Degeneratif

Now, how about a little Degeneratif? Here's some more light and digestible Cinema 4d/Redshift/After Effects 3d animation experimentation to the Acid delights of Mobile Mother's Drift (Oh No Acid Version). Whilst creating this digital ditty I had in mind the, personally comforting, notion of Degenerative AI which refers to 'the gradual decline, decay, or self-degrading patterns in AI systems where models lose fidelity, forget rare real-world data, or produce lower-quality outputs over time' or in this case are degraded in to a cyber chicken of some form. For this latest addition to my humanoid head period I experimented with deforming fx to achieve the degeneration look on my 3d model and applied some fun VHS filters to enhance the sense of a copy of a copy. You can see the work on the main site here also.

Closing The Loop

Here's a recent commission for MotorPro magazine on how the motor sector is Closing The Loop and embracing the circular economy. The brief was to create a collage of modern car industry imagery to show how the automotive sector designs, repairs, reuses and ultimately recovers vehicles and components. The composition had to work with the cover design's circular headline typography and two spot illos for the feature were also designed for the page. I had fun putting these illustrations together in Photoshop working with Art Director Ian Hart. You can see the work on the main site here.

3x3 Annual 23 Merits

Very happy to receive news of two Merit Award Winners in the 3x3 International Illustration Annual No.23 Show. In the Edtorial category my Time magazine TIME AI 2025 illustration and in the Unpublished category my recent AI-Wakening personal experimentation project. Always nice to get recognition for personal as well as commissioned work. Thanks to this year's jury for the honour.

The Pentagon And The Big Eight

Here's another recent commission for Al Majalla on the Pentagon's special relationship with Silicon Valley and how AI is getting into secret military networks via ties with the big eight tech companies. For this one I combined Cinema 4d 3d modelled elements with 2d digital collage in Photoshop to represent the layers of AI tech at the core of Pentagon operations. I've included here an alternative work-in-progress with a more abstract overhead view. Thanks to Sara Loane again for an enjoyable commission. More Al Majalla work here.

AI Potential

Here's another enoyable tech commission for Wall Street Journal on the wait for AI to reach its full potential. I worked up a few concepts with Cinema 4d/Photoshop for this, including a fun but ultimately too slow cyber-snail. The final illustration featured my 3d robot weighing up the potential speed of AI assimilation covering the faster booster and the slower sceptic beliefs. Thanks again to Siung Tjia for taking another chance on me. You can see this on the main site here also.

Future Of Racing

Here's another welcome commission for Wall Street Journal on the news that Apple is entering into a deal with F1 for American streaming rights. The process began with adapting a 3d F1 car model in Cinema 4d/Redshift and expermenting with Apple-style surfaces, lighting and framing to produce the initial visuals, two of which are presented here. The more dynamic head-on composition was chosen with a darker palette and more emphasis on the cameras/screens. Really pleased with this one. Many thanks to Siung Tjia for the commission again. See it on the main site here also.

Autonomous World

Here's another fun tech/sci-fi illustration for longtime client Professional Engineering on the theme of an Autonomous World and what to expect from engineers building an unmanned future.  The brief required depicting a hi-tech Earth resembling a 'Death Star' with robots and self-driving flying vehicles. I turned to Cinema 4D/Redshift to model and light my own robot, vehicles and hi-tech Earth enabling me to work up various compositions reasonably quickly. The 3d robot also came in handy for a concurrent commission on a similar theme, see previous post. The final illustration was created from combining elements from two works-in-progress included here and designed to work with the cover layout. Thanks to Jes Stanfield for the commission. See the work on the main site here along with previous covers on the blog here.

Tech Predictions

Here's a nice commission for Wall Street Journal, that's right up my tech/sci-fi street, illustrating an article on Five Amazing Tech Innovations We Should Expect in the Next 25 Years. The innovations included mind-controlled tech, space mining, private weather systems, abundant nuclear fusion energy and, of course, robots at home. The illustration combines 3d modelled elements with 2d design, photography and textures and featured in print and online. Thanks to Siung Tjia for the commission. See it on the main site here also.

Irvine Innovators

Here's a very welcome return commission for Irvine Standard magazine's Innovation feature after last year's enjoyable first assignment. Similarly, I illustrated a main collage and a number of portraits of the key innovators in science and tech at Irvine. Great to work on this with Mindy Benham once again. You can see the work on the main site here also.

The World's Scariest AI Company

Here's another set of feature illustrations for BBC Science Focus' current issue taking a look at Palantir - The World's Scariest AI Company. The brief was to create collages representing the various facets of the most influential and least understood tech company. Covering its benevolent and malevolent uses across areas such as healthcare and militaristic applications. Once again I had a selection of photographic assets to treat in Photoshop and create illustrative compositions to fit particular print spaces on the page. Always enjoy these commissions from Art Editor Joe Eden. See the work on the main site here also.

Thirsty AI

Here's a new cover illustration for the University of California, Riverside's UCR Magazine on the 'Unquenchable Thirst of AI' and the alarming reliance on fresh water by Big Tech companies. The brief was to depict the large waste of fresh water used in cooling AI server systems and its environmental impact in particular. I presented a few first visuals, shown here, featuring a leaky AI server bucket, a data centre waterfall with the researcher Shaolei Ren, and water rushing down an AI drain. The drain idea was chosen and I expanded the concept to include the power stations, servers and environments that get impacted by the water waste. The illustration was created digitally with a drain/plughole created in Cinema 4d and composited with elements in Photoshop. Thanks to Jessica Weber for the enjoyable commission. See it on the main site here also.

Car Talk

Here's a little catch up on some commissions for longtime client Car And Driver magazine from the last year. The most recent was for an article on the state of data-hungry connected vehicle technologies such as OnStar in the US. The illustration was designed to work for a specific page layout with floating elements and a full bleed background as well as a more open online format. The second was also an unusual vertical format for a rather niche sidebar tracing the history of Mercedes Benz naming schemes since the first vehicle in 1886. Always enjoyable commissions, thanks to Darin Johnson and Nicole Lazarus for these. See more Car And Driver work on the site here. 

Energising The Future

Here's a recent illustration project for the University of Houston's publication Energy@Scale on how the 'Energy University' is shaping the future of global energy. The brief required a cover and feature collage plus individual portraits of four of the main figureheads of the University's energy programme. I devised a visual approach and palette that could work consistently across all the illustrations and enjoyed digitally collaging the Houston cityscapes with energy and fuel production imagery in Photoshop. You can also see the illustrations on the site here.

Dreamscapes

Here's a fun commission for a BBC Science Focus feature 'Welcome to the Dream World' on technology that might harness the power of lucid dreaming. The brief called for a couple of dream scene illustrations and a composition based on some of the tech and people involved. Really enjoyed digitally collaging these in Photoshop using a combination of stock imagery, 2d/3d elements and textures - a dream job you might say <groan>. Thanks to Joe Eden for the commission as always. See more Focus work on the site here.