New Work: Mark and Dave go shopping

Just finished of some illustrations for the lovely people at Umbrella Design.  A large part of the project consisted of character design which is always fun to do, my figures were to be based loosely on two real people Mark and Dave.  My illustrations are to feature in their blog a diary of adventures in travel and shopping. The Mark and Dave go shopping blog offers a unique perspective from the duo, tips on what to buy and where and a little culture too.

Dave left and Mark on the right.

These are two trendy guys and designing such happening fellows can always be a stretch when you don't consider yourself to be trendy having a much different definition of the word.  Thankfully however I got a nice run down of their likes and what they wear.

Let me introduce you to Dave…

Name: David, but all his mates call him Dave.

Age: 29 ish. He's kinda geeky, and wants to thought of as really cool... in fact beyond cool. Of course he isn’t, he is in fact a bit of a twat, but nice, really nice in a bloke sort of way. Likes women who have an oriental twist, but always keeps them at arms length. I call them 'mysterious girls', cos they drift in and out of his life and none of us ever actually meet them. We only know about them by the morning smile of his face!

Where he shops: Carnaby Street for trainers, Ted Baker for shirts, Urban Outfitters, and surprisingly, Acne, which is uber cool. Some vintage bits from Brick Lane and Spitalfields, especially sun glasses and picture frames.

Jeans: Cheap Monday 

Watch: Vintage

Boxers or commando: Calvin Klein Boxers

Interests: Cool pubs and restaurants with friends. Sunday league football, gym... only when necessary. Pop-up Art Galleries, street art, photography, gigs headlining up and coming bands, such as: The Black Keys, The Cribs, Twin Atlantic or The Maccabees.

Job: Graphic Designer 

Loves: Geeky gadgets

Favorite Drink: Great beer

Drives: No need, Dave lives in London, but would like a vintage Triumph.

Personal Head Space: Need to make a change and find stuff that inspires him! 

Dave as a finished illustration.

And now on to Mark…

Age: early 30’s, trapped in the wrong era, should have been born mid 1800's then could have been a poet riding an old bike round a village green, a romantic at heart, yeah I know, I am a twat!

Where I shop: Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and Fenwick Men’s, Diesel, Paul Smith. Some

Vintage bits from Notting Hill, especially furniture.

Jeans: Diesel

Watch: Tag

Boxers or commando: Diesel Boxers

Interests: Out door stuff, cycling, cricket. Love great coffee with mates on a Sunday morning. Play occasionally in a band and open mic nights with guitar. Sketching (belong to urban sketchers).

Bands: Keane, Band of Skulls, Muse, Paul Weller, Florence and The Machine, Elvis Costello

Job: Furniture Designer

Favorite Drink: G&T

Drives: BMW Motorbike

Personal Head Space: Looking for direction and want to go and see great stuff! Like Dave, I need some ideas to guide me to my next project in life, what ever that might be.

Mark in all his illustrated glory

As the blog progresses we get to see more how they both develop via the travels and adventures in shopping they have.  

Mark and Dave's adventures in Brighton.

Good luck to Mark and Dave I hope they continue to trek around the country with their wallets ready and shopping bags full.  Visit Mark and Dave go Shopping blog here.

Go to my website for more illustrations.

 

I Love Comics

I collected comic books a lot when I was a kid, still do in graphic novel form.  I was my introduction and I’m sure most people's to the world of illustration the artists of these books would use their skills to tell the stories the comic book writers wanted to tell, talented artists would take the words and concepts and flesh out the story telling the narrative in brightly coloured frames and create fun and interesting characters to inhabit worlds of their creation.  I bought or borrowed many from the Commando war comics, 2000AD and Judge Dredd, Spiderman, X-men and The Transformers, my earliest recollection of browsing and choosing my own comic was getting Transformers issue 22 in 1985 from a little newsagent close to where we lived in Northampton. Comic books are not solely produced for kids, they just happen to buy them with their pocket money.  

Transformers issue 22 (it was only 27 pence!)  Though it was nearly a third of my weekly pocket  money.

The themes explored by the writers and artists are weighty and relevant to not just life growing up and trying fit in but issues of alienation, being different and acceptance of otherness, stories about overcoming difficulties in the face of adversity and dealing with loss or abuse all infiltrate and help inform an impressionable mind.  They can be very literate too, I was introduced to classic literature by the stories they told inspired by Greek myths, Shakespeare and other older mythologies including the bible and the epic of Gilgamesh, all laid out in the pages of Superhero comics.

Comics are also heavy influenced by the times they were written and illustrated by, the creative’s involved in their construction would enrich their narratives with moral messages with world events and politics in a way that would assist in the storytelling.  By putting themselves the comic characters shoes they could tell stories inspired by real world events things complicated or horrid could be made sense of in the small dramatic frames.  The horror of World wars, The Korean War, Vietnam and the Watergate scandal, Capitalism and Communism all filtered through and grounded the story to create a more textured environment for the Superhero’s, giant robots or aliens to inhabit.

Judge Dredd created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra was another favourite of mine, Dredd inhabited the authoritarian police state of MegaCity 1, as one of the judges of that city he was had the powers of the police, jury and executioner.  It was violent and heavily laced with issues of Democracy, corruption, and tyranny as Dredd himself was an instrument of a dictatorial regime that enforced a cruel form of justice on the criminal ilk and on democracy activists alike.

Judge Joesph Dredd.

Today my bookshelves have graphic novels from Alan Moore, His excellent Watchmen (please read the book and don’t judge it by the film) V for Vendetta (again don’t judge by the film) From Hell, Frank Miller’s Batman The Dark Knight Returns and Sin City and other works from Neil Gaiman, Garth Ennis and Mike Mignola.  

Its seems that most have been made into films, with varying degrees of success and its very understandable why the stories are being retold on the big screen.  They have to do with the big themes, tragedies and larger than life characters and environments peppered with real world concerns and issues of being human and all that means that have been so lavishly created.  These modern day myths and struggles are continuing the traditions of storytelling that have been with us since people learned to communicate with one another, to write and tell stories to spin tales of powerful Gods and mythical creatures and the consequences that their actions had on humankind while also speaking of personal dramas. 

Like all good stories and Science Fiction is also a very good example of this: Create a world and people live in it, far into the future or on another world, fill it with vengeful Gods, monsters, mythical creatures, superheroes or mechanical beings. Make it different enough from our world while still making the characters believable and you can write moral tales about genocides, teen pregnancies, ideologies, bigotry, sexism, sexuality and get these issues across to an audience and either inform or change perceptions. 

A few recommendations rightly deserved to be called classics.  Though part of the fun is the discovery of having a look and finding your own favorites.

Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1987)

V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson

Hellboy: The Seeds of Destruction by Mike Mignola and John Byrne


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Dylan Gibson Illustration

“Hi Don, good morning, pleasure to meet you”.

It was a pleasant greeting from my first prospective client, though considering my name is Dylan, not the best of introductions. During the firm and lengthy handshake that followed I tried to correct the error, he dropped his hand to his side and retorted “Well that’s what it says in my diary” It was an awkward moment, I was eager to make a good first impression and show my illustration portfolio.

I’m a freelance illustrator based in the UK specialising in pen and ink artwork. Originally from Northern Ireland and now based in Scotland, I have been self employed for over ten years. I enjoy what I do and I’ve been lucky enough to turn something I’m good at into a job.

I've been fortunate to work with some of the leading design, media and publishing houses across the UK and further afield.  Previous projects have included: artwork for advertising, books and book covers, character design, comics, conceptual art, educational publishing, newspaper and magazine feature artwork and covers, storyboards and narrative work for television and animated shorts.

I’m used to visualizing my thoughts and ideas on paper, putting them into words in this blog presents a new challenge, one I hope will be interesting for the reader.  I hope to talk about what I do, give you details on how I compose an illustration, my influences, share my experiences and hopefully offer advice to  those interested in art or hoping to start off in a similar career. 

 After convincing the client of my identity, my first meeting went well; we had a joke about it and laughed.  As this is my first post  I hope to get things off to a good start.

Thanks for visiting,

Dylan Gibson 

Dylan Gibson Illustration