Website on the way!

Now the Extended Major project has been handed in, I'm starting work on a new website for promotion. Hoping to get it up and running by the end of the week and will be a much better way for clients to view my work. Watch this space!!

Sneak Peek

Seems I've neglected the ol' blog for a while, well, here's a little butcher's at what I've been working on...

This is my work for my Extended Major Project influenced by Charlie Brooker's column in the Guardian. I've used the newspaper template as a navigation system for the illustrations that represent the flow of writing from within the article. By subverting the quotes into headlines, annotations and article styled columns the viewer can navigate around the image correctly and similarly to the way the eye steers around a normal newspaper front page.

Shan Jiang

Style, detail, colour, composition.... It has everything!!!

Sweet Illustrations

The RSA Animate

Hypnotize U - N*E*R*D

The second N*E*R*D song I am drawing influence from for my D and AD entry.

N*E*R*D - Rockstar (Jason Nevins Remix)

Collage continued

Stepping away from the extended majoy project and reverting back to my D and AD entry. I've added in the equalisers to the cityscape. They represent the volume and intensity of the track and with the police car introduced into the foreground the image should reflect this concept.

Upping the ante

So this week I'm working toward finalising designs for the DandAD competition brief (Diesel). From the previous tutorials I've found that the illustrations produced so far still seem a bit flat and need to be pushed to the next level to fit with contemporary illustration. To avoid my illustrations seeming flat I've moved away from the computer screen and started collaging to create layering and a greater depth to the work. So far it's working well, the first piece is starting to take shape and taking some interesting steps to fusing hand rendered method with the digital manipulation. I've now reached a point where I need to stop, evaluate the composition, colours, complexity etc and consider every aspect. To refresh my thinking I've delved into Abduzeedo, Coolvibe and Booooooooom to absorb the most current work.

Inspiring Music = Creativity

I've found that as I build up my work for the Extended Major Project that I work better certain music.. So I thought I would share some albums that have inspired me when working.

A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders, Jack Johnson - On and On, Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid, Fat Freddy's Drop, Jose Gonzalez - Veneer, Hot Chocolate - Man to Man (Yes, Hot Chocolate!!!), Four Tet - There is Love in You, Bonobo - Black Sands and Pearl Jam - Yield.

Visual experiment

Today, I set myself a quick brief which was to apply an idiom to an

article from today's Guardian newspaper and create an illustration. I selected; "Security firm was warned of lethal risk to deportees" and applied the idiom "Forced to the Wall". Here is the online article, slightly different to the printed version. Below is the development of sketches... The second image is where I got to after an hour.. So it was good for me to test myself against the clock to see how I would respond under pressure. Ideally would liked to have had a more resolved illustration but it's something I will work on.

Just some inspiration

Getting hands on

Here is the collage attempts so far. Hoping to combine this with a new illustration of the character on top of the cop car. I'm starting to visualise the car coming toward the viewer as he leaves the hectic oppressive city behind. Watch this space!

D and AD - experiment

So, from yesterdays tutorial, I've decided to experiment with the work by reverting to a more hand rendered approach. I've noticed that a lot of design at the moment is incorporating a 'cut and stick' collage aesthetic that fuses with photograph and digitalised swirls. This is the kind of thing I mean:

D and AD - Diesel brief tutorial

This morning I had a group tutorial on my D and AD brief for Diesel. The brief challenges the creative to reinvent illustration as a powerful promotional tool within music. 'Your challenge is to choose a band or artist and create an illustrated response inspired by two of their tracks. In doing so, you’ll be facing this issue head on and demonstrating your vision of a brave new world for illustration in music.' The brief explains the development of the artwork from vinyl right through to the downsized icons of present day.

The illustration I have devised is for N*E*R*D - Rock Star, depicting a character rhyming on the top of a cop car. The bright equalisers reflecting the high tempo of the track.

It was pointed out that clothing style didn't reflect that of the Diesel brand and this illustration was more of a promotion for the band. I would argue that the clothing represented in the illustration you would find in a Diesel store, the Hi-Tops themselves were based on Diesel's brand. After putting in many hours drawing the character and re-working it, making sure the proportions and colours are correct then applying my digital skills I've got to leave this idea behind. I have understood the feedback from the tutorial and I will think again though it is difficult to do with an illustration that I was really pleased with. But never mind, I will push the idea further and create something better.

Potential idiom concepts

I've spent the last few days generating ideas for the direction of the illustrated idioms. I have considered creating a short story told through the idioms, I would begin to research into how to write a short narrative, devise characters and setting. By looking into folk tales, Shakespeare, children's books and film I could look to adapt a simplistic story embedded with morals and explain using idioms and the accompanying illustration.

Another idea, I could take news articles in various newspapers and apply idioms to the story. "A Leopard cannot change its spots" for example could be applied to the President of Egypt. Then I could look to apply idioms throughout newspaper and perhaps devise my own newspaper which would give me freedom to work with typography and layout.

Matt Ellis artwork

My daily search through the Abduzeedo blog and saw Matt Ellis' work. The second illustration is similar to how I visualise the outcomes of my idiom illustrations.

Luca Mantovanelli

Looks somewhat familiar Luca....

Olly Moss Star Wars Posters

http://www.leblogdebango.fr/2010/12/star-wars-les-posters-revisites/

Extended Major Project

So, the Extended Major Project has landed, 3 weeks have past and I've settled on my idea. My project will begin to research into the English language and idioms. I've collected many idioms, some with lots of scope to explore the literal and metaphorical meaning through illustration. I'm looking to illustrate the idioms with a new approach, looking at them from another angle. The idea needs grounding and purpose, so I was considering making a narrative out of the idioms. Perhaps applying idioms to newspaper articles and accompanying them with an illustration for each. By illustrating for newspaper stories I can set myself a limited area to fill, work with type and layouts.