Russell Shaw is an art director, designer, and artist who has illustrated five children’s books—one of which landed on the New York Times Best Seller list—and has been published in New York Magazine, The Village Voice, The HISTORY Channel, Good Housekeeping, Popular Mechanics, and more. He has also created artwork and designs for Walgreens, Disney, Target, HarperCollins, Coca-Cola, LEGO, LinkedIn, Slack, Figma, and Docusign, among many other brands and organizations.
Russell’s approach blends analog and digital techniques. He starts with real pencil and pen on real paper because he believes that graphite smears, ink bleeds, and bumps along the way show a human element that is vital in this contemporary moment. The concept of wabi-sabi* resonates more than ever when perfectly imperfect line work and shapes remind us that there is a real person on the other side of the screen or page, playing and creating and making it all up as they go—just like the rest of us.
In 2017, Russell was awarded “Best in Class” for lettering in PRINT Magazine’s Typography & Lettering Annual and Awards for his hand-drawn style. His distinctive hand-lettering as an artist and his eye for typography as a designer combine to enrich his artwork with playful signs, fictitious logos, and humorous words and messages in the worlds that he creates.
On a crisp fall evening, Russell embarked on one of his regularly-scheduled strolls through his local dark and enchanted forest — something we all must do from time-to-time in order to have a proper reflection on our day — when he came upon a pencil stuck deep into a moss-covered rock. “What luck!” he exclaimed. “I recently lost my own writing instrument, so the discovery of this one is suitable and well-timed.” As he gripped the pencil tightly and pulled it from the rock, a bright light shot out from its leaded tip and shone like a spotlight into the night sky. Returning to his home, he opened his desk, placed a clean sheet of paper on top, and let the pencil work its magic: doodle after whimsical doodle spilled onto the page — and, funnily enough, people thought the drawings were worth paying for.
Now, that’s enough of these tangential hijinks and superfluous asides. Time for another walk in the woods. Who knows what we’ll find this time.
Footnotes
*Wabi-sabi is a way of seeing the world that finds beauty and harmony in what is simple, imperfect, natural, modest, and mysterious.
Photo: Elle Wood