Mete Design & Illustration

Melburbia Is Complete!

2011-12-11T11:17:00.001+11:00

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

2011-09-08T18:30:00.000+10:00

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

2011-09-04T23:09:00.001+10:00

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

2011-08-31T18:45:00.000+10:00

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

2011-08-27T22:19:00.000+10:00

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

2011-07-30T19:26:00.000+10:00

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

2011-06-20T22:44:00.000+10:00

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

The graphic novel begins...

2011-05-03T23:27:00.000+10:00

Hey everyone,

Well I'm roughly six weeks into my honours degree and as some of you may know, I'm creating a graphic novel as my main project. The book will question the suburban culture of Melbourne; I'm really interested to find out what makes Melbourne what it is. Is it the Burlesque scene in South Yarra? The local footy team in Frankston? Our sense of gay pride though its still taboo? Though we push visitors to marvel at our CBD, it's only the start of what characterizes Melbourne.

I've put together some character concepts below, let me know what you guys think.

Ship Tattoo

2011-03-04T21:12:00.003+11:00

I was immortalized today. There is now someone out there with my artwork tattooed on them. Jacka, a fellow blogger (check it out here) asked me to illustrate a ship for him. So I did.

When I asked 'why a ship?', he explained that, for generations, the men in his family spent most of their lives out at sea. So I want to create something swashbuckling and a little bit epic. The inspiration for the linework came a bit from ILoveDust studio. It'd be so awesome to work with those guys. ILoveDust, if you're reading, I finish honours at the end of this year. Very open.

Comic Strip

2011-02-08T21:54:00.001+11:00

My first big job for the year has involved working with brilliant comedian Asher Treleaven and delightful burlesque performer Gypsy Wood. Together they created their brainchild 'Comic Strip', an Adelaide Fringe show of raucous stand up comedy and glamorous burlesque. Naturally, I was honoured to be involved.

Both had solid ideas of what the posters should look like but were very open minded to my input which was great. Gypsy was kind enough to lend me her book titled 'Tivoli', the story of Melbourne's golden age of comedy and burlesque entertainment. The Tivoli theatre was Melbourne's prime entertainment hotspot through the 1910's and reigned supreme until the introduction of television and cinema. However, it left behind a rich archive of amazing posters and advertising, very similar to what's pictured below. (The book was too nice to sandwich into a scanner)

I loved everything from the cheesy taglines to the hand generated type and collage photos. Luckily was given a brilliant photo of Gypsy to work with. Within a week, I responded to the brief with the three options below (the comedians featured were placeholders):

We all agreed on the first one, there's no relationship quite like pink and blue. From there is was quite straightforward, we just worked on adding the additional event info and adjusting the imagery to balance nicely. Below is the final result, we're currently going through print production now.

Also, this is the new rendition for Comic Strip's Edinburgh premiere! Well done guys.

Take a shot if you see it around.

Happy New year!

Mete.

Al

2010-12-13T19:01:00.000+11:00

This is the story of Al, a kind-hearted busker who finds treasure in a mysterious cave and faces the consequences of sharing its secrets. Based on the ancient Arabic fable 'Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves Killed By the Slave Girl', Al is a graphic novella that translates the story and brings it to a 21st century western audience.

In a world where the arab man and woman is vilified in popular media, is it possible to redeem their humanity by using that same media? Publications such as these aren't the most popular form of entertainment but there is an audience for it. With Al, I want to remind people that beyond the fear that the media has injected in us, the arabic world is home to history's most exotic and imaginative minds.

My reason for making hte book double sided is the dual nature of the story. The good brother and the bad brother, the decision whether or not to reveal the cave's secrets and so on. Plus I've always enjoyed seeing behind the scenes footage on DVDs, I felt this was in the same light.

Cheers!

Mete.

Dionysia

2010-12-08T23:39:00.004+11:00

Dionysia marks the first project where I've seen my art out on the streets and that, to me, is awesome. 'Dionysia' is Red Bennies' New Year's Event, and from what I know, it's going to be enchanting. I was told that guests will spend their midnight fuelled with alcohol and pagan temptation in the garden of good and evil.

Red Bennies asked for four characters to be drawn in a style described as 'Batman meets art nouveau'. A genuine stretch for me but retrospectively, a definite direction I see myself pursuing.

I was given four names and brief descriptions,

The Electric Fawn
Hot goat chick-Dark and Nasty

The Venus Fly Trap

Sexy Plant Chick

Big Daddy Long Legs

Top hat, Monocle

Dionysus

Tubby dude with toga and wine flask

After a few weeks of sketches, back and forth e-mails, we came up with the above four we were happy with. As usual, I like to keep colour schemes closely tied, especially in series so everything works as a single piece. The idea was for people around the city to see these individuals paired up and then in magazines or particular places find them all together like this,

I've been seeing variations popping up around the city and I'm honestly really chuffed about them. The event is going to be something that Melbourne hasn't seen before and it's great to be a part of it.

I spotted this one today on Elizabeth St, really love how the rain made it crinkly, it works with the old sideshow style posters. It was interesting handing the issue of printing over to the client - as I've always handled it myself, but this project has really been a collaborative effort, something I'm new to, and excited about.

And this one was taken on Vesper White's (Dionysia Director) iPhone, she has mad skills.

Poster on Chapel St, Courtesy of rad friend Alex Meadowcroft,

I found this one on Degraves St,

Check it out, Dionysia hits this week's 'Beat Magazine'

If anybody sees more of these around, comment and/or send me a pic at mete@metedesign.com.au and I'll put it up. I really want to document this well.

By the way this is my 50th post! A huge thank you to everyone who has visited and enjoyed thus far.

To the next 50!

Lots of love,

Mete.

The Late Strawberry Shake

2010-12-05T13:31:00.000+11:00

Well since uni's finished I haven't stopped, which is great. I've been doing some work with Jazz club 'Red Bennies' in South Yarra who put on some really amazing and unique shows. We just finished off a poster series for the New Year's Eve gig 'Dionysia' which I will post up soon.

Today, I wanted to show one of the smaller jobs I've done with them. It's great to see a club that breaks out from the norm and stands out to a niche crowd. Red Bennies has only been running for about 9-10 months to my knowledge and already they're beginning to make an impact on Melbourne's nightclub scene with burlesque, circus and vaudevillian performances (including Gorelesque).

This is a new burlesque show, 'The Late Strawberry Shake'. I was given artistic freedom on this which was fantastic, just the mention of a strawberry milkshake was plenty for me. Here's the sketch:

And the final product. The cute pinup style really worked for the venue. And I'm really happy with it also. Go check it out, it's this Friday.

Cheers,

Mete.
metedesign.com.au

The Arrival

2010-10-31T23:44:00.003+11:00

About a month ago, I was lucky enough to see Mutation Theatre's 'The Arrival' which won the Fringe Festival's 2010 People's Choice Award. Top notch work guys. It was based on Sean Tan's graphic novel of the same title, one of my all time favorites. What I found most impressive, however, was the set. It was literally an old shed on the Docklands where immigrants first docked back in the 40's.

From that, I wanted to create a homage to both the book, show and Turkish Cypriot Immigrants by means of type. This is also a means of getting back to the roots like I did with the Cyprus Issue. I looked to Wooden Toy's Lyrics and Type exhibition where artists illustrate their favorite lyrics from a song. This one by I Love Dust was my favourite.

ilovedust

"Girl, if you're a seascape, i'm a listing boat, for the thing carries every hope"
by The Shins

It was also relevant becuase I'm dealing with the theme of people leaving their homes. I did a bit of research and found that Australia was handing out Visas like hotcakes back in the 40's so it was pretty easy to get in. So I chose the lyrics 'Start Spreading the News, I'm Leaving Today' from Frank Sinatra's New York, New York. Those simple lyrics captured the anticipation of breaking out of a daily routine and going to a far off land, not knowing when they would come back home. I decided to translate the lyrics into Turkish to not only add authenticity but place more emphasis on the language of music rather than the language of conversation. This translates to 'Herkesin Haberi Olsun, ben Bugun Gidiyorum'.

Below are some type experiments and developments.

I was thinking of the music from the show as I did this. There was some brilliant stuff from Beirut, West Side Story, possibly Cat Empire (it definately had that feel); I loved how they were all distinctly culturally different. After getting that eclectic, clumsy, happy look, I dragged all the elements into photoshop and created this composition.

My original idea was to print this onto a scrap of wood from the actual dock the show was performed on. Being folio time and living over an hour away from the docks, I felt Mitre 10 was a more suitable option. I've never printed on wood before this but it was a really interesting experience, absolutely nothing like printing on paper. The ink keeps moving around after its on the surface becuase the wood is sealed, creating a tie die look if there's too much; a pretty cool effect but now what I was after for this project. After four runs we got it right though, all I needed to do was sand it down and make it look like a piece of trash picked up from the docks. Definitely one of the folio.

Good Evening,

Mete.

P.S. If you haven't heard yet, I have a proper website now, www.metedesign.com.au. Don't panic, the blog will be updated even more now than ever with my processes and inspiration.

The Cyprus Issue

2010-10-03T23:05:00.001+11:00

This is possibly the most in-depth project I've done. The Cyprus Issue publication exhibits the Cyprus problem and peoples' opinions about it. I sourced most of the material from news website The Cyprus Mail. Its forums are battlegrounds of opinion, many of which my dad (Turkish Cypriot born) partakes in. By addressing the issue's range of varied opinions, I look to bring this argument to the world stage. Naturally, the majority of the Turk and Greek siders are biased toward themselves, If I could get everyone to read this, perhaps there would be a stronger understanding rather than blind hatred.

I used photos from my own trip to Cyprus in 2008 and applied a halftone effect to simulate a news publication look. A lot of my inspiration for this came from David Pidgeon/Pip&Co's ADGA Publication 'How to find a job' (below)

This is the Cyprus Issue,

The content is incredibly interesting and compelling. If you would like a copy, shoot me an email at metster88@hotmail.com.

Cheers,

Mete.

Gorelesque 2 Encore!

2010-10-03T19:17:00.001+11:00

The audience couldn't get enough an rightfully so, Gorelesque 2 was a gruesome triumph. So it gives me great pleasure to present to you, the Gorelesque 2 Encore poster. What's the secret to a good Gorelesque poster? To put it simply, a good butt.

Reason being, body language is essential to a great illustration let alone a brilliant performance and I really wanted to get that across in this one. I took a look at an illustration series by Josh Cooley and Bill Presing who are super talented storyboard artists at Pixar Animation Studios, and their butts had it going on to say the least, have a look at this one:

Round, expressive, perky; Perfect for a Gorelesque Poster. this is my final sketch.

Because of the huge load of positive feedback about the Goreleque girl, we decided to keep her. Plus how could you turn you back on a face as pretty as hers? Here is the final render, juicier, bloodier and sweeter than before.

It was important for me to keep the posters consistent with one another so I kept the layout similar, they work better as a series that way. This is what you should be seeing around South Yarra soon.

Keep Your eyes peeled.

Cheers,

Mete.

Glass Half Full

2010-09-28T12:11:00.001+10:00

Hi guys, it's been a busy semester, hence the length of time between this post and my last. I'm going through the last few weeks of my degree so it's great to take a week off and recoup. There's a couple of projects I'd really love to show but haven't been returned from assessment yet.

Below we have my entry for the Positive Posters competition, this year's theme was 'glass half full'. Unfortunately this didn't get shortlisted but I still think it's worth showing. The concept's simple, take a crappy day and find a glimmer of light within it.

In hindsight, I prefer the sketch to the final product.

This illustration, I feel, would work better for an editorial article rather than a poster.

So I'll hang on to it for a rainy day.

Yeah I went there.

Cheers!

Ice Ice Baby

2010-08-08T13:59:00.000+10:00

This month, Monash uni student mag 'esperanto' published another triumphant issue, back to the 90's. When asking how I could be involved, Josh (Art Director) gave me three options. I could do an illustration for the Spice Girls, Captain Planet or Vanilla Ice. For me, Mr. Van Winkle was the obvious choice. Better still, the article itself canned him like crazy. Although I felt a little sympathy for the guy, I felt it was my duty to compliment the insult. Here is the initial sketch I sent in before we went on.

It worked so we went with it. Josh encouraged the use of Red, black and white as those three colours ran consistent through the issue. I respect his thoroughness. So this is the spread.

If you're on campus, be sure to pick one up. Not just for the Van Winkle article but also 'Afternoon Delight', it walks us through some of the most kick ass cartoons of the 90's and another one on how the guys from Oasis are dicks. Good read.

Thanks to 'esperanto' for allowing me to get involved, these guys are always after contributors so be sure to give them a holler.

Lion Pie

2010-08-01T17:22:00.000+10:00

24 hours to make a poster that'll represent the image of an entire company's launch party. Sure, why not. Lion Pie is a Sydney based initiative developed by a group of fresh NIDA graduates. Its aim is to bring artists, actors, authors and industry professionals together to showcase their current projects. The poster needed to symbolise the 'work in progress' nature of the event as well as the young energy flying around when new ideas are being created. While being briefed over the phone, I scribbled a few brainstorms and notes. The call was conveniently made when I was just about to rush out the door, this is what it looks like with a nice acid yellow overlay.

I eventually figured that this could be the base of the final design. It's rushed, raw and puts my personal thoughts out there in a gutsy way, god I'm brave. But that's what Lion Pie is all about, being confident and biting off more than you can chew. So here's the final poster,

I wanted to maintain as many hand drawn elements as possible to maintain the rawness. It was also quicker to put together. So from the above design, everything else came more naturally, the invitation and the sponsor document. Luckily, I had an awesome client who was really clear about what she wanted but was open to interpretation. When she said she wanted the invitation text to look like it was stamped in a conveyor belt, I generally got what she meant.

The sponsorship document was slightly more corporate purely for readability reasons but still had the Lion Pie vibe about it. It was a simple double sided folded A4 document handed out to visitors and potential sponsors at the launch party. This was the first time I've seen people take my design home with them, a surreal experience but reaffirming.

Like the violin guy? :P Also, 6 pieces of my work were selected to actually exhibit at the event,

Overall, a hugely positive experience I won't soon forget. Massive thanks to the Lion Pie Crew for allowing me to be a part of it and putting together such a kickass launch party and to my cousin Kemal and his family for their hospitality and support. The Lion Pie website's definitely worth checking out www.lionpie.com as is Kemal's t-shirt brand, Stunna Shade Boyz http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stunna-Shade-Boyz

Peace.

Sky Airways

2010-07-08T13:24:00.000+10:00

The challenge, breathe life into a corporate document, an annual report. Choose whatever company you desire and then change their name and style to suit your own. My choice was the Emirates Airline 2009 annual report, I changed the name to Sky Airways. The brief was to create a 21 page document of prefect typesetting and info graphic material (pie charts, graphs, tables etc)

The design style was to reflect the nature of the data so if it was a good year, you'd make somethign with gold medals or something. A bad year, maybe a Gothic cemetery. From my observations, the demand of Emirates' service went down while fuel prices went up (this was during the global financial crisis last year). However, their strongest aspect ever in the history of the company was its customer service. This took me back to the 60's where airline service was at its peak.

Beautiful aren't they? And just look at those pastels. I wanted to create something with three base colours and run them throughout the report, this would tie the whole thing together nicely.

However, no airline wants to appear outdated, so I looked at where this style of art has gone. THe 'Catch me if you Can' opening credits were a perfect place to look.

This animation from Nexus Productions uses collage in such a beautiful way. The textures flicker around the characters gving them een more personality.

The Style was set, now I needed to look at info graphic design. There was tonnes.

This was a massive leap forward. When I had all these lined up, I drew up a storyboard

And got cracking. This is a sample of my Sky Airways Annual Report.

Happy flying.

Gorelesque 2

2010-06-17T17:46:00.001+10:00

When you receive a brief that starts with this, '[Gorelesque] is burlesque with influences of the bizarre, horror, gore, and that based in fetish', it's very hard to say no. The client wanted a poster for her show 'Gorelesque 2' that drew from the above description. She also mentioned that it needed classic shlock horror film references (Dracula, Frankenstein) but also modern (House of 1000 Corpses and Dawn of the Dead). This was more than enough for me to go with.

However, as you can see from the above thumbnails, there were so many interesting directions I could go with that it became a challenge to decide which one I liked most. This is what I originally came up with. Blaaghhh.

This girl is meant to be strapped to an electric chair with leather straps wrapped around her body. I wanted to add a bird's eye perspective but it just appeared out of proportion and, in the end, heavily laboured. So I scrapped it. I drew about 4 more images similar to this, each one more wonky than the other. I went back to research and found Brandon Ragnar Johnson to be of some assistance. His work was perfect inspiration for where I wanted to take this. He has an amazing sexy, zany yet dark style but with hints of 1950's pinup. This is what I came up with.

A sadistic Bride of Frankenstein with her decapitated husband's head. You'll see much more blood later on. This was perfect as she acts as an empowering female figure in classic horror although she may be under appreciated. Perfect motive for such an act of oh so sexy cruelty. I made some slight changes to the pose based on my illustration tutor's feedback and was good to go. I also did the type for the poster's title, 'Gorelesque', the '2' came later.

I wanted that sideshow, almost circus-gone-wrong image, here's the finished title.

And this is my stunning bride of Frankenstein all bloodied up and beautiful. I had tiny bits of Tarantino in mind.

As this was a poster, I wanted to keep the colour range tight (Green, yellow and red), it makes the image more punchy. I find that when my colour palette is too wide, I lose control over it. Here's the final composition before the body text was added,

The relationship between image and typography turned out as well as I had hoped. They marry up really well. And it relates back to the initial description of Gorelesque, 'burlesque with influences of the bizarre, horror, gore, and that based in fetish'. I mean, can't you just see her licking the blood off the cleaver? By the way it absolutely had to be a meat cleaver, I can't think of a more barbaric kitchen utensil other than a blender perhaps.

This is what I sent to the client and she was pretty happy. At the moment, we're working on print production.

Cheers.

Sax Genie

2010-06-02T22:36:00.000+10:00

Ever get the feeling you're trapped in a jazzy cigarette? This guy does. The title of this brief was simply 'Fashion Victim'. Before I received the brief, I had this doodle scribbled in my sketchpad while I was on the train.

You can see the cigarette was vaguely scribbled as an afterthought. When I looked though my sketchpad for ideas about fashion victims, I thought this guy could be useful. So I developed him a bit more.

So the concept was there but the zazz and style wasn't. He's clutching the sax instead of letting his fingers dance on it. And the flow motion isn't exaggerated enough. You can see that I started on making his head bigger. I came up with this, which I was way happier about.

He's a lot more in the moment, the flow of his smokey tail is getting there a bit more but can still be pushed. I was really happy with the hands here also, I took inspiration from James Hewitt's 'Gorillaz' Illustrations in that department.

So here's the first version of the final product. It's moody and cool, you can almost hear that breathy sax. The textures are working well, they add to the seediness that comes from living a cigarette. The stubble texture is a personal favorite of mine. I wasn't too sure about the ash tray, it was becoming too much of a feature in the image when really I just wanted a home for the cigarette. It was hard to see on its own. The tie's floating with the smoke rather than being stapled down to the shirt as well. The tail's got nice flow but it can be better. I looked back at the old Disney VHS's and wow, the animation on genie is insane. Just check out the way his slides and moves so smoothly like smoke.

Anyway, when I printed it out, I completely lost the contrast between the dark blue and the black, it just looked like little bit of light blue and white popping out of darkness. As a result, I made the background a healthy nicotine yellow. So here we have it, my sax genie, stuck in his jazzy cigarette for an eternity. Maybe someone will smoke him and they'll get three stinky wishes.

Smoking kills, kids.

Be the person your dog thinks you are

2010-05-25T21:28:00.000+10:00

It was a week after this brief was given and I still had no idea what to do. The task was to find a quote and do an illustration inspired by it. I scoured the internet in searching nothing appealed to me. It wasn't until I was sitting at Balaclava station that I found this on the wall.

I loved it so I went with it. A dog would exaggerate everything, including how awesome you are. Let's face it, the dog doesn't know you didn't hunt down what's in those shopping bags. So that was the premise of my idea, 'Be awesome'. This was my first doodle,

Admittedly, it lacked awesomeness. So I needed to find some amazing people to give me some visual queues. I knew just the guys,

And so came my concerning vision of what I felt their lovechild would look like.

The sketch eventually worked for me and here's the final product. A rugged, gleaming Fabio Norris-He-Man bringing the dog's feast home in all its glory.

Enjoy.

Frankston's new identity and stationary

2010-04-30T15:20:00.000+10:00

This is the current logo of my home town, Frankston. In the 22 years I've lived there, I have not spotted a single dolphin. Scandalous.

I wanted to create an image for the City of Frankston that would identify with locals and people coming to visit. First up, I walked around with the camera and took a few shots,

Most of Frankston is stuck in an eighties time warp which makes all the colours and shapes quite strong but lurid. I pulled out the shapes and colours then traced them in illustrator, this created some interesting shapes.

I found that Franga town loves its arched shapes. Particularly in the new development areas where the council has built the new Cinema Complex.

I ended up with this, it looked a bit funky eighties but it didn't buzz enough. Also it didn't really represent Frankston as a whole. The logo needed to be less perfect, Frankston's far from being a perfect place. By at least 15 years.

This is the homepage of one of my favourite local illustrators, Eamo Donnelly. His work draws a lot from his life in Australia. The raw, scraggly line work is really complimented by awesome pastel colours. It also resembles my experience of Frankston a lot more than the above logos.

I went back a step and looked at the shapes of Frankston, I found a lot of awning and arches. Because Frankston's known as the gateway to the Mornington Peninsula, the symbol of an entrance seemed appropriate. I used a dry brush texture to give the impression of a scruffy, seaside town with charisma.

The Frankston City Council seemed like the obvious company to apply this new imagery to. The above are three businesscards for three different positions in the council (Recreation, Building and Development, Arts and Entertainment). Each one is colourized according to my palette and treated with the dry brush texture. Each is a photo of Frankston taken by yours truly :)

The letterhead followed suit, it's pretty straightforward. I didn't want to add more than what was needed because all the white space would be used for letters etc.

Then I started having more fun with the logo and seeing where I could apply it for different situations. This is a flyer for the Frankston Summer Festival. Bringing the community together is an integral part of making Frankston grow as a city. So not only is this a graphic experiment but also a social one. By the way, can you see some of Eamo's colours?

Then i turned the awning upside down and made a wine glass. Clever me. The colours are still in line with the swatch earlier but they were really important for suggesting a classy, formal event although its still rough and charming.

This is definately a visual response to my personal experience with Frankston. However, I like to think this idea can relate to anyone else who grew up there or is just visiting. Everyone has an opinion about this town and that's why I wanted to do a project on it.

If you haven't been before, come with an open mind and between the hours of 7am and 8pm.

Thanks.

Gaga Ooh La La

2010-04-24T17:27:00.005+10:00

Hey guys, this week the topic in illustration class was caricatures, one of my favorites. The hardest part was finding someone to draw, there are so many heroes, villains and hedonists out there who'd make brilliant subject matters.

I chose Lady Gaga because she's so unmistakeably recognizable and has a long and prolific future in pop music. She's also someone I definitely wanted to include in my folio because regardless of your music tastes, there are very few people who are unfamiliar with her.

This portrait was done with charcoal because it gives a brilliant, thick, black eyeliner effect. It also allows room for really soft smudging ideal for cheek bones and eye shadow. A copious amount of makeup is definitely something I associate her with.

So you can see the deep shadows above her eyelid and the thick black Italian eyebrow. I really would've liked to put more emphasis on her nose because it's so distinctive but it proves a little difficult when you're doing a front on shot. I didn't like the hair in this one, it looked like a heavy blob with no real form. Definitely not Gaga hair. I drew another hairstyle with a bit more direction.

Then it was time to give her the legendary telephone headpiece, done in the exact same way as above but here I've coloured it on Photoshop.

The costume features in her latest video, Telephone, with Beyonce, it runs for about 9 minutes, it's practically a short film. I can confidently say that it's one of the best film clips from the last decade.

All that was needed was some layering and colouring. Once the piece were put together, it was good to go. Here's the final product.

I posted this to Gaga's twitter account, no response yet but apparently she's good with getting back to people :P

I'll let you guys know.

Strange but true...

2010-04-17T21:48:00.000+10:00

Hey guys, I have two new illustrations. Both of them are based on stories from The Age's odd spot. The first story read as follows:

A Hong Kong film company is in production for the world's first 3D pornographic film. Shooting for the Chinese film, '3D sex and Zen' is to begin shooting in August. Producers promise the most up close and intimate sex scene ever seen on screen.

I thought I could do something cute with this :P Here's the sketch,

The concept is based on the work of French artist, Arthur de Pins, I'm pretty sure I've referred to him on this blog before but I forget when. His web layout is awkward but the content is beautiful. Anyway, What I basically did was take this sketch into Adobe Illustrator and traced it.

I kept the colour palette limited to two colours, blue and red, the colour of 3D glasses. And the guy in the audience, it's me.

Sometimes it helps to see the actual gesture so it doesn't end up looking out of proportion.

And here's the second illustration,

The caption reads,

Miss Milly chicken is in mourning after its rooster mate was killed by a fox. In her grief, the chicken has taken to strutting around the farm like the rooster.

The aim here is pathos; including a kid, hopelessly trying to impersonate the departed loved one. And what better way to capture that tenderness than with pastel. And no I didn't put an inflated rubber glove on my head to see what it'd look like. Might be fun one day though.

Cheers!

'What have you always wanted to say?' Poster campaign

2010-03-27T14:51:00.005+11:00

'What have you always wanted to say but never had the chance to? Make a series of posters expressing what's on your mind' This was overriding question of my latest brief. It's always a big ask to narrow down what you've waited your whole life to say into a series of posters. I've been reading Bill Bryson's 'A short History of Nearly Everything' which is packed to the brim with numbers and figures about our universe. I found each figure staggering and often hard to believe. But these numbers measuring how big the world is, how much it weighs and how old it is absolutely fascinated me.

So there was my answer, a series of posters with these colossal numbers comparing with the minuteness of our personal issues.

And when placed into context, the posters increase in meaning. They're deliberately put in locations where people would be thinking of those issues.

Each poster has a 'Headspace' logo. They deal with depression and drug addiction. Each of these posters deal with some the causes to these issues but communicates them in a lighter way. Click to zoom in on each poster.

The Slimy Toad

2010-03-20T20:34:00.003+11:00

Hey guys,

Here we are on the third weekend of my degree's final year and I have something to show you :) My illustration tutor held up two envelopes, one filled with adjectives and the other with nouns. What you picked, you drew. I picked, much to my delight, 'Slimy Toad'. And so it begun.

When I heard 'Slimy', I instantly thought of guys like Jack Nicholson in 'The Departed', Jim Carry as 'The Mask', Les Patterson and Danny DeVito as Matilda's dad. The used car salesman type of slimy. the above was an initial concept piece where I tested acrylics with contact paper. THe rendering really helped get the slimy across with the sickly brownish green that I wanted. I based the hair on Tim Burton's spiny, tinny style of drawing.

Once that was approved, I begun with a sketch of the whole character I decided he should be a hedonistic, carnivorous bastard with long slimy shoes. Then began the nights that would end at about 1:30am after sweating over the rendering on his shoes, trousers, handkerchiefs...too many things.

I decided I preferred the original drawing of his head so I just concentrated on his outfit, predicting that I'd combine them digitally. All I needed to do was touch up his teeth. God bless Adobe.

It was a hell of a week, involving minimal sleep. But I ended up with this,

I showed this to my tutor and he wasn't as impressed as I hoped. He was of the opinion that the wood overpowered the toad and the shading needed beefing up overall. In hindsight, I agree. I've also found that the less time I put into something, the better it turns out. It just seems less dense and overworked. I spent too much time on this. For my own piece of mind, I made some minor changes and this is how the slimy toad now looks. It's the best it's going to look without starting it again. But definitely a huge learning curve, I'm glad I did it.

Cheers!

My Sketches

2010-02-11T15:06:00.001+11:00

Whenever I see a finished, polished and flawless work of art, I'm always aware that an imperfect human made it. Somebody spent hours scrawling on the back of a metcard or napkin just to get that image. It is often the process that I find more interesting than the final product. So I've put together a selection of my sketches from 2009 onward. Most of these were means of passing time on my hour long train rides to work and uni. Each one has the potential to be a final product and most of these probably will be reworked.

In the meantime, enjoy my scrawls.

Between The Pages, Chapter 5

2010-02-11T14:24:00.004+11:00

The evening finally arrived and it was most splendid.

People came, saw, bought, drank and were merry.

My designs sat proudly among the merriment,

And many friends were there. This has been my most rewarding project this summer, a true pleasure working with everyone involved.

Congrats!

Taking it Balineasy

2010-02-07T14:00:00.004+11:00

I've been dying to use that pun since I got back. Two weeks in Bali with the family gave us all time to tune out, relax and get in one another's faces. I joke, we got along fine :) As per usual, I carried the camera around with me to capture things I found interesting, These are a mere suggestion as to the amount of shots taken but they were the absolute highlights.

Seriously, if you're after a good and cheap holiday, get your mates together with two grand each and you have yourself a tropical getaway like no other. Let me know if you're in, we'll talk.

Love the irony here, petrol stored in Absolut Vodka bottles.

I don't want to say where this was taken, I like the mystery

Girl with her puppy on Jimbaran Bay, most expensive seafood, even more exquisite sunset.

My totes awesome sisters and I on the plane.

New Year, New Card.

2010-02-05T14:29:00.005+11:00

At the dawn of 2010, I had a revelation. It occurred to me this year would be the final one of my design course. As a result, I've decided to begin marketing myself on a professional level and perhaps become one of the world's most sought out commodities.

I created half a dozen potential designs and narrowed them down to two contenders.

Card one

And card two

To assist in deciding which to choose, I looked to my facebook group, the aptly named 'Mete Design' and asked which one my members liked. A month later, the results are drawn. Seventeen votes both way. Initially I liked card two, it had a bit of snazz and wow factor but didn't really communicate with non designers. Assuming my future clients will not be designers, I settled on card one.

It's straightforward and gets the message across just was well as he alternate design. The only difference is that it bears the dimensions of a regular card but the image and typography combined give it something fresh and unique. It's also something that promotes me rather than my work, this is what I'd prefer when I meet someone.

Thank you to every one who voted, (I feel like I'm on Aus Idol) it's great to know that people are following what I do, you'll be seeing much more soon.

Uni starts on March 1. Bring it on!

Between The Pages, Chapter 4

2010-02-04T21:29:00.005+11:00

Guess who's in this month's art guide...

There's my boy on page 69! Ad designed by yours truly :-)

Less than a week till the opening, rather pumped.

The Ray Hille Story 2

2009-12-19T00:04:00.002+11:00

For anybody who wanted to see the final product of the Ray Hille illustration, here tis. I didn't manage to have a photo with him, but the piece went down a treat :) He loved it so much he included me in his acceptance speech, gave me a small tingle of happiness, just watching that big fella grin.

Between the Pages, Chapter 3

2009-12-14T23:53:00.003+11:00

We have foil stamps!!!

Ryan picked the books up a couple days ago and gave me this one, it's beautiful. What I also love is we decided not to seal the books shut so in my case, I have a funky invite and I can read 'The Backward Shadow' by Lynne Reid Banks whenever I so desire.

Also, Ryan added the finishing touch of signing and numbering each book/ This is number 13 of 22. Very cool.

The DL flyers also look amazing, I think the internet needs feel-o-vision so you can feel how smooth the paper stock is. It's a matte finish (after many screaming matches with printers on Ryan's behalf) and it's definitely worth it.

One chapter to go, opening night in February.

Between The Pages, Chapter 2

2009-12-03T00:03:00.003+11:00

Today, we got a lot more done than we hoped. The DLs are done but they need a reprint. WE asked for Matte finish but they gave us gloss, now we're sitting with 1000 invites that we don't really need :P

We found the books for the special edition invites at Savers, we're going to foil stamp the event info on them, there's only going to be 22 of them for special guests.

We took them to APEX foil stamping, the staff were great, they told us we should have the final product by Friday. Extremely excited.

The Ray Hille story

2009-11-26T22:48:00.004+11:00

The Principal of my old school, Mr. Ray Hille, is retiring after eighteen years of service. Having gone to The Peninsula School for 12 years, I've known him my whole schooling life. Tomorrow night is a farewell gathering for Ray and I decided to make an illustration for him. These two are the roughs for the final product.

I would post the final image here but I want to show it in nicer quality, the above was taken on my phone. Maybe I could get one with Ray, the picture and I! Brilliant!

Between The Pages, Chapter One

2009-11-21T22:11:00.005+11:00

Alright, so Ryan, the photographer and friend I collaborated with for the Footloose program, is having his first ever solo exhibition' Between the Pages'. Owing him a favour for the program, I was only too happy to help when he asked me to generate some publicity material.

Today, we got a lot done. The mag ad and the DL flyer invites are done, they're being sent off to the gallery for final approval. Now we've got to print those and start working on the special edition invites of which Ryan will release fifty, very exciting. Final product to come shortly.

Ryan with his dog Rupert, whom he pretends to dislike...

Sneak peek of what's to come.

Yours truly working his magic.

Rupert offering his unconditional support.

Inspiration

2009-11-03T00:01:00.002+11:00

This is a TV ad for htc phones. Finally there' s an ad that illustrates how we as humans interact with phones rather than as consumers. Nobody likes to think of themselves as part of a mass, we are individuals and we are flattered when we are told that. What I think we need more of in design is humanity, emotion, reality. It's the most engaging way to gain somebody's imagination. Have a look, there's at least one situation in there that you can relate to.

Australian Idol Catalogue

2009-10-31T13:21:00.004+11:00

This is a continuation of the 'Call your dad' poster that advertised the Australian Nobel prize Laureates exhibition. This diary is intended to be bought from the souvenir shop after the exhibition so visitors can have something to take home with them.

Each Australian Laureate had very little in common, aside from being Australian. I wanted a way of linking them all in the most relevant way possible. A diary disguised as a hard cover novel seemed most appropriate, it's something that all genuis' can associate with, a place to scribble their ideas.

The booklet was ring bound at Officeworks, an underestimated place for designers, as long as you're there to instruct the people doing your job, it's completely fine. Conveniently there are twelve Australian Nobel Prize Laureates, so I illustrated one for every month and added a piece of biographical information behind each one.

I think I've mentioned it before but I chose to study Australian Laureates simply becuase I had no idea about them. After reading up on them, theyr'e some of the most fascinating yet disliked people I've read about.

Every character was drawn in pastel, this was my first time using it too, I gained inspiration from Pixar concept art, especially artist Lou Romano who worked on Ratatouille, Wall E and UP (I'm sure there's more, check him out). Each winner has some amazing facial traits which makes them a pleasure to draw, but the three shown here are my close favourites.

Not every laureate is Australian born which makes you wander what actually constitutes being Australian. Although we have a funny way of claiming somebody successful as one of our own.

Stationary Design

2009-10-11T15:03:00.005+11:00

This is a stationary project I did for a graphic design studio assignment. The brief was to create a logo, envelope, letterhead, business card, an additional piece of stationary and a folder to keep it all in. The client is the eccentric owner of the 'Museum of Modern Oddities' (momo) who exhibits colour. This gave me a prime excuse to use the laser cutter, much to the head of Art and Design's dislike (it's a noisy machine and students have to accompanied by staff to use it). I initially used a thick piece of box card for the folder but there was no chance it'd fold the amount of times I needed it to. So I ended up with some beautiful 300gsm card which masked the envelope underneath.

The Envolope doubles as a letterhead when it opens. The photo on the front is of the butcher on Lygon Street, there's some beautiful yellowy light that shines through the stained glass patterns, which worked great for me. Throughout the assignment, I adapted these four shapes that represented the 4 colours of the CMYK (Cyan, yellow, magenta and key, usually black) colour makeup. This is because they are the base colours for all printing, so they almost work as a blank canvas to adapted to any exhibition at this museum.

The business card was definitely a challenge, probably because I put more work into it than I needed to. Initially, I made a card that opened up to present a pop-up version of the logo, made completely from acetate. It ended up messy, unbalanced and broken. With this one, I carried the idea of colours overlapping one another to create different effects. moreover, the two elements, board and acetate, depend on one another to create the final product, neither one can work without the other. The front of this card features the client's face (my dad) in highlights (on the card) and shadows (on the acetate) which give a floating effect.

The additional piece of stationary is an invite to the opening to the exhibition. I kept it very minimal and simple. The folds close and create a triangle. On each face, the colours of the logo appear individually until the viewer fully reveals the whole piece. The type is minimal so the detail of the folds can be further appreciated.

This is one of my favorite projects from this semester, I had a lot of fun with it and the end result proved very rewarding.

By the way, I submitted the 'Call your dad' poster but it still needs improvements on the type, I'll post that up with more details when I get it done.

Inspiration

2009-10-06T12:34:00.002+11:00

One of the most amazing music inspired animations I've seen. It's an ad for the Zurch Chamber Orchestra. It features sheet music that then becomes a rollercoaster ride, very engaging.

Inspiration

2009-10-04T12:17:00.003+11:00

Harper’s Bazaar August 007 ~ “The Simpsons go to Paris with Linda Evangelista” “Models”: The Simpsons, Linda Evangelista, and various designers with Illustrations by Julius Preite. Marge lets down her hair for Versace. Lisa gives up her pearls for Alber Elbaz. Homer dresses as Karl Lagerfeld. Selma & Patty in Viktor & Rolf. Maggie rides around in Jean Paul Gaultier’s Birkin Bag. Quite possibly the most incredible fashion spread i’ve seen (ok maybe tied with the Marie Antoinette Vogue spread?).

I think the Simpsons have developed an amazing sense of fun vs fashion and that yellow skin always gets me. Click here to see the rest of the images, they're amazing.

Call Your Dad

2009-10-01T20:37:00.006+10:00

Here we have a uni/self set brief. For a uni assignment, we were required to create a double sided poster advertising an exhibition for an unsung Australian icon. I chose a father/son duo from Adelaide named Henry William and Henry Lawrence Bragg. I had no idea who these men were which created more interest. From research I discovered these two were the founders of x-ray crystalography. Basically this occurs when an x-ray beam shines through a crystal and light bounces in several directions to show the density of crystal molecules. Check out this animation from my number one resource, Wikipedia. Oh sweet reliability

What I found most interesting was the x-ray beam, when magnified, looks like a coil. By linking family members with coils, I thought of phone cords.

The self assigned component of this brief came from a poster competition called Positive Posters. The objective is the create a poster with a positive message about change, hence my phrase 'Call your Dad'.

We often underestimate how much a simple gesture can make a big difference. By calling your dad, if only to say hi, could change a mediocre day to something worth smiling about. Moreover, embracing that change makes you feel better about yourself. The Seb Lester inspired calligraphic line work illustrates the ease of connecting with someone in an instant and the amount of glowing joy it creates. So call someone you haven't spoken to in a while, it'll brighten both your days.

Inspiration

2009-09-08T12:35:00.004+10:00

The Cat Piano

This is the latest short film by The People's Republic of Animation. Narrated by Nick Cave. Directed by Eddie White & Ari Gibson. Produced by Jessica Brentnall.

Its use of of delicious blues and charming animation make this my current favorite animated film. It's a pleasure to see Australian talent being internationally noticed and appreciated. Nick Cave's narration fits the short perfectly, he has this funky drone that a cat would if it could talk. Anyway, Watch it.

Smokin' prop design

2009-09-06T17:26:00.005+10:00

My friend Nick, an insanely talented film maker, has written and is shooting a film based in the 1960's. Looking at the lighting test shots and the working script, reaffirms the blistering heights he will reach with his passion.

This is why I was honoured when he asked me to design a cigarette packet to feature in one of his scenes. He wanted something influenced by the Lucky Strike packets; simple, minimum colour scheme and bold. Here's the response:

This was also one of the funnest projects to research, one can very clearly tell the evolution of women's rights in cigarette ads, particularly this one.

mmm easily one of feminism's finest moments. Have a look at the rest of them here, they're all beautifully executed although the subject is fairly questionable nowadays.

Coming up next is my poster design for the film, we're currently working on it.

Cheers!

Furry Curiousity

2009-08-16T13:27:00.006+10:00

Generally, my attempts at 3D model construction end in abysmal failure, fortunately this was an exception. The assignment given was to create a 3D space to advertise, or appear at the entrance of, an exhibition of your choice. The selection was wide as some of us exhibited insects whereas others displayed secrets. Mine was an exhibition of Happiness.

The idea was inspired by Stefan Sagmeister's theory that "Design = Happiness". In a way this is true, one the happiest moments of my life occured when I was in Brussels with my gorgeous girlfriend Brooke. We were cuddling in the Grand Place, holding our unforgettable hot chocolates and watching the most magical lights show we'd ever seen. You can click on the link but it's no substitute for being there.

But the combination of lights, sound and classical architecture, created one of the happiest experiences of my life, hence came the idea for the scattered, colourful, fuzzy plants. One the the things that make me happiest is my home city of Melbourne, the city of a thousand cities. The best thing about it is finding a surprise each time you go, a new street, bookshop, anything. So to play on this, I superimposed my fuzzy creatures around Melbourne to appear as 'happy accidents'.

This combines my idea of happiness with music, something I could've got around to if I had more time.

The use of colour against a grey space creates the sudden splash effect when you walk past.

The brief requested that this space is a traveling exhibition so it had to be adaptable to any space possible, hence why each furry plant is separately placed on its own island of fake grass.

I want to cuddle one of these things.

Inspiration

2009-08-11T12:21:00.008+10:00

Hello everyone, it's time again to show you what's been making me tick lately:

Allah wouldn't approve, but the treatment of colour in this is magnificent. It's by an artist of Flickr, does some interesting stuff with food

Ogilvy & Mather (Singapore) created these astonishingly good advertisements which were made entirely by hand. Surely one massive incoming trend is that people will start turning away from technology and instead seeking creativity in more boutique areas of the arts.

Maschinen Leuchten is the awesome lighting series designed by the German artist Frank Buchwald.I love the way that steam punk is being integrated with Art Deco.

Artist Jason de Caires Taylor created the world’s first underground sculpture park. Moilinere Bay in Grenada is now home to sixty-five of his works covering an area of 800sq metres. His aim is to highlight conservation issues and ecological processes.

The Footloose Program

2009-07-31T21:06:00.004+10:00

The final piece of the footloose puzzle, the program. This meant unrequited love stories with printers, musical directors and photographic subjects. In keeping with the theme I've been using from the start of this project, the work is completely based around an industrial town to reflect the storyline.

This was only possible with the help of producer Sarah Doherty and photographer Ryan Ponsford. Sarah, between all the dramatic episodes involved in producing a show with 25 teens and a co director in quarantine, always had time to speak to me and crack a cynical joke or two. And she was more than prompt in supplying the content for the program. Also, she was kind enough to meet at my house before I told her I was about an hour away, she came anyway. Overall, a pleasure to work with.

I was extremely lucky to have Ryan on board, I literally called him while he was involved in a professional shoot for 'Freedom' furniture. He donated more time than was necessary for the final piece and if it weren't for his ingenious gift of photography, the program would not have had half the impact that it does. His eye for colour, pattern and composition is astounding and I see him going a very long way with his passion.

So here are some of the the spreads that stood out to me.

The front and back cover, I love the greens and it basically sets the tone for the show; rusty, electric, grungy.

This is my favorite spread, the tree mixed with the chicken wire, newspaper and factories; it encapsulates the whole teenage love story thing perfectly. Also happy with my type setting here :)

One of the main reasons why I took on this job was to gain experience in type heavy pieces such as this. Each page had a 4 column grid so the spacing was even and clean, which some extra room for Ryan's photos.

Not as text heavy but still a bit to deal with. Again, the photography just gives it so much depth. All the images have this human presence via absence vibe going on; it's evident that people have been there, but it still looks slightly eerie.

The type and general page setting was inspired by skating mag Monster Children and Blanket Magazine, check them out, they're beautiful.

If there's one thing I learnt from this job, it's that the final product, although imperative, is secondary. The most important thing is to be easy to communicate with throughout the entire process and always keep the client up to date.

Make friends basically.

Inspiration

2009-07-25T11:57:00.003+10:00

Hey guys, as part of one of my units at uni (DIS2105), we're required to upload things that inspire us on a weekly basis. I feel it's a great idea, so let's begin:

This is a photo I took on the train to Flinders St Station, the light shining onto the window made it look like two wheelchair people intertwined. They a symbol that could look like something from an other worldly alphabet.

This is the work of amazing illustrator, Kevin Dart. His line work is so jazzy and I love his use of shadow to create atmosphere, check out his website.

At the moment, I'm loving Iron and Wine's music. The cover of this album is beautiful, the use of colour is delicious, the pinks and yellows give the image so much warmth and bite. This is the work of Samuel Beam, also the lead singer of Iron and Wine.

Kick off your Sunday shoes

2009-07-17T23:19:00.004+10:00

Footloose! A musical from the 80's, can you think of anything better? I've been given the pleasure of working with the Monash Univeristy Musical Company (MUMco) on the artwork for their current production of this groovy show. Currently, we have posters and postcards going up all over the place, it's so exciting. Here is the poster:

The idea was to 'un-dag' Footloose. The show is often perceived as a hollow "let's dance and sing!" show and as accurate as that may be, there's a lot more to it. I chose to focus on the element of young rebellion, the excitement of being naughty in a normally stilted life. The imagery is reflective of the American 80's industrial town which is where the story is based, so the colour palette is limited and the font is quite straightforward. I combined the grunge and anger of 'Billy Elliot' and the glam of 'So You Think You Can Dance'.

This is the front and rear of the postcard, which is along the same lines:

The front has the Who and What whereas the back has When, Where and Why. In my opinion, this is pretty successful. With postcards, you have about one second to persuade the viewer to pick the card up. Hence, the front is very red and bold with minimal info while the back has the details for those who want to know about the show.

At the moment, the producer and I are working on the program, desperately collaborating content to go in. Namely the biographies of the performers, but I think we're going well. Tomorrow we have the head shots so hopefully by the end of next week we should have a program ready to print.

Nobel Prize Layerrrrs

2009-07-03T20:49:00.004+10:00

The Brief:

Create an A2 poster that illustrates the evolution of any aspect of history (music, politics etc.) between the year of your birth (1988) and a year randomly chosen for you (1903).

I originally chose music but it seemed too obvious. Then it was barber shops, I was so sure that this would be a great idea so I started with that. It was a short journey because it really didn't give enough scope. For the poster, I wanted something more abstract and psychedelic, something I'd want in my room.

So I chose something I knew very little about, the Nobel prize winners of physics in 1903 (Antoine Henri Becquerel) and 1988 (Jack Steinberger). Both were involved in the research of phosphorescence, which is basically how crystals create brilliant colours when light is shun upon them. The things you learn :)

I was looking at the line work of American cartoonist Charles Burns and Taiwanese artist Feric and thought I'd experiment with that. The idea of layering, I felt, was an efficient way of portraying time in a still image.

I created the work on nine pieces of tracing paper. On each layer, I drew stunningly complex physics equtions in which have more meaning than I'll ever know. I was originally going to scan each layer one by one but realised how beautifully tracing paper interacts and fades. Therefore, I scanned all nine pieces together.

Finishing touches involved layering a few colours to refer back to, what's that word we learnt again? Phosphorescence! yay.

Benjamin's 21st Present

2009-06-27T22:43:00.008+10:00

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

2009-06-17T13:17:00.004+10:00

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.

2009-06-13T18:19:00.007+10:00

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

2009-06-13T14:46:00.005+10:00

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.