"Too Heavy for Cherubs"

I decided that I wanted to have a go at illustrating a song because music is such an important part of my life.

I chose to use Cage's "Too Heavy for Cherubs" because I like the song, but also because I felt that it lent itself particularly well to being illustrated.

As this was only a 2 week project I knew I didn't have time to fully portray the whole song, and so picked out just one section that I could envisage strong images for.

I made a conscious decision to not show any faces in the images. I thought that leaving the abusive father figure faceless added to the fear of the unknown. By leaving the protagonist a mystery, whilst having all the scenes shown from his perspective, it would make him seem more accessible and provoke empathy from the viewer.

I used black pen and ink and markers, and set the pictures out in a comic book style in order to make sure the narrative was shown in order.

A Journey

For this project I had to create a narrative without the use of text or figures.

I decided to focus on the relationship between childhood memories and my current perceptions.

I went to Islington in London (a place where I spent every weekend for about 3 years of my youth), to see how much the area had changed. I made a book with linked images that could be unfolded to create one long journey, combining the idealised impressions of my boyhood, with the reality I witnessed more recently.

To contrast with the harsh pen and ink outlines, I used bright watercolours to create a dreamy, child-like atmosphere to the images.

Below are the first few pages of the finished book.

Brand Identification

The below image is one of a series that I completed during my Graphic Communications course. The brief was to create a set of images that advertised a certain (real or imagined) clothing brand.

I chose to create images for marketing posters, for an imagined streetwear label. I wanted my images to be bold, bright and eye-catching, to appeal to as many prospective customers as possible, but without compromising the integrity and ethos of the company.

I combined hand drawn images of figures in the garments with parts of photographs I took of skyscrapers, other modern city buildings and cranes.

Each image I produced used just one bright colour, to highlight certain aspects of the picture. The colour was also used to tie in the drawn parts to the photographs and give a sense of the link between the garments and the urban environment.

Fineliner Faces

I enjoy sketching portraits. Generally I have used friends/family as inspiration, but have also drawn some from imagination.

My preferred medium is fineliner with colour markers. Sometimes I will scan in the original sketches in order to manipulate the colours and play with various filters.

Below is a small sample of my collection, which dates back to 2008.