Crafts series for preschoolers, EDE (2008)

Art Director/Designer/Illustrator: Gil Martinez
Technique: Vectors

These four crafts books for preschoolers were entirely made in Adobe Illustrator, and the covers are good examples of how I handle vector graphics. In 2009, the books won the prestigious Editorial Excellence Award in offered by the CANIEM, the National Chamber for the Editorial Industry.

De como nació la memoria del bosque—How the memory of the forest was born (2007)

Designer: Gil Martinez
Illustrator: Rocío Martínez
Technique: Watercolor and gouache

Fondo de Cultura Económica holds an annual contest for the best illustrated children´s book, and gets entries from all over the world. The winner for 2007 was Rociío Martínez, who conceived, wrote and illustrated this exquisite album.

Selected book covers, A la orilla del viento Collection (2007)

Art Director/Cover Designer: Gil Martinez
Redesign of the collection: León Muñoz
Illustrators (top to bottom): TRINO, René Almanza, Heyliana Flores, Martha Avilés, Agustín Comotto, Ayax & Mariana Barnes.

Here are six selected covers from the Fondo de Cultura Económica´s A la orilla del viento collection after it was redesigned are good examples of my art direction. I art-directed the first two covers from the conception of each project, and designed the next four from scans of the original paperbacks, since some of the illsutrators have moved, died, or were otherwise engaged, and the original film was lost. You can see three of the covers before the redesign, and the difficulty of negotiating type and logos when I retouched the images. The spines are color coded according to reader level.

¿Para qué usas la lengua?—What do you use your tongue for? (2007)

Art Director/Designer: Gil Martinez
Design of the collection: León Muñoz
Illustrator: Jonathan Farr
Technique: Mixed media

I worked at Fondo de Cultura Económica, Latin America´s largest book publisher, as head of the children´s book design department. This proyect was illustrated by Jonathan Farr, a talented illustrator from England who lives part-time in Mexico. The book series aims to teach science to children 3-years old and under.

Memoria de la SCT—Ministry of Transports and Communications Graphic Memory (2007)

Creative Director: Deborah Holtz
Art Directors: Gil Martinez/Daniela Labarnois

THis is the official pictorial memory of Mexico´s Ministry of Communications and Transport. The book does a grest job making highways, bridges, ports and airports glamorous.

Layout proposal, Trilce Ediciones (2007)

Art Director: Deborah Holtz
Designer/Illustrator: Gil Martinez

I left the United States and returned to Mexico City to wait for the decision of Canadian authorities on my immigration application. I freelanced for Trilce, one of Mexicos most interesting publishers. The following spreads were proposed for a children´s book with interesting anecdotes about Mexican history. Although it was not published, I still like it.

Yankee Magazine Summer Sides Newsstand Premium (2005)

Art Director: Leonard Loria
Designer/Illustrator: Gil Martinez
Technique: Vector

These are a cover and two openers for another premium I made for Yankee Magazine, with recipes for summer side dishes. the cover has an illustration taken from a clip art book (which I modified) and the two opener pages have my illustrations. It is a good example of the way in which I saved money by judicious use of clip art, and by illustrating products myself.

Yankee Magazine New England´s Finest Factory Outlets newsstand premium (2004)

Art Director: Leonard Loria
Designer: Gil Martinez
Illustrator: Gil Martinez
Technique: Vector Illustration

Another premium. In this case I made the shopping bag illustrations on both the cover and the inside, as well as the design of the little book.

Yankee Magazine It´s the Berries newsstand premium (2004)

Art Director: Leonard Loria
Designer: Gil Martinez

Another newsstand premium for Yankee Magazine. I drew my inspiration from postwar canning recipe books, and the entire booklet was illustrated with XIXth-century woodcuts.

Yankee Magazine Celebration of Fall Newsstand premium, Yankee Magazine (2002)

Art Director: Leonard Loria
Designer: Gil Martinez

From time to time, Yankee Magazine includes small booklets with the magazine for newsstand readers, in order to increase sales. I was in charge of the design of these premiums. I loved the challenge of producing strong one-color concepts that retained Yankee's Identity.

Manual Básico de caligrafía e iluminación (1996)

Author/Designer/Illustrator: Gil Martinez

My undergrad thesis, on type and calligraphy, was a project begun in 1994 and completed in 1996. The work is an excellent primer on the handwritten letterform, and its relationship to printed type. It was published by Universidad Iberoamericana, my alma mater, and it can be purchased from their website. It won a Merit mention in How Magazine's International Design Competitio in 1997.