Wednesday 24 August 2011

Still Got Legs

A quick poster design I have been working on for a few days on and off...



For anyone unfamiliar with Chameleon Circuit, they are a band who create songs around Doctor Who. Their latest album; Still Got Legs is available here if you are interested :)

Been fun working on this. I had a load of screen printed textures made that I wanted to scan in from my days at college. Proved to come in handy! I also got hold of some nice recycled paper for the background texture. For a while I relied on found textures from just google images, but after making quite a few posters with similar textures, and wanting them to be printed on increasing sizes of paper, I went ahead and made my own ones. I would recommend gathering your own materials for a design whenever possible.

I was looking around for some new inspiration for this poster design. So I looked towards some more modern influences such as the "Almost There" section of Princess and the Frog, and also towards older poster designers such as Aaron Douglas and other simplistic art deco graphic designers. Its a style I really loved using. Also I seemed to have referenced Douglas in other pieces of work without even knowing it. I have now become a big fan.

You can check this out and "like" it on Tumblr and DeviantART :)

Doctor Who starts again this weekend! So look out for a new poster design for Lets Kill Hitler the week after that :)

-Jonny

Monday 22 August 2011

I Love Richard

This evening the wonderful Ollie Bostock uploaded the final cut of his latest film; I Love Richard. As the synopsis says:

Richard Madeley, the face of primetime television, is about to meet his biggest fan...


It has been Ollie's on and off project for a while. Plus there is a lovely picture he uploaded too showing the final DVD cases for I Love Richard and This Is Ze Suicide. I really enjoyed branding this film over the last few years, developing it and making it feel just right. Will have to take a trip down to York to pick up my copy for the shelf.



-Jonny

EDIT: Ollie made the video private, so you may have to wait a little while to watch it. Or email him asking to take a peek.

Sunday 21 August 2011

Brain Crack and Richard



To the non regular readers of this blog, simply stating "I LOVE RICHARD" over the past few blog posts might seem like I am just a little too into a certain gent. I LOVE RICHARD is a film created by Ollie Bostock which has been in production for a very long time. It has been described by Ollie as being his "project in-between projects" and a lot of love has gone into it. Plus we have also probably got the largest collection of printed pictures of the infamous Richard Madeley.

Ollie popped up to Newcastle this week to finish the last couple of shots ready for his final editing session on it. I put the finishing touches to the DVD cover which is getting printed this week, and gave him the opening titles (above) all ready to burn his DVD's tonight.

We also did some test footage for Johnny Burdock, our story-less film about a 50s detective. Thats pretty much all we had. So we did some effects tests with some footage from town and a shitload of Video Copilot stuff to pad it out. Looks pretty cool so far. Now we know that we can make such effects, we can just steam on with getting the film written, without the fear of technological disadvantage. We want this to be technologically ambitious, while being our most coherent story to date. I'm really looking forward to it.

Last night I got a rather heavy dose of brain crack thanks in part to this website. I then went on a very big design splurge and I have nearly finished my latest poster design which I am keeping a little secret for now. But I am so glad that I have the design of it down, feels like a weight has lifted a little. I almost wanted to stay up all night to complete it and just sack off going to work at all. But bills need paying. One day I will set my own sleep pattern.

It's been a productive week so far I think. Can't wait to see what next week has in store.

-Jonny

Thursday 18 August 2011

A Good Man Goes To War Poster

Last night I burnt through and got the majority of this poster made, accidentally staying up until 4am, and I had to pick my Mum up from the station early(ish) in the morning. Then after a fun packed day of pub lunch's, art galleries and changing her impressions of the Tyneside coast, we headed back to mine for a cup of tea and a film. We watched Rango.

After that I sat down and finished this poster. Finally getting myself all caught up just in time for Let's Kill Hitler next week.



After steering away from the core 3 characters throughout the poster series so far, I thought, as it was the last episode, to go all out and invite them all in for vector-ising. Threw myself in at the deep end with Illustrator know-how and time, but I think it was worth it in the end.

Looking at my store it seems to be 90% Doctor Who posters, with no sign of changing in the near future. I think I may have to start making other ones to make up for the serious amount of over-Who. Harry Potter perhaps? Or even Torchwood, so as to not stray too far away from the convention. I have some other non-pop culture ideas too that may materialise. Only time will tell.

Feels very good to get caught up. I think I'll tidy my desk.

-Jonny

Tuesday 16 August 2011

New Poster! And finally might I add!



Right. Blogging. I can do this still.

Hey again!

First of all, I finally got around to making the 6th poster in the Doctor Who series! check this out!



Its purple.

It has taken far too long to get this out, and I really apologise it has been this long. I've probably explained why it has been so long too many times now that you are sick of hearing. But it had to be done. I'm back on track, and well into getting A Good Man Goes To War done too. Its a corker.

After checking the rest of my previous posts out too, I saw I hadn't posted The Rebel Flesh poster either! How bizarre...



Again, as its a two parter, they look lovely together. You can purchase them from my store as usual.

Other things: I have been working with Ollie of Ollie Bostock to get a few films made/finished, so we can have a clean slate and get on making something brand new:



I Love Richard

This is a film that has been in and out of production for a while. The first generation of this was shown at a small film festival in York. Since then the script and concept has been re-written and the direction has drastically changed, but the concept remained the same: A man who is obsessed with the face of primetime television, Richard Madely. I helped film some cracking scenes and it may be some of my best (and only) camera work so far. Ill provide the link once its online. The poster design has changed a few times over the few years it has been in the making, but this version sums up the film very nicely.



This Is Ze Suicide

The story of Stevie Ze Suicide. A man who was once part of a band called the UK Subs. Now, later in life, he is still playing gigs and following his passion. This documentary shows how Stevie lives his life, preparing for one of his most anticipated gigs. I collaborated with Ollie on the cover design and branding for this film. I decided to give it that washed out look and bled in some pink to match his hair. The result was something that was almost nostalgically retro, quite fitting for the films subject matter. Check out the trailer HERE.

Really excited to get started on some new film/animation work. There are a few ideas up in the air at the moment. As usual I am daunted by the creative freedom of it all. By next year I want another film made. No question.

Big post. Had a lot to talk about I guess! More frequent smaller blog posts might work in my favour in future.

-Jonny