Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Know Your Herbs: Unfolding the Illustrated Decorative Poster ?

Posted by MrHass

Know Your Herbs: Unfolding the Illustrated Decorative Poster ?

(2022) Personal work 

Originally intended for outdoor publicity, the decorative poster soon began to appear in people’s homes and offices. Dating back to the beginnings of the modern commercial poster, this deliberate repurposing for interior decor has been with us ever since.

Recognising there was a willingness to display them inside the home, commercial poster pioneer Jules Cheret (1836–1932) prepared runs of ‘avant la littre’ proofs; artwork without lettering. Cheret was a trained lithographer able to paint directly to each of the stone plates that offset colour to the paper. Astutely, he chose to keep the typographic layer separate. Without the commercial text that deterred bygone poster collectors, art proofs became collectible items. Before long they were hung alongside paintings and engravings in the study, drawing room or dining room. Value was rightly attributed to illustrated decorative posters as artistic works in their own right. This would soon lead to exhibitions and magazines dedicated to these accessible lithographic prints.

Commercial art forked in the 1960s, due to which fewer commercial posters were undertaken by illustrators, as the explicitness of graphic design would prove more apt in meeting advertising needs. Whereas the particular style offered by an illustrator was their stock-in-trade, graphic design provided anonymous messaging made for commercial effectiveness. With time studio hierarchisation saw illustrators becoming widely regarded as outside freelancers. Now, more often than not, they are hired to lend their style to project responses that have already been conceived.

Crafted by Hand

As many contemporary designers and collectors look toward works from the past, a renewed appreciation has arisen for the integrated visuals made by commercial artists. To clarify, these are works that predate desktop publishing, and needed to be crafted manually. Specific instruction was also given as to how reproduction ought to be carried out. This expansive role of the bygone designer often meant suggesting what written copy might accompany the image. This is exemplified by the characterful posters of the late Milton Glaser (1929–2020). Commercial posters of the past did not emerge from an agency pipeline, but from the relationship between commercial artist and the client.

#artprint #portraiture #poster #typography

Hand Drawn Illustration

#conceptual #communication #postdigital #illustration #visualculture #digitalart #handdrawn #artwork 2018–2022 MrHass. © All rights reserved. WordPress CMS. Sunday December 04th 2022.

Leftclick: Visual Communication for the Online World ?‍?

Posted by MrHass
Emerging from the words ‘LEFTCLICK’, a spectacled character with a back-turned cap holds up a giant computer pointer between his thumb and index finger.

Leftclick: Illustrated Visual Communication for the Online World ?‍?

(2022) Personal work

As a means of conveying messages and ideas, illustration has long been central to visual communication. At the turn of the c. 20th, the surge in American and European print-based publishing incubated what became commercial illustration. Today however, the primary medium in which illustrated works exist is not one of mechanical reproduction, but rather the various interfaces of the mediasphere.

When online, images exist as data, irrespective of how they were created. The desktop monitors that display images have, since 2008, been joined by the touchscreens of mobile devices. As a result we are continuously surrounded by web images. Without the inherent stability of print, artwork now dwells in a medium where scale and dimensions are subject to flux. In addition, the ever-wider adoption of broadband has made possible the use of motion in otherwise static illustrated images. As the internet has matured into what many call web2, the place where many first encounter images is not at the url where they are published. Instead, the initial contact with images happens on search engine result pages, and the scrolling feeds of social networks.

Digital Symbols

In 2022 global internet usage stands at around two thirds of the world’s population. To navigate web2 presumes user familiarity with digital symbols. Many of these are provided freely by Google, and are considered a standard convention for desktop and mobile use. The global community recognises these recurring internet symbols and can infer what is meant when they appear in software interfaces. Given our growing fluency with digital symbols, it is clear why they appear in illustrated content, particularly digital product illustration which can be seen on user-facing apps and websites. By definition, illustration must communicate something particular, and these symbols are a way to speak in the language of today’s internet. Historically, changes in print reproduction have affected the commercial art field. Similarly, the evolving web is almost certain to influence the production of illustrated images, and how onlookers interact with visual works.

#characterart #figuredrawing #typography

Hand Drawn Illustration

#conceptual #communication #postdigital #illustration #visualculture #digitalart #handdrawn #artwork 2018–2022 MrHass. © All rights reserved. WordPress CMS. Sunday December 04th 2022.

Hear and Now: Charting the Event Poster ?‍?

Posted by MrHass
With an oboe held diagonally across her body, a young girl in a long red dress is poised to play.

Hear and Now: Charting the Event Poster ?‍?

(2022) Personal work 

The need to publicise cultural events has long given call for the event poster. Many of the most revered posters have been created for this reason. Commercial artists were tasked with making the onlooker aware of what shall soon be taking place. Bearing on the way posters looked was not only the knowhow of the hired artists, but also the societal milieu where their work would be seen. And though posters did not command the same prestige afforded to painterly art, when advertisers realised the potential of the poster, a reliable market for artists did emerge.

Still Recognisable

Since the dawn of the modern illustrated poster there have been countless depictions of young women. Among the early entrants are those in the works of Jules Cheret, who harnessed the opportunities brought forth by colour lithography. Similar contributions were made by Alphons Mucha, and Adolfo Hohenstein. In the early 20th century poster design became less ornate, affecting both image and typography. Many norms of contemporary posters can be traced back to works belonging to this period. Today there is broad agreement that images ought to be legible at a glance, with ample ‘air’ for all the visual elements to breath. This is exemplified by the Sachplakat of Lucian Bernhard. To the same end, typography that leaves no room for ambiguity is advantageous.

Advertisers recognised the value that event posters brought to publicising performances of theatre, cabaret, opera, film screenings, exhibitions, live music, and festivals. This, along with the promotion of purchasable goods and services, formed a lucrative market for many poster illustrators. Those most successful images were not made to be studied, but rather were eye-catching and persuasive. These visual works appeared on morris columns and alongside walkways in major cities worldwide. Posters later fell under the remit of advertising agencies, where they were considered a part of larger marketing campaigns. Graphic design and photographic realism would soon usurp the position held by the illustrated poster within the printed commercial sphere, a medium which would later be dwarfed by the internet. Any illustrated festival poster is now obliged to exist in print alongside visuals optimised for mobile screens.

#characterart #figuredrawing #poster #typography

Hand Drawn Illustration

#conceptual #communication #postdigital #illustration #visualculture #digitalart #handdrawn #artwork 2018–2022 MrHass. © All rights reserved. WordPress CMS. Sunday December 04th 2022.

Workspace: The Arc of Digital Drawing ✍️ 

Posted by MrHass
Armed with a red chisel-tip marker, a young girl lays down a heavy stroke.

Workspace: The Arc of Digital Drawing ✍️

(2022) Personal work 

Though traditional drawing techniques are far from obsolete, digital drawing has seen a marked rise in the last decade. Aside from spurring the demand for software, this is contributing to the market growth of Digital Drawing Tablets. Standing at over 710 million USD globally in 2021, the market value is predicted to rise at a compound annual rate of over 7.5% going into 2028. While global growth is also forecast for the traditional art supplies market, those who draw digitally need not be overly concerned with physical supplies. This shift in approach is widely accepted as part of contemporary illustration.

Absent Matter

With physical media, visual textures often reveal how an image is made and reproduced. Roy Lichtenstein foregrounded this in his Ben Day paintings. Working digitally, a draftsman can make images that are void of textures, or emulate the concrete traits that are otherwise absent. What is more, digital methods have replaced physical originals with files that can be edited ad infinitum. This is a marked advantage whenever commercial assignments are subject to review.

Digital drawing replicates mark-making by way of software algorithms. To paraphrase digital culture theorist, Lev Manovich, the simulation of a medium means to simulate its tools and interfaces. As more than one medium is present in user software, the affordances of digital workspaces expand what draftsmen can do. This industry-standard software is available to professional and amateur users alike. This has removed a major barrier to entry in a global workforce that is being flattened by access to broadband.

In spite of this transition, what have remained consistent are the competences that predict a successful drawing, which can be applied to paper or digital. When depicting pictorial subjects, a draftsman’s technique bears upon the fundamentals of volume, composition, light, and colour, to mention a few. The means chosen to prepare images are, in essence, part of the cumulative know-how of a draftsman’s repertoire.

#characterart #coverart #figuredrawing #typography

Hand Drawn Illustration

#conceptual #communication #postdigital #illustration #visualculture #digitalart #handdrawn #artwork 2018–2022 MrHass. © All rights reserved. WordPress CMS. Sunday December 04th 2022.

Treehouse

Posted by MrHass
A smiling tree with wooden birdhouses gains the attention of two sparrows.

Treehouse

(2022) Private commission

Something that might belong in a children’s book. As is often the case with my images, there is a visible interplay between design and drawing.

#anthropomorphism #artprint

Hand Drawn Illustration

#conceptual #communication #postdigital #illustration #visualculture #digitalart #handdrawn #artwork 2018–2022 MrHass. © All rights reserved. WordPress CMS. Sunday December 04th 2022.

Millie Crayon: The Changing Role of Character Design ?

Posted by MrHass
With crayons in hand, a young girl uses an upright easel and canvas to draw a large picture of herself.

Millie Crayon: The Changing Role of Character Design ?

(2021) Personal work  

At its core, character design is the authoring of invented characters. Due to this, anthropomorphism often features in the these creations, and a review of the contemporary field uncovers several meaningful uses.

It is helpful to note the distinction between characters which are narrative, and those which are not. For instance, we come to know the former through exposition, as with sequential art and animated cartoons. Story-telling requires characters, and our knowledge of narrative characters is aided with biographic insights.

Enter the Mascot

Mascots generally avoid the exposition that comes with storytelling. Above all, they can represent any organised group, from a sports team to a student club. Many corporations use mascots as spokespeople for their consumer products. What is crucial is that a mascot is made to be recognised and understood at a single glance, without need for a shared language or enculturation. Since they emerged, it was evident to marketers what potential lay in mascots, which could appear in various media, and in spaces where advertising was not permitted.

Post Digital Characters

The affordances of the internet have proven to be fertile ground for pictorial characters. These web-native characters have much in common with mascots, eschewing narratives in favour of embodying ideas and values. Having emerged before the mobile web, these characters would later transition into becoming collectible vinyl toys. Today’s character designers increasingly explore techniques that place them in the physical world, thereby ensuring the stability that is inherently absent from the internet.

Character Design Within Personal Worlds

Further to how a character appears, illustrators may create the space they occupy, thereby staging where events might unfold. This correlates with what the screenwriter Bob Foss has termed the plane of events; the imagined setting where characters dwell. Illustrators have been known to craft personal worlds which are revisited whenever needed, and can be realised in different media. Character design and the expansion of a personal world can certainly have far-reaching implications for independent entrepreneurship and merchandising.

Emerging Web Trends

Further to characters being visible on websites, today’s social web and cellular MMS have given rise to memojis and messaging stickers. These can be potent marketing tools, and are driving interest in character design. In addition, 2021 saw the demand for PFP NFTs reach new highs, placing digital collectibles in the limelight, and bringing the value of character design into ever-clearer focus.

#artprint #characterdesign #figuredrawing

Hand Drawn Illustration

#conceptual #communication #postdigital #illustration #visualculture #digitalart #handdrawn #artwork 2018–2022 MrHass. © All rights reserved. WordPress CMS. Sunday December 04th 2022.

Extra Salty

Posted by MrHass
A giant fish is cradled by an astonished fisherman.

Extra Salty

(2021) Personal work [self-directed learning] 

A tribute to fishing, which in spite of being a tiny part of the UK economy, came to dominate the Brexit debate.

#figuredrawing #typography

Hand Drawn Illustration

#conceptual #communication #postdigital #illustration #visualculture #digitalart #handdrawn #artwork 2018–2022 MrHass. © All rights reserved. WordPress CMS. Sunday December 04th 2022.

Pendulum

Posted by MrHass
  • Entwined in its chain, of a pocket watch is swung by a shadowy figure.

Pendulum

(2021) Personal work [self-directed learning] 

A concept that reimagines what is meant by ‘the hands of time’.

#artprint #figuredrawing

Hand Drawn Illustration

#conceptual #communication #postdigital #illustration #visualculture #digitalart #handdrawn #artwork 2018–2022 MrHass. © All rights reserved. WordPress CMS. Sunday December 04th 2022.

Flourish

Posted by MrHass
  • As a red pencil is turned within a green sharpener, its shavings curl in the shape of a flower head.

Flourish

(2021) Personal work [self-directed learning] 

By riffing on the similarity between pencil shavings and carnation petals, a visual composition flourishes.

#analogy #artprint

Hand Drawn Illustration

#conceptual #communication #postdigital #illustration #visualculture #digitalart #handdrawn #artwork 2018–2022 MrHass. © All rights reserved. WordPress CMS. Sunday December 04th 2022.

Home Grown

Posted by MrHass
  • A man adds to the foliage of his indoor plant stand.

Home Grown

(2021) Personal work [self-directed learning] 

After years of stagnation, there has been a revival in the market for houseplants, a trend which many attribute to the health and wellness mindset. In a postdigital world, indoor plants offer a tangible way to connect with nature.

#artprint #figuredrawing

Hand Drawn Illustration

#conceptual #communication #postdigital #illustration #visualculture #digitalart #handdrawn #artwork 2018–2022 MrHass. © All rights reserved. WordPress CMS. Sunday December 04th 2022.