Ape on the Moon: Contemporary Illustration

Inventive Black and White Comic Books in Pencil by Aisha Franz

Philip Dennis — Thu, 23 May 2013 08:49:35 +0000

Although Aisha Franz’s portfolio also includes colour work and editorial illustration, we were immediately charmed by her black and white comic books in pencil. Her self-published books are particularly inventive and oozing with home-made charm.The odd sheet of tracing paper, stapled spines and matchbox-sized accordion books are all winning us over.

The panels she draws are penciled in with a sense of emergency, giving them the feel of someone’s beloved sketchbook pages rather than something too overworked.

The characters are filled out with smudges and blocks of frantic shading with an energy we really like. Aisha tells us more about this and how her technique changes with her other illustration work.

I am a comic artist and illustrator based in Berlin. A few years ago, after thinking of doing animation or children’s books, I realized that comics are the perfect medium to tell my stories.

So, I focused on writing and drawing comics, same short more experimental projects and longer graphic novels. I have two books out now in German and other languages but at the same time I’m a passionate self-publisher, printing, folding and stapling my mini-comics, zines and posters before I sell or exchange them at festivals and small press fairs.

I also enjoy working on any other project apart from my drawing-booth, like at exhibitions or performances.

Since there is not much money to earn with comics, working as an illustrator proves to be a source of income and a very welcome and fun change because it’s a totally different approach and I also like to use different styles in these two fields of my work.

My comics are mostly drawn with pencils in a very rough style and b/w, in my illustrations I use ink or other pens and color them digitally. Usually, I like to develop and experiment with new styles and looks and content over and over again to keep the work exciting!

Right now, I started to work on my next comic book, so I might disappear for some months behind my desk.

I guess I love drawing so much because it keeps me from becoming a complete adult.

Brian Miller on Finding his Way Back to Illustration

Philip Dennis — Tue, 21 May 2013 08:19:00 +0000

It’s undeniable that being a freelance illustrator has its challenges. Warnings of never being able to support yourself would have been given to most with artistic ambitions at some point along the way. It’s something that should be considered and definitely seriously thought about, but it’s nice to hear about those who had then chosen to take a different path being eventually pulled back to what they’re passionate about.

Brian Edward Miller, who makes these wonderfully nostalgic illustrations, talks to us about his experience with this and how he ended up doing the work he does now. We’re really enjoying his depictions of mountainous ranges and farmlands so were keen to hear more.

Throughout my 10+ year career as a graphic designer, I kept drawing and eventually rediscovered my love for illustration and stories.

I’d practise drawing before and after work and eventually landed jobs which afforded me the opportunity to draw as much as I was designing. A few studio closures and layoffs later, I decided it was time to launch into this crazy endeavor of becoming a full time illustrator.

My working method is one born out of practicality. I tried all sorts of tools and materials to see which ones I liked working with best.

Ultimately, my career as a graphic designer gave me a high level of comfort working digitally, a method I’ve kept to this day. I work 100% digitally in Photoshop using a Wacom Cintiq. I still enjoy traditional materials (pencil, paper, brush + ink), though they haven’t found their way into my professional illustrations yet …

I tend to favor vintage themes and stylings in my work though my overall goal is to create pieces which elicit nostalgic feelings from viewers. I consider the piece successful if people smile when they see it, or say, “I wish I was there … ” because often that’s what I had in mind while creating the work.

Venturing out on my own as an illustrator has been one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences I’ve had so far. Every day brings a new surprises and I smile knowing that I’m doing what I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid (minus the whole Top Gun thing…).

Self portait

An Animated, Energetic Portfolio Presentation by Julian Glander

Philip Dennis — Sun, 19 May 2013 18:01:06 +0000

Julian Glander presents his portfolio on his website in a really fun and refreshing way. He has created individual gifs for each of his projects, laying them all out together resulting in a mass of movement, energy and colour. It suits his work perfectly, representing the tongue-in-cheek, character-driven work from this Brooklyn-based illustrator and designer.

A Touchscreen Apocalypse in Persistent Peril's Animation for The Leisure Society

Philip Dennis — Thu, 16 May 2013 09:07:14 +0000

Have you ever wondered what the end of the world might look like with the ease and convenience of a intuitive digital interface? Probably not, but the creative team at Persistent Peril have and bring the idea to life in a recent music promo they created for the two-time Ivor Novello nominees, The Leisure Society.

In the video, “a ‘god like’ hand uses touchscreen gestures, pinches and swipes to create a world. Utilising a bold, colourful and playful illustrative style, along with a mischievous sense of humour, the narrative unfolds as things don’t go according to plan.”

Take a look at ‘Fight for Everyone’, with an interesting peek at the storyboards, too!

Alex J. Walker Blending Themes and Geometric Design

Philip Dennis — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:37:49 +0000

In his illustrations, Alex J. Walker demonstrates his keen eye for geometric layouts, a trait he explains is due to him having studied graphic design as opposed to illustration. It has a nice cleanliness to it that is perfect for clearly putting across the ideas in the image. To add contrast and balance to his work, the harder, angular forms are countered by soft, spray-like textures. He talks to us about his background and the way he works.

I am 22 years old. I studied graphic design at Nottingham Trent university and have been working as a freelance illustrator (based in Nottingham) since graduating in July last year.

I like creating work which is concept led and has quite a graphic and abstracted aesthetic. I think this stems from studying graphic design rather than illustration.

My starting point is usually to scribble down ideas about the subject. If it’s an editorial piece say, I try and get to the core of what the article is about, often there will be 2 or more themes which I like to blend together into a visual pun.

Take the image which looks like a fire extinguisher crossed with a musical instrument for example. This was for a technology article about a fire extinguisher which uses sound waves to put a fire out. Of course, the real thing looks nothing like what I’ve drawn, I’ve just imagined it in a jokey way.

I work on the computer because I tend to build my images from geometric shapes, often using a grid when drawing objects and characters. It also gives me the chance to be quite free and playful with compositions, since elements can be shifted around and copied and pasted. When I’m happy everything’s in place I add the shading in Photoshop and refine the colour palette.

Exhibition of 3D Illustration at Boxbird Gallery as Part of Brighton Fringe Festival

Philip Dennis — Sat, 11 May 2013 13:09:21 +0000

As part of the current annual arts festival, ‘Brighton Fringe’, Boxbird gallery are holding an exhibition of 3D illustration. The show is presenting work from illustrators, Tom Frost, Graham Carter and Helen Musselwhite. It’s on now until the 29th May and includes a portfolio review day by The Enquire Desk on the 25th.

Although all three artists are known for their sculptural work as well as the 2D, the exhibition includes pieces made especially for the event. Expect to see paper sculptures made from hundreds of meticulously pieced together cut-outs as well as hand-made wooden objects with screen printed detailing.

Jack Hudson's Characters in Illustrated Scenes and a Vacation into the Real World

Philip Dennis — Thu, 09 May 2013 10:19:42 +0000

In a recent collaboration, Jack Hudson allowed his colourful characters a little excursion into the real world. The project, which was produced together with 3D design duo, Lord Whitney, featured his typically bright illustrations applied to props and costumes to create stylised, staged photographs. It’s a fun idea that literally brings an extra element of life to his work.

In their regular but just as enjoyable 2D world, the people in Jack’s work often inhabit large, playful scenes. He has a knack for creating engaging narratives within his images, filling them with interesting little details.

The quirky men and women are all focused on their own tiny story happening in the few millimetres around them while the bigger pictures continues on regardless. Jack goes into further detail about the process in creating these worlds.

I’m an illustrator/designer currently based in East London inspired by all types of mid-century illustration, fashion and photography.

My process usually begins with a set of small thumbnail sketches to get the overall composition down, once thats sorted I’ll then sit down and draw out all separate elements of the illustrations in pencil. I’ll then arrange this digitally and use a series of scanned in textures to bring colour and texture to my drawings, this part is usually the most time consuming until I get to a stage where I’m happy with how the work looks.

I’ve also recently started working in 3D with the set designer/3D design duo Lord Whitney and stepping away from my desk, which has been really fulfilling!

This is something I’ve always wanted to experiment with, so when I became friends with Lord Whitney it just seemed like the perfect opportunity to try and create my illustrations but in 3D form. It was quite a surreal moment when the two ‘Slick’ characters strolled into the studio after having their costume/make-up fitted.

Collaboration with Lord Whitney

Charles Bergquist Experimenting with Photography and Video, Making Beautiful Images Every Day

Philip Dennis — Tue, 07 May 2013 13:15:51 +0000

Charles Bergquis is a director, designer and photographer from San Diego, California. We were taken by the diversity of the beautiful images he creates in high quantity in his ongoing project, ‘Everyday Project‘. Photos and video snippets capture the summer haze and iridescent surfaces along the coast. They’re selections from his daily experiments with images and motion tests, which he has been doing for many years.

Fun and Floating Characters by Roberto Blefari from Turin, Italy

Philip Dennis — Fri, 03 May 2013 15:57:21 +0000

Here are few examples of the fun work by Italian illustrator, Roberto Blefari aka Hikimi from Turin. Roberto likes clouds, monsters, Darjeeling black tea, geeks, Paris and Tokyo, jumping in puddles, tree houses, paper boats and dreaming”.

It all shows is these light-hearted illustrations that are all about quirky little characters floating about and spreading joy.

Talking about his work, Roberto says “looking at the world through a cloud you realize how many strange creatures can be hidden in dark corners. I try to get them out by drawing them on paper, with illustrator or with collages.

“I work with pencil, artistic brush-pen, posca markers, painted paper pieces, textures, scan and Adobe softwares. The freedom to mix different techniques increases the opportunity to create unique emotional images.”

Using Stop Motion Animation to Leap off the Page and Back Again with Jose Miguel Mendez

Philip Dennis — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 08:51:06 +0000

Here are two animations from London-based Spanish illustrator, Jose Miguel Mendez. They make creative use of the stop motion process by using it to animate a mixture of drawings, 3D models, paper cut-outs and real hands.

The result is an interesting series of motions that literally jump off the page into the real world and back again. It reminds us of the famous ‘Drawing Hands’ lithograph by Escher or even The Simpsons’ bizarre foray into 3D in ‘Treehouse of Horror VI’.

Jose first started creating animations while studying on the MA in Graphic Moving Image at London College of Communication. The first is a wonderful dream sequence called ‘Weird Dreams’, which is followed by his first ever stop motion film, ‘Play With Type’. The latter was made for a stop motion and sound design workshop on his course.

Jose adds a few words about himself below as well as providing us with some really interesting process photos he took along the way. They give us a good insight into all the work that goes on behind the scenes in the laborious process of this kind of animation.

I work in London as a freelance illustrator, I also started doing animation last year when I did a MA in Graphic Moving Image at London college of Communication. I like to mix different disciplines and tecniques, I normally draw some ideas that come up from my mind, other times I just draw without thinking too much. I usually work with a pencil, markers, scanner, and digital drawing tablet, but I have started playing with watercolors and ink.