Doing my ABCs

I've recently been getting into typography, and wanted to make my own beautiful bold letters to begin my paragraphs. Having recently explored writing my own stories I wanted to make an alphabet that was inspired by and reflects my writing. It's fantasy fueled with elements of dystopia, death, angels and demons, with things that begin with the chosen letter, hopefully to recreate children's classroom borders of "a for apple". 

I feel my next step would be to try out borders and some colour, hopefully they can adapt to screen prints without losing too much of the detail. And possibly make some variations as for use in a story it would be nice for all the paragraphs to have a different design. 

New ventures

So I'm on an exciting venture at the minute starting up a new comic book with a friend but to be honest I'm not that great at cartoons! So, it's a little bit of a learning curve. I want to create something different with this comic, so I went for a mash up of my loves, pencil and free flowing ink, trying to create something gritty that reflects the characters. It's been really fun, to tell a story, as normally I produce singular images or a small series. This story was a short 16 page one with an original poem by Pablo Neruda, a man who certainly can articulate love. Which we decided to turn into a little zombie love story. A few things I've learned to work on is developing backgrounds for depth and have a little perspective in there. Also colour.. which I'm inherently scared of :)

So here's a few pages..

XVII

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,

or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,

in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms

but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;

thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,

risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.

I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;

so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,

so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,

so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

By Pablo Neruda

Flyer Design

These are some flyer designs I for a charity club night I helped to organise. I wanted to go for something contemporary and simple, and hopefully something unique. Living in Manchester we are fed these flyers every single day, plasted onto bus stops and handed to you by promoters in the street. So my aim was to get the information across quickly and to get it to stick with a bold design. The club night we put on was to raise money for the charity Parkinson's Equip, a charity that helps people with Parkinson's disease improve their day to day lives.

Katie Crawford

I know from personal experience the therapy of putting negative things in your life into art, usually the worse the feeling the more emotive and hard hitting the art is. Katie Crawford has created stunning images from her battle with anxiety and depression. The photos are  simple and beautiful and it presents a golden opportunity to understand something she suffers from or a chance to say me too. 

"I want the photographs and their paired writings to begin to express the constant, overwhelming presence of anxiety. It's not always terrifying, it's not always strong and it's not always intense, but it's always close by."

Below are a few chosen images from the series and their accompanying text, chosen purely because they spoke to me the most. To view them all and to read Katie's thoughts behind the images click here.

they keep telling me to breathe. i can feel my chest moving up and down. up and down. up and down. but why does it feel like i'm suffocating? i hold my hand under my nose, making sure there is air. i still can't breathe.

a captive of my own mind. the instigator of my own thoughts. the more i think, the worse it gets. the less i think, the worse it gets. breathe. just breathe. drift. it'll ease soon.

no matter how much i resist, it'll always be right here desperate to hold me, cover me, break down with me. each day i fight it, "you're not good for me and you never will be". but there it is waiting for me when i wake up and eager to hold me as i sleep. it takes my breath away. it leaves me speechless.

Late Night 60s

A few songs that are helping me burn the midnight oil. And destressing me from attempting to work digitally :)

Anamorphic art

So today I discovered something pretty epic, and it's called anamorphic art. It's art that uses perspective to create an image, the perspective being what brings it to life. Anamorphic art can be small or large in scale, as many components can go into a piece. Which means it's great to see in person, as you can interact with the art and move around until you get the optimum viewpoint, and if done right it can create a mind bending stunning peice.

Below are two artists who use mirrors in some their work. So you're already looking at a beautiful illustration or sculpture in itself, but it becomes another image entirely when a cylindrical mirror is placed atop. an awesome expression of creative intelligence.

Jonty Hurwitz

István Orosz

An Interview with Craww

Craww is an amazing artist who's work I have admired for years and is a constant inspiration to me. I was lucky enough to grab a quick interview with him and feed my curiosities. His art is an amalgamation of the mythical, with recurring beautiful women, skulls and crows. He describes his work as a stream of consciousness that takes us through his journey through his own dark untangible world.

 

How often do you venture out of your comfort zone when creating your art?

The only time I am ever really comfortable is drawing. Paintings, whatever the medium are much more of a battle. I never really know how they are going to turn out until the end, so the process usually involves a lot of angst!

Having said that, the rewards from pushing yourself are much greater, even when it all goes wrong. At least you learn something.

During your process, what do you find is the hardest step? 

Starting. Those first steps...

Do you feel like you've gotten to know your characters? And have they created a life of their own? 

I think so yes, I’ve found they have written their own mythology over the years they have featured in my work. It’s an ongoing story, i look forward to seeing where it goes!

What advice has had the most impact on your work?

All the “advice” clients gave me as a graphic designer! Dealing with clients made me quit and start painting.

Do you have a motto? 

I dont, sorry!

 

 

Craww links 

Website

Instagram

Twitter