Christopher West – Featured Artist


If you’re a fan of sci-fi and 80′s 90′s pop culture than you’re going to love this guy. Meet Chris West, pop-culture illustrator and our latest featured artist. Chris eats, sleeps, and breathes Sci-Fi pop culture. He says it himself in his bio:

Christopher L. West is a self-taught artist working in pencil, pen & ink and watercolors. Hugely influenced by the cartoons and comics of the 80’s and 90’s, the subjects of his work cross the genres of superheroes, sci-fi and horror. If it has a cape, a lightsaber or eats brains, he will draw it.

Selfishly we’re posting a lot of his process work here because his line work is just amazing. Fan of the content or not you can’t get around the fact that you just don’t see pencil work like that very often.

To see more or get in touch check out his blog and his gallery on Deviant Art

www.christopherlwest.blogspot.com

www.tyrant-1.deviantart.com

All Images Copyright Christopher West 2012







Here at GSG we do more than just print books. We write them too!


After a too close for comfort hunting accident our President, Mark Pope got a chance to really think about how he would like to leave things with his family once he was gone. It was the kind of wake up call that makes you want to share the lesson learned so he did just that. The result is Cell Phones Don’t Work in Heaven. It’s not only a step by step guide to getting your head around the information you need to pass on but it’s a series of forms detailing where that info can be found. So when the time comes to sit down and say what needs to be said your loved ones will know where to look to find what they need. Best part of all, Mark’s cuts to the chase and says it all with humor. Like he says, There’s nothing you can do about dying so you might as well just fill this out and get over it.

Worth the Read

If you ever wanted to learn more about the mentality of the Chinese during the Cultural Revolution to the present day as seen through the eyes of one the country’s most famous authors, you need to buy China in Ten Words by Yu Hua. He takes ten words such as people , disparity, culture and explains an aspect of China as it relates to that word. Hua has an uncanny ability to get across to the reader the flavor of the subject in simple, yet meaningful terms that conveys the feeling of what is like to have seen China through his eyes and thoughts growing up in the Cultural Revolution to the present. I was not looking for facts about China when I bought this book , I was searching for feelings and explanations. I found them in this book. Worth the read. 

Benjamin Carr – Featured Artist

We’ve decided to starting a new series featuring some of our favorite artists. We figure why spend all our time blabbing about ourselves when we can share the spotlight with some other talented folks. Keep your eyes peeled because once we’ve got a few gathered we’re going to make something fun out of all the great work.

That being said, let’s get on with it! Introducing the amazing Benjamin Carr. I found his work recently while poking around on twitter looking at letterpress and printmakers. Benjamin’s site says he’s…

“a illustrator, packaging designer, typographer, printmaker and bookmaker from Suffolk, currently based in Greater London. Benjamin works on packaging design, branding, typography, illustration, print and anything else he feels like. With previous clients including Jack Daniels, Yabber Bros Wine, Stranger and Stranger, Liquid Shot Company, and Hiut Denim, Benjamin is a hard working, enthusiastic young designer, always looking for new opportunities to expand his experience and his portfolio”

When I spoke with him he sent me this “pile of words”

“All work is hand drawn with ink, I work mostly on packaging(wine, spirits) at the moment but always enjoy doing different things, I’d never want to get too bogged down in one area for too long. I like a lot of detail in my work, I love minimalism but that definitely doesn’t come through when I work. I’d hope my work doesn’t feel too vintage as I’ve never really wanted to sit in that trend, I hope instead its more nostalgic, I think a lot of packaging especially has become too simple, too refined. I think it always looks much better when its got more to it, some character, something that makes you feel like it hasn’t just been mass produced.”

I think you can really see where he’s coming from in his work. He packs in detail without ever overdoing it. Reminds me of the architect Sullivan. I highly recommend following him on instagram (@benjamincarruk), his detail and process shots are my favorite part.

You can also connect with him in all these places too.
WEBSITE: http://benjamincarr.co.uk
EMAIL: info[at]benjamincarr.co.uk
PHONE:+447530802511
BLOG: http://benjamincarrart.blogspot.com

All Images Copyright Benjamin Carr 2012