David Shrigley at the Cornerhouse

One of the visits I’ve been on while I’ve been on my creative hiatus was David Shrigley’s exhibition at The Cornerhouse in Manchester. He coined his work into a book as well, titled “How Are You Feeling?”

To me, Shrigley has this kind of urgent, messy style, where getting his message across is perhaps more important than how the work looks. I like this idea that it doesn’t really matter if the drawing is basic, as long as you can tell what it is, then that’s fine. Its something I have long preoccupied myself with, striving to get a perfect picture when I don’t have a perfect style. I like messy, so why not stay messy?!

I think that the sheer volume Shrigley has to share motivates this urgency in the work. The exhibition was across two floors; the walls were literally covered with excerpts from the book, and there were even displays in the middle of the floor. He has a lot of messages, but sticks to a common theme, this instance being how people feel about common situations. I admire his work a lot because it reminds me of things I should be doing every day to keep myself thinking as a creative person; whatever ideas he has, he writes down, draws, explains, changes, and this is what I should be doing every day, on my break, before bed, when I’m having my breakfast. Otherwise how can one ever have enough work to showcase in this way. But its also relevant. It’s not random scribbles, each piece makes sense and ties into the next one. It is these kind of messages I want to show in my work as well.

Probably the most influential part of Shrigley’s work for me though is the type he uses. Everything, everything, is hand written, with respect! You will be able to easily tell that he has influenced me when you see my pieces, although they are very different. He keeps his messy, outlining, capitals, use of spacing inconsistent, whereas with my work I need to give myself some boundaries, so have only taken elements and explored my type from there.

Shrigley is currently one of my biggest influences so there might be a few more posts about him and some of his more recent work, but he is a constant reminder that I should care less about what others think but just do more more more (something my tutors always told me).

Working with Type

With time running short it seems that the best idea was for me to use my images to create a set of posters, using some of my line drawings, my printed images, and some type. I didn’t want too much type, just enough to give a kind of added element to my narrative, so when it is added to the poster a story is told.

Exploring what type I should use was interesting though. I looked into Paul Davis work, and then David Shrigleys. My initial thoughts were that they had the same working styles, and the type they used was pretty much the same, but I was still unsure of how I was going to utilize this to my advantage. I mean, I couldn’t use type like that without justifying myself could I?

However, Gary gave me a quick crash course into both of the workings, and we looked at what made their type theirs! Also how they had looked into design (well, more Paul Davis) before applying it, and I realized that this wasn’t just their handwriting, these works were carefully planned pieces, and the type was just another element! Like mine was aiming to be!

I realized that Shrigley’s type was a little more all over the place than Davis’, but I thought that it would be good to keep the type a little refined. I noticed how David kept his type slightly italicized, all in capitals and boxed or underlined certain words, and I liked all of these ideas.

It took me a while to get my type the way I wanted it, and looking good, and I know I can improve on this in future projects. It took me a few attempts to keep my lines straight, as I was working too big at first, but this is definitely a style of type that works for me, shows my personality well and one that I want to indulge in in the future.

Artist Research: Chad McCail

So when I went to my second portfolio visit with Synergy Sheffield I learned quite a lot, but when the guys had a look at my portfolio itself I was also directed to the work of Chad McCail.

Taz, one of the members, saw my portfolio and was drawn to the work I did for the Heinz Salad Cream advert, where I had line drawings with a lot of block and similar colours. He used McCail in his dissertation so showed me the similarities we have. I quite liked the fact that I was shown another artist that had a similar style to the one I used for the advert because I was at a time of low confidence when I was creating work like, that, so it ws actually a big confidence boost to see that other work like mine had interest/ was being commissioned!

However, I have moved on to a new style now anyway, but this kind of art and illustration is a good reference to come back to for the earlier stages of my work. The development of my images start off with a lot more drawing than printing, so McCail might be a guy to keep an eye on.

However, I think that McCail’s work, for me, is a bit too clean. There is a lot less personality than I have seen in a lot of other artists work recently, so it’s not the direction I really want to go in. It seems to be the kind of work one would see in an instruction manual, almost too robotic.

Artist Research: Martin Haake

Another illustrator that the tutors directed me to when I started my new printing technique for my final major project was Martin Haake.

Now here is an illustrator I really like. He uses colour and texture to achieve his shapes, rather than using line, and this is the transition I’m trying to make in my work at the moment, because I rely far too heavily on using outlines. His shapes are really strong and striking though, whereas in my work it’s a little harder to work out where the shape should end, which I’m not sure if I like yet.

I’ve also noticed that where he does line, they are to make patterns and more interesting shapes than to inform the audience, so I think that I should take on board the idea that line can be used for more than just the one use.

Haake uses composition in an inspiring way as well (for me anyway). He includes a lot more elements in his work than I am at the minute but in the future I want to get into adding more and more elements to my work to make it more interesting, so here is a guy I want to be keeping an eye on.

One final thing that I enjoy about Haake’s work is that not everything is perfectly drawn out, there is collage, and type, and they are designed and composed well but… they just have more personality than I see in a lot more digital artists work, and I really like that because I like the idea that an illustration is part concept, part narrative but also part of the artists personality.

Artist Research: Calef Brown

With the beginning of my printing style beginning to take shape I was introduced to Calef Brown by the tutors. The reason they advised me to take a look at his work was so I could take note of how he uses shape to portray things, figures in particular.

Right now in my drawing and printing I’ve been quite careless with how I show a certain shape in relation to the rest of the picture. It might make sense when I look at it because I know what it is, but as a stand alone element, nobody else would have the foggiest!

In Browns work I can see that although the shapes aren’t realistic of real life shapes, he simplifies them so that the audience gets a very clear picture of what the object/ feature is. Sometimes there’s even just the slightest bit of detail to enhance this. When he wants a nose, he’ll show a nose, whereas on the last print I made, I wanted a nose, and kind of made a block in the space where a nose would be in the hopes that the audience would be able to work it out.

I quite like the face that the tutors showed me Browns work as it’s not something that I would normally look at, but it’s a style I should explore more if I want to continue with my printing. He places all his elements in the right places, and exaggerates some things but to the extent that you know what he wants to express. He also has a great colour palette, where the colours are quite surreal but not too vibrant, so you can take in the image with ease.

James Jarvis

James Jarvis is an illustrator who has intertwined himself into many different areas of the design world. He has been involved in commercial illustration, comic strips, making of toys and t-shirt designs, so he knows what it’s like to experiment with many types of media.

Jarvis is another illustrator who focuses with his linear pen drawings, and enhancing it with colour if needs be. The only comment I can make about his work that isn’t really my “thing” is that his work seems very digital at times, with not much texture. However, this works in his favour as it makes his compositions look very clean.

Another branch of design Jarvis has worked on is moving image. He made the images for his first film, ONWARDS, a collaboration with Richard Kenworthy. I think it’s amazing! He has taken one of his characters and taken it on a journey through this fantasy world of black and white drawings. Steps appear where they once weren’t, cool camera angles are used to show the horizon moving and there are some really cool effective yet still simple effects used when the weather changes to rain, and lightning, back to sunny!

I think James Jarvis is a great illustrator to keep in mind when I’m working on my final major project because he has covered all of the areas I want to in the future, and successfully. Even the simple idea that he’s made his work transform from 2D to 3D to moving image gives me the motivation to experiment more. First though, I need to create some characters to work with, and use my developing visual language to add a sense of identity to my work.

Jon Boam

Here is another illustrator that was suggested to me by Lord Whitney and I fully understand why. His work has consisted of murals, comics and crazy characters, which is pretty much all of the stuff I’m thinking about doing!

Jon uses colour really well in his illustrations to tie the pieces together. The idea of limiting yourself to only two or three colours id something I always consider doing but either end up not bothering of mess it up somehow. I think that after Christmas it would be good practice to use this limitation and see how my work can benefit, even if I do get it wrong the first couple of times. Also, this would make my work easier to screen print if the occasion arises!

I’m not sure if it’s intentional but Jon doesn’t seem to draw people too much either, opting for drawing cool funky animals, plants, robots etc. These are the types of things I also like to draw and he puts them together in a great way. It reminds me of what Jo said to me recently, that it was as if I have my own little world in my head wanting to get out but struggle with. This is very true, and I can see from Jon’s work that this is the same kind of world he has, but he has a good time transferring from his head.

It seems to be a style that is becoming more popular, and I feel like I’m beginning to fit into this type of illustration better than all of the others I’ve tried. Using block colour and black lines, creating a great cast, wall art, these are all the things I’m looking in myself for.

Jack Teagle

When Lord Whitney visited a few weeks back they thought that it 

Would be a good idea to point me in the right direction in terms of whose work I should be looking at. They could see that I was a fan of comics so mentioned Jack Teagle to me.

After doing a little research and seeing some of his work I can tell why they suggested I look; he is very good with creating narratives, and obviously also takes his influences from comics. You can see this in his compositions.

I really like the storytelling here, and it is kind of the thing I’m trying to go for in some of my work. Maybe I should make my work more like panels to help me tell a story! I really like that he keeps all of his elements simple as well, as it keeps the composition uncluttered. The bold colours have been thought through, and there is also attention so small details that spice up certain frames.

One thing I am envious of though is that he has a great cast to work with He’s created some awesome characters, for example the simple one-eyed alien in “Dust to Dust.” I’d really like to be able to draw characters in a simpler form, most especially people, as I think far too much about what it should look like in real life and always mess them up. That’s why I avoid drawing humans. I should take note here that I should stop doing this and be more free, experiment more with creating my characters and see where I get. Definitely an illustrator I shall be keeping bookmarked!

Alice Dupre: Big Scary-- Tuesday is Rent Day.

I came across Alice Dupre in an article in a recent Varoom magazine. She has done work in animation for the likes of Channel 4 and even on one of my favourite films, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. The video i'm sharing here is for Tuesday is Rent Day-- a single for the band Big Scary in summer of 2010.

I like the idea of stop-motion, i've given it a try before so i understand the painstaking time it takes, and effort that goes into making a good, well-flowing piece. In the article Dupre talks about how long it took to move and keep tabs on the 100 building blocks, where they all go and which ones need adding to the mix. She says that this was the most difficult part of the production. However, what i like about this video is the mx between the stop-motion and the 2D character/ elements she overlays. She captures the interaction between the blocks and the character in the story in a fresh new way.  It's good to see how for simple drawings can be extremely effective when the transition from still image to moving image is made. It shows that there doesn't need to be a real life element to moving image, as long as it captures the audiences attention in a fun, or cute, or moving way. I'll go into this more in the future, when i explore how illustration might progress in the future/ digital age.

I think that it's really interesting the way i found out about Dupre's work, through being suggested to me that i should look at an article in the magazine, i came across her article instead and decided to pursue her work. Then i found out that she has done the 2D graphics on one of my favourite films, it feels like i've gone full circle to come across her even though i watch her talent nearly once a week (i really love the film)! If i were to compare the two pieces though, i would never have guessed that they were done by the same person, so it's interesting to see how versatile she is in moving image. I'd love to speak to her about her techniques and inspirations.

Eduardo Bertone

Here is another example of this type of graffiti art. This work is by a guy called Eduardo Bertone and i stumbled across him when i saw one of his designs in Computer Arts Projects #155. He'd been asked by the magazine one question: What product would you love to design if budget wasn't an issue? Bertone replied that he would like to create outdoor wallpapers, because he likes the idea of decorating a city. Again, it was the concept of working large scale that enticed me. I liked what i saw so far and thought i'd investigate a little further.

I found his website and was immediately interested. Bright colours and wacky drawings of robots and scenes with buildings sticking out at odd angles, i loved it! Aside from just the drawing, Bertone has an eye for the flamboyant colours. Although in one work he will only use about three colours, they all help highlight elements, and not using many colours brings in the composition to make the piece look finished. You can see that there are things drawn entirely from imagination, but work together to create this fantasy world, rich with action and fun.

This is the twist i should be putting towards my personal work. Like Bertone, i draw a lot of things from my head but where i'm going wrong is that i'm restraining myself to real life objects, that exist here, that can be compared. Bertone invents a new world. Yes, many components can be traced to everyday life, like in the bottom picture, but the idea of fresh new imagination is still what makes it stand out.

Phil Noto

I'm very fond of Phil Noto's art, and anybody who knows me well would be able to tell you why. He draws portraits of iconic comic book characters, and we all know that i love comics! He has a really fun, sketchy way of drawing that i quite like, and then the colours he use brings his work to life. His work shows me that drawing features on people is a lot simpler than i usually imagine. I like the way that some of his portraits don't adhere to the conventional square border (for example the Wonder Woman one).

I have two favourites out of this selection and the reason i like them is because they include some of my favourite comic book characters out of context. In the image on top he shows many of Marvel comics superheroes on holiday, having fun, and it's generally not the place you'd ever see them when they get drawn for fighting the bad guys! I also really like how he's put The Beast out of focus in this image, almost as if it's a holiday snap! The other one i love, and this is the first picture i'd seen by Noto, is of Psylocke (the girl with the purple hair), a popular x-men character. We'd usually see her as a fighting ninja with a telepathic sword (yeah i'm a geek) but Noto has placed her at a bar wearing a Joy Division t-shirt, bringing in real world influences to help us relate to her.

Nobumasa Takahashi

I can't remember how i found Takahashi's work but i know that i was instantly drawn to it. Although he does many different types of design work including portraits and ink drawings, it is this style that i am particularly interested in. First of all, i love the scale. Working big has always been an interest of mine, and the idea of getting a linear drawing on a wall as a canvas is exciting. I really like the detail that goes into each piece as well; there is so much going on in his work. You can be in awe of it the first time you see it and explore it for hours, then upon the next viewing find completely new characters!

The actual elements of Takahashi's pieces are also interesting. He has influences from Japanese are and Western art and you can see it in the work. Using only black lines, he sets the scene, which seems always to be a fantasy world we can get lost in, but also includes familiar landmarks. It's a very good mix. Everything in his work just appears to fit so well together. 

I like working to a large scale, and i like working just linear with my drawing as well. I also enjoy drawing buildings and places much more than i enjoy drawing people, so this is a real opportunity for me to explore a fun path! I link work like this to some of my personal work, like the Monkey piece i showed earlier on my blog. I think that if i find the right characters and elements there is potential in that kind of work to evolve into what we see here. When it's this big though, i always wonder, did he sketch it out first, was it already set in his head or did he just go with the flow and see what happened? My guess is that work like this, a kind of graffiti art, would include a little bit of both. When i produce pieces like Monkey, it's all from memories in my head, no planning goes into what the main elements will be or composition, and maybe this is something to think about in the future.

100 Abandoned Houses Project.

Kevin Bauman is a photographer who decided to photograph the concept of abandonment as a creative outlet from his professional work, and as a way of exploring his city of Detroit. As the number of things he photographed increased, it naturally led to this project. A lot of his first photographs were in black and white but as the project began to take form he converted to full colour photo's. Here is my selection of his photo's i thought i'd share. These eight are probably my favourites, but this could change as easily as the weather.

The reason i want to share this on my blog is simply because i find the project interesting. I'm not a photographer, and there are no direct links i could really take from this to add to my illustration work but i like the concept. I've always been interested in abandoned properties, it really makes you think about what happened before, who has explored before you, are you the first to find something new in an old place? I think that most people seeing houses like this would see "ugly" but i see adventure. I takes me back to my childhood when my friends and i would stumble across one of these on our travels, find crazy old documents and writing on the walls. It was like walking into a ghost house, exciting!

Another factor i love about this is the idea of change. Houses like these aren't like the pristine suburb exactly-the-same houses you see all the time in real life. They decay, they rot, the weather can tear a house apart. When i entered houses like this i would have changed things, moved things, added footprints. Trees grow around the houses, taking them into their environment.

I don't have any justification as to why this would be linked to my illustration work apart from something i read the other day in Paul Arden's book, 'It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be:'

To be original, seek your inspiration from unexpected sources.