Oh boy, do we have some news for you! We’ve teamed up with Melbourne’s GPO to present ‘True Self’, a charity exhibition guaranteed to blow your socks off. Crafted in collaboration with local heroes Fabio Ongarato Design and Foolscap Studio, True Self will see MGPO’s first floor balcony transformed into a purpose-built gallery from June 1 to 24, 2012.

Fifty-two of Australia’s best and brightest artists have stepped up to take part; showcasing their skills in varying disciplines including fine art, illustration, photography and fashion design. The calibre of artists is incredible, and with names such as Akira Isogawa, Kate Tucker and Beci Orpin involved, you know you’re in for something really special. These fifty-two superstars are currently collaborating with each other to create A3-sized artworks which will be on display for the three week show.

With the theme of chain-mail at the heart of the concept, we’ve sent each artboard out to an artist who will in turn send it onto another. After each artist has left their mark, the artboard will be returned back to MGPO and then exhibited at True Self. These collaborative artworks will draw from themes such as self-image and transformation, and will all be shared via the postal system. You may think that this all sounds too good to be true – but guess what? It’s true.

The best part is that the originals on display will be available for sale, with all proceeds going to charity Fitted for Work. To check out the full artist list and indulge in some good vibes, be sure to head to the True Self website.

When SBS were in need of a map that would demonstrate the warmth of Peter Kuruvita’s recipes for James Squire, we knew exactly who to call. No, not Ghostbusters – Marcela Restrepo. As our resident goddess of yummy texture and line, Marcela rolled up her sleeves and got to work crafting a world map and assets for the James Squire Spice Trail. The result is nothing short of flavoursome.

Eirian Chapman has quite possibly illustrated the hippity-hippest contributor portraits to hit Desktop magazine. Seriously, we feel like we’ve grown a Ned Kelly beard just looking at these people. To bask in the coolness make some shapes and grab a copy of the latest issue.

We’ve officially found Andrea Innocent’s hideaway, and it’s something to behold. Andrea has unveiled her latest solo show at c3 contemporary art space at The Abbotsford Convent, titled ‘The Hideout’. Andrea explains: “It was so surprising to me that no one else had noticed the hideout before I had discovered it, so many people had walked by that morning, on their way to work and school. What first caught my eye was the bright red of the pencil, which was extremely sharp and pointing right at me, it was then I suddenly realised it was being held by a tiny archer in a hand made bow…”. See? It’s a cracker. Hightail it over to c3 before the show closes on May 13.

Cider goes down a treat, and so does this illustration for the Mountain Goat Two Step apple variety by Rudi De Wet. The lovely people at Freeform approached Rudi to bring this label into fruition. Those juicy red apples look so ripe, you just want to pluck them from the branches, peel them, core them, squeeze the living juice out of them, add some yeast, wait a month or two for it to ferment… Or perhaps just let Mountain Goat keep handling that side of things. It’s probably best just to concentrate on finding the rain-soaked ninja hanging around in Rudi’s magical orchard world.

Big ups to our man Marc Martin for his recent work for Monocle Magazine. Marc graced the pages of the latest issue in the Oceania section, with the spot running next to a little piece about development in Perth. Word.

Megan Hess got a call from the White House. No joke. When an enormous alien mothership entered the Earth’s orbit, Barack knew exactly who to call. Naaah – it all came about thanks to a new book released by Penguin, titled “What Would Michelle Do?”. The book sees award-winning Newsweek journalist Allison Samuels explore Michelle Obama’s journey from young adult to First Lady. Illustration was required, and with Megan’s talent for creating sophisticated scenes and portraits, we’re unsurprised that publishers soon came knocking on her door.

The Design Files have been profiling the charming city of Newcastle this week and we’re absolutely lapping up the coverage. Kat Chadwick exercised her well-developed map muscle for the occasion by drawing up this bright and friendly map. Thanks to the combination of Lucy’s reportage, Kat’s map and Sean Fennessey’s drool-worthy photos of the place, we’re ready to zoom up and become Novocastrians.

The Hungry Workshop have finished crafting their studio and now they’re warming up the place with an exhibition. Titled Trophy Lives, the exhibition launches on Friday May 4, at The Hungry Workshop studio on 461 High St, Northcote. With Jacky Winter darlings Tin & Ed, Eamo Donnelly and Eirian Chapman in the mix it’s sure to be a winner. For more information head over here.

Is this not the manliest beer label you have ever encountered? When Reader’s Digest were in need of some macho type for a faux beer label, we knew that Rudi de Wet was their (manly) man. The final illustration was paired with a story about home brewing in the Digest’s Handyman Magazine. DIY satisfaction? Yes please.

Those super ladies of Good Wives and Warriors have flown over to Sao Paulo to pretty up some walls at the Museum of Image and Sound as part of the Nova 2012 festival. Instead of house paint, they’re using their pure awesomeness and turning a plain old room into a four-walled world of insanely detailed illustrative fantasy. Head on over to their new blog to check in on the mural’s progress and check out the maiden warriors in action.

Marc Martin illustrated this full-pager for Capital Magazine to allegorise the decline of Wall St. The story sees nimble young traders fly the coop while the poor old Wall St bull is having a kip. Silly bull. At least he makes a nice illustration.

Christopher Nielsen is continuing his domination of the editorial scene one publication at a time. From the top, our favourites from the latest conquests are for Tufts University, aiCIO Mag and Las Vegas Weekly. It’s pretty tricky to pick a winner in this race, but the first illustration has to take the cake (or nachos) – hidden calories have never looked so darn adorable.

Hi there internets! Jacky Winter are taking over The Design Files Guest Blog this week. Yep, we’ll be airing our dirty secrets one team member at a time. Lucy has taken photos of us pretending to work and Jeremy has quizzed the hell out of us. To see the results and gain a bit of insight into our crazy minds, be sure to head straight over here.

Can you believe it!? Field Trip is happening this Friday April 20! It’s also officially sold out, so we’d like to congratulate all the wickedly handsome future attendees who snagged a ticket. We’re chomping at the bit to get stuck into the studio secrets of super talents Beci Orpin, Jeremy Ley, 21-19, Travis Price, tin&ed, Jo Duck and Toby & Pete. If you missed out on Melbourne we’ll see you in Sydney! Let the games begin.

It’s pretty easy to forget how vital storyboarding is to the advertising industry. We’ve rustled up some evidence in order to present an argument: please direct your eyes to Exhibit A above. Master storyboard artist Jeremy Ley crafted these frames for Publicis Mojo Sydney’s latest Hahn commercial. The ad in question has been such a viral smash hit that it has racked up 1.4 million hits in a heartbeat. It’s very popular. We think it’s pretty safe to say that it’s all because Jeremy drew a man whacking someone in the face with a boxing glove stick. Case closed.

Lock up your daughters and hide your purses, Megan Hess has released her second limited edition print collection. If Megan’s ‘Black Feathers’ collection is anything to go by, y'all won’t be able to resist this temptation. The ‘Diamonds and Tulle’ collection features eight new pieces and is available exclusively through Lamington Drive. Race on over before you miss out.

Hold on for dear life, because Lamington Drive’s next show is coming at you at full speed. The Drive is very proud to present Ben Ashton-Bell’s ‘If the World Made Sense’, opening this Thursday April 12. We’ve busted into United Measures to see the framed pieces, and the work is nothing short of mind-blowing. Used as an opportunity to create pure hand-crafted pieces, the work has been created using a combination of pencil, airbrush, gauche and watercolour to achieve the desired effect. Believe us – the work is flipping desirable. If you can’t sip a beer with us at the opening this Thursday April 12, be sure to head down to Lamington Drive before the show closes on May 26.

Toby and Pete have received another pair of trophies to jam into their overcrowded cabinet, this time for their work on the Earth Hour Moths campaign with Leo Burnett. Toby and Pete’s imagery took away a Bronze ‘Award’ Award for Digital Manipulation, and a Silver for Photography. In other news, they also received a Gold in the Awesomeness category, for the recently announced Jacky Winter awards.

This coming June will mark the five year anniversary of The Jacky Winter Group, and it’s definitely been a long, strange trip. From our humble beginnings in a North Carlton bedroom, we never could have imagined things would have gone this far. It’s sort of like a Jay-Z tune, but with less hyperbole.

Anyway! If there’s one things that illustrates (no pun intended) our core philosophy, it is that we have never done things the same way, and have constantly evolved to meet the ever-changing demands of our clients and artists.

When dozens of emerging illustrators approached us after our 12 artist launch, we made The Hatch. When our clients wanted storyboards and traditional artists, we made The Bowery. Our artists wanted to do gallery shows, so we started Lamington Drive. Relationships with international artists blossomed, and Rock of Eye was formed. Storyboard work turned into motion graphics, and Flutter emerged.

Today is a very special day as it marks a very important phase in our growth as an agency, as The Jacky Winter Group launches The Twitchery, our first foray into photography.

Over the past five years, we have noticed the lines between image makers and image capturers growing increasingly thin, and The Twitchery is our response to this. This agency has been a long time in the making, and we are so ridiculously proud of the phenomenal talent that has joined us in this venture.

Ranging from photographers to 3D artists and retouchers, with crew members to come in the following weeks, The Twitchery will be doing for photography what Jacky Winter has done for illustration, and then some.

Anyway, enough words. Let the pictures speak for themselves. Head over to The Twitchery site and see what all the fuss is about.