I really wanted to win the Portal 2 poster competition because you …erm… won a Portal poster. Well, it was that really smart 1970s action movie Portal poster right. Signed. Super.
Just design a Portal 2 poster. Okay, Alphonse Mucha designed far more beautiful posters than I ever could so Portal 2 vs Alphonse Mucha.
Design Steampunk posters for a Forbidden Planet promotion? Why, yes I’d love to. So whilst digitally stumbling about for a bit of inspiration I found the mighty handy Advertising Archives. It’s a huge collection of promotional graphics from the pre-1900s onwards. Awesome. If you need to fake-up anything, from Art Deco travel posters to 1950s bad girl crime books, this is the very place to start.
Lurking in the archives I found this wonderful poster for Harness Magnetic Corsets. Yes, not just corsets, magnetic corsets! Why, they look totally safe. There’s lots of similarly amusing stuff to take a look at – from times when smoking was just great and the ladies should mainly aspire to a new gas cooker.
I went with ‘dubious looking gas mask’ for the Forbidden Planet poster. Though not after spending a lot of time lost in 1950s Cadillac ads and the apparent joys of crimplene.
If you need to know more there’s a full history of the mildly alarming magnetic corset at The Quack Doctor.
Today I needed to draw something before the working world of Doctor Who action figures entirely destroyed my brain. Occupational hazard. And I love the Japanese woodblock prints designed by the artists of the ukiyo-e school. Exciting. Sophisticated. Perfect graphic art.
Ukiyo-e is derived from a Buddhist expression. It means ‘picture’ (e) of the ‘floating world’ (ukiyo). A world of urban pleasures and excitement to escape into. The theatres, restaurants, teahouses, geisha and courtesans of shogun era Tokyo.
Well, ‘pictures of the floating world’ sounds just great. I wanted to try to use the feel and style of the ukiyo-e school illustrations. It’s very tempting just to copy the amazing designs but I thought I should try and draw something from my world to escape into.
Robots and giant squid. Obviously.
There’s a great gallery of prints at, well, the Ukiyo-e Gallery if you want o take a look at the real thing.
Todays job? Design a window display board for the Forbidden Planet art and illustration guides. Nice.
One of the titles to work from was ‘Figure Drawing For All It’s Worth’, by the amazing Andrew Loomis. A stunning illustration resource for anybody who can’t draw hands… well… or any other body parts really. Alex Ross, Dick Giordano and Steve Lieber swear by it apparently. If you want to draw 1950s style smouldering babes, or have never been very sure about noses, step this way. A nice man at just here has free .pdf downloads of many of his outstanding books.
I’m hoping for a future free from hiding badly-drawn feet now.
Books
Vampires, lemonade, wiggly words and wobbly drawings. A peculiar little ebook for your iPad about the dangers of not cleaning teeth! Wondrous words from Den Patrick Esquire.
Lemonade thieving Mr Fizz is available for your iPad/iPhone at the Apple iBook Store.
Wobbly drawing of the ‘Jurassic Publishing’ dinosaur for the ‘Pandemonium Stocking Stuffer 2011′ on Amazon UK or Amazon US! Full of awesome from top editor folk Anne C Perry and Jared Shurin at Team Pornokitsch.
iPhone Wallpapers
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Commissioned by Wapple Phones.
Editorial
Commission for Computer Arts Magazine.
Posters
Photography on the Forbidden Planet ‘Burlesque’ poster by Derek Bremner Photography.
Flyers & Albums
