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Three Cheers for 3x3!

MAY 10, 2006
3x3 Illustration Annual No2

Drawger Alert! Drawger Alert! Do yourself a favor and check out "3x3", a magazine dedicated entirely to Contemporary Illustration.

3x3


According to Steve Heller, who recently interviewed Charles Hively, the founder of 3x3 for AIGA, the first issue premiered in December of 2003. Man, I guess I'm more of a hermit than I thought. It was only a couple of days ago that I discovered 3x3 via the DRAWN! blog and it looks like a beauty. I haven't seen a copy in the flesh (oddly enough, the entire magazine is printed on human flesh), but I will get a copy ASAP. It may be that every other Drawgerite has seen a copy, but I'm forging ahead with this article anyhow. Illustrators and illustrator-related media need all the attention they can get.

Here's a link to the Heller interview:

AIGA - Heller


Hively has worn many hats, including those of an Advertising Agency Art Director/Creative Director, Graphic Designer, Copywriter and Illustrator. I wrote to him for any additional information he might want to share beyond the interesting stuff in the excellent Heller interview. He wanted Drawgerites to know about the 3x3 Annual Show, which just closed for this year. They publish an annual of the best student and professional work done the previous year. Their first annual received an award in CA's Design Annual 46, and their cover featuring the art of Marcos Chin will appear in the upcoming CA Illustration Annual.

From Hively's letter:

"We're having a devil of a time getting the book on bookshelves, so this year I actually made it a special issue which is on newsstands now, same format, 6x9, 144 pages, but just added ads to this version; the annual is for sale on our web site sans ads here as well as our two previous annuals. I'd encourage every illustator to enter our show but it's a tough show and we always get some of the best judges to judge the work."

The 3x3 cover I've posted below is the upcoming issue. According to Hively, it will feature Benoît, Olaf Hajek and UK's Paul Davis. It also has a Q&A with Tomi Ungerer. 3x3 calls it their "International issue" and it'll be on newsstands in early June. Hajek did the cover and the issue will include "insightful articles", photos of Olaf and Benoît's studios and superb reproductions of their work.

-Elwood "Better-Late Than-Never" Smith
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© 2024 Elwood H. Smith