Benjamin's 21st Present

When Ben turned 21, I wanted to do something really special. But creating artwork for a close friend initiates a plethora of seemingly reduntant sketches. Issues such as 'that looks nothing like his nose' and 'should I draw him holding playing cards? Does he even like them that much?' constantly orbit around an artist's head.

I started by looking through an art book by French illustrator Arthur De Pins who creates charismatic, sexy and cute digital cartoons. He captures the energy of youth with an amazing sense of fun eroticism and humour so perfectly, I highly suggest taking a look at his work. Ben is a perfect example of De Pins' work; he's cool, quirky, knows awesome card tricks and the ladies love him, so I went down this path.

This is what I came up with...




I really wasn't a fan. Conceptually, it's pretty cool but I just found the execution was way too generic. I did this with copic textas and fine liner and although they create bold and colourful images, the whole thing looked forced and a bit kiddish, I think it was the shaky line work. The expression on Ben's face reminded me of that blank stare Crash Bandicoot does, however I like the pose. And the redhead on the left shows some beautiful, saucy character which I like but the rest of the girls just look like they weren't drawn with a lot of confidence. Plus, I don't like spending more than an hour on a final illustration, this took me about four.

I really wanted something that showed Ben's goofy, laid back character, so I visited the good old Derwent pencil box. What I love about colouring pencils is their openness to error. Although every movement of your hand is seen, it really adds charisma and movement to the work, which I love. I stuck with the cute, quirky De Pins style and magic card tricks. After about 45 minutes, this is what I created...





This one has way more character, it's free flowing and the composition is simple but sophisticated. The pose and expression are way more like Ben too, what do you reckon?





Happy birthday man :)

Self portrait

Hey everyone, how you all going? I'm feeling a bit ill (not swine flu) today so I took the day off work to recover and thought I'd use my spare time to do some blogging.

This is a self portrait I did in a subject called conceptual illustration in semester one this year. The whole idea was to capture how you see yourself, whether it were a conventional, painted portrait, a sketch or a metaphoric object.

My response was a mixture of collage, Indian ink and watercolour. Here I portray myself as a naive boy crossing a chaotic highway, enchanted by a mythical looking tree. Deep. The idea was that I see myself as somebody who has such an intense amount of focus which is great but also very dangerous.

It's fantastic because I often produce work I'm really happy with and find beautiful if I focus hard enough on it. It is also a bad thing as I often neglect things like friends and family when spending too much time working. There's a bit of immaturity in that, hence the boy. What do you think?

In other news, I received a letter from Vic roads telling me I need to renew my license. However, I am receiving an $11 discount as I have not lost any demerit points, BOOYAH.

Take me with you.

Thought I'd do one more upload today. This is a poster I designed for a Greenpeace competition. The brief required something that rose awareness of an environmental issue (in my case, plastic bags) and produce an immediate call to action. This was my response.

It's a poster that converts into a 100% environmentally friendly, hessian shoulder bag. The message 'Take me with you' informs the viewer of more economical ways of carrying their shopping. By being able to take that poster down and actually use it, it is both addressing the issue and fixing it.

Oh the joys of simplicity.

A pleasure to meet you

Hi, I'm Mete Erdogan and I am a designer. At the moment I'm in second year Graphic Design at Monash Uni; the work's hard, hours are long and i love it. I also love Sigur Ros, Ken Taylor, and blanket magazine. In fact, there are many things I love & I'm sure you'll find out what they are over time.

I feel that starting a blog will be a great way to share some work, meet like minded people or anybody who finds my work interesting.

So for my first post, I give you Oscar Wilde's 'The Importance of Being Earnest'. This is a book sleeve design in first semester this year. The textured silhouette is inspired by Danny Yount's opening credits of 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang'. Short film 'Jasper Morello' gave me the idea for the mythical Victorian contraption, made completely from cogs, brass, anything that would've been around at the time. The whole eclectic, toyish feel pays homage to Wilde's quirky style of writing.

I had a lot of fun with this one :)

Anyway, there are many more to come. Thank you for reading my first blog.

Mete.