Expect Resistance

For me print is an inherently political act. The automated nature of the practice removes the artists hand  allowing the work to speak about the world around us far more effectively then more classical artistic disciplines.

Paint and performative art are inherently gestural making it almost impossible to separate the artist from the subject matter. Picasso's piece Guernica may have been a direct response to the horror of the bombing of a town during the Spanish civil war yet the artist himself is often a central consideration when interpreting the paintings narrative. This might be down to the paintings imagery (the bull, often thought to represent the artist himself as well as a visual metaphor for the Spanish people) or even simply and for me far more likely, that you can see the artists hand within the work. Andy Warhol may have seemed like a hideous self publicist, but the automated nature of his own practice allowed him to stimulate a far more interesting conversation about the nature of celebrity the replacement of image over authenticity and the artist relationship to his own work then, in my opinion, Lichtenstein was able to in his paintings.

For my own piece entitled "Expect Resistance" I wanted to create a design that had it's roots in Art Nouveau and the hippy poster art of the 70's. Like my sticker design the piece had originally featured lettering and the illustration of a female soldier, but it felt far too obvious and heavy handed and for me the piece works far more effectively when stripped back to its original ornamental design. I wanted the design itself to invoke a sense of strength. Which I believe it does. The design does however lack refinement, the spacing within the piece needs tightening up and more consideration needed to be taken as to how the piece might look at different sizes as I feel that the work suffers particularly at smaller sizes where it becomes confused and unreadable.
Overall I'm reasonably pleased with the piece and I only wish I'd had more time to look into and develop the work and the ideas behind it further.

Colour test.

Image scanned from my sketchbook and painted in Illustrator. 

HaHaHa

Scanned from sketch book, Illustrator and Photoshop.

Classical Beauty

Images were scanned from  my sketch book and blah blah blah.

Staying inside the lines.

I've not really used colour much in my work so far. To be honest I've avoided it. Poor use of colour can make a perfectly good line drawing look like it was botched together by a child, but I decided that my work could only improve by facing up to my fear :)

 It's also a way to introduce more depth. I guess that's what you do, endlessly tinker with your approach.

Adding things, taking things away, finding the things that help you express yourself in a meaningful and, hopefully, satisfying way.

All images were scanned from my sketchbook and touched up in Illustrator and Photoshop.

This Low Life.

I wanted to try my hand at cover design and page layout. It's great to work with both imagery and text. I've used fairly common fonts, but at least it's not Comic Sans.
It seems to me that with a cover you want to try and sum up the story you're promoting.
Since this is a totally fictional story and a character who exists only in the sense that I've drawn him a couple of times(see Kapow!) I could have had him splitting the moon in two or romancing Batman but I decided he was going to slug some guy in what might be a completely unjustified attack.

Although this is a simple action to present and can easily be done in two frames (this is without the need for context or setting) I found the challenge more in finding an interesting way to layout my page.

I wanted to do away with panels as I found them restrictive and as it's a very simple narrative I didn't feel the need to restrict the reader.

Images were scanned from my sketch book text was added in Illustrator and the page was arranged and finalised in Photoshop.

Alien

After the disappointment that was Prometheus I got back in touch with the '79 movie and was reminded just how brilliant the original alien design was.

As always was scanned from my sketchbook and touched up in Illustrator and Photoshop.

Family Portraits

Ruby

I should point out that Ruby wasn't crying. Along with her cousin they'd discovered the joys of screaming. Which made for a fun afternoon :)

Noah

This hasn't come out as well as I'd hoped. Noah is actually a very cute little boy.

Esmee Grace.

Esmee doesn't actually look like this, she has a nose and everything, but I just thought it would be fun not to do another straight portrait..

We Came A Long Way.

One incredibly warm day my brother and I headed for the coast.

It Goes Off.

More Esmee action, but once again I failed to give her a proper face. In this case I just liked the effect. Sorry Esmee.

Happy Birthday.

Image was drawn free hand in Illustrator and finished in Photoshop.

Let's push things forward.

In a shameful piece of self censorship I removed one of my posts (slim pickin's)  which was largely concerned with a period of creative frustration. You see some times I get trapped playing it safe. Sticking to what I know rather than trying to improve the things I'm unsure of.

This leads to me getting bored and frustrated with my own output and then looking to alter my approach in some way. Most of the time this leads to better things, but it can be a long road. I sort of wish I'd kept the post because I think it made some fair points, but the work that I posted was flat and I can't see it holding any interest for anyone.

Anyway it didn't last as long as I'd feared and I hope you'll agree that we're moving in the right direction.

All images were scanned from my sketch book and touched up in Illustrator and Photoshop.

Kapow!

After Attending this years Kapow Comics Festival in London I got a bit inspired. The standard of some of the work on show was unbelievable. Say what you like about comics and the people who make um, but  these guys are fantastically talented. 

 There's something fun about drawing characters this way. You can be fairly free with your pencil and as long as you have a basic grasp anatomy you can play it pretty fast and loose.

Plus you can be so broad with your characterisations. I'm not saying that there aren't very subtle comic artists out there, but it really is a lot of fun just to let yourself go over the top from time to time.

All images were scanned from my sketch pad and touched up in Illustrator and Photoshop.

The Lunch Box Test.

It's my contention that if you can design an image that looks cool on a kids lunch box you'll be a millionaire. It sounds really easy doesn't it. The same as it sounds really easy to create a kids book, but it's not. Why? Because your design needs to work on a number of levels.

 The Stormtrooper design is fantastic. It's been slightly killed through over exposer. If I see one more hipster T-shirt with a Stormtrooper raving down I'll loose it, but there's a reason people love it.

 Now stick with me on this. We're talking one sophisticated little kid that can appreciate the design of a chair, but I'm telling you sell this on the front of a lunch box in some little boutique in Shorditch. Every kid in east London's rocking one. You don't believe me. The idea will grow on you.

This is based on the classic VW mini. Enough said right?

Now I know these ideas aren't original. There's probably millions of bits of rubbish with a Stormtrooper etched on it or a mini, maybe not the chair, but there's something about a good bit of design that's universal. It doesn't matter who you are, what your back ground or where you come from good design just resonates. And I think that's pretty cool.

All images scanned from my sketchbook and touched up in Illustrator and Photoshop.

Under the bridge.

I wanted to create a character who was physically imposing. His suit is ruffled and his tie isn't straight. Again I wanted to create the impression of a character that despite his outward respectability wasn't entirely trustworthy. 

 As I've said before I like clean lines. I don't like to clutter pieces with too much that distracts the eye. One thing that bothers me about some graphic artists is they render these wonderful frames, that while beautiful to look at, tend to slow the story down.

The background was based on a section of the High Line in New York (urban regeneration scheme lower Manhattan) , but I thought it could stand in for a dodgy underpass.  

Images were scanned from my sketchbook and touched up in Illustrator and Photoshop.

Happy Easter to all. xx

With love from the city

The Urban Rambler was an idea I had for an illustrated diary that would consist of a single frame narrative taken from every day life in the city.

start.

I've kept a sketch book for years on and off, but I'd not been sure why. After all what's the point of a sketch book if you never plan on completing anything or allowing anyone to flick through it? 

So after years of procrastination, navel gazing and self doubt I decided to put something "out there".

Images were scanned from my sketch book. They are for my brother who asked me to design some zombie characters for a game he's creating. I touched them up in illustrator and photoshop.