My latest project is a series of canvas's designed to look like film stills.

I haven't worked out exactly how Im going to get any images of the actual paintings up here yet as my digital camera isn't working at the moment, so for now I've uploaded the rough ink sketches I did before I started painting.

Also included below is a brief piece of writing about the idea behind the project ...

The aim of this series of three paintings was to convey atmosphere and narrative, two things which greatly interest me in artwork. As a keen fan of cinema and particularly the film noir genre I set out to create paintings that would work in a similar way to a still from a film of this genre, the idea being that there would be no need to use captions or moving image to convey my simple narrative.

Over the course of the three paintings we see a figure first light a cigarette, then proceed to walk down the street where we finally we see the figure's hand preparing to discard the almost finished cigarette. This is a very straight forward series of images and a very straight forward narrative. I believe the key to the series is that it leaves the identity of the figure and his purpose completely to the imagination of a viewer. The paintings are intended to be viewed as a sequence but any one of them could be viewed individually and not seem strange. The three images are also capped by black on either side, I find this adds to the sense of atmosphere and drama and gives the series a feeling of completion.

The aim I had was to master a technique and style to paint in while using this simple series and to then continue with a view to produce a larger series and a more complex narrative in the future. The images themselves were taken from photographs I produced on location using a model. The idea of taking photographs at night time for a night scene and on location is a homage to the noir films of the 30's and 40's which would use this technique to achieve the atmospheric tension that is ever present within their films. Tailoring the correct lighting conditions to cast shadow and create the correct mood gave me a real feel for the subject matter and the style and I think this helped me to achieve the desired effects when painting the pieces.

In terms of composition each of the three paintings mirrors a trademark camera angle used in classic film noir. The first scene is captured from below eye level looking up at its subject, a classic angle used to build tension and atmosphere. The second is what is known as a 'Dutch' angle; in this the horizon is set at an angle to the camera or viewer, again creating tension and also confusion. The third is a wide angle, usually used to capture a subject and their surroundings in the distance however I have employed it to fill a close up shot.

The technique of painting I used while painting was somewhat improvised, I went with what felt natural and aimed to mimic my photography. As I progressed with the first painting I decided that the figure should be viewed in clarity with attention to detail whilst the background should remain more impressionistic, more of a blur. This meant that the features of the cityscape were less prominent and it became more faceless; seemingly more vast and overpowering. This feeling is particularly prominent in the second painting.

My latest uni project is to design a full cover for a book titled the end of the line.

The book details the dangers of over fishing in the worlds oceans and the effect it will have on the world as a whole.

After giving the brief some thought i decided to focus on the shocking more doom and gloom aspect of the message. 

I wanted to create a cover that was moody with a narrative that shows that if current rates of fishing continue it would mean the end of the fishing industry. 

I decided upon this image (above), a fishing boat about to be engulfed by a looming wave in a black violent sea features on the cover. The spine continues the sea round to an image of the boat submerged in water on the back cover leaving space for a blurb above the sea line.

The text was designed to look like the ships name worn with time and was done in red as it would stand out from the image despite being small. I decided to keep my use of the red to a minimum to really bring the text to life.

The piece is all done in ink with dip pen and paint brush. If I was to do the piece again i would probably review the composition to create a more interesting angle,  I would also look at adding a rain effect which I had been working on but hadn't mastered in time for it to feature on the final piece.

All in all I am pretty pleased with the way the cover has come out particularly the way in which I have managed to capture the characteristics of the sea that I wanted.

In the last week i have been asked to choose a specialism within which to study at uni... unsurprisingly i have chosen illustration. I feel that this is the area of design within which my work fits and the area that i have the necessary skills to make a living. 

This is a quick write up i have produced about the kind of career path i would like to follow and about how i may be able to achieve a career in this area....

I am selecting the Illustration route. The kind of work i produce is primarily hand drawn or painted and i feel that this is also what i am best at: my work on the obs and coms module last year was probably my best of the year alongside my book project, both of which feature in my blog. These were both computer free projects and i think that the standard of the work i produced and the marks i received reflected how much i enjoyed working on these two projects. Coming from a fine art background i am far more comfortable working by hand than on computer and although i do have the skills i need to get my work into a digital format, i much prefer the analogue approach to design.

I am particularly interested in conceptual illustration, story boarding and artist's work on films, the skills set required for this kind of work is...

excellent illustration skills;

effective communication skills;

ability to visualise perspective and 3-dimensional space;

a keen interest in design, architecture and film;

ability to visually interpret other people's ideas;

ability to be flexible and to adapt to change when requested;

ability to work as part of a team;

knowledge of the requirements of the relevant Health and Safety legislation and procedures

A knowledge of film and how different effects are achieved

As a freelance job conceptual art is not restricting, i would also be able to work on other projects in time of low work. I realise that there is not much opportunity to get into this line of work but i feel that developing skills to attempt to achieve this will in no way restrict me in other lines of illustrative work.

Some practicing conceptual illustrators and story boarders include...

Crash McCreery 

Nathan Schroeder

James Ward Byrkit

David Russell

Miles Teves

Martin Asbury

An important group concerned with British artists and film is the British Film Designers Guild.

My definition of illustration would be... Visually communicating ideas and designs, whether your own or somebody else's, through the use of analogue techniques. 

A plan of action to achieve my ideal job in illustration would be firstly to work on figure drawing skills and attend life drawing classes, secondly to try and adapt my skill set to include new techniques that i will learn studying illustration. I find my work has a definite style and i tend to work with the same materials mostly, although i don't think this is a particularly  bad thing it would be useful to be able to adapt my style to produce a wider range of work for a portfolio. Thirdly i would like to get a placement with a practicing illustrator, ideally one working within the areas i am particularly interested in so i can learn more first hand about the industry.

I have learned over the past week or so that a lot of designers trade on a reputation, i would imagine this is particularly important for someone working freelance. Therefore i think it would be necessary to work on a few free jobs, perhaps get involved in some student or independent films to try and get a positive reputation and also to make contacts which in the future may prove useful. I also think that to be successful i must keep in touch with other areas of design such as typography as i will undoubtedly have to work with these at some point in the future. Improving my computer skills would be useful also as i think this is probably my weakest area.

 

I thought id write a bit about what I'm working on improving at the moment...

the large majority of the work I have presented is black and white, although I work in colour it is not usually my favourite work. This makes me seem narrow minded or perhaps incapable of working to the same standard in colour. I aim in the future to work at this and to produce more colour and experimental work and hopefully ill have time to upload some of my more vibrant work in terms of colour on here soon.

I also find that my computer skills working with programs like photoshop are not the standard of other designers and although I by no means want specialise in computer work I feel that I do need to improve my skills so that they do not let me down when it is necessary for me to use them.

Here's the final poster i produced for the project which the church drawings were taken from...

I felt the drawing was striking and that the typography would look out of place if it were not done very simply. I used the same materials to do the writing and used my own handwriting, i wanted it to blend with the drawing and not draw the eye away from its detail.

The poster was blown up to A2 size and is currently on display as part of an exhibition of the project on the moor in Sheffield.

I've never been a big fan of more experimental work such as these pieces but i had seen this technique and decided to give it a go and it turned out to work pretty well...

these two were done with coloured ink splattered across a template of the outline of the original  drawing with a tooth brush

the one below was painted with a tooth brush around the template

and above is the original pencil drawing that the others came from. I personally prefer the pencil drawing but i can see why the others may have their uses, they are certainly more eye catching and demand a bit more from the viewer in terms of deciphering the full picture.

Here's some drawings i did at a local derelict church...

They were part of an observational drawing module but i think its useful to have some observational drawings as part of a portfolio to demonstrate some basic skills anyway. Having come from more of a fine art background this project gave me the chance to really showcase what i consider to be my strength, my drawing skills. As a fully analogue project i really enjoyed working on it and managed to produce some of what i think was my best work of the year

I think drawing pens definitely give me the best results especially in drawings such as the ones above, however there is something very simple yet satisfying about producing a good pencil drawing. I tend to use a range of B graphite sticks, basically the same as using pencils i just find they better suit the way i work.

Heres some pages from a short book i made for a uni project last year

The book was about film noir...the images are taken from classic and modern films

that fit the noir genre. The text is taken from various sources and details the themes

and stylistic elements of the genre

I hand inked the pages to achieve a more unique look

the book was made without the use of a computer. I prefer the less polished look

that i got

In the assessment i was marked down for the font i had used and the way the text is presented. I think this is a fair judgement, i was working to a deadline and felt that the images were more important and i spent most of my time producing them. 

With the text the idea was to use a font that resembled hand writing and contain it in comic book style boxes so that it was not lost in the images. 

Overall i was pleased with how the book came out and perhaps sometime in the future i will be able to re-visit the text and produce a final version of the book.