simple king!

I have simplified the colours and the design to make it suitable for vinyl printing.

scream

Here I have kept colour to the minimum and focused more on the design itself which will be more suitable for t-shirt printing.

Face

Rex A3

lucy west A3

Jack A3

Alex king A3

Chuck Fiddell A3

Here I have inserted text. This is what it might look like on the final print on a t shirt.

Chuck Fiddell

Chuck, labeled as the football hooligan by the police was eventually banned from the beautiful game for rest of his life due to his reckless behavior. Now he works as a bouncer at a night club. Often getting into fights, his new goal is to leave the country in order to seek metal calmness....

Rex

An orphan raised in an orphanage in the outskirts of brazil. He seeks his past and only clue to this is the necklace on his neck which was with him as long as he can remember. He escaped the orphanage at the age of 6 and is out to find out his past. He makes a living by street fighting and singing on streets....

lucy west

A biker with a passion for fighting and collecting bikes...

simple giant

A simple minded 18 year old boy who posses a sheer amount of strength at a young age creating curiosity among people. More than often gets unwanted attention, Jack aka simple giant is interested in nature and a teddy given by his late uncle....

T shirt prints, Spikey

One of many designs which I will be working on for the t shirt prints. Simple and bold is the aim of my designs.
Alex king aka Spikey, a phone sales manager loves his phones and will do anything to sell and to make commission...

compare and contrast

Many illustrators create great pieces of work even though if their working methods are similar. A different approach to the subject matter can change the whole image and the meaning. Some illustrators choose to work alone and some choose to work within a team. Otto is such illustrator who prefers to work in isolation but that does not goes to say that he is not open to ideas. I have looked at Otto's work before and i do find it fascinating as he loves to keep his ideas fresh and the most important factor is he haves fun with it. He understands what he wants from his compositions and therefore the outcome is far more accurate and effective. He is inspired by Russian and Polish posters which are the catalysts for his work. He enjoys the fact that combining various elements such as screen prints with digital method, create a a more effective image. He is not scared to take chances or to play around with compositions and the confidence is reflected in his work.
Otto's work in some ways in limited and feels like is restricted within his style of work. This is where I feel Container plus, a multidisciplinary art selective has got an upper hand in terms of ideas and working methods. They specialize in various creative areas such as photography, moving image, set design, illustration and many more. This gives them the versatility and ammunition for their ideas and to some extend makes it easier for them to approach clients as they pretty much cover everything in terms of visual language. Otto has a very unique style and his work offers freshness and is quite playful as oppose to container plus, who's work seems a lot more serious and doesn't seem have that edge which Otto's work posses. Container plus however make it up in other departments such as animation, set design and short films. These have to be said are quite interesting to observe and is a break from the norm. They made an ad for the MTV's Lush, which was combination of illustration and moving image. The programme is aimed at younger audience so therefore it had to have that energy and impact which would capture the attention of the viewer and it did. It begins with these patterns being made on the floor and they start inter twinning with the characters in the ad. The idea is simple yet its been executed wonderfully. Similar to this, they did a self initiated project called the evil twin, which had elements of self made paper shapes and illustrations working together with photography. This is a different yet a more creative take on a well known genre and it shows that having an another technique or a discipline under your wing will give you opportunities to explore and enhance your creativity.
Otto does a lot of self promotion work, which helps him expand his work to wider audience. I do feel that he is missing out on greater opportunities and it would be very interesting to see his kind of crazy, mad filled ideas into animation or incorporated in some sort of photographic work.
He is a big fan of Alfred Hitchcock films as he appreciates the dramatic camera angles and dynamic approach to the subject matter. These influences are quite evident in most of his editorial work and self initiated projects. He knows how his process of thought and how he works for example, he would produce around three roughs to a client before anything is being finalized but it also depends on the client. It takes him around three hours to produce an image for an editorial on average. He is quite efficient this way as everything is kept to the minimum and there are less things to worry about. This is where I feel lies both strength and weakness for container plus. As we already know that they are multi-purpose company and cater for most of the visual methods. This means that there is a high possibility that they could end up juggling more things at a time. For example, they can get commissioned for animation, set design and photography at the same time which could mean they got more what they bargained for. Problems within team can pop up such as someone is ill, or they are behind schedule or even simple things such as agreeing on an idea can create all sorts of problems for themselves. So I think there has to be a lot of discipline and professionalism within the team in order for them to achieve their goals. So there can be stressful situations within container plus, however they kept their heads screwed on so far so it must be working in their favor.
Working alone can be a problem for Otto too. If he is stuck for ideas or needs some sort of technical advice, then he has no one there at that time and we have to remember the deadlines for editorials are tight so he would need things done at a faster pace. I do feel that Otto finds it easier to work alone as there are less distractions and he can work at his own pace. His work has a great amount of witt and humor which makes the observer want to revisit them again and again. But it is a shame not to see them in a more varied context. I feel what ever context he uses his work, it will make it come alive with energy and humor. Container plus I feel have the upper hand in terms of creativity. Each individual gets a chance to learn about a different discipline which helps them grow as artists and this where I feel Otto is missing out on, knowledge and a chance to learn and grow as an illustrator.

Lone wolf or gang warfare?

Over past few years, I have witnessed various artist's work and their methods and one way or the other I tried to incorporate their working methods into mine. Without making it complicated for me, I extracted elements from their methods such as organizing and referencing to suit me or better yet to speed up the process of constructing an image. Every time a brief is given to me, I want to make sure that I complete it in the given time or maybe have some time to spare in the end. In the real world, the deadlines are a lot tighter therefore the process has to be efficient and quick so that the work can be produced in the given time. I am use to working by myself and I think its easier and quicker. Illustrators such as Andy Martin has inspired me and proved to me that a lone illustrator can make it in today's world. Like any illustrator, Andy is given a brief and he basically responds to it. He has his own approach to the briefs and he knows the drill. There is no distraction or interception in is work by a third party and therefore he can just get on with it. The main problem that I face every now and then is when I am stuck for ideas and I do believe that at some point, Andy faces the same problem. And the problem with this problem is that You don't have a team mate to help you with your situation. This is where I think working in a team benefits the individuals. They can bounce off ideas and if any problems, they can help each other out. A good example would be the team behind container plus. They are quite successful multidisciplinary art selective and their clients include Burton and Volkswagen. They came to one of the lectures and explained what they do and how they do it. They first started off as a team of seven or eight people, all equipped with different skills which they bring to the table. From photography, illustration, to moving image and animation. Things started off well as they manage to bag few jobs but with so many creative mind working together, there are bound to be conflicts in ideas, which is exactly what happened. In the end, Louise and Nichola, the main founders were left. They decided that if they did get a moving image or animation or any other form of job which they are not able to achieve technically, they would simply hire people who are qualified to produce the skills needed. So looking at these two different practitioners and shedding light on the pros and cons, it is clear to me that both have advantages in their own right. I believe to begin with, I prefer working on my own as it would help me understand the system and its will make me learn to deal with pressure more. But I think that as you get more work and you get more recognized, its is better to expand your area of expertise by including people who have other skills to offer and it also gives one the opportunity to learn about different disciplines and you can grow as an artist.

Book jackets

These are some of the examples of my final work and what it might look like. I have been looking at numerous book covers and experimented with text a lot in order for me to get the layout and the image working together. I am happy with the layout but the text still needs deciding but my aim will be to keep the simple therefore it would not interfere with the images.

Human resources magazine, March 11th, 3pm

My last appointment of the day. I met up with art director Jean of hr mag. He is launching a new magazine and wants fresh art work. He was quite impressed with my work and said he can see it in his magazine. He said there will be work available very soon for me and therefore he wanted me to keep in touch. It is looking promising and I am hoping for the best.

Its been a great experience meeting various art directors and listening to their advise and I do hope I can break in to this very competitive market in the near future.

Computer which, March 11th, 2pm

Probably my most successful appointment yet. Judy was the art director whom I had spoken to. We had a good discussion on the magazine and on illustration and how we can incorporate my work in to their mag. She even suggested that my work could suit the gardening section of their mag very well. She was very keen and gave her business card and wants to keep in touch for future work.

Computer active, March 11th, 12pm

Nick Palmer was the art director whom I had the meeting with. They wanted to improve their magazine and make it more visually interesting. He looked my work and said it would sit well with their articles. Again they wanted to see my website if not, they wanted me to email more of my work so that they can refer to it when needed.

Time out magazine, March 11th, 11am

I started the following day with appointment with Richard the art director of time out magazine. He was very open minded and we had good discussion on other illustrations and how we could improve the magazine visually. He was very helpful and he was quite keen on what I had to offer. He wanted to see my finished final project at the end of the year and he would not hesitate to approach me with a job. It was quite positive meeting.

dazed and confused magazine, March 10th, 4pm

Later that day, I booked another appointment with dazed magazine. I met up with john the art director there and he had a good look at my work. He was quite impressed with my work and said that the magazine requires illustrations for quite few articles therefore he was interested in what I had to offer. He gave me his business card in the end and told me to keep in touch and when I have updated my website, he would like to see more variety and more examples of my work.

Top Gear magazine, March 10th,11am

My first appointment was with the art director Simeon Jewkes of top gear magazine. The meeting was quite brief but in that time we discussed about the profession itself and he touch upon how competitive the market really is. He did like my work but in the end he wanted he email him my pdf portfolio so he keeps me in mind for any future work.

simon pemberton

One of the recent illustrators i have come across. I like how he handles textures and shapes together. The space is balanced well which is something I work with in my compositions.

The style is similar to other book covers and it is consistent. My illustrations will be similar looking but they will something within them to make them unique in their own way.

Roald Dahl illustration

I have been looking at illustrations which are done for Roald Dahl books. The approach is quite simple and cartoon like which is understandable as these books are aimed at young readers. The short stories which I will be doing are more serious and have a darker tone to them. Therefore my compositions will be moodier and atmospheric for each story.

A take on the classic animal farm by George Orwell. It is very easy on the eyes and mixture of flat objects and texture creates a great harmonic atmosphere amongst the composition. This illustration is created by Scott Balmer part of his self-promotion work. He used roll of paint and bits of paper to create it. a simple manner but quite effective. My aim is to keep the image simple and at the same time applicable to the vast reading audience.

The final project

We are in the final few weeks of this year. The big project which consists of sixteen weeks has started. I decided to produce illustrations or book covers for short stories by Roald Dahl therefore i will be looking at penguin books covers as they are a strong example of how covers should carry them selfs.