Monday 31 January 2011

The Monster Engine

Just thought this tied in well with my ideas for the competition brief.
Dave Devries is an illustrator who has worked for the likes of Marvel and DC Comics. He came up with an idea of turning children's drawings into finished artwork and created a book called the Monster Engine.

Monday 24 January 2011

Cheese

Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends


Have been looking at different cartoons as part of my research for the Disney brief (it's a tough job I know) This montage of clips from "Foster's home for imaginary friends" shows a child like monster called "Cheese" that really gets on peoples nerves. The characters are kept really simple but the mannerisms and personality are what makes it so good.

Friday 14 January 2011

The Tackle of the Tentacle










I think it's really important to think about the environment and make a difference where we can. Here a group of artists in Ljubljana, Slovenia made this giant monster from plastic bags and plastic cups to symbolise the spreading of consumerism and waste pollution.

The monster was made from 40,000 used plastic bags and 7,500 used plastic cups.

I like the way the tentacles stretch out around the city forcing people to notice it like the image of the lady with the pushchair.

Here is their monster profile:

"The monster itself has adjusted to the environment and therefore survived. It is supplanting us from the food chain. It just might succeed and it's all up to us. It is reproducing with inconceivable speed and knows no mercy. It feeds on individuals sloth and irresponsibility"

More info can be found here

Thursday 13 January 2011

Competition Briefs

I've just had a sneak peek at the competition briefs on Moodle and have two in mind already.....will have to check if they are the correct ones, but so far liking either the Puffin digital picture book or the D&AD interpretation of a music track.

Life Drawing








I haven't been to a life drawing class in ages which I really miss. One new years resolutions is to draw more people and build up a sketch book dedicated to life drawing to increase my accuracy and speed.
I recently came across the work of Florian Nicolle and thought I should feature him in my blog, his website is in French, but i managed to find some info about him in the ref below along with a link to his website.
There is a strong element of gesture drawing which looks really fluid, I like the fine detail that's added in watercolour. Also liking how he uses different paper textures and newspaper print which I think were layered over the top digitally.

Florian Nicolle (neo) is a a young french Graphic Designer and Illustrator. He’s 22 and currently lives in Caen (France), planning to move to Paris. He is a Graphic Design graduate and while on his course, he developed a strong passion for illustration. Now illustration is his main route in the industry.

Skotti Young






I've been looking at a lot of comic book art recently because the detail that goes into these masterpieces is just so eye poppingly good. One illustrator I really like the style of is Chicago based Skotti Young.

I read a lot of Marvel and DC comics in my early teens, my favourites were Batman, Spiderman and Ironman. It's been a while since I've picked up a comic book but It's nice to see modern day comic artists putting their own stamp on old classics.

Young's style looks modern and fresh, I like how sometimes there is a rough sketchyness of line in some of his work and textures that have been layered on digitally.

Lane Smith









Over the Christmas holidays I wrote an essay for Critical Studies on the theme of post-modernism. The brief asked me to choose a designer from my pathway area that I thought had made a significant contribution to contemporary design.

The Illustrator I chose was Lane Smith born in Oklahoma 1959. Lane has illustrated and written loads of children's books and also had work published in the New York Times, Rolling Stone and Regardies Magazine. He has also been involved with some well known children's films working as a concept artist for Roald Dahl's film adaptation of "James And The Giant Peach" and art director for Disney Pixar "Monsters Inc".

There is a strong use of surrealism and dark humour in his work, which is something I really like and reminds me of comedies like Monty Python and The Mighty Boosh. I really want to give oil paint a try after looking at these images.

Monday 10 January 2011

Playing with Photoshop



Last night I thumbed through an old copy of Digital Arts magazine and found a Photoshop tutorial using the masking tool, watercolour washes and textures.

Following the techniques described in the tutorial I painted some quick watercolour washes scanned them in and found a photograph to use.

I added wallpaper texture and floral brushes to add a bit of depth. I really like the end result but think it would look even better with a hand drawn sketchy portrait instead of a photograph.

Up top is the tutorial example created by Murilo Maciel followed by my own creation.

Manga Pens


My first attempts with the manga marker pens. I like the effects I can achieve but it doesn't look as good now I've scanned it in, the imperfection of the black line and bleeding really show up at this scale......not a total loss though I now know what not to do next time.

Happy New Year!

Ok first blog of the new year.......had a really busy but amazing festive break travelling backwards and forwards to North Wales visiting family and friends, but managed to find time to read, draw and kick back.

Got a really good book for Xmas by Jon Burgerman "Pens are my friends" which I have only flicked through so far and actually can't find at the present moment as my computer room is littered with paper, books and the kids dressing up clothes, but rest assured once I find it my blog pages will be littered with images and comments on how cool this book is.

I went to Fred Aldus last week and bought some awesome manga pens which I have been experimenting with and love the look of. The Aqua pens are not my friends at the moment as they don't seem to create the affect as seen on the box....I'm thinking of trying brush and water with them to see what happens.