Al

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

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

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

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

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!

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.