently caught my eye. You can do so much with a constrained colour palette and clean solid shapes, as long as you’re clever about it. If anyone knows where to take Clever Lessons, please tell me!
03 Something I Learned
Don’t Say it, Display it.
Illustrator and designer Brett Stenson says that clients are less likely to request revisions, and more likely to approve your work, when they see your ideas in a mockup. He even goes so far as to say he doesn’t provide loose sketches.
“Most of our projects, we don’t send a sketch. We just make the thing … A lot of clients, they can’t see the vision or the end result, and I think putting it on a mockup is doubly helpful.”
04 Follow-up Story
I’m Kind of AI Famous
In an unlikely turn of events, CNET (tech news and reviews media) asked me to chime in on Procreate’s recent statement against the use of generative AI. How on earth did I become an expert voice on this issue? (They found my mention of the Procreate announcement in a previous issue of this newsletter.)
Read “Why Procreate’s Anti-AI Pledge Is Resonating With Its Creators”, by Katelyn Chedraoui, on CNET.
05 Caught My Eye
Life’s a Beach
Years ago, I saved this book by Bernadro P. Carvalho in my “stuff I love” folder. It resurfaced When I was researching Madalena Matoso for Issue No. 3. There was a time when I was obsessed about illustrating a book about swimmers at the pool (based on a poem called At The Pool We’ve All Got Bodies by my pal
). There is something so alluring about drawing all those semi-naked bathing bodies, in all their honesty and momentarily-paused modesty.
Side-thought: It took me up until last week to realize that “Life’s a Beach” is a play on words. I’m 44.