I’ve just added findanillustrator.com to my blogroll over on the left. It’s basically a wall of illustrators and each image is a link to their info. I update it every time I update the rotating image on Hai!.

I’m planning on redesigning this website blog at some point to be more of a portfolio for my web design work.

Indy was fantastic!

And I’m off to see The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian tonight!

A few days ago I decide it was best to get as many Hai! Mailshot packs out as possible before the summer slump. So I got to work packing them and tallied the total up-to 55 packs, normally I send out around 3-10 every 1-2 weeks depending who I’ve been in contact with recently, I try to make every pack count and follow them up when possible. I think this was the biggest mail blast so far.

To be part of the Mailshot packs I send out to art directors and advertising agencies scattered across the globe you need to be a member of Hire an illustrator.

A couple of the students really stood out as having what it takes to make it as a freelancer in their chosen field, but an overlaying lack of confidence or direction from the rest which was reflected through their work worried me as the majority of them wanted to jump head first in the illustration industry at the end of the of their course. They all had potential, but if an illustrator doesn’t believe in their own work why should an employer.

The End of Year Exhibitions - Thursday 26th June - Wednesday 2nd July 2008. I’m thinking about making another trip there to check it out!

I’ll write up a bit more a bit later.

Artist, if you can call him that, Habakkuk Guillermo Vargas tied a dog (puppy) up in a gallery space on view to the public and allowed the dog to die by starving it to death. I don’t really care what message Mr Vargas was trying to send or point he was trying to make. This is animal abuse and he should be castrated for it. I don’t think I need to post the photos of the humiliated dog, so I will not be doing so.

Now what is the petition for if this has already happened? Well, the Visual Arts Biennial of the Central American have deemed this monstrosity to be ‘Art’ and have invited Habakkuk Guillermo Vargas to do a repeat performance for the prestigious Biennial of 2008. This must not be allowed to happen regardless of where the law stands. Please boycott the event and sign the petition.

To sign the petition please follow this link - www.petitiononline.com

Or read more about it.

Please read this update on the LCS for more perspective.

Along with the Hire an illustrator! redesign, I’ve also rebuilt the Pixel Presence ready-made-website template. I used it to create the recent Hai! redesign. The sales site is a bit blank at the moment, but I’m really happy with the result. Pixel Presence gives not only illustrators, but anyone who wants a fantastic website the ability to do it! I’ve change the price scheme too. Now you get your own website for as little as £12.50.

Visit - pixelpresence.net
Visit - hireanillustrator.com

Sendpoints Books have just sent me an email…

We have stopped selling this book, and return them to our supplier. Please contact him if you have any question.

This is great news! I’ve contacted their supplier, but have not received any response so far.

Here is his details if anyone else would like to try.

The personal supplier details…
Attn: Zhao Jun
Tel: 86 371 6913 0968
Mobile: 86 136 0769 6970
Email: 80419003@qq.com

Updates… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

All of the images in the book were taken from the LCS, the illustrators personal websites, with a few from Flickr. All the images are web quality 72dpi. They did not obtain hi-rez images for the publication, but to turn a web quality image into a print quality image is not that difficult. Just divide the width and height by 4.1 and you’ll then have a 300dpi print worthy file. Although the publishers of the book in question are not that clever - a number of the images in the book are considerably distorted through pixelation where an image has been stretch to fill a space.

The artists were credited for their work, but also in some case for other peoples work or with an incorrect URL to their site. Just giving someone credit does not make it OK to steal their work.

Me and the rest of the team at the LCS are planning to put together an official LCS publication which will be in the form of a lowbrow magazine.

If you’re writing up an article about this for general press get in contact with the illustrators directly if you want to use any of their images. Also you are welcome to take quotes directly from this blog without permission, but not from the comments section. I would appreciate a link to the LCS in any press. If you want a hi-res images of a certain page - check the gallery http://apefluff.com/ci93/ and email me the page URL(s) and I’ll see what I can do.

I can no longer spare anymore time to pursue or seek out the people behind the fake publishers. If anyone else involved is making any head way and posting about it, email me and I’ll link my posts to your blog, so you can continue with updates. My blog will be returning to my regular rantings with hopeful a couple thousand less visitors per day as I mainly only maintain this blog for my personal use.

Updates… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

The personal supplier details…
Attn: Zhao Jun
Tel: 86 371 6913 0968
Mobile: 86 136 0769 6970
Email: 80419003@qq.com

I have sent an email to Zhao Jun and I am waiting for a reply. I have also phoned Zhao, but Zhao would not speak to me. It may have been that I was only speaking English and not Chinese. So if there is someone reading this who is fluent in Chinese - could you call them and ask them for their suppliers information and then email it to me. The telephone number is above, and I use jajah.com for long distance calls.

Also please feel free to continue to email and call Sendpoints Books as they are still selling and stocking the book.

Updates… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

We found that the publisher - Great Creativity organization has closed down already after survey, so that we miss the chance to contact. If it is need, we may offer the contact for the personal supplier to you.

We hope you may understand this matter, because we also suffer for the wrong information.

I then sent them an email asking for the contact details for their personal supplier, but I guess the quick response of the first email and then (so far) no reply to the next email is an indication they have decided to ignore me. So I decided to do the only thing I could think of to put a smile on my face. I sent them an invoice for the work they are currently reselling and distributing, not for the illustrations, just for the LCS interviews.

Doing that made me feel me better, even if it will accomplish nothing. I have spoken to an IP Lawyer and perusing this would cost me several thousand, to pursue the publisher with very little chance of any compensation. Getting stores to stop selling it is inexpensive with a simple letter, but very time consuming. Pirates 1 - LCS 0.

If anyone else would like to make themselves feel better about the whole situation send your invoices or emails of complain - about the sale of the book titled ‘Colorful Illustrations 93°C’ to spbooks@163.com with a Carbon copy to gzsendpoint@hotmail.com. Address them to Sophia Guangzhou or Lin Gengli and keep it polite. You can also call them on Tel: 86 20 89095121, Mobile: 86-139 2519 7703, Skype: sendpoint

To anyone reading this who represents Sendpoints Books, I’m happy to remove your contact information from my blog if you would like to email me to discuss the distribution of the book in question.

Updates… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]