Art Project

Looking for Work !!

2011-11-07T05:31:00.000-08:00

Hello Blog world, anyone have any tips on finding work in the design world, would be nice if pleople could share there ideas on jobs they have found. New and crazy ideas would be grate as well as more traditional methods.

Current commission work

2010-08-13T02:55:00.000-07:00

Resently I have been making a logo for a charity and have worked planed to make the buttons for ebay companys,I'm getting a taste of work in the real world and have also aranged to sell t-shirts with my colleagues.

Art movement - London Underground Advertising

2010-07-27T10:12:00.000-07:00

London Underground Advertising has been most influential to me; this image in particular is very much like my own. This is because it has similar shapes and a similar gridding system. It even has the same size ratio elements and the shapes properties/communications are very similar to mine have. It has a plain and simple property that spring forward, common to retro graphic design, which is why it is well suited to in the underground stations.

Art movement - Constructivism

2010-07-27T09:28:00.000-07:00

I have recently been looking at constructivism and have been analysing the geometry and Cyrillic script.
Limitations in letter forming and representing shapes as objects to form simplistic design, are really clever and are something I endeavour to work towards for future illustration. The typeface had bold shapes, which all appeared to be the same and were incredibly basic that created a strong dynamic impact.

Limitation

2010-07-27T08:36:00.001-07:00

Limitation is important tool artists can adopt, here for example is a poster made from small square bits of card that have been arranged in a mosaic type way. It’s a good thing to adopt uniformity thru limitation as it will give a dynamic appeal, although sometimes it’s hard to work with a sketch or idea because they are lose and free.

3D EFFECTIVENESS

2010-07-27T06:58:00.000-07:00

This image "MANYSTUFF" for Manystuff Magazine is said to have been for issues that focus on graphic design by Jean Jullien.
I feel 3 dimensional layering can induce more than just depth, it creates environment a space that flat images can’t emulate. I have tried to make 3d illustration models and have found having rough or unstrained edges works best when, blending a light colour into a dark colour. I would have to change the way I work to adapt a 3d style as my works are so formulated and structured by deteriorating the sides of the shapes.
This image shows this point well as it uses slightly scuffed cut elements and contrasts bright light and black. I have noted this in "little big planet" sharp clean edges for 3d illustration create an ugly dynamics but with slight scuff make it easier to take or read.
This is something I have contemplated in 2d as well but I feel sharpness works better when creating flatness, an absence of 3d but not depth as colour or pattern can indicate a 3d effect without being 3 dimensional.

James Yang

2010-07-26T08:11:00.000-07:00

My name is James Peters, I’m working on a blog for my illustration course (Degree) at Stockport College. The reason I am contacting you is because I will be fending for myself as an illustrator and I am scared about the concept of finding work, I have been looking at your work and dreaming of being as talented as you. I was hoping you wouldn't mind answering a few questions, please. I understand you may be very busy, but any time you could spare would be greatly appreciated.

[1] How did your experience at Virginia Commonwealth University have an impact on your work?

VCU at the time had a heavy influence from the Bauhaus school so there was a big emphasis on type, design, and concept. I was also lucky to have Phil Meggs as an instructor at the time who later wrote, "The History of Graphic Design". The appreciation for design helped me understand how illustration could be used in the context of design. I was also lucky to have had some talented classmates which always helps with your development.

[2] You frequently use the colours pink and blue a lot, is there a reason as why?

Not really. Joseph Albers was an early influence on how I think about color which is colors are very relational. I tend to think more intuitively now about colors and have been trying to simplify the pallet since I think this makes work seem more colorful. Hopefully this makes sense.

[3] Do you work hands on and finalize digitally, mostly digital or another way?

I sketch ideas on tracing paper then scan them into the computer. Most of the work is done in Photoshop. Occasionally I will scan inked or brushed drawing and elements to use in the final, but most of the work is done digitally these days.

[4] How open to change are you with a client and do you send them multiple concepts or variations?

I am very open to changes and will normally give the client 2-3 sketches. More than that makes you seem indecisive and sometimes too much choice is a bad thing for the client. It's my job to communicate a message the client needs. The tricky part is sometimes what they suggest is not what they really want, they just don't know how to communicate what they really mean, so you have to break it down and figure out what the really want. Most of my art directors do a good job of distilling this.

[5] Would you recommend joining an agency straight out of University as means of finding work and getting your work out there?

No, it's better to work for a little while on your own so you can learn the business. It helps you to know how to interact with clients, you learn about business practices, and will help you be more effective in working with an agent. The agent needs things from you to be successful so it helps if you've had experience on your own.

[6] Do you have any tips on what clients want to hear?

(reassurances). They mainly want to hear that you are listening to them and paying attention. I also like to let clients know when they can expect sketches and final so they are not wondering if you are on top of their project. Simple things like that.

[7] If any, which agencies have you used and do you have any favourites?

I've only been with the David Goldman Agency, so I guess he is my most and least favorite!

[8] You have given many talks and lectures do you have any words of the wise about the industry?

The best piece of advice is try to be a first rate you and not a second rate Picasso. Also, if you can have a healthy "dissatisfaction" about your work so you keep searching and improving, this is a big help for a long career. Staying in one place is fatal.

Practitioners - Compare and Contrast

2010-07-20T04:06:00.000-07:00

What will I be reflecting upon....
Compare and contrast the processes and practices of your two chosen practitioners, to what extent are they defined by the external rigours of the market place/industry they operate in?

During my time at Stockport I have had the opportunity of meeting a variety of practitioners, but being an illustrator, I find the illustrators most relevant to me are the artist I corresponded by email. I have chosen to compare Patrick Hruby and Ben Newman, being attracted to them because their style of illustration is similar to my own. I will be analysing and evaluating their working methods and practices to enable me to contrast and compare them. Also Tal Rosner as he has a long experience of work.

Firstly, Patrick was experimental in his early years as too was Ben, I think to have skills in geometrical design you have to be open to experimentation. I asked Patrick whether he found it hard to simplify his works, he responded by saying that,

"There is a bit of difficulty in any reductive style. I feel like there is an additional difficulty in what I do because there is a decorative aspect of my work that is in opposition to the idea of simplicity. It's maintaining the balance between the two so that they compliment each other that's the most difficult."

I interpreted this to mean that maintaining his simplistic theme is a complex balancing act between the simplistic and decorative aspects such as the plants and grass are added in their simplest forms, he makes decisions constantly about the levels of detail to be included in his images. This informs me that there is no one set way to illustrate, so I feel that it is imperative to be able to constantly adapt and change. Also, from this I can deduce that a balance I would not ordinarily have considered is endorsed.

Newman on the other hand has a different approach; his designs reflect the shape as opposed to the decorative content in his representations.

Hruby and Newman both acknowledge the importance of Art Director Agencies when it comes to generating work.
They have both capitalised and dominated the market very quickly since leaving their education, though the media and agents, i.e. they both have their own websites and are represented by ‘Illustration Mundo’ which is one of the biggest web sources to find illustrators, also both use agents to find work. Both illustrators use a geometric style and this comes in handy because it can be adopted for many illustration jobs such as media graphic design logos, magazine double page spreads, mini-story booklets, newspapers and so on. Ben Newman created a comic book called ‘Ouroboros’ which is currently being sold in art book shops which is selling well according to the store owner.

Due to the credit crunch it has become more and more difficult to find work straight from graduating, with the additional problem of more people now being educated to the same standard – i.e. competition is tough but I also regard it as healthy.
Some artists divide there time between working part time jobs for a guaranteed income whilst slowly building up his clientele which is far more likely to produce sporadic secondary income and I feel that this is typical of new graduates when starting off their career.
Patrick Hruby however, is more concerned about self-promotion and is in the fortunate position whereby he does not need to supplement his income with a regular part-time day job in addition.

For me, personally, I am not unduly concerned about finances at the moment. I have not got ‘fixed ideas’ as to whether or not to go it alone or work as part of a team. I am comfortable doing either essentially.
Tal Rosner was a famous guest lecturer at Stockport College and was truly a great inspiration. He is more experience than Hruby and Newman because his skills have increased over time and he has developed a maturity to his works. Although Newman and Hurby are relatively new they both are promoting themselves though merchandizing products and websites they don’t yet possess experience, which is what clients want to see. Building up over time, a verity of delightful products like Tal Rosner who has created many works developing his independent language has created trust for the buyer.

Is illustration work as readily available now as it was? Yes maybe more so but there is so much more competition in the second email I sent Hruby he said he struggled because of competition to get his foot on the ground but found work because his work is contemporary and state of the art.

I think it is hard to find work but as an illustrator you shouldn’t panic because you can’t find it especially when you’re just starting out. Overtime you build on the confidence you have gained and generally trust with clients.

Mark Ward

2010-07-08T14:59:00.000-07:00

Hi Mark,

I have been admiring your work. I am in my final year at Stockport College. I do appreciate that you're probably busy, but I wonder if you'd mind answering a few questions......

Obviously you're unafraid of using vibrant colours, is your intention to shock the viewer with the vividness?

Nope- my pallette comes from my distorted view on Americana. It stems from candy wrappers, Saturday morning cartoons and varsity sports.

Do you work alone or have a team assisting you? And what is your opinion on this?

I work alone. For me it works best and I have complete control of my work aesthetic. If I come up with a grand concept that would need a Warholesque factory setup then I guess I would. It gives me more satisfaction to know all the work involved was created purely by me. I'm open to collaboration though if the right opportunity arose.

You use various mediums, do you have a preffered way of working? If so why is this your preference?

I have various methods due to the final output. If I need to do a magazine cover with editable elements, then it's pointless painting it. It needs to be A scalable vector file. For personal work, I like using aerosol and ink on paper or canvas due to the way the two work together. The colours pop and people look twice. They often think it's screenprinted. Rings true to the old method of making cartoons also with flat cell paint and ink.

Would you recommend using agencies straight after graduating?

Everyone has a different path. Whatever works for the individual.

Do you do promote yourself in any other way than through the internet?

Yes- magazines, t-shirts, collabs, my agent...

I especially like your skateboard works for Blueprint, how do you decide whether or not to use symmetry?

I don't think too hard about it. I wanted to do my take on a already distinct aesthetic of Blueprint. They use a lot of symmetry in their graphics... The concept usually drives my forms. The way I execute it is my aesthetic. You have to use both to create interesting work

Thank you very much for your time.

Yours sincerely,

James Peters.

Patrick Hruby

2010-07-08T01:02:00.000-07:00

Hi Patrick,

You caught my attention with your 'A - Frame' illustration as I like the clever way you utilise simple shapes to emulate the objects.
I will be shortly graduating from Stockport College and I appreciate you are probably busy, but I wondered if you could posibly answer a few questions regarding your work for my personal blog.

Obviously shapes form the forefront of your work, have you always worked incorporating this system?

Early on in my education I experimented with a lot of approaches and styles. It wasn't until I got really involved with printmaking that I really solidified the system

Seemingly, plants, buildings and animals are the main focal points of your work, why? Do the shapes correlate with the objects?

Plants, animals, and buildings are obvious choices for the geometric system that I use. But I always enjoy the challenge of interpreting something new. For instance I just finished a children's book with AMMO Books (American Modern Books) about the circus, and I had to illustrate lots of people which I hadn't done a lot in my work before.

Do you find it difficult to maintain the simplicity of your work?

There is a bit of difficulty in any reductive style. I feel like there is an additional difficulty in what I do because there is a decorative aspect of my work that is in opposition to the idea of simplicity. It's maintaining the balance between the two so that they compliment each other that's the most difficult.

Children must love your work does it appeal as well to adults?

I've only just graduated and I haven't been out in the "real" world all that long, but so far I have done work that spans from the New York Times to Children's Books, I would like to think that this means that my work has wide appeal.

Would you recommend using agencies straight from University?

Going with an agency is a totally personal choice. I think the most important thing is to find an agency that works for you. I was lucky enough to get a recommendation to Friend and Johnson which ended up to be a great fit. All in all I think the most important thing is to have a plan on how you are going to get your work in front of Art Directors. Whether that's with an agent, through ad-base, or spending some time copying addresses in the magazine section at Borders.

How important is symmetry to you?

Symmetry is a powerful design tool. It holds a lot of historical meaning. There is something almost religious about it. Similarly a lot of folk art is symmetrical or at least has elements of symmetry. Lastly, it is impossible to ignore the symmetry of nature, which is a focal point in my work. That being said, I am not completely committed to symmetry and I use it only when I feel that it helps or supports the concept of a piece. Sometimes I will abandon it all together for a more dynamic composition.

Many thanks for you time,

Yours sincerely,

James Peters.

Ben Newman

2010-07-05T07:41:00.000-07:00

I asked Ben some questions and he kindly replied.

[1] How was your first experience of commissioned work and what impact did it have on your work? 

My first commission came in my last year at University and I had to illustrate a poem about love. The excitement of seeing your work in print never gets boring. It can sometimes be frustrating though when your illustration gets altered just before it goes to print and you are unaware of the changes until you see the finish article. Luckily, that doesn’t happen too often.  

[2] You carefully use contrasting colours to emphasize lift, do you plan this initially?  

Yes, very much so. I’m obsessed with colour and I always want my images to ping and sizzle by using a vibrant palette.

[3] What is your preferred media and how do you finalise your images?   

Everything I design is drawn by hand and traced on a light box. I use the computer to finalise my images and ready them for whichever medium they need to be printing in i.e. screen-printing, digital, litho, etc.

[4] Do clients tend to be flexible in their requirements or do they have specific briefs/ideas?   

It ranges dramatically. Most jobs I’ve done for AD agencies are very, very specific so you mainly concentrate on the aesthetic rather than the concept. Some clients will just give me a loose theme and then I go from there. Nobrow are my only client that give me pretty much complete and total control over my projects and that’s why I love working for them so much.

[5] Have you approached clients directly, or have you always relied upon agencies for work due to the recession?   

Luckily, clients approach me but I leave most of the contact work to my agent. I do portfolio runs around some of the London agencies from time to time.

[6] Do you have any tips on what clients want to hear? i.e. (reassurances)?  

Don’t wait for them to ask questions. Talk confidently and humbly about your work but don’t waffle on for too long. Clients see heaps of portfolios all the time so be direct, positive and amicable.

www.bennewman.co.uk
www.benhasapencil.blogspot.com

My degree show

2010-06-30T08:20:00.000-07:00

I have made a web blog that logs what im doing as an illustrator.

Comparing artworks - Geometric Forms

2010-06-24T07:16:00.001-07:00

Intro

In this blog post, I intend to compare and contrast two artists' practices and working methods of art. These being Halley’s “Acrylic, metal and Day-Glo acrylic and Roll a Tex on canvas CUSeeMe 1995” and Kandinsky's “Swinging 1925 oil on board” with particular focus on the layout and colour use. I will compare each to my work “TOOLBOT” image.

Peter Halley

Peter Halley was born and works in New York City. He studied at Yale and New Orleans Universities respectively. Since 1980 he has worked in his home town.
Halley held his own exhibitions in most, displaying his work in galleries around the world.
For over twenty five years Peter Halley has been fascinated in the use of geometric shapes to explore social space, in what he descibes as “prisons” and “cells” showing relationships between them. He has been a prolific writer on this subject and art in general, winning an award for his critical writing, which he makes extra money doing for magazines. This is an area I would like to develop as an illustrator studying this topic.

Kandinsky

Kandinsky also explores geometric pattern and is well known as an painter. I am particularly fascinated by the way he responds to music with colour and shape [synesthesia].

Me

I work with geometric shapes and try to create cleverly built imagery in a similar way to Kandinsky - relating to patterns in music but also involves space between griding and layering.

Images

Artist: Peter Halley
Venue: Sammlung Goetz (Goetz Collection)
Medium: Acrylic, Day-Glo and Roll-a-Tex on canvas
Creation Date: 1995

Swinging, 1925
Schaukeln
Kandinsky
Oil on board, Painting
support: 705 x 502 mm frame: 954 x 750 x 80 mm
Purchased 1979

Illustion degree show - Stockport
Tool bot
Card on foamcore, cut and reworked at A1 scale.
James Peters

Compare and contrast

Each of us have used different media and all relate to different topics but what unites them all is shape forms. All however are construted in a simmilar way but have differing moods about them. Peter Halley for instance has emulated a dark structured atmosphere where as Kandinsky has made a dream like atmosphere. This is because mood can be changed by colour and pattern fairly easily.

Lone wolf or Gang warfare

2010-06-24T06:25:00.000-07:00

I chose this field of research as I feel it will enable me to gain an understanding of the pros and cons in setting up a group studio, in contrast to going it alone, comparing both sides of the argument.

Firstly a change in the way companies work with illustrators, it has radically changed as employers need guaranteed reliability. Now to gain trust, collaborative groups or small illustration teams are emerging to take more control of the market. I have had talks with my colleagues about making a group website and feel it is an immediate way to attract more business.

When working as a team, one main advantage is versatility for example Maa Designs in Leicester, specializes in Digital illustration, Book Illustrations, Cartoon Drawings, Medical illustration, Portrait illustrations, Fashion illustrations and will do just about any other type of illustration you want. They boast that 100% of people who use their company use them again and are completely satisfied with their products. This shows how grouping a team and banding together make a strong work force that dominates the market.

A disadvantage in a team is selling individuality, Ste Mack is a classic example of a freelancer who works from home and promotes himself through a plain and simple website. Selling individuality is important to an illustrator and is a key aspect of self promotion. I recognize that I have a weakness in verbal communication and working as part of a team can enhance communication skills’.

Freelancers can find work through networking their skills according to an anonymous source Rylo, G (2010) states that a

“Versatile agency model can help a freelancer land jobs that require targeted, specific experience and skills outside the scope of one individual.”

By being versatile and networking they don’t have to be part of a big company yet strong relationships can exist Rylo, G (2010)

“Freelancers and clients may form a relationship based on mutual needs and the professionalism and competence of both parties.”

Not everyone is suited to being a freelancer according to Rylo

“Being a freelancer requires discipline and self-motivation”

There are certain jobs that would require other people on the team such as advertising, as people who specialise in graphic design and animation skills are there to help. Would one person be able to do such tasks? Most likely not! Would he/she need to join forces with other freelancers because there is no reason why they can’t and still be known as a freelancer? More than likely as it would lighten the load! If this were to happen would it be a self-managed team or a project team, would they work together on more than one occasion, effectively forming an interdependent team and thus collaborating to solve problems.

Regarding harmony within the team’s work studio, it generally works best when artists are familiar with one another and have faith and expectations in one another, however increasingly in 'Drop-in' shared type studios are forming where they take turns on equipment at alloted time periods, but the obvious disadvantage here being that if you need assistance with something, having others input would be more logical in this instance rather than struggling alone with time constraints.
A thing that can make a team stand out from a freelancer is variation, Vormittag from Contain Plus often is given unconventional projects, and notably tells of problems that emerge

"Every time we tackle unknown areas, we have to work on unknown surfaces, deal with lighting, fabrics, durable printing, three-dimensional thinking... almost every job brings a new challenge,"

I interpret this statement to mean that a cohesive team will be able to brain-storm notions, identify potential problems, debate over what does and doesn't work, and how any project could be improved.

As a conclusion I have decided that freelancing is about individuality and is a good way to promote you. A freelancer’s money earned goes to themselves alone unless you have set up an agent or other middle man. A team however is about sharing these things... profits, jobs, skills, equipment, websites and so on. I think both have benefits and think it would be best to work as both, one person could not build a city but one person could help.

References
http://www.articleco.com/Article/FreelanceWritingJobs-----Crafty-System-To-Make-Cash-Or-Yet-One-More-Discouraging-Piece-Of-Junk-/264130 accessed 15/07/10Article By: Georg Rylo The Article Company
http://www.containerplus.co.uk/publications/CA_septoct2006.htm
Computer Arts 127, Sept 2006: by Nick Spence
No Limits Design

Graphic design typefaces

2010-05-05T03:09:00.000-07:00

In this image, depth is created by the light green, it is lifted forward and as an obsvation this is becauce the amount of area is larger than the red areas.
Red and green are complmentry colours but in this image the colours are fighting for dominance and the green usually wins. Its interesting that most of the colour green is mostly on the left as we read left to right and red is a dominant colour that we are stongly drawn towards.

I have been carfuly selecting colour pallete triplets, like in this image I too have used a comlmentry colour choice, purple and orange these colours worked and the thrid colour was peach to lift and seperate them in parts. I will strive to use complmentery colour in this way in the future and will take notes when image like this appear in day to day life.

Some of this text would be hard to read on it own, such as the letter M and W as the letter forms are much less defined. This would work as an embossment as the leterforms and shapes are simplized and suitable. Its almost like bauhaus meets bubble type. (lol) The form is fragmented and makes it difficult to read, leaving things ambiguous and limited information. This is an aesthetic quality I would like to achive in my work.

Prospective clients (Which Magazine)

2010-03-23T15:01:00.000-07:00

Where I went

I went to the centre of London as part of my design practice to see prospective clients. Whilst I was down there I had made an appointment with a friend to meet Judy, who is the art director of the Computer Which Magazine. I intended to go and see her to show her my portfolio, and see if I could familiarise myself with what it is like to meet a client who is interested in my work and would be willing to use my illustrations in her magazine.

About Which

Which Magazine compare prices for products in the High Street. I think my illustrations would be suitable because they would add a spark of fun to their corporate designs. Judy said that the magazine mostly uses photography but she is interested in using more illustration in the future. Judy also told us what type of illustrations work best, such as diagrams.

My findings

I found that a positive influence for me was the understanding of how interviews are carried out in the work placement/work environment. This was a new experience talking face to face with a client. My objectives were: to have the opportunity to pitch work and portfolio to clients, to review the relevance for the client, to obtain feed back and gain practise talking to clients, to see if I was prepared to meet clients in a working environment, to identify any problems that may have occurred preparing me for the next time, to inquire what is best to wear, are business cards required and finally is my portfolio professionally presented.

Learning outcomes

I found that Judy was well spoken but aloud time for me to say necessary things about my work, which helped me as I struggle to say what I mean sometimes. Pitching is not a struggle if you have the correct tools: Preparation of list of questions, business cards and I should have gathered background research on the company or client base, because the client will not only talk about business cards and portfolios. Upon reflection I should have asked about some of the difficulties that occurred with using illustration the short time frames, due to the fast tempo of business printing times. As a last note I have learned to be confident and have a clear mind when meeting someone new and to speak clearly and calmly and reply as best as you can to questions asked.

Lanfranco Bombell

2010-03-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

Stumbled across this designer Lanfranco Bombelli. His work for the American Trade Centre might appeal to you, esp his use of reduced colour and play with 2d/3d.

3D Vector robot image.

2010-03-03T02:01:00.000-08:00

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-29320051/stock-vector--d-vector-robot-communication.html

This image is relevant to the project work I’m producing at college as it explores themes such as communication between two robots. The use of colour here is a tad week for what is being seen here, and also therefore less visually appealing. The robots look like space costumes which means the shapes are not symbolizing what they are.

End of Term Review

2009-12-17T15:05:00.000-08:00

BOY XOOX IMAGE FROM PERSONAL PROJECT

During this term, I have been developing my skills and working on my own illustration style. This has moved me to take a graphic designers approach because I’ve been following the design principles. There were five main projects this term and each had differing outcomes.
For my personal project, I wanted to create a working library of objects that were interchangeable allowing me to re-use elements wherever a design aloud this. So eyes could also be wheels and so on. What I found out about this is there are limitations to how much a detail an element can hold. Testing them help me understand what worked. A lot of symmetry and paternal worked well, it was mostly the simpler ones with forty-five degree angle triangles, squares and circles. I produced some posters using this method and I used a grid and a black illustrator outline. This gave very structured designs that had a bold directness due to their uniformity. If I continued to work this way I would have to answer most if not all briefs set directly objectively. This directness pay off due to shape relation, this is a good thing for me to grasp for later projects. As far as reference goes I have been looking a lot in pattern books and generally simple design like building blocks.
The next project was the times cover project, I started by drawing ideas that I thought would work with the design system I created. It was funny that I had to remake most of the shapes again as they were not fitting into place, so there were some design issues emerging because I wanted it to look dynamic and slot together better, Also I used new shapes because I wanted it in colours that related to the project, in this case science. To add more dynamics I re-used a black line for the three spot images and drop the black line for the cover. This then made me think do I even need the black line, it isn’t adding to anything maybe it was just a comfort thing for me to see it.
We then got given a short one week brief, It was for Lloyds TSB and let you decide yourself what area of banking you would illustrate within set restrictions. After several sketches I decided to illustrate a man placing with giant building blocks that spelt out the word excel as I work to an idea that I have set till it has a message but makes you want to be part of whatever it is. I felt this was one of my strongest images this year as it conveyed no real answer but a sense of achievement.
After that we did a project with Andy Martin about seasonal winds for a calendar. This one I felt I didn’t explore to the best of my abilities as my sketches weren’t thought about fully so I should have spent more time on them. I wasted time here making shapes for a bad idea and therefore failing to create a design that works visually.
The last brief was for a competition, it was optional as to which one you choose. I went for the Monster Munch brief as it seemed there weren’t many rules and it allowed me to be very playful or creative. The brief noted bits of the time period and an aspect I liked was about Atari games. So my main concept was a monster munch game type thing. I don’t yet have flash game designing skills so I made a video of what it might look like instead. I wish I hadn’t spent so much time on the animation as I could have made lots of mini toys, key-rings and stickers. There were other game related ideas I had like a life size monster munch game with a huge dice and masks to put on. During Christmas I want to carry on making some of this stuff even if it’s just at a mock up stage and feel I should try to uses a bigger budget for this kind of project.(wood or plastic or huge prints)I’m still learning.

Nonograms

2009-12-10T13:32:00.000-08:00

Have a look at this, in regard to the Monster Munch project it might be an interesting take on the animation / game.
Its the 1995- 2007 Nintendo version of Hanjie puzzles or Nonograms the way they build is interesting and has links with your interest in Japanese culture and gaming and the visual language you are developing.

Blanca Gómez

2009-11-26T15:24:00.000-08:00

I don't know a lot about this artist, so I may contact her soon.
What grabbed my attention was this image of a cloud and trees. It holds within it the most basic of shapes it’s constructed of two circles, five triangles and five rectangles, well six if you include the white background space.
The point being that, say if it was created in illustrator it would be totally sapped of its joyfulness losing its naivety, because illustrator formulates and flattens the shapes.
As far as I can tell she is marketed as a Graphic Designer/illustrator so likewise this image is challenging her design beliefs. The image has an anti-graphic reality and explores isolation and differentials.(It is my believe anyway)

DEADLINE - Post- it stop motion

2009-10-19T03:18:00.000-07:00

I saw this on T.V the other night and just thought wow! Such a lot of hard work and well worth the result. It's like old school computer graphics and the post-it notes become like pixels. See the full version here and also a behind the scenes - explaining how it was done.

Asymmetry

2009-10-06T05:13:00.000-07:00

Pros and cons of asymmetry.
A big plus is it adds visual excitement, but a bad point is it makes constructing the image harder.
An unofficial rule is that when working on such a design you must use one third or two thirds asymmetrical.(This is a rule to be followed as a graphic designer.)

Working to a new style

2009-09-11T14:33:00.000-07:00

Currently I have been working on a style that has a symmetrical/Tessellational parts. To help me create such works I will make a illustration libaray this will consist of objects that in most cases will be interchangeable, for example there will be folders of eyes, head shapes and hair. When these are put togther thay will formulate the head of the image. In some cases like the eye folder these will dubble up as wheels or a repeate pattern. This consept is one way of makeing lots of charactors with out having to re-make the same object over and over. Another good point is that the re-useable items are archieved systematicaly and are therefor easy to find. Ultmatly I will have to sample test them and hopefuly thay will be come as good as the example image that I have put up on this blog.

Two artists I intend to research in depth during the project are Ryan Hughes and Henning Wagenbreth, both use archiving systems to crate there work. Henning Wagenbreth has even taken this idea to the next level by creating a keyboard command process that involes typing with the keypad to place objects. Other areas I will research are the historys of pattern, structure, symmetry and graphic design. I still want to keep a childish and playful charm if possible and will most likely explore game-design of postmodern theory.

If all goes well and my libaray of imagery pays off fully and is vast enough, I will be able to work for editorials, design books, storybooks and game charactors a large slection of illustration. And some of this work will be available on a website thats soon to come.

Appropriation

2009-08-13T07:11:00.000-07:00

How to easily appropriate art. I have remade this image in illustrator as you can see, this is consturucted by copying some of the sculptures propererties: shapes, scale and colour in this case.

Jesse Reno

2009-08-13T05:21:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, I would like to reference Jayne Allen-Whittingham here as I read her post with interest. Jesse Reno was a dedicated autodidact as she had no formal education and simply drew her inspiration from a combination of contemporary pop and primitive ancient cultures of Africa and South America. She's inspirational to me as I would simply like to illustrate and do not feel that the critical studies side of my degree is especially relevant to the type of material I would like to produce. The pretentious art critics who adopt their own spin on their interpretation of other's work cannot possibly be inside the artist's head and therefore cannot appreciate raw expression. In the majority of cases, art critics overemphasize the art's semantics, resulting in incorrect information about the work as a whole and often mistakenly miss the simplicity and humour that the artist wanted to convey.

Jesse Reno has created a provocative and disturbing dark image here. The skeletal characater appears anguished and impoverished, the effect has been cleverly achieved by the use of vibrant colours interspersing a muddy background. My initial thoughts were that this image had a 'Brazilian' feel.

I think this image of 'Spoiled' looks like a 'Judgement Day for Animals'. An irregular sketch which incorporates both washed and blocks of colour. Linear streaks emphasize the shapes of the foreground characters.

This has a religious feel to it. The characters look like they're in coffins and that some crucifictions have occurred.

Paint Drip (Full size when Clicked on)

2009-08-13T04:31:00.000-07:00

This is one of the mark-making images from last year. I miss the freedom of mark-making, I want to push myself to do more. Anyway, I made this by changing the colours on photoshop, it makes a decent computer background. I like it, however it's moving a little away from illustration but maybe the diversity doesn't matter.

Wildlife Background (full size when clicked on)

2009-08-13T03:48:00.000-07:00

I made this image by re-using old college work and new illustrator files to get this effect. The purple character (Ste) was designed to have a mirror effect. The worm guy (Gerard) is supposed to be sinister looking even thought it was made in illustrator, as I was looking at Gerard Scarfe's imagery beforehand, so something he did had initiated this twisted evil spark.

Tracey Emin

2009-08-08T08:25:00.000-07:00

Tracey Emin uses new and unusual media in her work. She brings techniques ranging from story-telling, drawing, film-making, installation, painting, neon, photography, appliquéd blankets and sculpture.

The use of neon is one of the most striking motifs in her work. Reflecting both the power of modern
advertising and it's wonderful tackiness, Emin's neon works have become some of her most
recognisable. That doesn't mean they don't say something too though, a work like 'You Forgot to Kiss
My Soul' (2001) expresses the frustrations, fears and hopes of an entire relationship.
Emin has grabbed the headlines for the graphic nature of some of her pieces, most notoriously 'My Bed'
(1998), in which the artist's unmade bed is strewn with the detritus of relationships past - including
used condoms and blood-stained underwear. Similarly 'Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963 - 1995'
(1995) was an honest and unsettling piece she created in an appliquéd tent, with names embroidered
inside representative of both shelter and restlessness.
I chose to research this contemporary artist as she is provocative and challenging. Her memorable and
intense work poses the question of the meaning of art today.People are fascinated by the raw openness
of her confessional work.
Emin is however, no stranger to criticism. Stephen Bayley dismissed her works as 'no better than a tea
bag' and along with Damien Hirst had 'abandoned beauty and embraced aesthetic outrage'. In her
defence of'My Bed' (1998), Emin states 'if people say the bed's a joke or a confidence trick I'd say
they're not very interested in art'. I find this piece particularly interesting as it forces the viewer to face
up to their own personal histories - memories that they may have chosen to repress.
Whatever people's opinions are of Emin, she is impossible to ignore, indeed the public visiting the
Tate's exhibition were much more visibly engaged by Emin's work than that of the other Turner Prize
nominees.

Damien Hurst

2009-08-08T08:06:00.000-07:00

Damien Hurst is known as one of the young British artists and has many opinions about his work. In most of his art works, he combines animals and tanks, and most parts of his works, in my view express his feels and understanding of life.

Damien Hurst created the widely acclaimed 'freeze' exhibition in 1988 while still a student at Goldsmith college. This show launched the careers of many successful young British artists, including his own. Hirst graduated from Goldsmiths in 1989, and has since become the one of the most famous living British artist after David Hockney.
In 1991, Hirst brought forth 'In and out of love', an installation for which he filled a gallery with hundreds of live tropical butterflies, some spawned from monochrome canvases on the wall. With 'The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living' (1991), his infamous tiger shark in a glass tank of formaldehyde exhibited in the Saatchi Gallery. This is what made him well known.
Damien Hurst has lots of interests life and death which are well expressed in his works. His work also focuses on alienation and family hood. This is show in one of his main works of a half cut open cow in a tank.
Damien Hurst his expressed many areas of life that some people find offensive because these are areas concern them and in some cases challenge there ideas of thinking, similarly like most modern art of themes of sex, rape and death he is considered to be one of the greatest of modern artist and is why I like his art work.

Roy Lichtenstein

2009-08-08T07:26:00.000-07:00

Roy Lichtenstein was born in 1923 and lived for 73 years, he died September 2nd, 1997. Lichtenstein was a popular figure in the world of American art. He took the ideas of comic book style pictures and advertisements and was categorized as a pop artist in the 60s. Unlike other abstract expressionists, Lichtenstein designed mimicking familiar images in popular culture. Using strong, bold, bright colours distinguished black outlines and patterns similar to that of Ben Day dots, Which lead him to create large quick works of art that were uniquely his own style.

This image is called 'in the car' and was painted by Lichtenstein in 1963 and is typical of his imagery. In this image the colour in areas only uses one colour as apposed to two, three or mixed colour most modern cartoon artists use. The movement lines all go straight and are almost parallel two each other so in a way this doesn't show movement that well. This image would work on a poster, leaflet or painting on a wall. Its simplicity makes it almost look like graffiti because of the thick black lines and dotty colouration. The one main thing I like about this image is it appears like a action seen because the driver look like he's driving at high speed and is about to ask something to the passenger but she seems uninterested in him and whatever is about to happen.

Roy Lichtenstein comic style painting are well consider in American art and is as well known as the artist Andy Warhol. This was a time period of mass-produced consumer goods and also popular urban life.

When he was 38 he painted 'look Mickey' which was his first picture to employ a comic as subject matter. For a previous fifteen years he had taught at Ohio State University, the State University of New York at Oswego and also Rutgers University. In the 1950s at the time of abstract expressionism, Lichtenstein was trying to create a unique personal style for his work, although without much success. 'Look Mickey' changed that, instead of a self created style, founded by the unique expression of the artists hand, Lichtenstein went anonymously, machine-made look like industrial technical methods of mass production.
He then went on to produce more images such as the 'drowning girl' and other more lifelike comic imagery in the 1960s. Most of which used the dotty technique on large sized canvases. Later in the 70s continued these techniques and created a large amount of mirror paintings.
The main thing I like about his paintings is his unique style of action in them, and the emotion in them. I prefer the pop action things to his Disney works, Lichtenstein uses bold block colour this is why his illustrations are made so quickly done and this is also a pop artist. One of the main things I like about his paintings is the emotion in them for example his painting called 'drowning girl' shows even though she is drowning she would rather cry over some guy called brad and looks she need theory and help for sinking in the violent waves. I find the dark blue hair interesting in the painting as it emphasizes the main problem at hand.
Roy Licthenstein is a good cartoon illustrator who paints a lot of the female gender, which is the main reason I like his artwork.

Synecdoche

2009-08-08T07:03:00.000-07:00

I am afraid I do not know the artist who has cleverly used textiles here. The woman’s heart here, is clearly symbolic of a loving relationship between herself and the man. The heart is a synecdoche as it denotes part of the relationship between the couple. I feel that the artist was trying to emphasize that people have more than one emotion as he has double-outlined both characters. I feel that the man is more secure in their relationship because he’s defined in a solid colour, whereas, the woman is rather insecure as she’s in a washed colour and her outline is shakier.

Metonymy

2009-08-08T07:02:00.000-07:00

I think this is a wonderfully simple and unambiguous illustration. This metonymic picture of skis for a winter Olympic challenge represents skiing and all winter sports overall (i.e. bob-sleighing). The different colours could easily represent the various countries competing in this Italian competition – i.e. symbolic of flags.

Metaphor

2009-08-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

This circus picture is metaphoric in that the circus trainer is cracking the whip – i.e. he’s confidently displaying power over the animal. I think the pink circle could either be a circus ring or could be emphasizing movement (or indeed both)! I think activity and noise can be sensed through this picture.

Wes Wilson

2009-08-04T06:44:00.000-07:00

Wes Wilson is well known for his psychedelic, 60s Grapic posters. These in which promoted musicians of this age in time.

This above was one of the posters. The text on the right of the poster has been manipulated into a bone like shape that emphasizes the body next to it. a large mojority of this image is constructed by curly lines. This is creating a trippy/dreamy affect. Similarly the yellow eliminates from the black and draws your eye towards it, therefor creating this psychedelic effect. Both of these traits I would like to use in my art works. I think this works well as the symbol thats being held illustrates peace and freedom, leading you to beleive that this is a form of escape from day to day life.

Useful words to use

2009-07-14T09:42:00.000-07:00

a list of word that are useful as an illustrator, im learning about at the moment....

A
Abstract
Absurdity
Acrylic
Advertising
Agent
Allegory
Almanacs
Alphabet Books
Alternative Comics
Anatomical Illustration
Animation
Annuals
Anthropomorphism
Appropriation
Architectural Illustration
Archive
Art Deco
Art Director
Art Nouveau
Arts and Crafts Movement
Art School
Assemblage
Authorship
Avant-garde
B
Badges
Bayeux Tapestry
Beardsley, Aubrey
Bewick, Thomas
Blab!
Blake, William
Book Art
Book Jacket
Botanical Illustration
Brainstorming
Brandywine School
Brief
C
Caldecott, Randolph
Campaign
Caricature
Cartoon
Chapbook
Character
Chiaroscuro
Children's Books
Client
Collaboration
Collage
Colour
Comics
Commentary
Commission
Communication Skills
Composition
Computer-generated Imagery
(CGI)
Conceptual Illustration
Copyright
Corporate Illustration
Crane, Walter
Cruikshank, George
Cubism
Cutaways
D
Dada
Decoration
Diagram
Digital Revolution
Disney, Walt
Doodle
Doré, Gustave
Drawing
E
Editorial Illustration
Educational Illustration
Embroidery
Encyclopedia
Entertainment
Environmental Illustration
Etching
Ethics
Experimentation
Expressionism
F
Fantasy
Fashion Illustration
Felt-tip Pens
Fin de Siècle
Flyers
Folio Society
Folk Art
Frottage
G
Genres
Gillray, James
Golden Age
Graffiti
Graphic Design
Graphic Novels
Greenaway, Kate
Greetings Cards
H
Hand-drawn Type
Herbals
Hieroglyphics
Historical Illustration
Hogarth, William
Humour
Hyperrealism
I
Ideas
Illuminated Manuscripts
Illustrated Ape, The
Illustrated London News,
Imagination
Information
Inspiration
Internet
Interpretation
J
Juxtaposition
K
Kirby, Jack
Kitsch
Knitted Illustration
Kollwitz, Kàthe
Kramers Ergot
L
Le Gun
Life Drawing
Line
Linocut
Lithography
Live Painting
Livre d'artiste
Logo
M
Magazines
Manga
Maps
Marketing
Mark Making
Masereel, Frans
Medical Illustration
Merchandising
Mixed Media
Mono Print
Mosaic
Murals
Music Graphics
N
Narrative
Natural Sciences
New Yorker, The
Notebook
O
Observational Drawing
Organisations
Ornithological Illustration
Outsider Art
P
Packaging
Paint
Paper
Pen and Ink
Pencil
Personal Projects
Personification
Perspective
Persuasion
Photocopier
Photography
Photomontage
Pictogram
Pitch
Polish Posters
Political Illustration
Pop-ups
Portfolio
Portrait
Postcards
Poster, The
Potter, Beatrix
Printmaking
Psychedelic
Pulp Fiction
Punch
Punk
Push Pin Studios
R
Raster
Rebus
Reference
Renaissance
Reportage
Representational
Research
Retro
Rockwell, Norman
Romanticism
S
Satire
Scanner
Science Fiction
Scrapbooks
Scratchboard
Screen Printing
Self Promotion
Self Publishing
Sequential Illustration
Serendipity
Silhouette
Simplicissimus
Skateboard
Sketchbook
Software
Speech Bubble
Spot Illustration
Stamps
Steinberg, Saul
Stencil
Storyboard
Storytelling
Street Art
Studio
Style
Surrealism
Symbolism
T
Tattoo
Technical Illustration
Television Graphics
Tenniel, Sir John
Text and Image
Textiles
Three-dimensional projects
Thumbnail
Title Sequences
Toys
Traditional Illustration
Travel Illustration
Trends
Trompe l'oeil
T-shirt
Typography
U
Ukiyo-e
Urban Vinyl
V
Varoom"
Vector
Vernacular
Victorian Illustration
Video Jockeying
Vienna Secession
Vignette
Virtual Worlds
Visual Impact
Visual Language
Visual Metaphor
W
War Illustration
Watercolour
Websites
Where the Wild
Things Are
Whimsical
Window Display
Wit
Woodcut
Wood Engraving
Working Process
Y
Yellow Book, The
Yellow Submarine
Z
Zeitgeist
Zines

all above words from....
The Visual Dictionary Of Illustration.

Working on a new style

2009-07-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

I feel i should go for, a blend of vector imagery that is not to complicated that shows shape as one element. Then a carful blend of background elements constructed by mark making, showing a texture in the background.

The hard part is the idea, What is the meaning behind it. I intend to do the folowing during the holidays...

Make a childrens book -adventure book.
> snows magical adventure (or something like that)

Design some rebus (not by words, but by thing) images that mean words.
> pirate
> music
> youth slang
> internet

Make a play city/town.
> music
> cyber
> playful

If any of these i want to take further i will do so.

New age of simple/minimal art.

2009-06-30T12:08:00.000-07:00

THIS ART IS ALL ABOUT FINDING THINGS WHICH YOU LIKE and taking it to it's simplist form. The idea being you can take any subject and make it fun. I think as an illustrator this is possibly one of the most important things to think about, but that's not to say this is the only thing that makes art works appear 'top dogs'.

Meaning would help better this style of art, which is probably something I need to consider more. When this is achieved, art can be enjoyed on a mass scale so the question is: Can you make a design that has meaning with a balance of style and humour?

Candy Garden Party sign

2009-06-30T11:13:00.000-07:00

This was constructed by carfuly analyzing the letters and remaking them with geometric shapes, also this keeps the same slection of shapes for each letter. but the letter sizing changes to help this design layout.

More to this image than it first appears. For example the letters A and R in the words garden and party have this strange parallel thing happening.

I find this most intresting that curved lines could react as a softening affect against harsh pointy lines.

Mega Cool.

symbles

2009-06-25T05:41:00.000-07:00

This is a very unusual collaboration of images. The semantics within the circles are initially ambiguous. Whilst the outlines have clear representations – humans, speech marks, chairs, urinating and an anchor for example – they simply don’t make sense as single symbols or signs.

It could possibly be a short narrative of the day of an office worker – split-second images that contributed to an individual’s working day – this is a white-collar worker under pressure who’s woken up hungover, and is startled by his loud smoke alarm alerting his fight or flight senses. The next caption shows other tenants within his building grouping on the stairs and following the fire procedure. He uses the fire escape and rejoices that he is unaffected by the blaze. After a letter regarding the building’s safety he goes to the toilet. The next two symbols indicate that he has post-traumatic stress as he is slightly disorientated and the red symbol indicates a brief examination from an occupational health nurse where his ability to function properly and not take time off work is considered. He questions himself on his ability as he’s rather shaky with additional apprehension with his scheduled meeting with his boss.

The white speech mark represents the briefing from his boss and the clear speech marks that follow show the individual relaying the information to workers underneath him in the hierarchy of the company.

The minimum wage workers peruse the new direction of the company, whilst our middle-management individual privately stresses over the briefing, leaving him exhausted. He goes to the pub and gets intoxicated. He then vomits in the green oval loo seats and awakes hungover with the knowledge that there is no chance of promotion for him within this company and the anchor represents his lack of mobility.

Or something like that!

Darren Whittington

2009-06-24T07:55:00.000-07:00

This is a postmodern selection of imagery from Darren Whittington who uses shapes to illustrate his vector drawings. He relies on semi-circles, circles and ovals and exaggerates them with heavy outlines. I think his artwork would benefit if he he used textures or patternation in his backgrounds.

Shoji Hamada – Bottle 1931

2009-06-24T07:53:00.000-07:00

Hamada’s Anglo-Japanese style of pottery was innovative as he was influenced by Bernard Leach and set up his own pottery in St. Ives. I feel that colour is important here. Whilst my preference is usually for lighter colours I do like this vase’s earthy colours. The ‘slip’ is a lighter mix of clay, which is a fern colour which contrasts well against the darker brown glaze. I may use these colours in future as I find it paradoxical that ordinarily these colours are mixed together as camouflage in the army, yet in this instance they are used to bring forth the leafy Japanese motif.

Kandinsky

2009-06-24T07:52:00.001-07:00

Kandinsky - Bow and Arrow 1927

Kandinsky was himself an accomplished musician and claimed that when he heard music he saw corresponding colours. The simplicity of this relationship for him, is evident here when he uses interlocking triangles and rectangles predominantly in warm red and yellow for the arc of the bow and creates a ‘heavenly’ blue circle as a cool subversive counterpoint to create tension. You can ‘hear’ the vibration of the bow through the wave shape.

Kandinsky – Klang (Sounds) 1907-12

I took information from ‘Kandinsky – The World’s Greatest Art’ (2006). Kandinsky considered this piece to be a gestamtkunstwerk as it is a universal and comprehensive synthesis of art, which combined picture, word and sound. This image is a clever construction which contrasts the yellow and black. Additionally, the shapes, trees, people and horse etc. are deliberately unambiguous and this is why the whole gestamtkunstwerk works as an ensemble.

(Artist unknown) Japanese Matchbox Design

2009-06-24T07:51:00.000-07:00

This design is constructed out of six shapes that form hills and trees. The design uses texts which break up negative space. The design itself is unusual in that it only takes up quarter of the space. For me, this was particularly memorable as I researched it some time ago and have recently appropriated it subconsciously with obvious similarities.

Shipman

2009-06-22T08:14:00.000-07:00

Its a space ship and a man in one. Idea came form henna beads and tanker tours image. I know its a bit crude but at least its getting in the thinking mind set.

Christoph Niemann

2009-06-22T02:49:00.000-07:00

Christoph uses a graphic approach to his illustrations. This is evident in his grid formulated design. He is an american illustrator that thinks more about problem solving than on artistic expression. When he gets a job he focuses on a idea then pics a media he feels would best suit this. he uses all sort of media form drawings to very vetor based design.

This tanker tours image cleverly usesing the bottem of the boat shape as a bomb and also uses the sea to help emphasize this and helps line up the text. I find this layout useful to better my own graphic approach.

There is three elements in this image, Altough it is unclear what is happening here. One narrative might be the government taking advantages of loop holes in the expenses row. Anther people being forced to vote for a certern party/gambling scam.

This image is construced with shapes, so semi-circle,triangles and rectangles. The forground objects colour, is a bit dark for my taste looks different from the background contrast wize. This one reminds me of the dinosaw head i made in a project.

Ian Wright

2009-06-18T04:27:00.001-07:00

This is an image made up of Hama Beads. Wright makes faces / portraits out of unusual media. Perhaps try to contact him and ask him some questions about his work. This way of working must be very time consuming - how would he get it done when he has a tight deadline? Here is link that shows you how to use Hama Beads - it looks like real fun. It would be nice to see some of your characters done in this way.

Got an idea form this thank jo i will post it soon in the my work section of this blog.

Mayan Sculpture

2009-06-18T04:18:00.001-07:00

These Mayan sculptures really remind me of your drawings, they are made up of parts / shapes joined together to make a character. It would be good to do some drawings based on these - see if you can find a book on either Mayan, Mexican or Aztec influences.

Thankyou jo,

Yes this is defently similar to my resent drawings. I will defantly see what jems i can find and post both on my blog and side file them. [kwl]

Random image from Deviant Art

2009-05-08T07:17:00.000-07:00

Dont no who its by aparerntly it by more that one person. I realy love the brave slection of colours and vast crazyness it holds. The long small train is hidden and acts the background, in this crazy mess

http://saddo-jdero.deviantart.com/art/Another-H-S-Illustration-74790888

Comparing two guest lecturers (Otto and Tal Rosner)

2009-05-08T06:45:00.000-07:00

Resently at stockport, there has been many guest lectures and for this we were asked to post infomation about it. I intend to write some more about Otto and Tal Rosner, and hopefully this will better my general understanding of them.

Otto gave a very formulated lecture in that he spoke about how he self promoted himself first, then went on about his interests in shape and negative and positive space. Tal Rosner on the other hand also has strong interests in shape and patterning affects.

Tal uses recorded imagery and mashies up video footage to crate abstract movement that is similar to Otto in that he uses found imagery/hand made objects in a composition. Otto enjoys creation and development which i suppose all artist do in some way or another. Otto playfulness intellegence and spacial awareness, are clearly evedent in his work. Tal on the other hand uses the same methods but infrequently dose so, this is becauce he work with film and builds on an idea like in his doppleganger cilp.

In the financial market, Tal most likely gets paid more that Otto per commission, but overall Otto gets more over time as he gets more commissions. (proberly anyway)

Otto and Tal have similar personality thay both have drive to do tasks and have a clear understanding of what is both needed and wanted. Where thay differ, Otto has a hyper-attitude and Tal has a laid-back approach to work. Thats not to say Tal is lazy compared to Otto, not at all Tal works hard.

One of Tal's favourite things to do is duplicate video footage, Otto however enjoys playing with space so you can argue both are similar people at heart.

In my eyes Tal super cedes Otto with the finished out come. (even if Tal didnt respond to my email)Otto is good at what he dose but Tal has the edge. (I think anyways)Maybe im studying the wrong subject.

Disgaea

2009-05-06T14:17:00.001-07:00

Is my favourite all time manga. [Angels,Demons and Humans]The main character is laharl the son of the last overlord who choked to death on a apple core. He is on a quest to become the next overlord but he is consantly harrassed by two girls [Flonne and Etna]
sooo funny. Got the games and videos its mega.

8 Bit Music

2009-05-06T13:37:00.001-07:00

Resently i have been infulanced a lot by 8 Bit music, it has helped me losen up my art work even more than it was before. I think a key point in my progression has been most defently being more playful and possibly a bit mad.

Pucca

2009-05-06T13:19:00.000-07:00

Love Pucca. Yet again becauce its funny. Looks like it was completly made with illustrator and after effects. This is what mainly inspired me for the Dr Octogon brife i did not so long ago.

Pani Poni Dash

2009-05-06T13:01:00.000-07:00

One of my all time favorite anime sesons. For two resons, firstly the humor in it completly over the top [a ten year old teacher that is constantly angry]. Secondly it goes from standard manga style to a video game like animation [very silly love it].

Secret Citys Project

2009-05-06T12:10:00.000-07:00

This image is from a project where you could pick your own path, it was very open and let you be creative which was good, giving you lots of options. I firstly went on trips to gather research, at urbis there was a Hidden Manchester exhibishion by Andrew Paul Brooks. This work was of underground/up-high shots of Manchester. So from this i had the idea of hiding objects in things. Then i was looking at plumbing and body systems which is how this image progressed. The elements were put to gether in adobe illustrator.

Steve Mack

2009-04-27T10:11:00.000-07:00

Steve Mack email:

Hi Steve,
I am a second year student from Stockport College, Cheshire, England who’s working on an art blog and I’m a huge fan of your work. I find it has a refreshing simplicity and would be most grateful if you could answer a few questions.

As an illustrator yourself, do you experience difficulty multi-tasking work with your home life?

No, it's a balance but the great thing about being a freelancer is that I can find time to work and shift my days around as need be. I am not held to a daily routine and that flexibility allows me to be an illustrator, daddy and a husband. Life is busy but I wouldn't have it any other way!

Shape seems to be a big part of your illustrations, do you create grids as guide lines?

Shape is a big factor in my work as well as contrasting scale. I've never created a formula or grid. I just keep working at it till it feels "right" to my eye's.

Do you use side projects to help generate ideas for clients, or do you work strictly to briefs?

Most of the work I do is commissioned work for clients specific needs but I also do some fun things on the side to pitch to book publishers.

What type of material/media do you use?

I work completely digital in Adobe Illustrator.

Hi James,

Thanks for the email. I have answered

Best,
Steve
Steve Mack
Freelance Illustrator
Phone: 1.306.502.3394
Fax: 1.866.447.2834 (toll free)

Email: steve@illustrationfarm.com
Website: www.illustrationfarm.com
Blog: www.spotillustration.com
Contributing Author: Illustration Friday Blog

Nate Williams (N8W)

2009-04-26T09:38:00.000-07:00

Hi Nate,
I am a second year student from Stockport College and I’m currently working on an art blog. I find your work really inspirational and unique, and would be most thankful if you could answer a few questions.

When you first started your commission work, did you look for clients or did you have an agent? Was this difficult?

When I first started out .. I looked for clients on my own. I mainly
contacted art directors by looking in the credits of magazine and
newspapers. An agent will definitely help get your work in front of
new people, but most illustrators with reps that I know continue with
their own marketing efforts in addition to their reps marketing
efforts.

With a website, RSS, Blog, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter marketing
your services have never been easier.

What media do you most enjoy using to create your works?

Sharpie Markers felt tip pens, India Ink and Photoshop .. I like my
work being reproduced as silkscreen

Colour is most definitely a good way for you to contrast layers, has anyone inspired you to do this or is it just natural talent?

I think I have been influenced not by one person but a genre of
silkscreen art and low technology printing.

Thanks for your time,

James Peters

Hey thanks

NATE WILLIAMS
Art, Illustration, Hand Lettering and Surface Patterns
iliketorelax@gmail.com
(206) 905-9654

WWW http://www.n8w.com
RSS http://feeds.feedburner.com/natewilliams
TWITTER http://twitter.com/n8w
Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/n8w/
LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/natewilliams

On Sun, Apr 19, 2009 at 5:45 PM, wrote:
>
> ################################
> Nate Williams Illustration
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> http://www.n8w.com/contact/

Drak Attack

2009-04-19T15:44:00.000-07:00

Cityscape design, for a animation brife these where the background elements I used. Just simple hand crafed card shapes.

My toy town

2009-04-19T14:01:00.000-07:00

This is something I was working on during the easter holidays. Playing with block shapes a texture from a bag. Kind of thing I would like to do.

OTTO

2009-03-09T06:55:00.000-07:00

Otto started his illustration career by firstly self promotion work. At college he enjoy drawing and collage work which developed into silk screen printing technique which he now uses as his main style. Otto has worked for various work places i.e. books in Leeds, postcard work, independent newspaper weekly for Saturdays, and so on. He originally felt that getting work is more important than, working at speed which changed with time. The work in editorials was good a self promotional media for him. He feels his work has improved over time. He thinks latterly and has a abstract approach, also scale, positive and negative space are important to him. He is very open to appropriation because he re-uses his own designs and others to make new ones and all so other art like Russian constructivism movement. He thinks that a important part of being a illustrator is having a good portfolio. He told us about how he gives clients four or five ruff ideas, this way the client has chose. The clients usually pic the simplist idea, Otto says and gose on to say its not always the best one. Some of his style is photography with a mix of flat shapes. Posture is something he also incorporates.

All above information from a class lecture at Stockport college.

web: http://www.ottoillustration.com/

Dave Needham

2009-03-09T06:37:00.000-07:00

A artist who embraces popular culture and utilizes photography and modern computing skills to create his own style. This could be a way I can better some of my own ideas.

Suzy Q

2009-02-17T04:00:00.000-08:00

Suzy loves her Scottish heritage and makes these intense images. it appears that it is a continuous line drawing which contains limited colour pallet. This image it is not very eye pleasing as objects and colours are scattered throughout.

image from illstrationweb.com

Tal Rosner

2009-02-04T11:52:00.000-08:00

Tal Rosner studied graphic design, creating an independent language i.e. rhythm and movement were his interests.
One of his major film productions was ‘Doppelganger’, duration 4 minutes 10 seconds which displayed pulsation and shift.
He uses environment to create linear shapes - triangles, rectangles etc. This is his passion.
He generally uses a small budget, which is occasionally personally funded.
He progressed from techno music to more sophisticated classical tunes due to the briefs that were required.
One of the films we watched ‘Stravinsky Debussy’ contained a part named ‘Conmoto’ which used a similar technique to Doppelganger - with the splitting screen and the violence was suggested with sudden jolting movements.
Another clip from this showed scenery of sea, pylons and boats which were multi-framed, gradually morphing into one another.
He did the ’Skins’ programme for Channel 4 / E4 which contained 72 different versions of people covered with abstract layering which concealed his style.

Belinda Murphy Bee

2009-02-03T12:43:00.000-08:00

This illustration was created by Belinda Murphy Bee who feels that popular culture is embedded in the bric-a-brac of everyday life. Bee depicts nature harmoniously here, with the young woman’s back and skin looking elegant in a yoga pose. Her plaited hair is sleek and chic and would make an excellent advertisement for an organic body product.

Nathan Reed

2009-02-03T12:38:00.000-08:00

Nathan Reed was commissioned to produce illustrations for this children’s book by Jonathon Emmett. You can tell immediately that this will be an action-packed story due to the motion suggested by the rocket’s jets. In this picture (and indeed throughout the book) Reed employs a patchwork effect of candy colours and shapes.

Russell Ayto

2009-02-03T12:13:00.000-08:00

Russell Ayto was commissioned to create this mischievous little ‘monster’ Charlie. Charlie is a young imaginative child who believes in monsters and adores sugary doughnuts. You can guess from the shadow in the background that Charlie is about to have an exciting encounter with something rather frightening creature. Reminiscent of the work of Ungerer, Ayto uses sombre colours effectively here.

This is another image created by Russell Ayto for children. An immediate criticism that springs to mind is that Ayto failed to grasp that all ginger cats are in fact male and ‘Fat Cat’ is a pregnant female who adorns a ribbon. Warm colours emphasize her stripes and the hay in the background.

Allan Sanders

2009-02-03T11:42:00.000-08:00

These two illustrations appear to be advertisements for travel insurance and satellite navigation systems respectively. Allan Sanders utilizes a graphic approach visually. The individual characters are the most significant aspect of his work. He places them in situations or environments which can be exploited to produce a quirky humour. Notably in these illustrations the heads of the characters are disproportionate to the rest of the picture!!!

http://www.loopland.net/

Anne Wilson

2009-02-03T09:53:00.001-08:00

Her work is used for Children's Books though I am not sure if she is also the author. I just picked them because she has had a long and fruitful career. Her use of colour is also very striking which I know is important to you. Here is a link to an interview that she has given.

Andrew Selby

2009-02-03T08:20:00.000-08:00

From looking at your recent post, I thought that you may also like the beautiful, vibrant landscapes by the illustrator Andrew Selby. You can see his work online as he is with an agency. He is also a lecturer so maybe a good person for you to contact if you can think of some probing questions to ask about the context of his work and the industry.

Serena Feneziani - Countryside

2009-02-03T05:53:00.000-08:00

Title - Countryside
Brief - Pop-up book
Medium - Watercolour and pen
Purpose of work - Picture of countryside to be used as background
Commissioned by - Sue Tarsky

This playful image has a appeal to children as it is colourful and maze/map style, hype's up country living, the rules applied to normal structure in this image are completely eradicated, making it unconventional and surreal.

Using language to talk about work

2008-12-11T12:38:00.000-08:00

I thought that this would help you to act as prompts remember some of the things that you can talk about when you are looking at a piece of art or design work. Ask yourself not just if you like it but WHY it works? You may also find this book 'Foundations of Art and Design' by Alan Pipes very useful as it is easy to understand and gives lots of contemporary examples. They have a few copies in the library or it is on Amazon.

Birgeitte Haahr Lund

2008-12-09T07:55:00.000-08:00

Birgeitte Haahr Lund is one of the artists from ycnonline.com
the space in this picture is used in a way that it makes u look all around the image.

Poster for CultuurNacht 2003

2008-12-09T06:49:00.000-08:00

http://www.cultuurnacht.nl (old link)
http://www.todaysart.nl/2008/(new link)
An art group that targets a young audience in the Netherlands.
Bob van Dijk, Oscar Smeulders, Joost Roozekrans and so on.
Image from 'The Layout Look Book'
Just added this image because of the layering effects i.e. the star representing a mouth.

power grafixxs

2008-12-09T05:54:00.000-08:00

Wacky shapes yay, logo design, do not know what it is but love the shapes in it.
A company in japan. Main art team Masahito Hanzawa, Hiroyuki Nagatake, Yoshiyuki Komatsu and Junya Saito.
http://www.power-grahixx.com

Retro design and dynamic design bold and old school but then again its just a logo!!

More simple design by cleverly composing shapes!!

Sanna Annukka

2008-11-28T05:14:00.000-08:00

http://www.sanna-annukka.com/portfolio/#

An illustrator who uses silk screen printing in a patern like style with a strong identity which make patterns that look like that were done on illustrator.

lee Yapp

2008-11-28T04:46:00.000-08:00

http://www.leeyapp.com/page3.htm

ABOVE LINK IS ABOUT HIM

He has always had a interest for art and has been skectching and doodling before his course.

This image links to the city project im doing for my FMP, it was made when he saw his refelction in a puddle of water. [aparently]

He uses paint then finishes off in photoshop on most of his illusrations.

Mario belem

2008-11-28T03:09:00.000-08:00

http://www.mariobelem.com/
Although my work will never look like his i like his approch to layout and design and he has always been one of my faverates. Its very graphic poster type design which he has marketed well as thay are mostly for club flyers or bus stop advertizing.

Tips for your blog

2008-10-20T04:05:00.000-07:00

It would be good to see you posting your own work on here too James. Try to be more expansive in your comments when you post an image. Always try to link posts back to your own practice rather than just because you like it. How is it impacting on your work ?

Don't forget to use your blog to document correspondence with people in industry, see if you can get hold of some of the people whose work you have been trailing, show that you are engaged with current issues in the profession by reading journals / magazines and document what is relevant to you and how this research is helping you think about your place in the industry.

Keep up to date with reviews of guest lectures such as Gillain Blease, this should be thorough, follow up some of the leads that she gave of her influences, explain how she got a foot on the ladder as an illustrator, how she promotes her work and how she has diversified.

Have a look at www.illustrationmundo.com (your old friend Nate Williams is heavily involved in this) or www.theaoi. com for up to date news and more insightful comments on the work of others'.

jon burgerman

2008-10-16T06:50:00.000-07:00

Jon Burgerman has cutout pictures of animals above his desk where he works. The first to be added, and probably still his favourite, is a baby penguin going to the toilet, with some force. When not cooing over nature's fluffy defecating creations he likes doodling. His doodles have adorned t-shirts, snowboards, magazine covers, books, toys, computer games and airplane sick-bags. Working freelance enables him to snooze through most of the day; he is at heart a very lazy person. Info by Idressmyself.co.uk.

I will contact him soon and ask him about who inspires his work and so on!

His work inspires my own in that it uses a playful style that has its own uniformed presentation.

Hi Jon,

As part of my art course, I'm obliged to contact the phenomenal Burgerman. Argh no, I'm scared!

> I watched your 'Pens are my Friends' DVD and noted you didn't
> mention a
> favourite fruit? So d'you have one?

a ripe pair or a juicy orange.

>
> I appreciate you're a fan of Super Mario - are there any other video
> games
> which inspire you?

I liked the first sonic game and I enjoy playing Advanced Wars on the DS

>
> Do you listen to music for inspiration? Which genre?

I like all sorts.
check out my profile on last.fm
http://www.last.fm/user/jonburgerman

>
> I like to relax to Echo the Dolphin when doodling.
> Many thanks for your time......

that's a nice game, i remember when it came out on the mega drive

cheers
j

Jon replyed within four hours and this was easter day!!

GILLIAN BLEASE

2008-10-16T06:43:00.000-07:00

Most of Gillan Blease work as an illustrator is for an editorial in The Guardian newspaper.
She did a foundation course at MMU.
After that studied Newcastle (fine art) where she had influences by Terry Frost.
Then studied in London, which made her more interested in symbolism i.e. a trinket box that was shape orientated.
This then encouraged her to go to Japan where she became more interested in shape design.

When she came back England she chose images that reflected her practice at Whitworth.
Gillan worked at ATME although she didn’t enjoy it much as she found it hard to keep creative.

Subsequently got help with design practice with anther illustrator and built up a portfolio.
She got jobs with her portfolio i.e. L Magazine

Gillan Blease looks back at various artists she admires. (Especially when stuck)
A quote from Gillan Blease “be inventive with composition”
Talks about true essentials – in this case loves simple logo design (enthralling)

Later work for a food section in The Guardian, then was offered a weekly job, over 150 illustrations.
She then goes on to say be careful about the literal meanings in jobs, also costs for self promotion i.e. art books that go to art directors.

Her designs slowly started to get more designed as time went on.
She warned also about time limits i.e. less than 1 hour on some commissions.
Another quote from Gillan Blease “work exists as it is”

She came across a bad art director for a book poster project, also had oodles of input from various people about what they wanted.
She had no chose of colour and had to work in a set style, which she furthermore had a limited design process.
Whereas she had another similar project, book cover brief which was easer in that time was not an issue, as well she had hardly any design limits at all.

In her spare time she draws patterns which from this got work at a card company.
She keeps all ruff work in a booklet separately.

Note all above information from a talk at Stockport College.

Dosveintiuno

2008-10-16T03:40:00.000-07:00

This artist uses a graffiti type of design with a simple selection of shapes to illustrate his work.

http://www.dosveintiuno.com/concepto/concepto.html

http://www.dosveintiuno.com/piezas_graficas/piezas_graficas.html

SUPERBROTHERS

2008-10-16T03:17:00.000-07:00

Love there pixelated style as it is using old quirky gaming style, which is reborn as a fun urban city that is gray but not dull. This is because it is using a set style and re-vitalizing it for there own purpose/individual style. Fun in this post-postmodern society which craves many things.

video link
http://vimeo.com/1715202?pg=embed&sec=1715202

Wythen Hansen

2008-10-06T04:14:00.000-07:00

Have a look at this designers site, his use of colour and bold shapes, are similar to the Tanaka work you are looking at and your own pixellated designs.

wythenhansen

TEKKONKINKREET

2008-09-23T14:13:00.000-07:00

This film contains ( in my opinon ) the best city detailing ever in a animated film !! pixar ur gunna slip behined if thay make more films like this one!!

Imperial Boy

2008-09-23T13:52:00.000-07:00

Loves to draw of reminiscent Meiji, Taisho and early Showa periods in Japan. A fantacy city scape artist who creats breath taking imagery. This is one of the artist im gunna get insperation from in my final project.

HUNDERTWASSER

2008-09-23T13:36:00.000-07:00

An Artist who I regularly take insperation from, If it wasnt for him I would have fallen asleep when we did Dada artists last year lol. How can anyone not love his childlike city scapes and bold colour style. This is the type of thing I want to do for my final project.!!!!

How Manga Took Over The World Exhibition

2008-09-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

Last friday I went to this Exhibition in Manchester, And I have taken some photos of works I felt were similar to the my work. Most of the work was by Tado but there was other cool artists work there ie Emma Wyre which has a similar theme of monster like creatures. I found the shapes and colour pallets useful in the project we are doing on Fairytales.