D&AD Briefs

This week Ben Mercer and I (my partner for the task of completing a D&AD brief) have been reading through them all and trying to decide which one to go with. We have decided to go with the client of Diesel. It is an illustration brief, that asks to "Create an illustrated interpretation of a musical track that is experienced by the viewer in an unconventional and pioneering way"

Discussions and brainstorms went ahead today with this but becasue our ideas are so unique and innovative I cannot disclose this information. Sorry.

Aquascutum freelance work completed.

My vector work for Aquascutum has come to a close...for now. The files have been put into the Indesign layout given to us and have been sent to the client ready to be approved or altered. Then it will be a quick edit from us and sent back to print. Unfortunately, this catalogue is for the collection of Autumn/Winter 2011, so I dont know what my chances are of getting a hard copy of the work, but the work will still exist digitally.

The image above was one of my last images and took me quite a long time to make. It is for one of the styles of outerwear that they will portray in the catalogue, and they were needing an info graphic for a piece of detail that cannot be seen in the main image. I am happy, and my client is happy with the outcome.

HUMoR

'Sampling, silhouettes and a confident international style are the hallmarks of Humor – a young, casual Danish brand that takes its inspiration from underground electronic music and its accompanying street style that’s an integral part of the scene.

Described as a kind of ‘fashion Lego’, Humor provides the bricks that allow the wearer to create their own identity through happy mixes of colour and an innovative, laidback silhouette that compliments the confident attitude and fun-seeking lifestyle of the younger generation it belongs to. Referencing elements from workwear, sportswear and classic club wear, hippy Scandinavian knitwear meets Shibuya street style resulting in a look that is colourful and dynamic - sometimes chaotic - but never boring, grey or predictable, making Humor the perfect choice for hanging out during the day or going to a club at night.'

I brand that I have recently found out about that is very much based at a young audience. I think this write up suits it very well. Very clean, exclusive looking logo and branding to suit also.

Book Covers in situe

Finished Book Covers

Here are my final book covers:

FMP idea #2

Ive kind of got this urge to de activate my facebook account and turn off my phone. Ive been thinking about doing an experimental final major project where, for one month, I dont have access to mobile phones, emails, internet and facebook. I could write down from my mobile phone a list of numbers that I would need and refer to them whenever I needed them.

I think I could make some interesting info-graphics with charts displaying time I would usually spend online or on my phone.

This idea is to be developed

Too much

I am really struggling with my workload at the moment. I feel quite down and feel unmotivated for design work. Right now I feel like it is something that I am having to do as apposed to something that I want to do. And it is not as if I am even slacking. Every night after university, where I have been trying to wrap up my project, I will work on my freelance Aquasctutum work; which is proving to be very time consuming and awkward. On saturday I was handed an email from the company with changes that they had made and additional styles for me to complete. I have worked on these all weekend and have still not completed what has been asked of me. They want it by Wednesday which would mean working all night tonight and all day tomorrow on it, delaying any university work until wednesday afternoon, leaving me with only a day and a half to make changes for my university work.

I do not feel that it is entirely my fault that it has come to this. This email from the clientsI cannot say I could have worked harder because I am being honest when I say I have worked very hard almost everyday for 3 weeks on both projects. All i know now is to be completely honest with any exterior employers in the future(whilst im at university) about how much free time I have.

I will get the work done. But I may not be getting the work done to the best of my ability due to having to rush to get it finished. This is a fact I have come to accept and do not mind as it has been down to my actions and will know to get better in the future.

Latest DJ set

Latest set that has been offered to me by the peeps who run Revelation! Hopefully more to come. Only carefully selected tunes will make it onto this set. should be a good night

Graphic Sysytems module: Graham Greene book covers

This is my most recent complete book cover for the short story 'May we borrow your husband?" The story follows an author that has travelled away from his home to try and finish his book. Whilst at his resort he falls in love with a married woman who he commonly see's around the resort. He comments on how strange this feeling is considering his age. But he is as interested in the two homosexual men that are the interior decorators for Poopy's house. (Poopy being the lady's name).

Again I have kept consistency in my illustrations by portraying the naivety in the drawing and the line but keeping an intellectual feel to the cover.

My books as a collective:

Better late than never..

Here are my latest book designs. I have made sure there are consistent systems going throughout the designs. Even though the illustrations are different, they follow a same loose style of illustration. Because these are short stories, there isn't much need in setting a big dramatic scene because of the abruptness of the story. 

The Destructors occurs in the 1950's and follws a boys gang named the "Wormsley Common Gang" The gang accept a plan to burn down a 200 year old house and the ordeal turns bad when the owner of the house turns up a bit too early. They also find a mattress full of money but decide to burn it aswell.

The Basement Room follows the life of a young boy born into a very wealthy family. Left by his parents in the care of their butler and housekeeper. 7-year-old Philip Lane excitedly anticipates exploring the large Belgravia house while learning something about the adult world. Once his parents leave on their holiday, Philip seeks out Baines in the basement room, and enters through the green baize door.. 

Beat Redemption

My biggest event as a DJ yet!

I will be playing Room 2 all night with another DJ called L.A. Williams. Unbelievably psyched about this. 

Extra Curricular

In my (little) spare time, you can usually find me in  front of my Reloop RMP-1 CDJ turntables in my bedroom or at a venue in Bournemouth. I love mixing and playing out and this year I have began to find some events to play out at and am now a resident for Technicolour Moon. A company run in bournemouth putting on live art events.

Our most recent event is tonight, an event called Moon Street, showing off the best talent around bournemouth in the field of illustration and digital art.

I am still undecided as a DJ name/profile. These posters present me being 'EMAC' and 'Eddy Mac' but I have recently developed the name 'Southpaw' referring to the slang term for a left hander. I created a visual for this.

Crunch Time.

Last night I completed my hardest vector so far. This style(above) took about 2 hours to complete and very fiddly. Hopefully when I go into the offices tomorrow to show the client he is happy with it. I have 3 styles left to complete but I have near on an entire module to complete for my university studies. My first attempt at time management around two jobs has not gone as I had liked it to. Reasons may be down to not estimating the amount of time certain jobs would take. Hopefully I can manage to acquire more freelance work soon and hopefully next time I will act a bit more professionally about it.  

In other topics, the books I have chosen to illustrate are written by Graham Greene and are the following short stories:

• The Destructors
• The Basement Room
• Under The Garden
• A discovery In The Woods
• May We Borrow Your Husband
• Cheap In August

Aquascutum freelance update

 I am currently coming to the end of my designs for the new catalogue, with only a few styles left to vector. The guy im working with has limited InDesign knowledge and has asked me if I could give my input in the catalogue layout process also. This process will be starting next week.

Graham Greene Short Stories

Just bought this book to help me in my illustrations for 'Graphic Systems'. The Author I have chosen to study is Graham Greene and he is very well known for his powerful short stories, a lot of which do not have covers or any visual references. After reading this book I will choose 6 short stories and begin my visual and design process.

Website Design

whilst perusing the internet for website design, trying to find inspiration, I stumbled across the world smallest website, decked out with flash games such as pong and pacman, and has browzing topics such as art, news and fame. the only thing you see is the image shown above and it is about the diameter of a pen top.

FMP idea #1

I kind of got this idea the other day when I was making lunch with my housemate. Most days we have baguettes, packed with different fillings, and we can always tell when we've been shopping of if we have just got money because we would have more ingredients to put in the baguettes. We joked the other day that at the end of the week we would just be down to baguette and butter. I thought this idea would be quite an interesting and innovative way to record money flow, personally as well and internationally. I immediately thought about having an illustration/photograph per day of my baguettes and this image would reflect my most current level of finance. Thought I would write it down before I forgot it.

DreamWeaver Tutorial

Today was our first dreamweaver tutorial, which is the adobe software used to build websites. I have been looking forward to learning these skills, employment in the field of web design may be a route I would like to take, if not then it is always useful to have experience in it. 

New Brief notes: Graphic Systems

These were my notes I jotted down during our briefing. Alot of what was said revolved around consistency throughout the series and similar styles across the range of illustrations. We are to rebrand old books by a chosen author of six, create a system for these books to make them look part of a system. The project is contemporary based, so rebranding to make old books modern is the body of the project. Still unsure who I will choose as I have kind of tilted towards the work I have for Aquascutum instead of University work this week.