Have recently created a few new items for my society6 online store, including designs for throw pillows, which is their latest product addition. These are 16″ x 16″ pillow covers, double-sided printed on 100% spun polyester poplin fabric. Above are shown some of my most recent designs, featuring both new and old art, specific illustrated imagery and a few colourful patterns.
The Chinese New Year, or Lunar New Year, begins on February 1oth 2013 and will continue until January 30th 2014. This follows the Year of the (Black) Dragon in 2012, a year which was predicted to be unpredictable.
2013 is the Year of the Snake – or, more accurately, the Year of the Black Water Snake – a year to show caution, plan diligently, act responsibly, and work towards your greater goals.
The snake is the 6th of the 12 animal signs in the Chinese zodiac. Snakes are considered to be a good omen, and people born in the Year of the Snake are considered to bring good luck and prosperity to a household; it is said that having a snake in the house will never see you short of food on the table. Beware though – for all their financial thoughtfulness, careful planning, charm and intuition, snakes can also be somewhat devious, materialistic and greedy.
The snake mainly contains the fire element from the 5 elements (Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth) in Chinese Astrology, and is therefore in the fire group. As 2013 is a water year and the snake is a fire element, it is possible that both good and bad fortune may be experienced – so, what else is new!
My illustration celebrating the New Year is a coiled snake symbol, created with an ink brush pen on Canson Pastel paper. This sketched design was scanned into Photoshop, where I used various layer styles to highlight the ink effects of the original sketch (areas of wetter, heavier ink coverage showed as a separate tone on the scan), and I also added additional textures to create the finished effect I desired.
Also included in this design were references to two of the lucky components for the snake: the colours of yellow and red, and the directions of southwest and northeast (as seen in the background texture patterns).
A short soundtrack styled tune (created in GarageBand), with an interstellar space sound and electronic vibe. The icon artwork for this song features multiple blurred photographs of movement, overlaid in Photoshop with layer styles used for image editing and colour enhancement.
Second print in my Motor Style Inc series. This poster design celebrates the historic Rallye Monte Carlo, and shows a classic Mini Cooper from 1965. This event was originally held to test the durability of car models and their current technology, with competitors starting from various points around Europe. Converging to finish in Monaco after surviving numerous hazardous road conditions, which included snow and ice during both day and night, completion of the event would offer manufacturers invaluable publicity and promotion, together with the prestige of a strong finishing result. A brief and entertaining video showing the 1963 event can be seen here, where you can also read a short history about the event during the 60s.
This is a digital illustration completed in Photoshop CS5, and the Monte Carlo type is custom designed by me for this poster to reflect hand drawn type from the period.
Prints of this poster (plus t-shirts) can be purchased from my online store at Society6.
Digital pencil sketch with multiple photographic texture and colour overlays.
* I’ve updated the background of my previously posted Lance Armstrong illustration to reflect his recent downfall: from an admired winner to a disgraced sinner.
Amongst the many sketched ideas I’ve produced recently, I have been thinking about some space vehicle designs, and decided that I would produce a tighter concept of this compact low altitude reconnaissance vehicle. I like the chunky wedge shape of this design and envision this as a highly manoeuvrable exploration, observation and security patrol vehicle.
Fabulously streaked and broken cloud patterns, highlighted by radiant colours, surround the moon in this shot of the evening sky over the Barossa Valley, South Australia.
Nightlight by SEBAN
Gravitas by SUPER COLLIDING
96 by BAUXER
Dead Live in Copenhagen by OHLBITRAS
Behold Me by TWIFT
Weft by OTOIX
Further to my original Soundscapes designs, here are half a dozen new cd cover/icon designs – this time however, they are not exclusively constructed only with photography as the main visual element. This set has a greater focus on graphic design, so includes pieces using digital illustration (SEBAN) and custom type (BAUXER, OHLBITRAS), together with a range of photographic textures and effects.
Over the last few months I’ve been working with local songwriter Ray Rains, to produce a video clip for his song Make This Thing Fly. This is a real homemade effort, using my still camera to shoot all the live footage, iMovie to edit the clip, plus Illustrator and Photoshop to create the bird animations featured throughout. We shot a lot of footage – you should see all that has been left on the cutting room floor! – and even though we had no specific script, the final composition was pieced together to maintain an appropriate feel to match the mood and intent of the song.
Below are a few still shots taken from the filming nights, which taught me a lot about working with and directing musicians. A special mention should go to Peggy for her help in providing the angels, assisting with candles, and putting up with endless retakes.
Personal identity design project for games developer MONKEYBOMB. Above are shown the main logo (full version) and secondary logotype, along with splash screens for mobile devices.
This idea formed whilst working on a creative solution for another project, and is easily one of my quickest ever logo designs! The key for this identity was to produce a bold and direct icon, from which all other elements would follow in structure and style, to create a high impact, strongly contrasting, casually informal appearance.
I have a large collection of unused (and sometimes poorly taken) photographs lurking about on my hard drive – all looking to be shown, or for somewhere to usefully belong. As I’ve been listening to a lot of new music lately, I naturally decided to create a few album covers and/or icons for some fictional artists, which is a design practice I regularly undertook in my earlier years to explore creative ideas.
All of these would be musically categorised as either atmospheric alternative, ambient instrumental, or down-tempo electronic, and feature enhanced and edited versions of some of my photos within economical designs.
Monument by BEHEMOUTH
Absence by OTOIX
Amber to Green by TEARFISH
Suburban Shaman by LURKIT
Daylighted by THE INDIVIDUAL COLLECTIVE
I’ve never illustrated anything with a religious theme before, but felt that this idea would suit my favoured palette knife technique, and would also be a perfect opportunity to create something a little different for Christmas.
This piece was initially created in Corel Painter 12, in black & white only, as I focussed on the overall layout and the specific look of each camel and their wise man. It was then imported into Adobe Photoshop where the colour and some texture overlays were added.
Merry Christmas to you!
On a warm and cloudy morning a group of Rosellas stop for a drink from a fountain in the Botanic Gardens, Adelaide.
Another western themed project! This time I’ve designed a promotional movie poster around an illustration of a gunslinger seeking retribution. Illustration and layout completed in Photoshop, with the title lettering and ornaments designed in Illustrator.
