Carrier Pigeon Illustrated Magazine Number 1
Sometimes you just find something that makes you happy, and as I tore through my first copy of Carrier Pigeon Illustrated Magazine 1 (Fair warning – loud noise if you click) I was pretty impressed for a number of reasons. It has been a long time since I saw something so richly illustrated, or stories so well written, the other thing that caught my attention on this is that the entire project was funded through Kick Starter which is an awesome way of funding something that in the traditional book world probably never would have made it out the someone’s living room of good ideas.
As Carrier Pigeon states on their web site:
Carrier Pigeon is a magazine of illustrated fiction and fine art. By giving full creative control to the artists, illustrators, designers and writers this magazine hopes to level the conventional perception of the singularity of each artistic discipline. Carrier Pigeon provides artists with a venue for telling stories in an undisturbed environment by offering the chance to show full bodies of work and unconditional artistic freedom in both direct subject matter and the interpretation of text. This publication will be printed quarterly.
Carrier Pigeon has lived up to its singular promise, not too weird, not too artsy, rather an approachable book with stuff the non-hipster will love. This is just simply something you do not see in the market anymore. While we try to keep costs down, Carrier Pigeon decided to go for quality, and while the cover price is $20.00, it is really worth it. I can imagine that some people will simply lift the illustrations out and get them framed.
The copy I have has the following well done stories:
Walter’s Ladder by Brian Thompson and Illustrations by Kristy Caldwell
Bugged by Ben Schaeffer and Illustrations by Ray Jones
Ramses Sleeps for You by Victor Giannini and Illustrations by Rie Hasegawa
Rabbits by Christopher Stanton and Illustrations by Eric Collins
A Feint of Light unto the Fortress by Ryan Scamehorn and Illustrations by Yuriko Katori
Harry Coover by Russ Spitkovsky and Illustrations by Justin Sanz
One of those special treats that you get to see occasionally from the independent press, funded by 147 people via Kick Starter to make sure it actually happened. Something to think about though for aspiring artists and writers, if Kick Starter helped something as cool as Carrier Pigeon, it might be worth checking out to see if they can help you with your project.
