I should really get out more.

2012-02-16T12:38:00.006Z

Star Wars Episode VI Retold in Iconoscope

2012-02-13T17:53:00.000Z

ITS DONE AT LAST!

At long last, after nearly a year of planning, illustration and design, the final part in the Iconoscope trilogy is complete, like the circle in that bit that Vader mentions when he meets Obi Wan in Episode IV to have a fight.

This was a biggie. The first Iconoscope was a single page of 32 line of icons - but then the story was actually quite simple, when you look at it. For Episode V, It took much longer to design and lay out, running double the length of the original - but there were many more costume changes, and plots that spanned multiple lines.

And then I started on Episode VI. Just thinking of it from memory, I recalled it to be a fairly straightforward story - there were the iconic scenes that everyone remembered, and some not so memorable ones too.

But then I watched it again, took some notes and started to list out everything that I would need to create the Iconoscope - and it went on... and on... and on...

Each character has multiple costume changes. The plot runs into 3 separate lines and constantly jumps between them. Vehicles, scenery, sub characters... It was a huge list.

But I started (not that long after I completed the last one) and began by illustrating all of the principle character icons, in all of the costume variations (including Leia in THAT bikini - which I did first as I'm not that stupid). Then, the secondary characters followed and so on.

It soon was clear that this was going to take a while... and here we are nearly a year on, and its finally finished.

I could have been ruthless with the editing down - cut it down to maybe two pages. But I put a lot of work into following the story as closely as I could, and in the end a lot actually happens in Episode VI.

So, apologies, but its run onto 5 PAGES!

So hope you like it - there'll be bits that are safe and familiar, some that hopefully will make you smile and others that might raise a few eyebrows. All I ask is, be merciful - remember that this is just a bit of fun and please don't argue about the tiniest of plot details that I may have missed / got wrong / not cared about.

Enjoy, one last time. As always, click each thumbnail to open the full sized version:

Sorry about Jabba, but its a technically correct icon to represent him.

Check out Episode IV and Episode V here.

Illustration - Beyond Christmas Cards

2011-12-19T10:39:00.003Z

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

2011-12-02T14:21:00.001Z

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)

2011-12-02T14:16:00.001Z

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

2011-12-02T14:10:00.001Z

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

2011-11-23T22:49:00.001Z

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.

UPDATE: This is now complete! You can find it by clicking here

Movie Poster: Face Test 1

2011-09-28T12:11:00.000+01:00

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

2011-09-24T23:28:00.001+01:00

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

2011-08-25T16:02:00.001+01:00

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...

Once Upon a Time, Far, Far Away No.2: The Sleeping Chewie

2011-07-10T17:45:00.001+01:00

Once again my misguided fixation with Star Wars has led to another Illustration in the "Once Upon a Time, Far, Far Away" series - this time with the subject of The Sleeping Chewie. Why do I do this? What am i actually contributing to society or my own personal development? Well, couldn't give a monkey's to be honest. Its good practice, and I get to draw Chewbacca drooling. So everybody wins. This was done in Illustrator, if anyone cares. Enjoy yet another ruination of two perfectly innocent childhood stories in one swift and heartless stroke of the digital brush.

Infographic: Global Airline Traffic Trends

2011-07-08T17:47:00.000+01:00

This was a new infographic requested by Amadeus to promote a new report produced in conjunction with airconomy. The brief was to use a global map to show the strengths of airline travel between country blocks. Using a combination of clipart and Adobe Illustrator's 3D capabilites, I created this finished result.

Infographic: The Always-Connected Traveller

2011-06-29T09:17:00.000+01:00

This is a new infographic I created at Beyond for Amadeus, this time focusing on their report outlining imortance of mobile technology in air travel.

Starting with the premise of a mobile phone as a base, I decided to buid a 3D journey path of a holiday round trip, annotating it with the key facts presented in the report.

It was all done with stock imagery and Adobe Illustrator.

Infographic: Super Injunction Super Highjinks

2011-06-14T17:33:00.000+01:00

Beyond asked me to create an infographic to demonstrate their swanky new Twitter measurement tool, the T.I.E Score system. To promote it, they used the recent Ryan Giggs Super Injunction scandal as a demonstration, analysing Tweet activity and pulling out the key cotributors in spreading the gossip about the Twittersphere.

This is the design I came up with - my colleague Neil Fox contributed the concept of the changing room and the bra gag, and then left me to do all the actual work whilst he went swanning off on holiday with his family. Thanks Neil.

Illustration: Jellybeans

2011-06-10T10:54:00.000+01:00

Here, for your information and enjoyment, I have provided a detailed guide for the avid Beanspotter.

In it you can discover the scientific names of literally ALL of the different colours of beans out there - there are no more, these are ALL of them.

Any others you may see or hear of are just lies to confuse you.

Enjoy this magical journey into educational bean-ness.

Beyond Wall Graphics

2011-06-02T14:04:00.001+01:00

The Powers That Be at the the mighty Beyond asked me to come up with some wall graphics for our London Studio. After a bit of measuring and a few concept ideas, we settled on these designs, which feature many of our favourite things (gadgets, beer and London itself really). It was installed two days ago and has really added some colour to to the walls. My Illustration "Together We R Bynd" is also shown in situ, with an additional blank canvas ready to add new staff members. The shot below of someone standing behind the "London Gent" window artwork, is me.

More images after the break...

Illustration: Beyond Report Cover

2011-05-24T13:26:00.000+01:00

Our head of SEO asked if I could quickly knock up an illustration for a report she was giving to a customer. The report outlined how the Advertising Standards Authority are now encompassing websites under their protection. We worked out this idea and worked it up - my colleague Neil Fox helped with the characters at the bottom and we were pleased with the results.

Click the image to view larger:

Once Upon a Time, Far, Far Away No.1: Hansel & Greedo

2011-05-11T21:15:00.002+01:00

Yep, its another Star Wars themed illustration. I know, I know - I should move on to another subject, but what can I say? The title of my blog explains it all. But in a departure from the more graphic Iconoscopes, I wanted to turn my hand to a more artistic style. I can't remember how or why I came up with the idea for the series (it was probably whilst vegging on the commute to work) but this one was the first that popped into my head for some reason.

My girlfriend Anna helped me brainstorm some more ideas, some of which made me laugh so I'll be doing those ones next.

For anyone interested, this was created in Adobe Illustrator just using a mouse. (I mean the peripheral, not a rodent).

Star Wars Episode V Retold in Iconoscope

2011-04-18T13:04:00.006+01:00

Well, it was great fun doing Star Wars Episode IV Retold in Iconoscope, so after much digital sweating (and swearing) I've finally completed Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back.

In doing this one, you realise how much more complex and in-depth the story was compared to first movie. The narrative is split into several sub-stories and keeps jumping between them - plus, in the first move there were virtually no costume changes for the main characters - but in this one, each had several, all of which are iconic.

But, I hope I've got it pretty much there. The plot is correct (it was from memory) but apologies if some some of the narrative jumps come in slightly the wrong places.

This one is also twice as long to get all the plot in - I tried cutting it down to a shorter length, but it then didnt make sense, so in the end I created two parts to make it a little more manageable to "read". (Is that what you do with icons? Who knows). So, read/view/engage your ocular senses after the break to see it all.

Click each to view full size:

Infographic: Is Mobile Really That Important in Digital Promotion?

2011-04-17T19:30:00.001+01:00

Beyond asked me to create an infographic so this is what I came up with.

We recently discoverd the excellent website http://mobithinking.com/ which details some great data on mobile useage.

I picked out some interesting facts and created this.

And yes, those are the same style people icons that the Iconoscopes are based on.

Infographic: American Express International Trade Condifence

2011-04-17T13:39:00.002+01:00

Beyond were asked to create an infographic for American Express to promote data from their report on International Trade Confidence. After discussions, I opted to go with a "customer journey" style design, pulling out data points along the way. The finished infographic was distributed by American Express across the UK, USA and Australia.

My new Business Cards are in...

2011-04-11T12:36:00.000+01:00

Beyond let me supply the graphics for the front of my business cards. What were they thinking of??

Illustration: Together We R Bynd

2011-04-11T09:19:00.004+01:00

Beyond, having moved into a shiny new office, needed some atwork to start decorating the walls. I started with this one, an illustration representing all of the staff currently working in the studio. (Im the one that's just a forehead with glasses and a beard.)

NEW: This is now installed in our London Office - you can see the photos (As well as the rest of the Wall Artwork) on the Wall Art Blog Page here

Infographic: Navigating the Airport of Tomorrow

2011-04-11T09:11:00.002+01:00

Beyond were asked by Amadeus to create an new infographic to accompany a report they have published investigating the technology available in the airport of tomorrow. I developed this illustration to quickly outline the key areas of technology in a clean and simple style.

Infographic No.6: Harry Potter

2011-03-03T13:37:00.002Z

Click to view larger version

For my 6th infographic I've delved into the world of Harry Potter and pulled together some facts and statistics around the books and J.K. Rowling.
The style is based on the kind of on-screen prop "Daily Prophet" newspapers used in the movies - as I've looked into it, they all looked really different from movie to movie - so I've cherry-picked my favourite bits from each and designed it how I would have done it.

Hope you like it. And remember: its "levi-Oh-saa".

Star Wars Episode IV Retold in Iconoscope

2011-02-28T14:36:00.001Z

Click to View Full Illustration

NEW: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back also completed! Click Here to View it

Have you ever wondered how Star Wars might be viewed in hieroglyphics? Or what if the movie was remade by IKEA? Well, wonder no more - I've sorted it out for you.

This Illustration shows how the story we all know and love can be distilled down into icons - no words are used (apart from the "SOS" icon).

I know I've missed a few scenes from this - but I had to cut it down somewhere or it would have gone on for another 20 steps. And I was getting tired.

I'm fragile: I work in the Creative Industry.

Enjoy.

Epilogue:

After posting this illustration to a few blogs it went hyper-viral. Our paid hosting account got hit by a whopping extra 70 gigs of bandwidth in around four days - which was great apart from we had to pay extra for it and it seemed to show no signs of slowing. So, that ended my old site and blog. But hey, every cloud.

Google: Dream Teachers

2011-02-28T10:14:00.002Z

Beyond were asked to create a Youtube Channel design for the Google / Youtube / Channel 4 project "Dream Teachers". The site is a competition that accompanies the Channel 4 show "Jamie Oliver's Dream School". On this site, Teachers are invited to submit video answers to GCSE questions, to determine the best in the UK.

I was tasked with the design of the Youtube Channel for Google - you can see the finished channel here: http://www.youtube.com/dreamteachers

Infographic No.5: Random Curios

2011-02-11T12:26:00.016Z

Click to view full size

This infographic was very much inspired by the excellent work by www.telegramme.co.uk/.

Using retro styling, mixed typography and simple graphics I put together a series of random facts gathered from the internet.

I used a limited colour palette to add more to the retro litho-print feel.

Hope you like it.

Tee Time

2011-02-09T12:37:00.013Z

Click to view full illustration

Here's some various tee shirt designs I've created recently - all just for fun and none are printed up into actual products.

Infographic No.4: Paper

2011-02-07T13:32:00.004Z

Click to view full illustration

For my fourth infographic I deceided to try something more unusal.

The design was developed to form a cut-out buildable model to prepresent the data.

Cutting out, folding and glueing the model allows it to be constructed still attached to a single piece of paper.

This was a tough one to design and also to build for the photos after the break...

Infographic No 3: Top 50 Movies of All Time

2011-02-06T13:03:00.005Z

Click to view full illustration

50 greatest movies of all time shown in an infographic. Using quotes from each of the film, the graphic shows the global box office takings for each and adjusts the size of the quote accordingly.

This was great fun to do and was featured on a few blogs.

Lost Posters No.3: Desires

2011-02-04T16:46:00.003Z

Click to view full illustration

This third lost poster, found by our whip-cracking designer-archaeologist shows just how astounding variety theatre could be in bygone days.

Don't stare too hard at the toast -or you will be mesmerized into a mystical stupor.

Lost Posters No.2: Fight!

2011-02-03T16:59:00.001Z

Click to view full illustration

Our designer (who believes himself to look like Indiana Jones but in actuality looks closer to Sallah) has rootled around in his spacious drawers to find this antique gem from the archives of Lost and Forgotten Posters.|

Enjoy this glimpse into yesteryear, and its charming taste for violent animal cruelty.

Lost Posters No.1: The League of Strange

2011-02-02T18:06:00.001Z

Click to view full illustration

Creeping through cobweb-tangled passageways, fighting tribes of angry tribesmen, unearthing anicent mysteries... these were all doodled on the pad of our resident designer / archaeologist, who has undertaken a mission to unearth long-forgotten treasures of yesteryear and put them all up in our respective faces.

This first offering in a mystery - who where The League of Strange? Was it a bizarre stage act? Or maybe a performance dance troop? Perhaps this is the earliest example of a graphic novel cover is history?

Use your skill and judgement to decide...

Super Happy Joy: Biscuit

2011-02-01T12:24:00.003Z

Click to view full illustration

This is the first illustration in the Super Happy Joy range, experimenting with a Japanses Kawaii style.

Its an imaginary poster / comic book cover portraying a story where - for some unexplained reason - a giant biscuit is invading a city.

I've never illustrated a biscuit before, so this was a groundbreaking moment in my illustration career.

Google Zeitgeist Minds

2011-01-30T13:34:00.003Z

Beyond were tasked with the design of a new Google website promoting videos form their annual Thought Leader conference, Zeitgeist.

Working with Google UK, Beyond developed the concept of the video wall, featuring filtering control built into the wall itself.

I designed the concept of the video wall and working with Google's own designers, we shaped the finished product.

Check it out at http://www.zeitgeistminds.com/

BBC Top Gear Website

2011-01-29T13:57:00.000Z

In my final days at Milton Bayer, I was tasked with the daunting task of creating a redesign for http://www.topgear.com/ which the BBC felt required a rebrand.

Working with BBC directly, I worked to their specifications and wireframes to create a template that would allow for more content to be delivered per page and in a more traditional news format.

I visited BBC White City and met with the Tope Gear Magazine team to discuss the development of the design.

As a huge fan of the TV series this was one of the highlights of my career so far and am still proud to have worked on it.
Check it out at http://www.topgear.com/

BBC Radio Times Facebook

2011-01-28T14:08:00.000Z

Milton Bayer were asked by the BBC to develop a Christmas Brand to promote the new Radio Times Christmas Edition.
The online element of this was to create both the header background graphic for the main site and a Facebook Tab.

This was another great opportunity for me and I thouroughly enjoyed working with the BBC.

Infographic No.2: The Sun

2011-01-27T15:41:00.000Z

Click to view full illustration

For my second infographic I focused on the power of the sun.

Finding some excelling online statistics, I experimented with Illustrator's 3D capabilities to create this design. This was also my first dabble with the Lane font - which has now becoem one of my firm favourites.

Infographic No.1: Doctor Who Jourenys Through time

2011-01-26T16:40:00.001Z

Click to view full illustration

This is my first attempt at a personal infographic project. Using a free data set published on a website, I translated the data in a visual illustration.

The data details every recorded time journey each of the Doctors have undertaken in television episodes - and my infographic plots each on a universal timeline. This then shows which of the Doctors has travelled the most.

Infographic: Amadeus Travel Gold Rush

2011-01-25T17:06:00.003Z

Click to view full illustration

This was my first professional Infographic at Beyond. Amadeus requested an infographic to promote their "Travel Gold Rush" report for its global launch.

Taking a set of data from the report, I created several iterations, eventually narrowing down the design with the client to the version shown. Other versions can be seen below.

See it on their website: http://amadeusblog.com/27/09/brighter-travel-hot-spots-at-a-glance-1995-2020/

Pitch Visual: Cisco Infographic

2011-01-24T12:12:00.001Z

Click to view larger version

This infpgraphic was proposed to Cisco to promote the celebration the journey of the IP Phone. They wanted a lively, visually interesting timeline to help illustrate the key moments in the IP Phone's history.

The project was dropped by Cisco and they decided not to go with an infographic.

Infographic: Amadeus Middle East

2011-01-23T12:23:00.000Z

Click to view larger version

This second infographic for Amadeus focuses on the Middle East.

Created to promote their report "securing the Prize for the Middle East" the data selected show the positive and negative influence of driving interest in the region and statistics on current data.

You can view it also via their website here

After the break, you can also see some alternate concepts for this project.

Pitch Visual: AMD Phenom II

2011-01-22T12:45:00.001Z

Click to view larger version

AMD approached a number of agencies to design advertising brand concepts for their Pheonom II processors, aimed primarily at the gaming pc owner.

This was a design and illustration I created for once of Beyond's chosen directions, centred around "taming the Beast".

AMD went in a different direction with the strategy they chose, but I'm still proud of how much we achieved in our presentation given only a few days as deadline.

Byte Night: Facebook Promotion

2011-01-21T12:53:00.000Z

Click to view larger version

This was a campaign that Beyond developed to promote the Byte Night Charity events on Facebook.

The concept was to create a simple badge that could be posted to your wall to encourage others to click through.

I designed the Facebook Page and also the "I've been winked" concept which follows their Wee-Willy Winky brand.

The campaign is now finished.

After the break you can also see how the badge looked on a Wall:

Illustration: Logotropolis

2011-01-20T12:14:00.000Z

This was a project I decided to do whilst working at Milton Bayer. I was getting into Pixel Art and wondered if I could do it myself. I took the "I love MB" studio logo and started.
About two months of lunch hours later, I eventually finished. I was pleased with the results and the Directors were also pleased - so much so that they decided to get it printed into ceiling art and position it right above my desk, so it would glower down at me (the inset photo shows it it on situ).

Illustration: MB Multiplayer

2011-01-19T12:19:00.000Z

Every year whilst at Milton Bayer, all the creatives would be asked to create calendar illustrations, which would then be printed up as a promotional gift. For this one, words were chosen as themes for each illustration - mine for this one was "Internet" - so I decided to recreate the MB studio as if it were an online multiplayer game.

Its created solely in Photoshop - no 3D packages were used. I did use 3D objects for the chairs and computers - but thats all.

This was yet another prject which seemed kile a great idea at the time, but took bloody ages.

Illustration: Chewbacca vs Chewits

2011-01-18T12:21:00.002Z

All Done in photoshop.

Illustration: Top 10 Movies

2011-01-17T12:24:00.002Z

Every year whilst at Milton Bayer, all the creatives would be asked to create calendar illustrations, which would then be printed up as a promotional gift.

For this one, the calendar theme was "Top 10s". Iwas allocated Top 10 Movies (as voted by the staff at MB).

Being a tragic Star Wars fan, I recreated the original Star Wars poster but using elements from all the top 10 Movies.

Illustration: Marvin's Magic Packaging

2011-01-16T12:28:00.000Z

Milton Bayer were invited to design some new packaging concepts for a proposed range of collectable magic tricks.

This was an illustration I created for one of my pitch ideas - A package where the box itself is a simple illusion. I actually made a prototype of the box and it worked well - I never took any photos of it though - but the illustration looks much neater.

Magazine Articles: Computer Arts

2011-01-15T12:31:00.000Z

Whilst at Milton Bayer, I was invited to contribute to an article on mixed media design. I wrote a small article and they featured a current MB project for Hadrian's Wall Heritage.

The yellowy photo I submitted was from about five years earlier - it didnt help much.

Magazine Articles: Dot Net Mag

2011-01-13T12:35:00.003Z

Every month .Net Magazine invite designers from various agencies to all pitch designs for an imaginary brief they suggest.

Whilst at Milton Bayer, I was asked to enter - the brief was a website based around a City. My design was a tourism website for Northampton (where MB are) - not technically a city, but .Net Mag didn't mind.

They also did a mini-feature on me, where I blatently lied about the cool things I apparently like doing. If you realy want to you can read the article after the break: