Dance Moves

This is the latest entry in the DanceDanceDance poster series promoting a regular night at Margate Arts Club hosted by Katie Barber and Joe Lye. For the fifth in the psychedelic/sci-fi inspired series I wanted to expand the world a little with new characters and hints of new places to venture into such as the distant tower. This one features a sort of psych-deco Amelia Earhart from Mars 2.0 and was fun to make as usual. Also a cheeky Death Star-esque orb that might have nothing to do with the May 4th (be with you) date. I've included the process roughs here from initial black and white scamp to colour test then back to monochrome for detailing before presenting the developed colour rough for approval. Elements get added,  removed and refined at each stage and for the final I tweaked the overall background colour for a more upbeat Spring feel. You can see the full series on the site here.

Drum Kit

Here's some new work for ABRSM and their Drum Kit Exam Pieces 2024 cover. The brief for this commission required quite a number of initial concepts that explored a more energetic stylistic approach to previous ABRSM outings. I've posted a selection of the works-in-progress here showing a range of varied comps and palettes based around collaged photo ref of drummers. After a few rounds the chosen image was settled on and I'm pleased with how it all turned out. You can see this and other ABRSM work on the site here.

Secret Swan

I was really happy to have my submission selected for this year's return of the Secret 7" exhibition and auction in aid of the charity Warchild. All artists involved were asked to choose from seven tracks to create a unique 7" vinyl single artwork and remained anonymous until close of the live auction. I chose Siouxsie and the Banshees' Lullaby to base my artwork on and found the evocative lyric 'The dream swan spins' as good an excuse as any to build that robot swan I've always wanted to! Using Cinema4D I designed and modelled the swan before taking it into Photoshop for some violet-hued cygnetpunk styling for the final piece. I've posted an unused alternate version here along with some of the untextured 3d model shots to see. Also included are a couple of photos of the final sleeve displayed in the exhibition at NOW Gallery in North Greenwich, courtesy of Clare Mallison and Al Heighton. You can see some of my previous Secret 7" submissions here.

Dark Universe

Here's a new BBC Science Focus cover illustration and animation on the mysterious matter of The Dark Universe. The doozy of a brief involved visualising strange distortions in space and time that may reveal hidden forces controlling the cosmos. I was sent some specific reference of an abstract blob animation which was a helpful starting point for some exploration into Cinema 4D's volume builder dynamics. After some fun playing with various textures and organic animations I sent over first concepts, some of which are posted above. A stark and graphic black on white approach was preferred with a bulbous and jagged blob combo to give it an erratic feel. I was also tasked with creating headline typography that would interact with the undulating shape and added subtle grid elements to suggest an attempt to quantify the unquantifiable. The shape animation was created in Cinema 4d then composited in After Effects and was a very satisfying blob-job overall. See more Focus work here.

Making A Dance

 

Here's the fourth poster in the series for the regular Dance Dance Dance event at Margate Arts Club serving up a sci-chedelic soufflé with a dollop of hand rendered type and an acidic Spring palette cleanser. Fun to make!

Future Home

Here are a couple of recent editorial illustrations for Good Housekeeping on the subject of the Home of the Future. With a quick turn-around I created these digital collages featuring numerous elements mentioned in the article from domesticated robots and auto-bins to smart eco-homes and hemp bricks. You can see another fun tech-based commission for Good Housekeeping here.

What's Next?

Here's my first post for 2024, a brand new cover illustration and animation for BBC Science Focus' 400th issue on What's Next? for science in our lifetimes. The brief was to design a bold typographic illustration to convey the wide variety of themes in the issue from Mars colonies to weight-loss pills. I set about creating 3d text in Cinema 4D and wanted there to be elements, such as the planet and brain, that would interact with the typography and the internal backdrop design that the font acts as a window into. Once we'd settled on a modern font that worked I created the illustration in Photoshop then animated the 3d models in Cinema 4d and composited it all together in After Effects for the Apple edition moving cover. Another satisfying commission for one of my favourite clients. You can see more Focus work on the main site here.