Troubadour

Hey folks,

Happy new year! A lot has gone on since Melburbia; I've graduated with honours in Vis Com, been to Bali and back plus a few new and exciting jobs have been coming up. One of which I'd like to share with you today.

The Melbourne Comedy Festival's coming up and Asher Treleaven, one of the masterminds behind the lucrative Comic Strip, has a new show called Troubadour. Treleaven utilizes De Bono's six hats of thinking to answer the question 'is my life interesting enough to be an autobiography?'.

Asher was after a 60s vibe for the show's visual identity. We agreed the 'Catch Me If You Can' / 'Pink Panther' type of imagery would work well for the charmingly bizarre nature of his work. This gave me another excuse to peruse the work of some of my favourite 50s/60s inspired designers including Kuntzel+Deygas, Kevin Dart and Saul Bass (responsible for the design of many Hitchcock films).

After the self indulgence I call research, I presented Asher with two rough ideas:

The fist idea was a play on Saul Bass's work for 'The Human Factor'. The hanging phone had a sense of urgency to me, like user had heard something dramatically life changing and had to make a run for it. I liked the disorientation of it, slightly Pythonesque.

 

The second concept was inspired by an exhibition I saw in 2005, 'Andy Warhol Time Capsules'. The NGV displayed suitcases belonging to Warhol that contained small souvenirs of his life; Letters, records, shoes, films and so on. This was on the right track era and content-wise for the show so we went with it.

We made a few adjustments to colour and text but the concept ended up translating very well into print and screen.

 

The show is playing at the Town Hall from March 29 to April 22, Tuesdays to Sudays. Booking info is here.


I'll leave you with a word from the man himself.

Cheers,


Mete.

Melburbia Is Complete!

Five months of research, three months drawing and one month of production. Melburbia was a grueling challenge of my patience and drawing skills. Looking back, of course I'm glad I did it but perhaps it was a little premature in the career timeline. I would have liked to do some more life drawing classes before creating the book; I felt like I was spending more time on getting the characters' bodies right than their performances.

The book itself came out beautifully. I set out to make a unique book that the owner would feel privileged to have. If you'd like to purchase the book, visit: http://metedesign.com.au/shop/

Huge thanks to everyone involved, whether you've read it, given feedback or followed the process. 

Where to from here? I'm looking to animate Melburbia. I just need to learn how to animate...

More soon!

Cheers,

Mete.

Gorelesque 3: 2011 National Tour

I've always believed that three is the magic number. Mario jumps on Bowser three times to defeat him, the Genie grants three wishes and the unforgettable pop sensation Hanson was a trio. This year, Gorelesque 3 takes the show on the road visit Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne; three brilliant locations. And this time, in 3D.

This year, we wanted a poster with an 80's cult horror film look. We checked out the classics like Nightmare on Elm St, Chopping Mall, Maniac and Silent Madness; they just don't make them like they used to:

 

We based the design on the below photo taken by Lights Camera Scream Photography:

After figuring out the look we were after, I generated these three (magic number) badboys to choose from:

Though they look similar, they're all based on different 80's cult horror film posters. We went with the first one. It was the darkest of the three so we could emphasize the 3D blue and red theme. Below is the final result.

Keep an eye out and definitely come see the shows; they're a scream.

Cheers,

Mete.

Office interior design

Until this brief, the largest size I've worked with is an A0 sheet of paper. Forethought Research - the brilliant marketing research company I work for - commissioned me to design a pattern to coat nearly every plain of glass in their brand new office.

In a nutshell, Forethought gathers data on how the human mind responds to particular companies around the world. The data is used to measure public attitudes toward these companies. With this information, we work as a team to provide the client with positive ways of improving their business in the market.

This made me think of the parallels between Forethought's study of the brain and us as a team of people with unique skills (including marketing, consulting and design). I researched the human brain and the brief information I read blew me away.

I approached Forethought with this image,

These are brain neurons. Everything we do, feel and think starts with these guys. This complex network has been described as a play with no script or director; though the cast is completely chaotic, everyone miraculously knows their part. I decided to base the pattern on this; I proposed the below:

I received the thumbs up and after two months of liaising with the interior designers, working with floor plans and several trips to the construction site, we came out with the below result which I was thrilled about.

I also suggested that we covered the wall in the communal area with chalkboard paint so coworkers could visually communicate their ideas to one another in an informal, relaxed environment. Like Russel Crowe in 'A Beautiful Mind'. Without the hallucinations. We went ahead with this idea also. To welcome everyone to the new office on behalf of our management, I created the below piece; very much inspired by Dana Tanamachi 

I'm really excited about the fresh start and would also like to sincerely thank Forethought for giving me a go with this project. I really appreciate it.

Cheers,

Mete.

Melburbia Update

Hey everyone,

My graphic novel 'Melburbia' is on the verge of completion; There are 14 left to illustrate of its 88 pages. This week I've been gathering quotes for printing, binding and screen printing. Needless to say, this won't be a huge money making venture but it's going to be huge pleasure to see my work in other people's hands.

The entire book is blue tacked to my bedroom wall (storyboard style) as we speak, here are a few snapshots (taken by Jeyda) of some of the spreads.

Melburbia is about two unlikely friends who catch the Frankston line to Flinders St together. During that journey, they develop a common interest in the personal stories of the commuters around them as they pass through each suburb. Below is a character concept for Warwick; a Mentone school kid who is a miniature outcast of his footy-centric school.

Having no interest in compulsory sports, Warwick finds himself on the footy field but is encouraged to stay as far away from the game as possible.

That's as much as I should reveal for now. The book will be entirely finished next week and from there I'll go over it to tweak, edit then shoot it to some test readers. Very excited.

Melburbia will be launched at my Honours class exhibition at Dear Patti Gallery on Thursday, October 13th 6-8pm. Pen it in!

Cheers,


Mete.

24 Hour Drawing

Hey all,

If you could spend 24 hours working on anything, what would it be? This was the assignment for my drawing elective. The project was simple. Buy an A0 (841mm × 1189mm) sheet of paper, get a pen and draw whatever comes to mind. No sketches, no rubbing out, no starting over; just ink to paper.

We were given two weeks to spend a total of 24 hours on one piece of art. This is the most honest insight into my twisted, bizarre imagination; straight from brain to hand. Click to enlarge.

Special thanks to my sister Jeyda for taking these photos!

Up next, a 'Melburbia' update.

Cheers,

Mete.

Adelaide Fringe Poster Comp 2012

Hey guys,

Year number 3 of entering the Adelaide fringe comp! This year I did something a little different to my usual style. The Fringe guys were after something that responded to the theme 'The Tour of the Unexpected'. This gave me images of opening up your mind, letting your creativity run free etc. A huge thanks to all those who dropped in to my facebook page to give their two cents on this design. Process is shown below:

 

This is probably the most straightforward my process has been. First, I penciled it

 

Then I penned it.

Then I photoshopped it with some rad colour combos.

I liked all of them so I posted it up on the Mete Design facebook page and twitter and received some awesome reactions. So who's cuisine reigned supreme?! The people spoke and they received. The winner was turquoise!

 

I submitted the piece this afternoon. The winner will be announced on September 8, I'll keep you all posted. Once again, thanks heaps for getting involved.

Cheers,

Mete.

Foot Locker Art Prize

I entered a colouring competition last week; guess what the prize is. It's not a box of pencils, gift voucher or even tickets to see the latest smurfs movie. It's $50,001 AU.
Foot Locker offered a ridiculous amount of money for entrants to colour in pictures of their shoes. Moreover, the winner gets their design on a real Foot Locker shoe. My designs are below.

Click this link and 'Like' any of the designs; whichever you find the most rad really. http://www.footlockerartprize.com/show/219771