Illustration - Beyond Christmas Cards

Christmas time again! Beyond needed some card ideas pronto, so I went away and came up with a few. Didn't have a huge amount of time, so all the ideas were simple, quick gags.

In the end it was voted to use the photographic designs - these are using studio shots of some of our team that we had done earlier in the year - they were actually holding blank white boards, so I comped in an iPad instead.

More designs after the break...

Merry Christmas!

Illustration: More Beyond wall art

Beyond has now expanded into a second office (which I'm now in). With a couple of large plain walls they asked us designers to come up with some illustration ideas. This was mine, kind of following on from the other office illustration that I did.  The map used is actually our location (with the "b" pin showing our office.) I had to piece it together from dozens of full-screen captures of a Bing map to get it high res enough for a wall. I also added in some "easter egg" type detail of putting in additional fake location names on the map (see after the break for enlargements).

This one didnt make it to the final choice - which is cool. The design that my colleagues Neil Fox and Tony Georgiades came up with is excellent. And another concept I did (not shown here) was adapted in part for one of the walls, so something of my work appears in it (including the Beyond London logo above).

Illustration: Goodbye Chris (another one)

Weirdly, not too long after Chris Phillips left Beyond, Chris Bullen left also, so I was asked to do another "Goodbye Chris" illustration.

For this one I asked some of the staff to give me a single word that they thought summed him up - som good replies.

We got this printed out and framed to present to him on his leaving party.

Illustration: Goodbye Chris

This was an illustration I did when Chris Phillips left Beyond earlier this year. This was the background to a video we put together of all of us saying goodbye to him. In true Beyond style it was left to the last moment and when it came to present it to him, it wasnt actually completed. Also, his present hadn't been ordered in time.

He seemed well pleased with that.

Coming Soon: Star Wars Episode VI Iconoscope

Yeeees, yes yes - I know. Its been fecking ages since I did Episode V - but I'm back on it again. Star Wars Episode VI (Return of the Jedi) Retold in Iconoscope WILL be with you soon. All of the principle character icons are now completed (in ALL of their costume changes) and Im currently working on the secondary characters (like Ackbar here). Once they're done, just some vehicles and scenery to do and I can get on with laying it all out.

Why am I doing this? Don't I have a life? Oh wait - I just re-read the title of my blog.

Stay posted.

This is NOT a trap.

Movie Poster: Face Test 1

This is something that I've always dreamed of doing as a job - creating artwork for movie posters. Over the years its changed from being a traditional painting industry, to a purely digital. Whilst I fondly remember and admire the works of the great movie poster artists such as Drew Stuzan, my own skills are more focused on the digital side.

Original portrait photo found on Google

In this first test I've taken an ordinary portrait shot I found on Google, and using a series of colour overlays, a few background shots from Google, highlights, Photoshop Brushes and some detail touches, I think it demonstrates how you can dramatically change the mood and detail of a photo just by working over it.

This only took me about an hour and its not for any kind of professional work - you'd probably want to add more detail for a finished piece.

I'll be doing more of these as the months go on as I just love doing them.

Illustration: The Pea of Lies

This is perhaps my most important illustration of my career to date. For too long the dangers of misleading peas has gone by unhindered. How many of us have been duped or conned by a pulse of some kind in our lives, leaving nothing but tears and shame?

Well it ends HERE. We draw our line in the sand and say NO MORE, peas! Together we can unite against such unspeakably sinister veg, to ensure that our future generations are never bullied or ridiculed by them ever again.

Or I maybe I'm wrong and none of that is true. Im not really sure to be honest.

Illustration: TomTom Pitch

This is an illustration I did for a recent pitch Beyond were invited to participate in by TomTom. It was part of the presentation document and used to introduce a concept before moving onto the visuals.

After the break there are more visuals I created for the pitch...