Friday 16 November 2012

100 Houses Exhibition

Seeing artists aid in charity work is truly inspirational. The Tobacco Factory in Bristol is currently hosting the 100 Houses Exhibition to support the Homeless Charity Shelter. The exhibition will feature 100 artists, illustrators and designers all in support of producing housing for those in need. The exhibition has been organised by noted character designer Paul Roberts, who only last year set up an exhibition supporting Woodland Trust. The artists have been given the theme "house", and the work coming in is astonishing. After the show the art will be sold, with the hopes to generate a significant contribution to the ongoing work of the charity shelter. More info is available at http://100housesart.com/
 Exhibition ends 30th of November, if you're in Bristol check it out!

Monday 12 November 2012

Allyson Lamb


Creative photography is really coming into it's own form. I have been discovering different ways in which photography is being manipulated and transformed into something really enticing and different. Photographers are able to create these alternate universes, where anything is possible.
On researching recently, I discovered an interesting Photographer on TheImport; a site focussing on creative inspirations. This Brooklyn based artist uses the human body to explore complexities found in human emotion. Lamb invites us to step into her magical realm and altered state of consciousness; exploring these beautiful, colourful, photographic mutilations. 
She transforms the human body into one big emotion. Love, Madness, Desire...

Wednesday 7 November 2012

Ian Macarthur


This amazing new Illustrator works in a way really familiar to me. He started drawing at a young age, beginning with cartoon characters and doodles. Later moving into this patterned explosions of shapes and lines, creating not only texture but a kind of movement. He creates these surreal, unique portraits of ordinary people with his added explosions; transforming their faces into something bizarre and wonderful. Here are two examples of his work; one is a portrait example and the other to show the extent of the beautiful textures. He has a profile on carbonmade, as well as his own site. Check him out!


Like Ian Macarthur, I started drawing at a young age layering shapes and lines creating the similar illustrative effect. I use to be a big comic book enthusiast and would draw in-depth sketches of my favorite characters as well as snakes and planets. I moved on to create alternate universes filled with these dark fantasy characters. Below are some examples from my sketchbook.

Political Poster Campain


In 2007 the UK Government sold public land situated behind the British Library in Somers Town, Camden - to a consortium (the UKCMRI - UK Centre for Medical Research & Innovation, made up of the Medical Research Council , University College London, Cancer Research UK and the Welcome Trust) with the intention to build a potentially high risk UK centre for medical research and innovation. Many local residents had hoped that the land would be used to build new homes and facilities for the community. This level 3 bio lab is at the highest bio-hazard risk rating as well as being home to animal testing and disease containment. Foot and Mouth disease was leaked from a govt facility Pirbright in Surrey. Such a leak in central London would be catastrophe especially so close to an international station. 
The main issue I had was the lack of awareness on this lab, many people didn't know about it. By the time information about the institute spread, it was too late for residents to have their say. Before it was too late I tried to do my part and came up with a poster campaign in Camden. I researched a lot of political street art and came up with something urban and interesting to grab the attention of all; from residents to toursits in the area.


Tuesday 6 November 2012

Creative Book Carvings


A beautiful way of carving away at this layered but solid form, to create art. There are many different forms of book art; the newest I've researched is by an artist named Guy Laramee, who focuses in landscape designs. Among his sculptural works are two incredible series of book landscapes entitled The Great Wall and Biblios, where the dense pages of old books are excavated and carved away to reveal serene mountains, plateus, and ancient sculptures. This is yet another form in which artists are taking mundane and common objects of our society and creating something so fresh and creative. 



Hand Crafted Type Poster


What makes this so amazing is that every part has been cut and hand crafted. Pablo Alfieri has spent hours using an X-Acto knife and glue to perfect his design. There are ways of creating this effect on programs like Photoshop, but there is no comparison and that is what makes this work so unique. The effect created by cutting and layering is something that cannot be forced on a program. It's such a nice touch, when working with type already has to be so precise and careful. The detail is beautiful and layers can even be seen under each letter. Check out more of his work on Behance Network!


Monday 5 November 2012

Iconic Icon Design


I currently work in this business and the difference in design is very interesting. To go from web and print to something so interactive and iconic has been a great journey. When iPhones first came out the design work on apps was beautiful and clean, now designs are becoming more in depth and blowing the top off of the past. Abduzeedo.com showcases a selection of the icons that act as logos for the app and appear on the phones homescreen. These couple of examples show exactly what I'm talking about. There is so much detail and precision to them, while still keeping to the alocated size and resolution of the icon provided by Apple. Below is an example of an awesome app design for Coffee and a Photo App, check out more on Abduzeedo!


Typography Package Design


I am constantly searching for new and different packaging design and how typography can be used in design. On doing some recent research I found this awesome design for Brie cheese.

Great typography and use of space can result in a form of texture. I learnt more about this while studying and tried it myself. I set the task of re-branding the Twinings' Tea packaging to suite a younger age group. I chose three great typefaces, an awesome color scheme and began piecing it together so something radical and fun. I also made them in the form of stackable boxes.

Friday 2 November 2012

Andre Muniz Gonzaga


For my first entry I thought I would write about Andre Muniz Gonzaga; a Brazilian artist that paints misshapen faces on unusual and sometimes hazardous cracked surfaces. I love looking up new and inspiring forms of street art; as street art has always been a passion and interest of mine. There are constant changes to the way people are expressing themselves and coming up with these ideas that put a new spin on our day to day life. Its minds like this, that look at what seems to be a damaged build and see a  creative gold mine that are the reason we are starting to look at things differently as a society. I also love the thought of these distorted surfaces coming to life, I always use to draw faces and give names to appliances and objects. If you look closely at curtain cars and other objects, you can almost see what kind of personality it would have if it were alive. It's definitely worth trying out. Anyway, Gongaga's work can be spotted in Senegal, Portugal, Amsterdam, Brazil and of course his hometown Brazil. If you can't see them there simply check him out on Flickr!