{"id":2528,"date":"2018-06-27T11:18:40","date_gmt":"2018-06-27T10:18:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/?p=2528"},"modified":"2018-06-27T11:19:02","modified_gmt":"2018-06-27T10:19:02","slug":"print-screen-10-years-nobrow-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/print-screen-10-years-nobrow-magazine\/","title":{"rendered":"Print to Screen: Celebrating 10 Years of Nobrow Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe like to tell stories and do it in an innovative and beautiful way,\u201d says founder Sam Arthur. \u201cFrom the beginning we set out to make the most of illustration and illustrators, and we found when we started that they were very understated. In the way that we listen to writers and politicians, there’s some incredibly talented illustrators out there that have amazing ideas, and we said, ‘Yes, let’s hear those, and lets give you the platform to tell people about them.’ Approaching publishing from the visual was a way of giving something new to the market. And that was exciting to us, and still is.\u201d<\/p>\n

They showcase just how versatile and diverse the illustration world is<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nobrow’s magazines are beloved by artists and art directors alike, and back before the widespread coverage of illustration online were an essential source of new talent \u2013 a \u201cgo-to for brilliant drawing\u201d, as Arthur says. But their appeal goes far beyond the creative industry, resonating with anyone that appreciates visual culture and great storytelling. Nobrow’s themed issues \u2013 which have covered everything from Gods & Monsters to Studio Dreams, for the latest edition \u2013 give illustrators enormous freedom to respond, and are dedicated solely to the stories artists want to tell.<\/p>\n

\"Nobrow10-studio-dreams\"
Nobrow 10: Studio Dreams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI can’t really think of anything in the UK like Nobrow that existed, when I was growing up,\u201d says artist Ben Newman, who’s been working with the publisher since it started. \u201cThere was nothing produced in that way, with that loving attention to print and paper quality to make something that’s this treasured item. The Nobrow magazine allowed illustration to exist in a format that was readily available, but also tactile. They made it more accessible..\u201d<\/p>\n

\"nobrow_10_Studio_dreams_magazine\"
Nobrow Magazine’s 10th Edition<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhen I was a student in college, everyone saw Nobrow as THE illustration magazine,\u201d adds Sally Deng, whose book about the female pilots of WW2 has just been released by Nobrow\u2019s childrens imprint, Flying Eye Books. \u201cI believe they’ve really set the bar high in terms of what an art magazine can be. They showcase just how versatile and diverse the illustration world is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"flying_eye_books\"
Skyward by Sally Deng, published by Flying Eye Books<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, while Nobrow is now known and loved, it launched during uncertain times. Arthur set up the company together with Alex Spiro on the brink of the recession, signing Nobrow’s Shoreditch office lease just before the Lehman Brothers collapse \u2013 something he says he might not have done, had it been a week or two later. \u201cWe were starting at a time that was terrible, really, for a business,\u201d he notes.<\/p>\n

Spiro was an illustrator himself, and Arthur was working as a director at the time \u2013 jobs they continued for a couple of years until Nobrow had found its feet. To begin with, the publisher managed a few screenprinted editions a year, but has since expanded its output. 2018 will see it deliver 37 new titles, with Nobrow books distributed in the US and Australia, and licensed in more than 20 different languages. And these days it’s not just book and magazine sales, with the company having expanded in all directions including launching children’s imprint Flying Eye, and investigating ways of bringing Nobrow characters to life on-screen via digital studio Minilab.<\/p>\n

\"Nobrow_studio_dreams_10_tor_brand\"
Tor Brandt’s installation at the Nobrow10: Studio Dreams exhibition<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Netflix series is also in the pipeline \u2013 which brings founder Arthur right back round to his former career as a director \u2013 and Nobrow has recently shown work from its latest Studio Dreams issue at the 2018 East London Comic Arts Festival. Work spilled over from the walls, also existing as three dimensional installations, and on a series of limited editions T-shirts made in partnership with Everpress.<\/p>\n

I always wanted to tell stories and entertain people<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI don’t really feel like I’ve massively changed what I wanted to do,\u201d says Arthur. \u201cI always wanted to tell stories and entertain people, and I’ve gone from doing that with film to books, and then those books are finding their way back into TV and maybe film as well.\u201d And despite running the company for ten years, the magic of publishing hasn’t worn off yet for Arthur. \u201cWhen everything clicks, it’s incredible,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen I see a book come to fruition and a vision that an illustrator has had an inkling of go from a little seed of an idea to a finished book out in the wild, that is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shop the Nobrow limited-edition t-shirts here<\/a>, or grab a copy of Nobrow 10: Studio Dreams here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the last ten years, illustration has gained ever greater cultural currency. As well as taking advantage of new online platforms, artists have shown they’re capable of more than ‘just’ commercial commissions \u2013 as Jean Jullien’s stratospherically popular Peace for Paris symbol proves. And that is, in part, thanks to independent publisher Nobrow. Set up in 2008 as a small press, Nobrow did something few others were doing at the time and put illustration at the forefront of its books and magazines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":2534,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2528"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2528"}],"version-history":[{"count":43,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2581,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2528\/revisions\/2581"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}