This month’s PixArt is a first for us – a husband and wife team. It features a mash-up between Ratatouille and Harry Potter. Who needs the Hogwarts Express Tea Trolley when your pet rat is Remy? The creators Joel and Ashley Selby, AKA This Paper Ship, run an Illustration and Art Direction studio that turns out truly wonderful work. Make sure to check out their site, store and portfolio for information about their beautifully crafted images. What started out as an Etsy shop has transformed into an international business with an impressive list of clients. Read on for more about This Paper Ship in their own words.
Name: This Paper Ship (husband-and-wife team Joel & Ashley Selby)
Website/Blog/Portfolio: www.thispapership.com
I currently live in…
The woods outside of Hillsborough, NC
I consider my hometown to be…
Joel: Columbia, MD; Ashley: military brat on the East Coast
My Favorite Pixar Movie is…
Joel: Wall·E
Ashley: Up
My Favorite Pixar character is…
We have too many main character favorites, so our favorite side characters are Kevin and Dug from Up.
Tell us about your piece:
We’re gigantic fans of Pixar, Disney, and Harry Potter. In fact, we just got back from a birthday trip for Joel to Disney World and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and we figured, Ron has a pet rat and Remy is a rat, too… why not do a mash-up?
Who/What inspires you?
We officially say that we’re inspired by Mid-Century illustration and design, Victorian typography, and the past and present masters at Disney and Pixar. Specifically, we also love retro cookbooks, the paintings of Mary Blair, and the whimsy of Dr. Seuss and Jim Henson’s Muppets.
Recommend something, anything to our readers:
Watch as much Pixar and Disney DVD extras as you can. Be inspired by your favorite artists—then try to outdo them! And never stop trying to outdo yourself. (Oh, and check out our buddies’ children’s book, The King’s Sixth Finger, here: http://www.thekings6thfinger.com/ – it’s super cool.)
Shameless self-‐promotion:
Follow us on Twitter at @thispapership! We’re also on Facebook, Flickr, Dribbble, Instagram…we’re friendly people. Just look us up and say hey. 🙂
Our thanks to This Paper Ship for their contribution to PixArt. If you’d like to be a PixArt feature artist, send us a link to your portfolio. Contact Us today!
View all our PixArt pieces here.