First Contact

All new animated cover illustration for BBC Science Focus' latest issue on the theme of First Contact and what happens if we discover an extra terrestrial signal. The brief was to visualise this alien message with a silhouetted onlooker in a spartan night time landscape and it made sense to add a radar dish to emphasise the communication theme. With scenes from Contact, Arrival and Close Encounters swirling around my brain I started designing. For the signal itself multiple 3d abstract animations were created to layer up with some optical light effects while the radar dish was modelled in Cinema 4d and comped into mountain scenery in Photoshop. For the Apple News cover animation I wanted to move the camera in close to the signal before being zipped into a wormhole briefly to create a loop. Great fun to work on. See more Focus work on the main site here.

Lost In The Cloud

I was recently commissioned to illustrate an article for The National Union of Journalists magazine The Journalist that goes out to its 38,000 UK and Ireland members. The feature looks at the phenomenon of online news stories, links and archives being lost over time due to corporate upheavals and other factors. I envisaged this cloud symbol with a data-munching black hole at it's core. The collage was put together with a bit of Cinema 4D and a dollop of Photoshop textures and photography. Worked on an illustration with same title for New Scientist back in the day as it happens, see it here.

BBC Music 30th Birthday

Here's a fun cover commission for BBC Music magazines 30th Birthday issue. The brief was to create a colourful collage from a selection of famous classical artists and some of the chosen 'must-have' recordings featured in the issue. The cover layout had already been designed with a large central circle of text and attached CD area bottom left which meant I had to get creative with the composition. It was an enjoyable challenge to construct a coherent collage illustration that interacted with the design elements. You can see previous work for BBC Music here.

Beneteau Rendezvous 2022

I recently created the main brand illustration for the Beneteau Rendezvous 2022 event at Two Harbors, Catalina Island. The brief was to showcase Beneteau's fleet of yachts and some of the fun of the annual boating event in an enticing and colourful way. I was supplied a library of images - in lieu of an all-expenses paid trip, unfortunately  - to create the collage which would be used to promote the event on social, printed media and clothing. You can see it on the main site with similar work here.

Multiversal

Here's a new cover illustration and animation for BBC Science Focus on the recently popular notion of the 'Multiverse'. I was initially given the idea of a mirrored cityscape to explore and also supplied a few of my own multi-rough concepts that you can see above. The cityscape visuals won out and a figure was introduced to the scene, with one turning to look at the viewer, to show a subtle difference in the 'verses. I used a 3d city model for the backdrop, which came in handy for the animation that flies into the 'folding' towers to create the loop, and everything was put together with Cinema 4D, After Effects and Photoshop. You can see more work for Science Focus here.

This Sporting Life

Here's a new series of editorial illustrations for Colgate University Magazine in upstate New York, USA. They're for a feature on some of Colgate's successful alumni athletes and what they have done with their careers. The main illustration needed to be a general collage showing the sports included while the other two images feature the specific people in the article. An enjoyable one to do. See it on the main site here.

Raw Power '22

North London's Raw Power Festival, presented by Baba Yaga's Hut, is  swiftly coming around again in August 2022 and for the third year running I've been working on all the promotional material. It's a great festival and always has an exciting lineup of music so there's no shortage of aural inspiration for me to draw on.

The design process started late last year (see dev work at bottom) with the aim to have the logotype work well standalone or as a window onto the art. I was keen to have a versatile method of presentation so that the illustration could breathe full-frame when there were less bands announced on the early posters then be stashed inside the logo to make space for the full band lineup later on.

I created the abstract sc-fi pyramidal landscape with 2d and 3d elements originally then fully 3d for the animated promo which came at the end of the process. It was all put together in Photoshop, After Effects and Cinema 4d to the beat of the stonking 'Reducer' by Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs and great fun to work on as always. See this and previous Raw Power work on the main site here.

Moon Rush

After a bit of a break I'm back in the studio, figuratively and literally with a new studio space in Margate's Hawley Square Studios shared with the talented thingsmove. Good to be back amongst it after a two year hiatus working exclusively at home. Here's my latest cover illustration and animation for BBC Science Focus print and Apple News edition. This one is themed on the Great Moon Rush and the sudden lunar interest from superpowers and billionaires. Using the lovely '69 Time cover as inspiration I developed the spiral-centric design to accommodate a few more lunar landers all created and animated in Cinema 4d with After Effects post work. Great fun to work on. You can see further illustrations and nations for BBC Science Focus here.

Summit Challenge

 

Here's a branding illustration for an upcoming cancer charity fundraiser event in New Jersey called Summit Challenge.  The brief was to capture a flavour of the day's activities which include a fitness challenge obstacle course, featuring hoop swinging and net climbing, and lots of general family fun in a festival atmosphere. The event will raise money to help provide care, comfort and compassion for cancer patients which was the theme of the second illustration commissioned in the Summit Health Cares colour palette. You can see similar fundraising event similar work here.

Future Of Fuels

More vehicular editorial cover art, this time for CSP Magazine in the US on The Future Of Fuels. The brief was to show a car on a garage forecourt facing fuel retail issues around pricing and the idea of the 'electric disconnect'. The digital collage was used on the cover and as a double page spread inside. You can see other transport themed illustrations here.

Forward Thinkers

Here's some new editorial work for Professional Engineering magazine for a feature on Forward Thinkers. The brief was to create a cover and a number of spot illustrations showing the future and past of a particular field of engineering including aerospace, rail and energy. For the cover I modelled the zero emission concept aeroplane in Cinema 4d  then worked with collaged elements throughout the five images. A fun one. You can see a previous commission for Professional Engineering here.

Battling Campus Antisemitism

Next up, another cover commission for the current issue of Hadassah magazine. This one for a feature on 'Battling Antisemitism on Campus'. The brief required a campus college gate scene with students engaged with social media to provide a message bubble backdrop for various slogans based on the topic. I also worked on an essay illustration for this issue entitled 'We Are So Glad That You're Here' about a Jewish Studies academic's experiences. See further work for Hadassah here.

People Watching

Time for a bit of an overdue work update, first up a recent editorial cover illo for North America's MG Magazine for the discerning cannabis professional no less. It's for a feature on 'The People Worth Watching' in the industry so I designed a colourful collage based on a central figure engaged  in a spot of cannabis talent watching. I had the chance to select the masthead colours to go with my palette on this one. Love me some orange n teal. 

Ideas for '22

Here's a new animated cover for the current issue of BBC Science Focus featuring a cornucopia of Ideas You Need to Understand in 2022. It was a fun looping collage to put together and bring to life with a combination of 2d and 3d elements in After Effects. See more Focus work here.

SOI Illustrators 64

 

Happy New Year to all! Pleased to be opening 2022 with news that my recent BBC Science Focus animated cover art, Where Next?, has been accepted into this year's Illustrators 64 Annual and Exhibition at New York's Museum of Illustration. That's a 'whoop!'.

Pinball Blizzard

Here's an enjoyable 3d animation commission that kept me busy for most of November. MIT's McGovern Institute tasked me with designing and modelling a pinball machine for a Season's Greetings animation that would also run through their 2021 brain research highlights.

I firstly looked at classic pinball machines for inspiration before the challenging work of designing the 2d 'playing field' in Illustrator. The ramps, bumpers, orbit and flippers had to be configured to guide the brain-ball's path way sequentially through the research areas. Once the layout was designed, some Illustrator paths went into Cinema 4d to create the 3d game architecture, combined with some cabinet modelling, while the playing field and exterior graphics were designed in Photoshop.

With the 3d model built I storyboarded the action before going on to create an animatic that was given a punchier, quicker edit before rendering the final scenes. In After Effects I added outdoor snow scenery, screen animations and 8-bit themed holographic info pop-ups for some of the research highlights. Lastly, sound design was fun to create in AE and the Jingle Bells theme chosen to finish a satisfying job overall. You can see this and other animations on the site here.