Graham Roumieu will celebrate the North American launch of 101 Ways to Kill Your Boss at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto, ON.

The event will feature five “celebrity assassins” who, after being handed an envelope with an 8×10 of a famous boss, will select a method of executing them from Roumieu’s graphic how-to guide. The celebrity assassins include Tim Beresford of comedy troupe Hot Snack Radio; author, journalist and editor, Stacey May Fowles; writer and illustrator Evan Mundy; and two others whose identities shall remain a secret until the launch.

This is a This Is Not a Reading Series event, presented by Pages Books & Magazines, Penguin Group Canada, Gladstone Hotel, EYE Weekly and Take Five On CIUT.

Monday, January 26th, 2009 | 7pm | $5 cover

Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, 1214 Queen St. W., Toronto ON

Adding to the joy of this day, Shawn Barber was commissioned to paint a portrait of our 44th president, Barack Obama by America’s oldest national newspaper, The Wall Street Journal. This beautifully rendered oil painting is featured at full page size on the cover of today’s Inauguration Day special section.

We are always proud of Shawn’s accomplishments and to have stood alongside him, and all our artists, while they have grown in their success and creativity. This particular commission is an honor we will remember fondly.

For those that would like a copy for posterity, act fast! The issue is sure to be a collector’s item and is already disappearing from newsstands worldwide.

Shawn Barber will have prints available at The Alternative Cafe’s For Those Who Showed Up Late in Seaside, CA. The show, curated by Outer Edge Studio, will feature signed, rare, sold-out and/or limited-edition posters and prints by Shawn, Banksy, David Choe and Shepard Fairey. The show runs from Friday, January 23rd to Monday, March 2nd, 2009.

Opening Reception: Friday, January 23rd, 2009 7-9pm

The Alternative Cafe 1230 Fremont Blvd., Seaside CA

Koharu Rose Watanabe-Shannon (Coco for short) arrived on Saturday, January 10th, 2009 at 4:28pm to proud first-time parents Ben Shannon and Sachi Watanabe. She weighed 7 pounds and 4 ounces. Congratulations go out to Ben and Sachi!

Red Nose Studio illustrated a wacky fortuneteller for Target’s Funny Fortunes gift card which released this month. Let Madame Moonbeam predict your future – just look into her crystal ball and see what the stars have in store for you in 2009!

Target

Graham Roumieu was interviewed by Lit Mob, a site that loves great books and showcases the best of them. The site reviews fiction, non-fiction and graphic novels and being independent, they are not worried about voicing their honest opinion. We especially love the Artist Picks section – but what about picks from some non-musical artists . . .

Click here to read the interview about Graham’s series of Bigfoot books.

Shawn Barber is showing work in the group show Family First at White Walls Gallery in San Francisco, CA. The show features artists that have shown work at the gallery over the past three years and includes Ian Francis, Henry Lewis, Albert Reyes, Cleon Peterson and Sylvia Ji, among many others. The show opens on Saturday, January 10th and runs until Saturday, February 7th, 2009.

White Walls Gallery 835 Larkin St., San Francisco CA

Nate Williams’ poster for Juxtapoz appears in Harper Collin’s Invitation and Promotion Design: Ideas with Impact by Paz Diman and Lou Andrea Savoir. The book features the promotional e-mail, business cards, flyers, posters and invitations that have managed to capture our attention in this media-saturated world, showcasing the pieces that are the most memorable, desirable, and even collectable. 

Invitation and Promotion Design: Ideas with Impact

Catalina Estrada’s new line of Blackberry and iPhone skins are now available through GelaSkins. Two of Catalina’s illustrations have already been applied to skins for both PC and Mac laptops, as well as Nintendo DS and Sony PSP gaming devices. GelaSkins are removable covers for protecting portable devices. They feature stunning, photo-quality graphics from fine-art prints to contemporary urban images designed by  their growing family of artists from around the globe. Matching wallpapers are also available for download.

www.gelaskins.com

Alexander Blue was commissioned by the hot South American ad agency Gazz to create a series of characters and illustrations for Coca Cola. The illustrations were then animated by the agency’s design team into a 2 minute short titled ‘Vivir Positivamente’ (Live Positively) which can be viewed as a series of small segments or as one longer one. The animation which follows a couple of upbeat characters through their day and shows the effects of ‘living positively’ will be shown at a Coca Cola corporate events in Buenos Aires and throughout Argentina. It may also be viewed on the Coca-Cola Argentina website. Click here to watch the animation.