Tuesday 21 December 2010

Get to the chopper!!!

dan advised me to look at this video on you tube named "get to the choppa" which is a music video for the band Austrian Death Machine the characters

Monday 20 December 2010

Entrepenerial product


Kate Sutton is a freelance illustrator she creates line drawings and plush creatures. I found Kate Suttons work in a book called "Made and sold" she is an illustrator who also creates one off hand made creations like these very festive tree decorations of gingerbread men, knitted candy canes, and wierd stripy monsters.
She says 'Even if i had a range of manufactured products on the market i would continue to make small runs/limited edition items as i love all things handmade and its just part of what i do.' Kate Sutton pg 70
This lady gave me the idea to stuff my flat 2d grandma with wool to make her 3d.

Saturday 18 December 2010

Green eyed Monster


I was asked to write 250 words on an artist/illustrator who i really envy. I decided that i would write about Sara Fanelli who is a contemporary illustrator. A few of the reasons for me choosing her would be that her illustrations are brilliant, interesting and very different. Fanelli illustrated the classic children's storybook Pinocchio. She has a very playful approach to her illustrations where she combines allot of different colour, texture, techniques and ideas which must take allot of time to conceive. I love the Disney film of pinochio and the traditionally painted characters usually come to mind, so when i saw Sara Fanelli's version i was surprised to see such new and exciting imagery, i had never seen anything like it. I could never tire of looking at Fanelli's illustrations in the book Pinocchio. Fanellis illustrations have a naive childlike quality, they look almost unfinished. She uses a culmination of drawings, collage, photography, paint, the real cut out eyes give her characters a human touch after all allot can be said with eyes.
on some of the pages she includes less detailed innocent looking ink drawings which are simplified re-drawings of the original coll aged characters. She uses a mixture of contrasting colours the illustrations are quite minimalistic she is careful not to overcrowd them.
the book is beautifully translated and very original in design. she uses a limited colour palette which helps tie the images in together using quite natural tones.
Fanelli's illustrations are witty but also quite daring from looking at her designs i feel as though they give me the confidence to use my random designs from seeing Sara Faneli's work i realise illustrations don't have to look exact or precise illustrating is about having fun and using imagination that is something i sometimes forget, i need reminding.

Friday 17 December 2010





christopher lockes uses all types of media, including metals, wood, plaster, clay, resins, foam, painting, drawing, and mixed.
i was particularily interested in the spider made of scissors that were confiscated from an airport they lookvery sinister.

Tuesday 7 December 2010

FMP


The next evoloution of book design this is how illustrators will be illustrating in the future. i was quite adament to like the idea of computerised books but actualy after seeing this i think there a brilliant idea i want one!!!

Wednesday 24 November 2010

Berlin




Berlin zoo was the best zoo i have ever seen in my life. I had never seen half the animals they had before like a panda called bau bau, a silverback gorrilla, black jaguars, polar bears and ardvarks! this is a video of Sheba the lion. Seeing such a beautiful yet powerful animal so close was more inspiring to me than looking at any art gallery it was incredible.

Tuesday 23 November 2010

Berlin Oranienburger
















Wow this place was incredible! I have never seen an exhibition like this it was right up my street. metal sculptures made of metal scraps old screws and springs seeing this exhibition made me want to get all my junk out again. after seeing this exhibition i felt so inspired i knew that when i got home i wanted to make the characters for the new competition brief the james and the giant peach.

Monday 22 November 2010

Berlin










Dennis Mcnett Interview

Dennis Mcnett is a very inspirational 3d/2d artist he was very kind to write back his responses were very useful to me

Hello,

Here are the responses to your questions.
How do you keep your working style current and upcoming with the constantly changing fashions and demands of today?

I focus on my own concerns and interests, usually that's what makes the work strong and have its own flavor. I'm not concerned about trends.

Have you ever faced difficulty in finding your own distinctive working style and how did you resolve this?

I've never had trouble with that. Again, I focus on my own concerns and the work has its own flavor.

How do you get out of being stuck with drawers block?

I just draw what I'm really excited about; for example, I was watching planet earth this one time and got really excited about snow leopards after seeing one vault down the side of a cliff after a goat. When I was in art school, it was sometimes paralyzing to have to explain every single thing that I was drawing or wanted to make work about. Later I found it was important to just do what I was excited about and felt passionate about, and to not worry so much about having to explain it. By doing that, I would at times figure out why I was excited about something or how it related to larger body of work or a larger idea.

Which other artists / illustrators, do you admire ?

Richard Mock, Pusshead, Bill Fick, Sean Starwars, Tom Huck.

Is the computer an important tool in the composition of your work or just necessary?

Absolutely not, I never use a computer to compose my artwork.

What materials do you use?

What materials don't I use!


How do you manage your time when given an illustration brief to work on?

I don't do a lot of comission illustration work; usually when I'm doing illustrations for board graphics or shirt graphics its at my own pace, or I just stay in the studio until I get it done.

What advice would you give to someone who is trying to get established in the design industry?

To accept the fact that you have to put your time in. To devote as much time to your studio practice as possible. This is compared to practicing Kung-Fu. If you practice Kung-Fu everyday, you can whoop ass. If you don't, you're going to get your ass whooped. Its also important to show your work wherever and whenever possible, because you never know what that's going to turn into.

Good luck with your paper.
Best, Dennis McNett

Thursday 11 November 2010

material lady




I printed my old lady which i designed onto material and then i have sewn around the edges and stuffed her with cotton wool to make her look 3d.

shoebox auction





The shoe box auction happened March 2010. It was a unique auction and exhibition of "shoebox art' by leading artists for the support of kid company's work with vulnerable children. Each artist created a room from their childhood inside a shoebox. I included this in my research for my new project because i like the niave format of creating a scene in a shoe box it is basicaly a creative primitive form of a set design it reminds me of my childhood when i used to spend hours making rooms in a shoebox using materials i could find from around the house.
The 1st box is Grayson Perrys.
The 2nd is Damien Hirst
The 3rd being Chapman Brothers

Friday 29 October 2010






my tree ideas for my storybook illustration




These illustrations were created by Annie Boberg. I noticed her illustration in the sainsburys food magazine. her illustrations look quite quickly put together she uses diferent styles texture and materials to give a varied design. She creates collages of found imagery from magazines she also involves her own drawings. the image of the lady in the bath she has used photography of real bath bubbles.

Thursday 14 October 2010


I spotted this paper mach'e moose on the wall in urban outfitters in Edinburgh. It has been created with different shades of brown paper which has a simple frame of wire underneath. I am also interested in the combination of the 2d and 3d aspect of the design. The bear that has been created using lots of ripped shapes of paper but with a smooth outline i have taken a similar approach to my own collages of animal characters that i am currently working on for the gingerbread man illustrations.





I keep noticing trees with eyes at the moment they look very spooky like there watching you.