Also, a quick mention that ive given mostlywanted a little update by re-introducing some of my older works, this is primarily for commissioning purposes and will allow me to add and remove works as i go on.
Saturday, 31 July 2010
Telegraph Fashion II
The very nice chaps at the Daily Telegraph kindly asked me to do some more work for the fashion supplement, which- after the success of the first one- i was more than happy to do! Each piece relates to a letter and its article in the magazine. 'A' was for Amelia (pertaining to Amelia Earhart) and focused on a Burberry flight jacket. The others were Knit, Red and Wild. Again, im not sure on the release date for the magazine so hopefully im not jumping the gun too much in sharing the work! Heres some detail shots from the four pieces, the full images can be found on mostlywanted or my Behance folio.
Also, a quick mention that ive given mostlywanted a little update by re-introducing some of my older works, this is primarily for commissioning purposes and will allow me to add and remove works as i go on.
Also, a quick mention that ive given mostlywanted a little update by re-introducing some of my older works, this is primarily for commissioning purposes and will allow me to add and remove works as i go on.
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Gathering cover illustration
This is a wrap around cover recently completed commission for Little Brown Books, the book is the UK version of Kelley Armstrongs 'The Gathering'. Not quite sure when its going to be launched so hopefully its ok to post this preview!
Wednesday, 28 July 2010
CIA site relaunch
The Central Illustration Agency have just relaunched their site to coincide with the release of the 'License to Inspire' book. Both have been designed by Staziker Jones who are also responsible for more of CIA's marketing materials. The new site brings together the CIA blog and shop with the primary site purpose of letting commissioning agents see examples of the artists work. There is now the added bonus of being able to create a moodboard for output to pdf which is pretty handy.
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Yokai competition closed
Thanks for the overwhelming response everyone, its really cool that so many would like one of these little flyers! I am going to be picking out the 20 winners (thats all the flyers i have left out of 250 for the show!) via the extremely useful random.org which is probably the fairest way to 'randomly' select the winning names.
Unfortunatley i wont be able to let you know whether youve won or not, so to all who have entered i will say a big 'thank you', even more so to those who not only entered, but also wrote little notes- its very much appreciated!
The winners will have their flyer posted out to them tomorrow (weds 28th July), hopefully the post services around the world will be good and get them to you quickly. (not holding out too much hope on that one) There have been a lot, probably about 2/3 of entries from the USA with the rest scattered around the UK, France, Spain, Portugal, Russia and a couple from the far east. Quite interesting to see where some of you guys are!
Anyway, thanks again, i think with the success of this i may end up doing another little contest soon!
Unfortunatley i wont be able to let you know whether youve won or not, so to all who have entered i will say a big 'thank you', even more so to those who not only entered, but also wrote little notes- its very much appreciated!
The winners will have their flyer posted out to them tomorrow (weds 28th July), hopefully the post services around the world will be good and get them to you quickly. (not holding out too much hope on that one) There have been a lot, probably about 2/3 of entries from the USA with the rest scattered around the UK, France, Spain, Portugal, Russia and a couple from the far east. Quite interesting to see where some of you guys are!
Anyway, thanks again, i think with the success of this i may end up doing another little contest soon!
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
CIA Book press release
The Central Illustration Agency have passed on the press release for their debut book 'License to Inspire'. Its currently available on pre-order from amazon but will soon be gracing book stores worldwide. Heres the press release...
-
License To Inspire
The Central Illustration Agency's book debut.
A collection of work from some of the world's most inspiring illustrators and the story of the agency that represents them.
License To Inspire is an eclectic mix of stunning artwork and fascinating interviews from the world's most talented illustrators and industry innovators. An invaluable resource for art buyers and other professionals within the creative industries, this will soon become a recommended text for art students and particularly those who wish to work in the industry. With inclusions from a diverse range of artists from Jonas Bergstrand to Sir Peter Blake, the book is packed with beautiful images and thought-provoking words. Created by the acclaimed Central Illustration Agency, who have been associated with the brightest talent in illustrative art since 1983, this book will be an essential addition to any coffee table or agency library.
"Illustration has been arguably the liveliest art form of this decade, and CIA have been right in the centre of it. This Book paints a brilliant and lively portrait of the world, the art and the business of contemporary illustration."
-Marc Valli, Elephant magazine & Magma.
Contents:
License to inspire. Now. And how now happened.
-A commentary charting the origins of the Central Illustration Agency from its inception in the 1980s to present day – a journey taking in some of the most memorable advertising campaigns and evocative book covers of the last few decades.
The mechanics of a job: a relatively simple case study.
-A case study tracking the progress of a job from commission to completion.
The artists.
Showcasing work from some of the worlds most talented illustrators, including:
12 foot 6, Ahoy There, Nik Ainley, Tatiana Arocha, Tom Bagshaw, Andrew Bannecker, Jonas Bergstrand, Ian Bilbey, Sir Peter Blake, Bernard Blatch, Greg Bridges, Christopher Brown, Mick Brownfield, Lesley Buckingham, Susan Burghart, Stanley Chow, Nishant Choksi, Sarah J Coleman, Haydn Cornner, Jimi Crayon, Dust, Tristan Eaton, Max Ellis, Fine & Dandy, Jeff Fisher, Jessie Ford, Andrew Foster, Nathan Fox, Jonathan Gibbs, Chris Gilvan Cartwright, Good Wives and Warriors, Brian Grimwood, Martin Haake, Pete Harrison, Lee Hasler, Sara Hayward, David Holmes, Darren Hopes, Peter Horridge, David Hughes, M. H. Jeeves, Kai & Sunny, Chris Kasch, Carol Lawson, Tina Mansuwan, Tim Marrs, Mick Marston, Chris McEwan, Clare Melinsky, Kate Miller, Dave Needham, Gary Neill, Jeff Nishinaka, Paul Oakley, Nigel Owen, Jackie Parsons, Jitesh Patel, Pirates, Wendy Plovmand, Ulla Puggaard, Maria Raymondsdotter, John Royle, Harriet Russell, Jeremy Sancha, Yuko Shimizu, Paul Slater, Ray Smith, John Spencer, Simon Spilsbury, Spiral Studio, Louisa St. Pierre, The 3D Agency, Alex Turvey, Mark Thomas, Benjamin Wachenje, Paul Wearing, Richard Wilkinson, Mike Wilks.
Back-word. What inspires Brian Grimwood.
A few words from the agency’s founder, whom Print Magazine described as “having changed the look of British illustration”.
In Conversation with:
Sheri Glee, Art Director at the Folio Society, Sir John Hegarty, BBH, Paul Slater and Tom Conran at the Cow, Sir Peter Blake at his studio and Katie Grogan, art buyer.
Edited by Benjamin Cox.
Designed by Staziker Jones - http://www.stazikerjones.co.uk/
Published by Pirum Press - http://www.pirumpress.co.uk/
Printed in Italy by Printer Trento Slr. Content, end-papers and cover wrap printed on Munken Print Cream, cover in Cialux cloth.
ISBN—13: 978-0-9565729-0-5
Publication date: 14 July 2010
Launch date: Early Autumn 2010 (tbc)
Price: RRP £25.00
Format: 246 x 189mm, case-bound
Hardcover: 256 pages
Will also be stocked in various hand selected, worldwide book, gift & interior stores, including Magma. More images & spreads available upon immediate request.
To receive a copy for review (or for your coffee table), please get in touch with CIA.
For more information or interviews, contact Alicja McCarthy on:
+44 (0) 207 73 7187
e: alicja@centralillustration.com
www.centralillustration.com
-
-
License To Inspire
The Central Illustration Agency's book debut.
A collection of work from some of the world's most inspiring illustrators and the story of the agency that represents them.
License To Inspire is an eclectic mix of stunning artwork and fascinating interviews from the world's most talented illustrators and industry innovators. An invaluable resource for art buyers and other professionals within the creative industries, this will soon become a recommended text for art students and particularly those who wish to work in the industry. With inclusions from a diverse range of artists from Jonas Bergstrand to Sir Peter Blake, the book is packed with beautiful images and thought-provoking words. Created by the acclaimed Central Illustration Agency, who have been associated with the brightest talent in illustrative art since 1983, this book will be an essential addition to any coffee table or agency library.
"Illustration has been arguably the liveliest art form of this decade, and CIA have been right in the centre of it. This Book paints a brilliant and lively portrait of the world, the art and the business of contemporary illustration."
-Marc Valli, Elephant magazine & Magma.
Contents:
License to inspire. Now. And how now happened.
-A commentary charting the origins of the Central Illustration Agency from its inception in the 1980s to present day – a journey taking in some of the most memorable advertising campaigns and evocative book covers of the last few decades.
The mechanics of a job: a relatively simple case study.
-A case study tracking the progress of a job from commission to completion.
The artists.
Showcasing work from some of the worlds most talented illustrators, including:
12 foot 6, Ahoy There, Nik Ainley, Tatiana Arocha, Tom Bagshaw, Andrew Bannecker, Jonas Bergstrand, Ian Bilbey, Sir Peter Blake, Bernard Blatch, Greg Bridges, Christopher Brown, Mick Brownfield, Lesley Buckingham, Susan Burghart, Stanley Chow, Nishant Choksi, Sarah J Coleman, Haydn Cornner, Jimi Crayon, Dust, Tristan Eaton, Max Ellis, Fine & Dandy, Jeff Fisher, Jessie Ford, Andrew Foster, Nathan Fox, Jonathan Gibbs, Chris Gilvan Cartwright, Good Wives and Warriors, Brian Grimwood, Martin Haake, Pete Harrison, Lee Hasler, Sara Hayward, David Holmes, Darren Hopes, Peter Horridge, David Hughes, M. H. Jeeves, Kai & Sunny, Chris Kasch, Carol Lawson, Tina Mansuwan, Tim Marrs, Mick Marston, Chris McEwan, Clare Melinsky, Kate Miller, Dave Needham, Gary Neill, Jeff Nishinaka, Paul Oakley, Nigel Owen, Jackie Parsons, Jitesh Patel, Pirates, Wendy Plovmand, Ulla Puggaard, Maria Raymondsdotter, John Royle, Harriet Russell, Jeremy Sancha, Yuko Shimizu, Paul Slater, Ray Smith, John Spencer, Simon Spilsbury, Spiral Studio, Louisa St. Pierre, The 3D Agency, Alex Turvey, Mark Thomas, Benjamin Wachenje, Paul Wearing, Richard Wilkinson, Mike Wilks.
Back-word. What inspires Brian Grimwood.
A few words from the agency’s founder, whom Print Magazine described as “having changed the look of British illustration”.
In Conversation with:
Sheri Glee, Art Director at the Folio Society, Sir John Hegarty, BBH, Paul Slater and Tom Conran at the Cow, Sir Peter Blake at his studio and Katie Grogan, art buyer.
Edited by Benjamin Cox.
Designed by Staziker Jones - http://www.stazikerjones.co.uk/
Published by Pirum Press - http://www.pirumpress.co.uk/
Printed in Italy by Printer Trento Slr. Content, end-papers and cover wrap printed on Munken Print Cream, cover in Cialux cloth.
ISBN—13: 978-0-9565729-0-5
Publication date: 14 July 2010
Launch date: Early Autumn 2010 (tbc)
Price: RRP £25.00
Format: 246 x 189mm, case-bound
Hardcover: 256 pages
Will also be stocked in various hand selected, worldwide book, gift & interior stores, including Magma. More images & spreads available upon immediate request.
To receive a copy for review (or for your coffee table), please get in touch with CIA.
For more information or interviews, contact Alicja McCarthy on:
+44 (0) 207 73 7187
e: alicja@centralillustration.com
www.centralillustration.com
-
Monday, 12 July 2010
Yokai give away...
Ive got a limited amount of the booklets i was giving away at my show, if you would like one drop me a mail to 'info at mostlywanted dot com' with 'Yokai Giveaway' as the subject line and include your postal address in the body of the message. I will leave it a couple of weeks and then randomly pick the recipients and get them in the post asap.
Edit: Competition closes Monday 26th July.
I designed these booklets to give visitors a brief insight into the stories that inspired each piece, 250 were produced and most went on opening night.
I wont be able to let you know if youve won or not, but i will post a message here to say when theyre in the mail.
Edit: Competition closes Monday 26th July.
I designed these booklets to give visitors a brief insight into the stories that inspired each piece, 250 were produced and most went on opening night.
I wont be able to let you know if youve won or not, but i will post a message here to say when theyre in the mail.
Yokai prints at Fine Grime
Fine Grime have released 2 of my works from my Yokai Dreams solo show as limited edition prints. 'Hito-dama' and 'Kuchisake Onna' are on sale in editions of 50 on Woodstock Felt cotton rag, 410 x 560mm including a border for framing.
If you would like to buy one (or two..) contact Joel at Fine Grime or buy online through my page on the Fine Grime shop. Some of the original editions of 5, done for the actual exhibition are also available via Fine Grime.
If you would like to buy one (or two..) contact Joel at Fine Grime or buy online through my page on the Fine Grime shop. Some of the original editions of 5, done for the actual exhibition are also available via Fine Grime.
Hullo all...
weeks pass and i have started getting a nagging feeling that i should be posting something here. At the moment im trying to get some new work done, working on a piece for the November group show at London Miles Gallery where im happy to say my work will be rubbing shoulders with some awesome artists!
Im also happy to be doing more work for the Telegraph magazine, doing illustrations for the fashion supplement. Ive also just finished a book cover for Little Brown Books, the UK edition of Kelly Armstrong's 'Gathering'. Hopefully i will be able to post them up soon.
For the July issue of Computer Arts magazine, they ran a series of articles for the 101 ways to make better images feature. I was kindly asked to provide 10 tips for the 'Brushes' section. If you havent seen the magazine heres the cover and my tips (theyre worded a lot better in the actual article!)
Get a Tablet!
To fully make use of the brushes in the major applications you really need a tablet. Once one is hooked up all the various brush options like pressure sensitivity, opacity, color dynamics, shape and scattering all become accessible and it also allows you to create work in a more intuitive way.
Rotate brushes
Its often an overlooked ability in the brush presets, but simply changing the rotation of a brush can produce some dramatic effects and is a feature worth playing around with if youre looking for something new. Obviously far more effective with brushes other than a basic circle tip!
Make custom brushes
It’s a lot easier than people expect. Most applications like Photoshop, Painter and Illustrator give you the ability to quickly make a new brush preset, fine tune the opacity, stroke, pressure and then save it for further use. Textures, marks from other brushes, photographs- all can be made into a new brush to breathe life into your work.
Download custom brushes
If you feel unsure about the process of creating your own or are pushed for time, there is a bunch of sites dedicated to sharing brushes that others have created. Most are free for personal or commercial use but some do require a credit so check what you download. Most brush repositories enable you to search for what youre after using basic filtering so it can be a quick way of finding a new effect.
Blending
For more realistic painting your digital paint can be blended together to produce soft transitions of colour. Corel Painter has the largest selection of brushes that replicate traditional media, blending paint in possibly the most realistic fashion. Photoshop 5 has introduced some new bristle brushes that accomplish a similar effect, in older versions using the smudge tool with a low opacity can also be used.
Brush Cursor
Most of the time the brush cursor is set by default to the standard outline of the brush tip which changes size as you increase or decrease the brush size. For the most part this is a fine way to paint but occasionally for detailed work or when youre zoomed in this display of the brush can get in the way. Temporarily switch over to the cross-hairs of the precise cursor by hitting the Caps lock on.
Add a layer style
When painting on layers your brush strokes can be given an extra dimension by adding a layer style. Simple brush marks can be given a variety of effects that can remain editable throughout your work-flow.
Default brushes
Its easy to forget that applications like Photoshop, Painter and Illustrator all come with brush libraries that have been created as a default toolset. Basic round head, soft, calligraphic, natural, wet and dry brushes are all useful and in many cases all you really need for many jobs.
Ditch the dodge and burn tools
Many creatives use the dodge and burn tools, most with subtlety, a few like a sledgehammer. Instead of jumping straight to those tools try the brush but change its mode to color dodge or color burn. It works best on a very low opacity and flow and instead of using a color to paint which can have some undesirable effects try using a mid range- dark gray.
Manage your brushes
Many people are so busy downloading or creating custom brushes they don’t realize that their brush library has become a ram sucking nightmare. Try to keep a default brush library that has a few of your most used brush types and either delete or create new brush libraries for the others. Name the library files in a way that will enable you to swap libraries in and out with ease for the job you are working on. Eg. Fabric textures.abr, foliage.abr, sketching brushes.abr.
-
Obviously theres a lot of other creatives talking about a variety of other subjects, certainly worth a look if youre at the news stand!
Im also in the process of sorting out the mostlywanted shop. Im going to be able to direct buyers to places where my work is currently for sale and also be putting out limited editions myself. If you would like to know when the shop goes live (and it may be a little while yet!) please pop over to the mostlywanted.com/shop page and register your email address where you will be added to a simple mailing list. You wont get anything else from me other than a single mail to let you know the shop is running- i wont be bombarding you with junk!
Im also happy to be doing more work for the Telegraph magazine, doing illustrations for the fashion supplement. Ive also just finished a book cover for Little Brown Books, the UK edition of Kelly Armstrong's 'Gathering'. Hopefully i will be able to post them up soon.
For the July issue of Computer Arts magazine, they ran a series of articles for the 101 ways to make better images feature. I was kindly asked to provide 10 tips for the 'Brushes' section. If you havent seen the magazine heres the cover and my tips (theyre worded a lot better in the actual article!)
Get a Tablet!
To fully make use of the brushes in the major applications you really need a tablet. Once one is hooked up all the various brush options like pressure sensitivity, opacity, color dynamics, shape and scattering all become accessible and it also allows you to create work in a more intuitive way.
Rotate brushes
Its often an overlooked ability in the brush presets, but simply changing the rotation of a brush can produce some dramatic effects and is a feature worth playing around with if youre looking for something new. Obviously far more effective with brushes other than a basic circle tip!
Make custom brushes
It’s a lot easier than people expect. Most applications like Photoshop, Painter and Illustrator give you the ability to quickly make a new brush preset, fine tune the opacity, stroke, pressure and then save it for further use. Textures, marks from other brushes, photographs- all can be made into a new brush to breathe life into your work.
Download custom brushes
If you feel unsure about the process of creating your own or are pushed for time, there is a bunch of sites dedicated to sharing brushes that others have created. Most are free for personal or commercial use but some do require a credit so check what you download. Most brush repositories enable you to search for what youre after using basic filtering so it can be a quick way of finding a new effect.
Blending
For more realistic painting your digital paint can be blended together to produce soft transitions of colour. Corel Painter has the largest selection of brushes that replicate traditional media, blending paint in possibly the most realistic fashion. Photoshop 5 has introduced some new bristle brushes that accomplish a similar effect, in older versions using the smudge tool with a low opacity can also be used.
Brush Cursor
Most of the time the brush cursor is set by default to the standard outline of the brush tip which changes size as you increase or decrease the brush size. For the most part this is a fine way to paint but occasionally for detailed work or when youre zoomed in this display of the brush can get in the way. Temporarily switch over to the cross-hairs of the precise cursor by hitting the Caps lock on.
Add a layer style
When painting on layers your brush strokes can be given an extra dimension by adding a layer style. Simple brush marks can be given a variety of effects that can remain editable throughout your work-flow.
Default brushes
Its easy to forget that applications like Photoshop, Painter and Illustrator all come with brush libraries that have been created as a default toolset. Basic round head, soft, calligraphic, natural, wet and dry brushes are all useful and in many cases all you really need for many jobs.
Ditch the dodge and burn tools
Many creatives use the dodge and burn tools, most with subtlety, a few like a sledgehammer. Instead of jumping straight to those tools try the brush but change its mode to color dodge or color burn. It works best on a very low opacity and flow and instead of using a color to paint which can have some undesirable effects try using a mid range- dark gray.
Manage your brushes
Many people are so busy downloading or creating custom brushes they don’t realize that their brush library has become a ram sucking nightmare. Try to keep a default brush library that has a few of your most used brush types and either delete or create new brush libraries for the others. Name the library files in a way that will enable you to swap libraries in and out with ease for the job you are working on. Eg. Fabric textures.abr, foliage.abr, sketching brushes.abr.
-
Obviously theres a lot of other creatives talking about a variety of other subjects, certainly worth a look if youre at the news stand!
Im also in the process of sorting out the mostlywanted shop. Im going to be able to direct buyers to places where my work is currently for sale and also be putting out limited editions myself. If you would like to know when the shop goes live (and it may be a little while yet!) please pop over to the mostlywanted.com/shop page and register your email address where you will be added to a simple mailing list. You wont get anything else from me other than a single mail to let you know the shop is running- i wont be bombarding you with junk!
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