Ladies & germs, the work of Lou Mendel, who I randomly met at two weeks ago at the Show ‘N Tell Show. Hand-drawn patterns, Lou!! YES. Do more of these, they make me happy.

+ Been mulling over Jessica Comingore’s post, In Transition. It’s about the struggle between balancing your own business and maintaining an active blog. And while I could fill my own post on this topic alone, it’s also 6pm on Friday and my mind is clearly mush, you should just go read Jessica’s instead. It’s as if she wrote this directly from my own brain anyway, ha.

+ Clever photography series, Things Granny Never Told You About the Internet.

+ How one design conference made itself less of a bro-fest. (Related, I’ll be there. Ahem.)

+ Been jamming to this week’s Mykind Mix from Design For Mankind. Classic Hip Hop, a few new sounds, very danceable and good for general upbeat-ed-ness (shh, that’s totally a word). I’ve started a similar playlist on my Spotify if you want more like this.

+ Typefight: another fun typographic blog pits two custom letterforms against each other & readers get to vote on the winner. Excellent source for unusual typography.

+ Artwork supplied by Australia’s Andrew Frazier.

Unplanned blog hiatus; so lame I know. Does writer’s block ever announce its arrival? Or perhaps it was a social media hangover from last week’s Pinterest debates. Regardless, it’s passed finally. It was these album covers that jostled me out of the funk, discovered after spending several hours internetting researching today. I’ve posted similar Jazz album artwork before, but I may even like these classical covers more. Why precisely they grab me so, I don’t even know, just feels like running into an old friend. Plus, I have a hard time believing there’s any chance the music inside could disappoint. More on Symphonie Fantastique, the same folks who run Project Thirty-Three, which is also well worth the visit for more like this. Via But Does It Float.

Just a regular ‘ol day here at casa de Pitch, but I will take a moment to chime in on this Day of Love and say thanks for reading friends. I like you all very much. Wishing you hugs, high fives, hot sauce…Or whatever it is you’re into today. And if you’re feeling especially amorous, pay the joy forward by backing A Little Heart: a Comic for Marriage Equality on Kickstarter.

{Illustration by another favorite, Caroyln Sewell. Via Ffffound.}

Breathtaking work from Argentinian illustrator, Estela Cuadro. Such divine texture, really really makes me want to break out the ‘ol paintbrushes.

I’m generally not a huge fan of online magazines because I find myself getting distracted from the actual content by the swoopy page effects and multitude of viewing options. So when one DOES happen to grab my eye, I definitely sit up and notice. There’s so much personality in every page of Peculiar Bliss, just ka-pow right in the face with awesome, I actually clicked through until the end. Excellently curated by Vaughn Fender it’s a must for any art or illustration fiend. These snaps are some faves from issue #8, themed “Explosive”.