Back in July I created some Art Department graphics to be featured in a Unicef advert. The brief was to make 5 large movie posters all advertising films from 1977. Not able to use any existing images or fonts or colours, I wanted to look at key scenes in each film that would only really make sense if you had seen each movie. I didn’t have long to make them and so as always with these jobs they’re pretty much a case of getting down the bare minimum to fit the brief and then tweaking and building around them until they start for form something interesting.
The five movies chosen where Close Encounters, Annie Hall, The Duellist, The Gauntlet and High Anxiety. One thing I found a little challenging was the type. Working with type has never been my strong point and the brief asked for any text to be almost semi readable. Obviously the posters had to say the Film name, but it couldn’t be to blatant and almost had to blend into the image. I had to look at somehow disgusting the fonts but still making them fit on a 1977 UK cinema poster.
This weeks Illustration Friday entry is ‘Village’. I lived in a village growing up and it was mind numbingly boring and dull, so I wasn’t exactly filled with inspiration when I saw this weeks brief! With that in mind it is my job to take something like this and turn it around to create something a little more exciting.
I’m really trying to overcome using the words so literally and making obvious decisions and so I wanted to do something quite graphic and bold that would maybe conflict with the idea of something as traditional as an old village. I’ve also been really ill lately and have been having really weird, full on ‘ill dreams’. You know, the kind of dreams you have when you have the flu, usually quite mathematical and panicky. I dreamt I had to stack all these weird shaped within a really small time frame, it then turned out I was building houses and they were made of really thin grey concrete with orange edges.
I decided to follow my dreams (literally) and used that as a starting point for this weeks piece. I wanted to use the idea of a miniature village with giant kids stomping around the place, like posh middle class Godzillas! All of those ideas swirled around in my head and managed to come out in the form of this illustration. Enjoy.
The word this week is ‘Hat’. Straight away I wanted to try and do something a little different. Without using some type of Philip Treacy masterpiece I was worried an image of a hat would look pretty boring but I knew the look I wanted to achieve wasn’t going to be as glamorous as that. I decided to make it my aim to create something visually interesting from an image of a plain old hat! I love glitchy things, things you need to look at twice and things you sometimes can’t decide if you like, or how something makes you feel.I wanted something more 90’s, a bit 3D and almost like some of the old rave flyers I remember seeing plastered all over my sisters walls.
Each week I’m trying to work as quickly and efficiently as possible, I can spend so long doubting what I am creating and so really wanted to nail this and trust my ideas and go with them from the get go! Knowing I wanted to use a baseball cap (I have so many I’ve collected over the years but now wont wear as my hair is too long and i look like a trailer park boy!) I started playing with images of me wearing my old favourite hats (R.I.P.) I started by breaking the image up and re building it. Using the CMYK separations, (so they could be screen printed) I started arranging the image of my hat and hair to create some kind of form, almost an organic lump.
The image is a bit strange and I like that, it looks a little like a flower, or a mouth and has the impression of movement that I love. I can imagine the shape floating and the hair moving as hair would in water. I chose to add some text, keeping it with the idea of it being like a flyer (from what I rememeber were always really text heavy) but wanted to use this to make it a little more contemporary and modern. I really love this illustration, its exactly how I wanted it to look. That can sometimes be the hardest thing getting the ideas from your brain to the screen or page, but this time i feel I did a pretty good job.
So this weeks word is ‘Mystery’. For some reason I’d been thinking about weird 70’s conspiracy theories. I had read about this film ’The Parallax View’ (1974) and watched the trailer on youtube. The film didn’t even seem particularly interesting and the trailer not that gripping but I was imagining what the poster for the film would look like if i had designed it. After seeing this weeks word, it got me thinking about the trailer and after re-watching it, went about starting this weeks illustration.
I really love seventies design and so wanted to work with my loose interpretation of of it when coming up with my take on the word Mystery. I always like to stick with what originally comes into my head when thinking of the word or brief. For me it was more the idea of unsolved mysteries and the unknown. Triangles, the Illuminati, coding, I liked the idea of an image being taken apart, almost trying to find out hidden things behind or within the image.
I think I’ve just about managed to bring all those idea together to create an illustration that i am actually pretty fond of.
So this weeks illustration Friday entry is done, and the word is ‘Smart’. The first things I thought of when hearing the word smart, were technology and knowledge. This then led to the more literal interpretation of brains and wires!
We’re all linked to technology with smart phones in our hands and pressed up against our brains. Its a bit scary how much we rely on it to make us ‘smart’ it got me wondering what would happen if it all went wrong, like a glitch.
Information is transmitted to our phones just like our brains transmitting signals. I liked to idea of actually using technology to edit the image. By taking photos of the computer screen and running them though apps to manipulate the image.
I had a lot of fun making it. I made a little video on my Instagram which really shows my idea in its full glory!
I have decided to take part in the ‘Illustration Friday’ weekly art challenge. Every Friday a new topic is posted and I’ll have one week to submit my own illustration to the online gallery. It’s a really great way to create something with less boundaries and restraints as most freelance briefs. You can really be open to your own interpretation of the word. You can be as literal as you like or go for something a more conceptual.
Last weeks word was ‘Spin’ and above is my submission. I’ve always been a little obsessed with symmetry and patterns. So with this image I wanted to make something look as though it could spin, or was just about to. When I originally thought of the word spin, I imagined very fluid lines and curves but I wanted to create something quite sharp and angular. I think i’ve managed to achieve that, and I’m pretty happy with the outcome.
As most creatives know, procrastination is the enemy. Full time jobs, friends, the internet and wine can get in the way of us for filling our full potential. Add that to a big pot of self doubt and there you the ultimate recipe for failure.
This week after realising I am really in the wrong job, I went for a meeting at a creative agency in covent garden. Not knowing who or what to expect, me and my sweaty palms entered the building clutching my iPad notebook and pen. I was instantly relieved when it all seemed a lot more relaxed than I had expected.
My appointment was with a very charming and enthusiastic gentleman called Tom who instantly put me at ease and seemed genuinely interested in seeing my work and hearing what I had to say. We spoke about potential freelance commissions, working as part of a design team and also using my background in set design to go on to work in that field.
All in all it was brilliant. It’s amazing how a complete strangers outlook on things can shift all you doubts away. Not only a stranger but a someone who’s job it is to find people like me work. He was pretty sure that it wouldn’t be too long before I got myself some.
I left the building feeling inspired, confident and like I had finally heard what I’d been waiting to hear for the past year. I now just have to take on board the advice Tom gave me and start working away to draw in clients. First thing on the list was a website. Check!
New year, new me. Still not going to the gym, still can’t resist a glass (bottle) of wine, but at least for now, I am feeling fully inspired and acting productive. Even though we are only 15 days into the year, so far has started off on the wrong foot. So with that in mind I am doing everything in my power to change it around and improve this somewhat, dire beginning!
First thing on my list is to build a website. A handy place where all my work, past and present can be featured online. I’m also planning to add a blog with this site where I can keep everything that inspires and motivates me all in one place.
While making the site some glitchy ghost in the machine stuff happened and created this pretty cool version of my menu screen. As nice as it looks its not really going to showcase my skills. Here goes!
