Mighty Mr Move

Canis Lupis: Cult Cinema, Scott Move.

My first contact with industry is the lovely Scott Move, an illustrator and tattooist from London. He currently works and The Circle tattoo shop situated in the heart of Soho, London which is where me and Dan went to pester information and advice out of him. Since then I've met with him a second time, this time in Manchester at Rain City tattoo shop.

Initial conversation arranging a visit with Mr Move via email.

He specialises in hand-rendered black illustrations, beautifully symbolic and eye-catching, the reason why I found interest in him a few years ago. Delving into everything from commercial design (t-shirts, posters, music merchandise) to collaborative book publication and now tattooing at a high level.

Unfortunately I don't have the conversation's containing the questions asked and advice given in writing, as the visit's with him have been very informal, although I do plan to use him as part of the 1,2,3 post.

He's an extremely friendly and well-mannered gent with strong opinions and a well rounded outlook on the industry. Unknown to many, he studied Graphic Design to a degree level but decided it wasn't for him, the politics and work ethics of the course clashed with his morals and in the end he just wanted to draw wolves with knives through them and buildings that don't logically make sense.
He had some valuable knowledge to give on the subject of reproductive, hand-craft and stereotyping the art of tattooing too. The fact that when you tattoo a specific design on a indivual, the design either dictated by them or the tattooist, they put a high level of trust in you. Obviously you can't just wash it off once it's done, but 90 percent of the time it has some meaning or resonating emotion behind it, very sensitive matters. Not only this but it completely opposes the idea of reproduction, the aura of the drawing is held because once the tattoo is fixed, it cannot (easily) be removed, it cannot be sold, stolen or taken away from that person.

Varoom: Paper Tigers.

Varoom! Magazine, Issue 10, 2009.

This article (although not the most challenging of the four seperate articles I have studied this year) contains topics that I feel very strongly about, so naturally, I have a lot to say on the matter. In an attempt to condense this into something readable, I combined primary and secondary information on the topic, all the relevant opinions of my own and others, and links between my work into a slideshow.  I decided on splitting the slides to correspond with sections of the writing, relating my sources and additional texts back to the article accordingly and not stray too far off topic.

Relating the article to my own opinion as an Illustrator is an important step and brings me closer to defining myself in the long run. To tackle the on-going battle between handmade art and digital, artistic purity versus commercial pollution Peter Lyle outlines how art is about you and your passion. Defined not by ideas but by enthusiasms. Even though  advertising and commercial de-sensitisation have seemingly taken over, technology should still be seen as a tool.  Freedom of expression brings out the absolute best in design, the raw workings of a persons  mind connecting with paper is unrivalled, the stale comfort of digital manipulation needs to be realised. Of course this is reflected in my personal work, and to some extent, clientel designs. But, I'm also not ignorant to the fact that technology now plays an equal role in the Art and Design industry and in order to satisfy the eternal thirst for unseen, exciting images, skills must be adapted to different working methods. Confining yourself to one comfortable working method can sterilise the outcome and render you and inaccessible member of such a vast community. It's taken me a year or so to realise this and clamber down off my high hand-drawn horse, but accepting electronically based processes has opened many exciting opportunites already. Not only that, but of course software such as photoshop, illustrator and in-design were created to enable Designers to edit and enhance their work easily, not to destroy or digitalise the image. For now, i've managed to settle on teaching myself basic skills on the programmes suitable for editing my work, something that has relieved frustration when I've been advised to adjust an element in a flat, painfuly detailed and time-consuming drawing.

Reinforcing the text with the strong influence of Walter Benjamin uncovers mechanical reproduction for what it really is; sterile, cold and the reason behind why the bulk of Illustration struggles to hold power in this day and age. Using Basford, Pardee, Morley and Sendak as a lever into the argument shows that when completing the presentation I considered all levels of the text and highlight how wealth should never be the main focus when creating.

Towards the end of the article I tried to engage more with the actual style of writing, not just the content, and how well Lyle captures his target audience.  A similar piece of writing ‘Where is the Content? Where is the Comment?’ by Lawrence Zeegan for Creative Review gave me insight into similar points of view with a slightly more aggressive slant. 

Shrigley amking his mark outside the Hayward Gallery in connection with Creative Review.

In conclusion, it has always been apparent what ‘the truth’in art means to me, I hope that by bridging the gap between my view and Lyles and analysing the piece of writing as a whole I can share something more than just the fact that I 'get a bit cross at computers sometimes'.

Let Loose In London.

October half-term could have been spent wallowing in self-pity as I couldn't afford to fly out to New York with the rest of the group. But instead of wasting a week, I consulted my bank account and decided I could afford to push the boat out and make it to London without bankrupting myself. I'd just like to say thankyou to Megabus for having such affordable prices alongside adequate comfort. Anyway, me and Daniel (another unfortunately broke soul) scheduled a three day trip full of educational visits to museums, exhibitions, and a whole load of other suitably touristy things. It just so happens, that an artist of huge influential power who i've talked about in previous post's and presentations, works in the centre of Soho. After speaking with the mighty Scott Move about visitng the studio, picking his brain and pestering him for advice he arranged to see both me and Dan on the last day of our visit. So now our trip ticked all the boxes; cheap, cheerful, contact with the industry, educational basis and a high chance of returning in one piece.

I hadn't realised until now that i'd taken nearing on three hundred photographs of taxidermied creatures, non-descript buildings and norwegian bikers in dark bars...amongst these gems i've filtered the more important snaps to give you a taste of our hectic three day mission into the wilderness of London town.



Admiring the architecture. Cromwell Road, London.

 

Upon arrival, we realised the down-side of catching the cheapest bus humanly possible. The drop-off point was in the middle of bleeding no-where so we were instantaneously lost. Thank god for google maps, and obviously, common sense. By the time we'd reached London Victoria it'd started to sink in that visiting the capital city during one of the most popular school breaks of the year wasn't the gretest idea in the book. After fighting our way through crowds of frustrated parents and screaming children we purchased tube tickets so we could begin our day of sightseeing...we purchased the wrong tickets. Anyway, skipping forwards an hour or so we find ourselves outside destination numero uno on the treasure trail, the Natural History Museum. However, the victory dance was short-lived as we then had to join the end of a forty minute que whilst attempting to make the most of my time spent stood outside some of London's most impressive Victorian architecture. Originally opened in 1881 the designs had been altered several times between the years of 1862 to '81 and transformed, ironically, from London's ugliest building into the distinctive structure we know today. From competition winner Captain Francis Fowkes' deliberately Renaissance blueprints into aspiring young architect, Alfred Waterhouses' German Romanesque final designs. Educating myself about this impressive building passed the time and helped to distract myself from the fact me and Dan were being stared, pointed and probably laughed at by a school of small children. They must have thought we'd escaped from the satanic cult section of the museum judging from their wide eyes as they pointed at our piercings like we had horns growing from our noses. Ten more minutes of avoiding disgruntled parents and we entered the breath-taking entrance hall surrounded by high spires and it's huge facade. Inspired by the Basalt Columns in Western Scotland the grand Entrance boasts a vast array of rounded arches, sweeping staircases and a purposeful contrast between stone, glass and bare iron.



Left to right: Laughing owl in glass case of emotion, night at the museum, skinny whales.

 

Gathered over almost four hundred years, the life and earth science collections contain over seven hundred million specimens, well over a day's entertainment. We were there approximately four hours and managed to get round the whole museum skimming over the intensely catergorised rock section and the part where 'kids get to press buttons and see stuff light up'. I took a stupid amount of photographs so have edited the most relevent images that I plan to use as primary research and first hand observation in the future.

Left to right: perfectly plaiced skeleton, mickey moose and a grumpy Fennec Fox.

A cloud of bats.

The whole day was a really momentous experience, I never realised just how exciting looking at dead animals and rock's could be but I ended up learning more in those few hourse than I had in months and came away with reams of first hand photographs to draw more accurately from.

Left to right: Pinky and the brain, 'ant you ever seen a deeno-saur and the hunter and the hunted.

Day one, complete. Day two was a slightly different matter as I pulled my usual trick of sleeping in, but thanks to some slick navigation and google maps managed to make it to the second port of call on our adventure, the Hunterian Museum. Based in the Royal College of Surgeons, this bicentenary exhibition of incredibly detailed human anatomy and pathology is tucked out of the way just off Lincoln's Inn Fields. Boasting an incredible variety of morbid curiosities, floating in jars or housed in the floor to cieling glass cases, I would strongly reccomend the Hunterian for anyone with a strong stomach and curious personality.

Hunterian Gallery, taken from;
http://odditiesoflondon.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/hunterian-museum-royal-college-of.html

The self-taught, 18th Century Surgeon, John Hunter is the man responsible for the preservation of all these unusual artifacts. It has been rumoured that he hired a whole host of 'body-snatchers' to illegally excavate cadavers for practice in developing skills and discovering new-fangled procedures.

A selection of categorised animal fetuses.

A selection of, um, brains.

Everything from sections of whale skull, antlers, dissected insects, human brain matter, diseased organs, a 'giant's' skeleton, a surinam toad caught mid-birthing process and preserved to insanely detailed paintings and perfectly correct models, can be found in this magnificent gallery. No photography was permitted inside the buildings so the photographs above were found on the blogspot given or the Royal College of Surgeons website stated previously. The hour we spent looming over sections of rotten lung and severed feet was one of my personal highlights of the whole trip, which sounds scarily morbid but honestly, you don't get the chance to come nose to nose with a two hundred year old brain every day.

Late into our second day we did the usual touristical escapde with camera's at the ready, surfing the tube and seeing some of London's most sought after Landmarks...including a couple of Camden's most luxuriously creative taverns such as Our Black Heart, notorious for housing some of London's most sought after musical advertisements and artwork, Brew Dog with it's cleaner, more up-market approach to brewery come watering hole and lastly, onto Crobar in the heart of Soho.

Moving swiftly over the part where I 'accidentally' (not drunkenly, i hasten to add..) got on the wrong tube and almost had to spend the night begging in Camden town, i'll start on the most important part of journey. Our third and final day, meeting Scott Move at The Circle tattoo studio in Soho.

I'll continue my experience and advice sourced from Scott in a new blog post to highlight 'Contact With Industry' seperately.

The Two Headed Hound of Hell is Howling.

So I marked the end of another project with my usual last minute panic. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong and I realised (a little too late unfortunately) that I hadn't explained links between preliminary research and resulting product to the full extent that I should. I started second year intending to spend more time on practice, peicing together quantities of work and experimenting more when editing artwork instead of doing my usual trick of spening fifty percent of the time researching, reading and discovering new artists for future reference.

The hypothesis determined in relation to this meant that (in theory) I should have built a larger, more varied and finalised quantity of work without the reams of paperwork alongside. I find it very easy to get lost in the narrative of a project and immerse myself in books, articles, even artists related to the topic. So by focusing on the work at hand and not spend the majority of the time 'over-researching' should have allowed me to relate my own style of working to the project with an appropriate amount of material at a controlled pace.

Success? 
I did find that all the processes used in this project flowed with ease, I connected style and background references to each section of work and worked much more comfortably when it came to screen-printing, even on a much larger sale.

Trial and Error.
Towards the end of the project it dawned on me that without me usual excessive research I was beginning to struggle with self evaluation because the designers i'd taken as inspiration when creating my wallpaper were seemingly unrelated to the rest of the project. I didn't have enough information to link together the foundations of William Morris, Japanes Book Binding, Greek Mythology and Bukowski. So, if nothing else i've learnt that being over-ambitious is useless without the amunition.
I need to find a happy medium in future.

When creating my character, the two headed hound of hell Cerberus, I originally drew him with three heads as he is most commonly pictured (see the variations in my photographs above, depicted in gold pain, grey crayon and black fineliner). However, when it came to transforming a 2D image into a 3D model, all hell broke loose...ironically. I wanted to make several, modest sized fimo models but balancing 3 heads on an already top heavy body isn't easy not to mention the fimo ceasing to co-operate due to being stored in the almost arctic temperature of my house.

In the head, me and Cerby struck a compromise with 2 heads, fake nails and a brown paper bag as bargaining tools. I have to admit that the final model wasn't as terrifying or immaculately made as i'd hoped for, i didn't utilise my time properly and the obstacles only hindered me further. I was on the right tracks with using the fake nails for claws and sharpening them up for teeth, and i'd like to think my handy work when it comes to manipulating large paper bags into looking like two headed dogs is pretty impressive.

All in all, I'd say that the book i created and bound 'Love Is A Two Headed Dog From Hell', based on Bukowski, Henry Rollins and wolves in general, was one of the most successful pieces of Applied Design 2. My finished wallpaper was my absolute favourite though, I'm happy with every aspect of it from the colour combinations, background repeat and detail in the characters not to mention how much i've progressed when it comes to pulling screens.

Apologies for the poor quality of some photographs.

Barbato Envy.

Whilst planning my educational and adventurous trip to London I stumbled across a few new monumental artists, of which, Italian freelance Illustrator Vania Barbato stood out like a beacon to me.

 

Unfortuantely, I do not have a great deal of information on this artist or her working methods as her blog is written in Italian and my languages are a little rusty. From what i could decipher she was born in Padova, currently resides in Bologna after studying Illustration and some form of comic book art, possibly comics/graphic novels? She sees herself as a medium, a teacher and even a vissionary.

 

 

Of course the fine detail and curiously morbid centerfold caught my eye from a single glance, but after studying several images included in Barbato's selective portfolio, I found myself mesmerised by the haunting expressions on her characters faces.

 

 

 

The majority of her work can be viewed on her blog here, where the above images are sourced from, and a ludicrously short interview with Vania, here.



Four-seeing the Future.

Foursight 'VS Launch' Evening: 10/10/12 @ Cord Bar, Manchester.

 

So this review is well- overdue but even just re-capping on the Foursight Launch re-kindles the excitement and inspiration I felt on the night.

 

After recently emerging from the nest (or should I say Stockport College), four fully-fledged and hugely talented Illustrators combined their talents to create the creatively driven transformer, Foursight. The most recent triumph from this exciting collective comes in the form of an extremely well thought out zine. Aptly named 'VS', the beautifully finished piece contains a head on collision of up and coming Illustrators/Designers (Including Foursight themselves) and a handful of locally established Artists.

 

Image taken from Creative Review.

 

Cleverly based around the idea of a boxing match, each artist was matched with another and given opposing word groups to illustrate and communicate appropriately, for example; 'Night and Day', 'Old and Young' etc. The launch night continued the theme by settling each guest as a 'participant' in the on-going battle, encouragng people to compete in a 'live draw-off' based on the same concept as the zine but with a double sided easel, marker pens and beer included...naturally. 

On arrival to the event we were whisked underground to a heavily crowded bar full of familiar faces and a mind-blowing amount of talented individuals. The white-brick walls were instantaneously brought to life with the impressive array of artwork freshly printed the day before, the atmosphere was positively electric and every detail was taken care of. I did the majority of my exploring within the first 10 minutes of setting foot in the place... after being lured over to the sales fort and happily purchasing my very own copy of 'VS' I must have spent a good half an hour studying the luxurious Illustrations captured between the hard-back, hand-printed exterior.

 

Stepping into the Ring

One of my favourite touches of the evening had to be the customised photographs taken of every guest wearing the infamous boxing gloves, posing comicly and then readily naming themselves something rather witty. What a way to capture the essence of the evening! Re-inventing crowd participation worked wonderfully and left the group with a fantastic reminder of how phenomenally successful their first endeavour into the terrifying and judgemental world of Design really was.

 

 

Images above taken from We Are Foursight.

 

 

If you want to take a look at Foursight's zine in further detail or any of their existing work, check out their blog here.

 

You won't be dissapointed.