Playing Card Design

17/10/2014

I've been wanting to do a playing card design for a while now and after looking at Chadlonius' work, I decided to have a go at it.

Again, not using drawing, just using the photos I've taken.

I think the dirty playing card packs that were popular during the 80s would be an appropriate design for the project......not sure I'll be able to get away with it though!

The Attic Poster

17/10/2014

After looking at Russ Meyers film posters, I thought I'd try something similar for my project and base it on the club I've been researching. As my tutor mentioned I probably shouldn't spend time doing finished drawings, I've decided to just use the photos I've taken and add textures.

I'm happy with the results, but again, at this stage I'm not sure if this is the direction I'll be exploring.

Russ Meyer

16/10/2014

Carrying on from the idea of Punk images/posters, have been looking at the movie posters of Russ Meyers work. A director who worked on the sexploitation genre in the 60s and 70s, many of his films were deemed (too) controversial. His fascination of big breasts and violence was prominent through out his film back catalogue, yet today they are considered cult classics. With numerous strong female characters, he closed the book on gender stereotypes and opened a new page of psychotic female killer! Probably the complete opposite of what feminists want to portray, his films certainly raise a few eye-brows.

What interests me are the posters for his films. Monotone colour with black and white, to get the most visceral image, they are eye catching using the most simple of techniques.

Vixen, 1968

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, 1965

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, 1965

Mondo Topless, 1966

His photography work also graced the front cover of his films, as during World War 2 he served as a combat photographer and on returning to America, due to lack of work in the film industry, (most of his contacts had died) he found work as front cover photographer for Playboy Magazine.

Chadlonius

15/10/2014

In my search for new inspiration, I have stumbled across Chadlonius' work. From what I can gather, he is a young American artist/illustrator/graphic designer. He has a strong, visual punch in his work which I greatly admire. Vector art is something I'd like to explore and may try this for my project.

The contemporary style is also something that excites me. The work looks just as good on a t-shirt as it would on the wall. For me personally this is important as an illustrator, as it will mean my work could work in different environments.

Bird

Dapper

Gorilla Head

Suicide King

I particularly like the playing card idea. I've always wanted to produce my own set, but again, not sure if it would be relevant to my project.

William Weege

15/10/2014

I have been looking at some new artists, primarily based around the punk scene. William Weege was born in the 1930s and lives in San Francisco. He works in print and is also a lecturer but still sells his own work.

I find his work useful to my project as it tackles some controversial topics, as befits most punk ideals.

His flat colours and use of black give a stark, gritty overtone to his work, which I find appealing.

In Every Government There Exists

1967, 19inx25in

Napalm Poster

1967, 19inx25in

Impeach Jones

1967, 19inx25in

Weege's work is definitely something I will investigate further. I like the poster idea as a way of taking my work forward, although I will make this relevant to a Masters project, I'm not sure yet.

Prelim

9/10/2014

Trying to figure out the quality of line I'll be using if I go down a more simple direction, as regards to drawing for this project.

Wasn't sure if this was too simple, so I added a bit of rendering.

I think the second image works better, although I'm not totally convinced I'll be exploring this style so much.

The text is quoted directly from Gillian regarding conversations that we have had. I quite like the idea of using the text in the background but also making it more relevant to the style I'll be using.

After talking to my tutor, it was also mentioned I probably shouldn't concentrate on producing drawings at the minute as this is the concept phase.

Gillian

9/10/2014

The thing that disturbs me is that my mother-in-law is called Gillian.

Gillian has been cross dressing since she was 50. She is now 62.

From these photos I will do some prelim sketches, to try and figure out what I want to do and how to present it......without getting arrested.

Guys who wear dresses?!?!?!

9/10/2014

First post of this semester!

For my self directed project I will be concentrating on gender, in particular trans gender. I hope this will be a challenging topic and push my skills as an illustrator.

Before I decided to choose trans gender, I went through a bit of phase of not knowing what aspects of gender to investigate. My first choice was to do a reportage on the bouncers of Derby, i quickly realised I couldn't get past the idea that this would just be a set of pictures of men standing outside various nightclubs, so I ditched this idea. My second choice was to do a reportage on the local police force. After sending a letter to the chief constable outlining my idea, I waited with baited interest for his response. Unfortunately I'm still waiting for his response and time was running out for me to get started on the project.

This was around the time I started to think about trans gender rather than the female genders in the above examples, (my original idea). After a bit of research on the internet I found out about a club in Derby named, The Attic.

The Attic is a swingers and adult film club. On a Monday and Friday they have a T-Girls day. That is, transvestites come to the club and entertain the punters who turn up during the day.

I cautiously arranged a meeting with the manager if it would be alright to come along along and have a chat about my project.

And thus, this was the fateful day that I met Gillian, aka Graham.

She showed me round the club and to be honest I wasn't sure this was going to be an appropriate topic for an illustration project, although I was enlightened to what a 'Glory Hole' was and what went on in the room called 'The Maze'.

After chatting to Gillian however, the idea hit me. I wanted to do a reportage on her and any other T-Girls that would be interested. I wanted to get a glimpse into her life as a cross dresser and what her relationship was with The Attic, but also an understanding of her real self i.e. Graham.

Graham is married to a woman, his 2nd wife, whom I have yet to meet.

My initial idea is to do a series of illustrations of Gillian and another set of Graham, hopefully lifting the veil of this taboo subject.

Photos to follow!