Supergraph 2015

Hi there, hard to believe I haven't posted on my blog in almost a year (pretty close)! Things have really been quite hectic, particularly of late when I started a new full time job (unfortunately not illustration) in January, which leaves me very little time to do the things I love most.

Still, things are progressing well for me regardless. The first work I have to share with you today is a piece of work I recently did for IA's (Illustrators Australia, of which I am a proud member) booth at Supergraph 2015. Supergraph is an annual event for all things Illustration held right here in fabulous Melbourne.

I had 3 copies of my artwork available for purchase at the booth during that weekend, alongside many of the other great illustrators in IA. A big thank you to the anonymous person who purchased one of my prints, I do hope you treasure it!

If your mental arithmetic skills aren't half bad, you've probably realised that this means I have 2 prints left. They're still up for grabs, so if you're interested, please get into contact with me (since I don't as yet have shop functionality, plans are in motion though) if you're interested in obtaining it/them. Details of the prints follows:

Size: A4 - 210 X 297mm, with a 10mm border for mounting
Paper: 300gsm cotton rag paper
Protection: Cello wrapped and padded envelop
Price: Prints are available for $35 AUD each (Shipping included)
Availability: There are only 2!

Now that I've given you the sales pitch, it's time to see the work itself.

The title is urban evolution, which is essentially the concept as well. Many birds adapt to living in the teeming cities around the world. I decided to take the idea somewhat further, trying to imagine what it would be like for a bird to evolve in a urban setting. Then I started to consider the lack of trees which would make nest materials somewhat scarce. So, what if the mother bird could actually fly around with her babies inside pouches until they grow enough to fly themselves? (rhetorical by the way). I was inspired by Australia's many marsupials, which carry their young in this way.
 

 

Design wise, the bird takes many cues from birds common throughout Victoria, particularly ones which live in Melbourne's CBD. Colour wise, I considered the overall colours of a city. Bluish greys with bright orange yellows (lights). The pattern itself was inspired by sky scraper windows.

Background wise I wanted to have something that was truly iconic of Melbourne. How could one not think of trams? (once again, rhetorical). I didn't want to draw any particular model of tram however, so various parts of the design takes bits and pieces of various tram models Melbourne has had over the last 100 years. For the route number I chose the 86, as it's probably the tram I've used the most and is probably one of the more well known routes. There's even a cafe called the 86, which the tram goes past.

Oh, you may have noticed things look a little different (no, really) when you perused this post? Graphic design for me is a continually evolving skill, just like illustration. For some time I was unhappy with my current logo and really desired a change. I'm really happy with how my new brand identity came out. Evokes all the things I want it to, which was a great challenge by the way. Still not 100% sure of the colours yet though, so don't get too attached, as they may change in the near future.

Still got some big plans for this blog and hopefully a future website too. I'm a bit rusty on HTML and CSS coding but I'm sure it will all come flooding back to me when I start looking into it.

I've now also got my own Facebook page dedicated to my illustration work as opposed to posting on my personal profile you'll now find it there instead. Check it out here

Well that's all now, see you next time.

Rusty pipes and a piece of Melbourne

Greetings! I hope this day finds you relatively free enough to check out this update. Today I have two works for you to check out, both of which were presents for friends. I seem to do more of that than anything else, but that's alright. Doing work for friends always involves unique challenges since I have a completely open brief, but need to try and create something I know they'll appreciate. This can really test my knowledge of the people I know.

So this piece was for a fan of Mario obviously. Now usually I don't do fan art. The reasons for this are two-fold. Firstly that it can quite often not look as professional as original work and secondly that it removes the most interesting and complex part of art for me: Design.When one does fan art, the design is already well established, so there's less to do from a design perspective.

However there are times I love a game or anime so much that I really want to do some fan art. I decided though that the best way to keep design an integral part of the work is to insert an original character into an existing world.

In keeping with that rule, I created a new Mario brother, or sister in this case. Much of the design comes from feminising aspects of Mario's costume.Note the puzzle box earrings. Since my friend is a nurse, I wanted to make out that this character could be much like a healer in RPG style games, the idea being that from her magically bottomless bag she could throw out power-ups for her co-players to collect.

The background I knew from the very beginning would need to contain the iconic sewer pipe (when you google it, the images are mostly Mario related). So I decided to have them floating in the sky. I have  a penchant for flying things, just can't help it.

The last artwork for today was for a good friend and fellow illustrator going back to her home country after living in Australia for 5 years in which she attended the same university that I did. It's a fairly simple concept. I wanted to draw her something that would remind her of Melbourne and have a character eating cheese as she rather enjoys it. I chose Flinders Street Station, as not only is it a lovely old building, but also has a nice strong recognisable colour scheme that makes it stand out. I'm quite happy with the result, especially when you consider my last attempt at the building with my Flinders band piece, which can be found in the illustration section of this site. Levene loved it too!

You can check out her website here.

That's it from me, see you next time, in the blogs ^_^