The Odeon by Ian Dingman, 6×9, $35 with shipping

This is post ONE of THREE featuring illustrator Ian Dingman. TODAY I will introduce him as an artist & show you why I like (love) his work.

TOMORROW I’ll feature an exclusive & fabulous interview with lots of pretty pictures (he will tell us wonderful things about the new Criterion Collection release of Bottle Rocket and reveal the secret to his success. Okay, maybe not the second part.).

THE NEXT DAY Ian will tell us his current obsessions. I am super-excited-thrilled about this series of posts so I really hope you enjoy them!

Ian Dingman illustrates for the likes of The New York Times, Real Simple magazine, WES ANDERSON, and people like us (you and me!), who just want an Ian Dingman print on our walls (who wouldn’t?!).

I admit I’m a little stuck on the whole cover-of-Bottle Rocket thing. We know that Wes Anderson has impeccable taste, so his choice of Ian Dingman for a cover artist for a special edition of the filmmaker’s first-ever feature film certainly has meaning. Ian’s style expresses a lot of the same themes as Anderson’s movies: sadness, humor, awkwardness. But all of it, even the awkward parts, are beautiful, cartoonish, detailed.

Just one wonderful thing about Ian’s work is that it’s super affordable. You can own his ORIGINAL ARTWORK for less than $100. Or, if you are kind of poor, you can lie in wait until Ian does another print for Tiny Showcase (previous prints there have been a mere $20). (He will be doing something for Tiny Showcase! He wouldn’t reveal what, but I hope it’s a Learning Print!)

“Getting Late, Early” for Tiny Showcase

If you can’t wait for Tiny Showcase, and you are sort of poor, you can buy the first print I featured on this page for only $30. ($35 with shipping. I know this because, in my total indecisiveness and parsimoniousness, I’ve clicked on the “buy” button several times.) If you are REALLY, REALLY poor you can steal someone’s New York Times. You are bound to find an Ian Dingman reproduction somewhere in there.

For now, you can admire some of my favorite Ian Dingman works here:

Left: Look at that grass! Just look at it!

Right: This drawing actually gives me the fuzzy feeling I would have if I drove by this building on the street and, noticing its purple-ness (in a fall sunset, perhaps), pulled over to just look for a minute. Then, of course, I’d try to take a picture and wouldn’t capture the feeling at all, but Ian has.


Deloitte Review “Healthcare Revisions”
Art Director: Matt Lennert

It’s so amusing to look at all of the details in the picture above. I love that when Ian’s work is funny, often the people in the work themselves are straight-faced, unaware of the ridiculousness that surrounds them. (Another Wes Anderson similarity!)


Right image: Miscellaneous Wardrobe From
The 2002 Film Secretary, No. 1,
2008, ink and watercolor on paper,9.5 x 9″, $180

Left: You know how I love cupcakes.

Right: Can we talk about how funny the title is? Yeah, I know.

Remember how I said the people in Ian’s work don’t always notice the humorous situations they are a part of? Well, sometimes inanimate objects in his work give you this same feeling. Like, it’s just a shoe. Standing there. In all seriousness. But it’s funny.

For Social Gatherings Only
2006, ink and watercolor on paper, 8.375 x 5.125″

Like the Doctor’s Office drawing, this image is full of details. Maybe it’s the fiction-writer in me, but I love a drawing with details (and great titles).

So, as you can imagine, I recommend a perusal of Ian Dingman’s web-page. You can purchase work or just look. Or, if you want, you can touch it. But you might smudge your computer screen.

TOMORROW: INTERVIEW WITH IAN! NEXT DAY: CURRENTLY OBESSED WITH IAN!