Shoot it, Sketch it: Survivor

Survivor – ink and coloured pencil, 195 x 220 mm, 2013
Survivor – ink and coloured pencil, 195 x 220 mm, 2013
The old cash register – Tauranga, 2013
The old cash register – Tauranga, 2013

We discovered this beautiful antique in an art gallery while we were away on holiday. The till and its owner used to live in Christchurch but moved because of recent events (such as earthquakes) ― the sign says it’s still in good working order!

Dear diary, part nine

Science Fiction stamp design – sketches Visual diary, two-page spread  (student project, 2011)
Science Fiction stamp design – sketches
Visual diary, two-page spread (student project, 2011)
Science Fiction stamp poster (594 x 420 mm) Background stars and planets courtesy of the Internet Student project, 2011
Science Fiction stamp poster (594 x 420 mm)
Stars and planets (background collage) courtesy of the Internet
Student project, 2011

Another one of my favourite designs at college was this stamp poster (and all of the stamps). Below is the text I wrote as part of the project:

Commemorating 50 years of science fiction on television in New Zealand, this collection features illustrations of some of the 1960s most iconic science fiction programmes.

Television arrived in New Zealand homes at a time when great advances were being made in space exploration. The 1960s was a decade obsessed with the “space race” as the Soviet Union and the United States competed to put a man on the moon. These 12 stamps depict television shows that tapped into our fascination with space and space travel. There were tales of friendly aliens living among us and of hostile alien invasions; journeys into our possible future and into the questionable past; galaxies filled with spaceships, robots and strange new worlds.

This post is the last of my Dear diary series… but I think I’ll start blogging about the artwork for these stamps — because stamps are cool : )

The diary pages are from a journal I designed for my Design & Arts College exhibition in 2012. Two years of research, ideas, word maps and sketches had to be reduced to a mere 72 pages. It was no easy task but I now have a beautiful, professionally bound diary that I’ll always treasure.

Dear diary, part seven

‘Stagnant’ billboard design – word map and sketches Visual diary, two-page spread (student project, 2011)
‘Stagnant’ billboard design – word map and sketches
Visual diary, two-page spread (student project, 2011)
‘Stagnant’ billboard design – composition sketches and final illustration Visual diary, two-page spread (student project, 2011)
‘Stagnant’ billboard design – composition sketches and final illustration
Visual diary, two-page spread (student project, 2011)

This was one of my favourite projects at design school: an illustration of flora depicting the word ‘stagnant’ (for a billboard advertising an online dictionary). It had to be linework only (no colour) which meant making the most of tone and texture. My word is deliberately stuck in the mud and claustrophobic. I’m especially fond of the strangler fig around the tree and the tiny mushrooms on the text. The final illustration is a 205 x 405 mm ink drawing and I have no idea how long it took to complete (so please don’t ask) ― the black background alone took about four hours. Madness. Utter madness.

These pages are from the diary I designed for my Design & Arts College exhibition in 2012. Two years of research, ideas, word maps and sketches had to be reduced to a mere 72 pages. It was no easy task but I now have a beautiful, professionally bound journal that I’ll always treasure.