Sample Briefs

Task: The following are examples of ‘live’ student briefs offered by BBC2 via the Young Creatives Network Student Competition (2008). Read the briefs and identify what the client wants and how they will judge what a successful outcome would be. Do these briefs provide all the information you need? If not, what questions would you ask the client? Where would you place these briefs on the open – closed spectrum? Reflect on them in your learning log.

“Briefs can be placed along the spectrum of how open or closed they are to interpretation. Closed briefs tend to have more focused outcomes; they’re more specific in their aims and how you’re expected to achieve them. Open briefs tend to be much looser and less specific, leaving more room for interpretation. Closed briefs can be just as exciting and creative as open briefs; in many ways the limitations that closed briefs give you make being creative much easier because you have something to work against. Open briefs, while seemingly giving you freedom to be creative, can be hard if you’re not used to working in a more self-directed way.”

The sample brief for The Culture Show opening titles is generally informative and helpful for a first introduction to the project; however, there are some questions that come up upon first reading.

The “Introduction” was fairly helpful but since I am not familiar with the show myself, my first instinct was to go to Google and look up what their approach is like in general. Visual aides are much better than a lengthy description. In this case, a simple Web search gives me more than enough of what I need in video format, but if a client does not have an already established product, then I would ask for a packet of images and/or videos in order to be able to imagine what they do without getting wires crossed early in the process.

Most of the key words are synonyms of “inspirational”, “surprising”, “innovative” and “witty/youthful”. The target audience is of culture-loving 25 to 44-year-olds, indicating a relatively wide range of viewers, but not one incorporating young children. This is especially important because the nature of any media changes dramatically when aimed at very young audiences. Generally, the colors, images and music would be much more bombastic and fast-paced. There would be more images of children and/or cartoon characters incorporated into the sequences as well. Another of the key words had been “expert/thought-provoking.” This particular project requires lively visuals for an opening sequence that that could be mistaken for a children’s program. I would ask whether they mean to attract more people from the 25 or the 44 end of their age spectrum. I would change my approach if they mean to attract more college-age people or people who are of a more mature generation. There is a type of outrageous silliness in the visual language of people who grew up with the Internet that would be likely to attract college students but put off people who have had no contact with it.

The “Creative Requirements” section details that the opening sequences would be no longer than 20 seconds, that they should challenge the viewer, and that they should advertise subjects such as “fashion, art, architecture, music, film and TV”. It also says “It’s down to you how you creatively go about this.” This is obviously an indication of a fairly open brief beyond the previously stated limitations and the BBC Producer guidelines which give some restrictions regarding nudity, sex, smoking or drug references.

My first question would be regarding time limitations. When it comes to the production of TV and film things generally need to be finished yesterday. The amount of time that a creative team has to finish the project is crucial in determining direction. If time is no problem, my second question would be whether they would like to use animated or live-action sequences. The production would differ greatly from one to another, especially if there is footage to shoot (or even just a photo shoot). A common approach for opening sequences is using edited footage from the already-shot season or episode of the program combined with graphics and voiceover, but a more daring and creative approach would be using predominantly animated sequences. Again, specific age group would come into play here, but since keywords have predominantly been “youthful” and “daring” I would probably suggest slightly daft-looking animation, much in the style of what educational YouTubers use for their channels. I would refer the commissioning party to channels such as Crash Course, GCP Grey and AsapSCIENCE. For a more sophisticated approach, I would suggest TED-ed as reference.

Another subject to address might be music/sound design. I am not at all an expert, but I would need to know wether they already have a jingle they want us to use or if we need to outsource a sound designer.

After asking these questions, the client and I can have a more in depth back and forth regarding the opening tile sequence for The Culture Show. We would discuss whether they had expectations regarding imagery and color palette, and whether the BBC has other unwritten stipulations regarding content. I would recommend starting out with small story boards as mockups and narrow down the final result from there.

If this were a general project brief, the first reaction upon reading this brief for Orange is that it’s not very helpful beyond knowing that they require something illustrated about communications in the near future and that it’s supposed to be “emotional”. I do not know whether they need the image for their website, a news article, a flyer, or a product. I do not know whether they need more than one image. I do not know much of anything beyond the fact that they seem to want my personal opinion on “communications” and how technology affects people’s feelings regarding “communications”. It’s a very open brief.

“Target audience: Everybody” is also very unhelpful.

Questions I would ask: What is this for? Do you need more than one? How complex an image? Should it be of simple stock characters and mascots on a white background, or do you need something more artistic? Do you actually want my opinion on communications? (They don’t.) What is your actual target audience? Must I use orange? Must I be limited to 3 to 5 years in the future? Can I go with something like 50 or 100 instead? I presume you do plan to be around for that long.

(I would obviously limit the snark when actually addressing them in the hopefully much more professional email.)

An open brief can obviously be lovely, but I would rather have something to latch onto, especially if I am dealing with a large company. My designs are much less likely to be rejected if we actually establish what they want.

However, if this were a hiring brief with the objective of testing my skill and perspective I would treat it differently. The open brief would be perfect because then I would be free to choose my own best niche and run with it. They require my perspective on the future of communications, so I would probably create a short comic or series of sequential illustrations with characters using futuristic technology to communicate. I would probably push the timeline a bit farther into the future in order to make it more fantastical. That is what I usually do in my work, introduce a bit of fantasy. Presentation-wise, I think I would put it on a landing page (an one-page website made for advertising purposes) and make it part of an advertising campaign for new technology.

The Sainbury’s brief is much more closed, and I hardly need to ask a lot of questions. I would perhaps ask them to provide visuals if they had a specific style in mind or if the bags would be seasonal. I would also ask if they would provide me with the branding/logo/fonts or whether they had someone else lined up for that in their production line. I would provide some images of my own work or brand new sketches in the initial email and ask them to choose a style or image that they like and the project would continue from there.

Writing Rationale

Task: Go back to the briefs you read earlier. Think about how you might go about answering one of these briefs. Write a short rationale outlining your intended approach. Use your learning log to reflect on whether you found writing a rationale useful in structuring your creative thinking.

Of the briefs provided, the Sainsbury’s bag designs are the most in line with my skill set. I gave my best guess as to what questions to ask for the other two briefs as well, but the first is not within my wheelhouse (I don’t much deal in video) and the second is a bit vague. I will endeavor to follow my response and process as best as I can using the information available in the above brief for images to print on shopping bags.

I would obviously start by asking the aforementioned questions. (Is there a specific style you would like? Would you like provide a visual reference of said style? Is there a seasonal element? What is your deadline?) I would also ask if they would have a preferred key theme of their business model of the three they suggested “Be the best for food and health”, “Show respect for our environment”, “Source with integrity”), or if they would like me to choose one, or alternatively have a design which can fit any catchphrase. I would also ask if they would like to make a repeating pattern of the image, if the image would be printed on two sides or if they would like the image to extend 360 degrees around the bag. The material of the bag is also relevant. Would it be fabric, thin plastic, paper, or a large, sturdy sort of plastic bag? Or would the design be featured in some form on all of these?

I would also give my financial projection for the project, send a contract and ask for a down payment. If both parties agree to go forward with the project, then I would immediately ask if they have any outright no-goes, which I would obviously avoid from the start. After we have agreed to work together I would do a little more research into the company, their brand and what designs they have used in the past. A brand manual could also be useful if they are willing to provide it.

The brief only requires a single design. In the case that time is not an issue I would probably do the following: Sketch an image which could fit all three phrases (such as green leaves and recycling symbols) and send mock ups with all of the phrases edited in, but I would also send a sketch of a design which would only match one of the phrases (like illustrating people eating for “Be the best for food and health”). They may like a single design with different words for each bag or a design more tailor made to a single phrase.

After that, much would depend on the response of the client. We would continue writing back and forth until the image is satisfactory, but I would rather not change the design more than three times after we move on from the rough sketch phase. If we must, I would simply stipulate that they would need to pay for the extra time.

If they request a design for each phrase, then we would obviously have much more to go through. We would also need more time if they require a more intricate design on both front and back of the bag. The process would lengthen even further if they require different sorts of images for differently shaped bags, or bags of different materials. Still, hopefully the process would not be more than a week. This estimate could change depending on response time on each side as well as aforementioned variables in the process.

Self-directed Projects

English painter, printmaker and illustrator Tom Phillips (b. 1937) set a self-directed project for himself based on his interest in “process, chance, language and the cumulative effects of multiple reworkings”. A Humument (London, 1980) used a Victorian novel, A Human Document by W H Mallock (London, 1892), as a starting point. Phillips isolated phrases or parts of words in the book and then combined them with painted and collage elements to form a new narrative. “Like most projects that end up lasting half a lifetime, this work started out as idle play at the fringe of my work and preoccupations” says Phillips, who worked on the project at various stages from 1966 until the entire book was filled. The completed document can be seen at: http://humument.com/

Find other examples of self-directed projects set by illustrators. What sort of brief did they set themselves?

Self-directed project birefs can range from very clear in terms of subject matter and time constraint to very loose and go-with-the-flow. Art challenges are a good example of strict self-directed projects (Inktober), while passion projects like the aforementioned Hummument are looser because the creative process is not necessarily as constrained by subject or time. Both approaches have differing purposes as well as upsides and downsides. A challenge or a simple self-imposed project brief could either have the purpose of raising one’s skill level or of diversifying artistic approaches and techniques. A longer project like creating a handmade pop-up storybook or redesigning Disney characters every day for a year would be either passion projects and/or dedicated content creation for one’s audience. Every artist engages in these at some point or another. Technically the dream of any artist is to be able to live off of said self-directed projects and many would argue that in the modern era of artistic entrepreneurs and content creators, it is the best way to survive as a creative.

Inktober by Jake Parker

An obvious example of the self-improvement related self-directed project is the Inktober challenge. Jake Parker is a comic book artist, illustrator and animator who first started the challenge because he felt his traditional (rather than digital) inking skills were lackluster, so he challenged himself to make a fully inked illustration every day for the duration of the month of October. He posted his progress online and encouraged others to join him as well, creating wide-spread trend among artists all over the world. And despite some legal squabbles regarding ownership when it comes to the “Inktober” brand and accusations of plagiarism casting a bit of a shadow over the lighthearted nature of the challenge, one can still engage in it and reap a lot of benefit from inking a full illustration daily. In 2016, Parker started posting prompt lists with a word or phrase for each day, but not everyone adheres to them.

The rules of the challenge are simple, but most adjust them to fit their own artistic vision:

1. The drawing must be in ink, preferably of a single color. Though pencil is acceptable for the under-drawing.

2. One must post it and hashtag it “inktober” so that others can see it.

3. The process repeats every day of October.

4. The most important part of the challenge is forming the habit of drawing something finished consistently. So if some people decide to post every other day.

This sort of brief is very useful for focusing on a new skill, or an old one that needs improving. It also helps with improving habits and motivation, especially if more people are involved in it and one can see other people’s progress as well.

Draw 50 Things by Will Terry

Will Terry is an American illustrator and educator. He has illustrated for some of the biggest names in the industry like Penguin and Random House, has done editorial work for the Washington Post, LA Times, Fortune and others, and has done work in advertising for companies like Target, Pepsi, Master Card, etc. He has taught illustration both at UVU in Utah and has is co-founder of SVS learn. He also teaches using his blog, YouTube Channel and his podcast 3 Point Perspective.

In one of his YouTube videos, he introduces an assignment/brief that he used to challenge himself and his students in their ability to illustrate a complex, crowded scene. As a young student, he had found it difficult to create complex compositions from imagination and had resorted to tracing for his projects, which he resented because others in his class seemed able to work out how to draw their scenes and characters from imagination. As a teacher, he wanted to be able to break down the process for others so that they would struggle less, especially since he felt those were exactly the sorts of images he would receive as commissions.

He challenged himself, and then his students to draw an image with at least fifty different things (not counting things like walls and windows and repeating objects). The objective is to create believable images with a focal point and good composition, regardless of the multitude of objects. The image he created has 116 objects in it in order to prove the point that it is possible to create a good image despite the clutter. The most important part of the challenge is shaping a good, clear design while incorporating a large number of objects.

Angelarium by Peter Mohrbacher

Peter Mohrbacher is an illustrator and concept artist. He mostly illustrates for Magic the Gathering and for his own project, Angelarium. The concept behind the project is simple: designing and illustrating angels. He says:

“It was the names that got me inspired.

Back in 2005, I discovered that there were thousands of named angels throughout multiple mythologies. I’ve been hooked ever since and Angelarium has been a part of my life every single day. Even when I’m not paying attention to it, it’s gone out on the internet and had a life of its own. The name of the project has come to define the idea of surreal angelic figures and the fan base around it has inspired me to continue to create new designs for it.”

Artistically, both the style and the presentation of the project is in similar to Magic the Gathering media. Each image is accompanied by a poem and/or a few lines on the character’s lore, as the artist sees it. The designs themselves range from fairly standard humanoid concept art to Lovecraftian space creatures more in line with the book of Ezekiel than a Nativity play.

The self-directed brief would seem restrained if there weren’t quite so many types of angelic creatures in religious and folkloric/mythological literature. He does not keep strictly to a canonical lore from a particular religion or story. Also, many of the angels and beings are of his own creation, as far as I can tell. Mohrbacher keeps the brief loose by not adhering to a certain canon and freely plays around with the concepts around more well-known angels such as Gabriel, Uriel, and Azrael. The loose approach allows him to keep adding to the roster without boxing himself in. The upside of choosing this subject matter and keeping it loose is that angels have always been a subject of interest and he is unlikely to run out of an audience. The downside is that he risks repetitiveness. This is evident in some of his designs as there is only so far one can go with a composition featuring a single character, no matter how varied the interpretations of creature design can be.

Working Process

Task: Different illustrators work in different ways. Many of the elements of your creative working process will be similar to what we’ve outlined, but there may be variations, different emphasis in different places, areas that need development or particular strengths. Reflect on the projects you’ve been involved with up to this point.
How would you describe your creative working process?
What stages do you go through? How do you undertake research?
How and when do you critique your work and what questions do you ask yourself?
How do you manage your time?
Where are the sticking points?
What do you think are your strengths and where do you need to develop further?
What’s the process of finishing your work?
Write a short outline of your working process. Include flow diagrams if it helps describe how you work. Be as honest as you can about how you actually undertake project work. Reflect on your relationship to ‘finishing’ your artwork in your learning log. Is this an area you struggle with? Identify how you might get around this issue.

My general process is fairly straightforward: Planning, Brainstorming/Researching, Sketching, Drawing, and Editing. Complexity will obviously depend on the brief. The process will also change dramatically if I am working for myself or if I am working with a client. It also changes if the client is a company or a person.

1. Planning

Before starting the creative process, the brief must be clarified. If I am working on my own, then I clarify what I want from the project and make some notes to remind myself. If there is a client involved, then we would work together until we both understand what they want from the project. During this process we also establish contracts and payment.

2. Brainstorming/Researching

This is the stage that only I see. It is made up mostly of chaotic notes and doodles and a small hoard of photographs collected in a digital folder or Pinterest board. I select key words and phrases from the notes I took on the brief or from the text I am working with and I create preliminary sketches of the raw ideas that come to mind. Then I do a bit of research on the subject matter and on other art and artists who have addressed the subject. I always brainstorm with pen on paper and gather images digitally, whether from simple Google searches, Pinterest, Instagram or any other social media.

If I have a client who requires that I adhere to a certain brand, then I ask them to give me some sort of guidebook. If they are still a company but don’t have anything of the sort, I simply ask them questions until I know what their general approach is and what the impression that they want their clients to have of their company is. I would research their industry a little so that what I create is in harmony with what they sell.

This is where most of the questions are asked: What is it? Does it have a functional element? What are the key concepts? What style would be best suited? What medium? What colors? What is the feeling it is supposed to evoke? Who is it for? Etc. The mood-board and one or two sketches will usually define the rest of the project. This is the stage where anything goes and the wackiest ideas are filtered through. I almost never settle on the first ideas put down, but there are usually elements that carry over to the final product, whether they be a certain composition, character, or color scheme. This stage does not take long at all usually. The ideas come and go quickly and most of the actual experimentation is done in the next stage.

3. Sketching

Once most of my ideas have been put to paper in either words or doodles, I start making some sketches that actually resemble a coherent image. If I have a client, these are the first sketches they see. I usually filter through several before I like one myself. I often prefer to sketch on paper, but it usually depends on the project and my own mood.

This is the stage where I prefer to resolve most of the back and forth with the client because it’s a lot easier to adjust a sketch than it is to adjust a finished piece, even if it is done digitally.

4. Drawing

Using both the sketches and the research I create the first proper drawing. Even though it does change over the course of the first drawing process, having up to five iterations until I have a composition I find satisfactory, the elements remain fixed. The most important problems should have gotten resolved in the previous two stages.

I usually do this digitally because it is easier to move around the elements of the image. This is the stage where the most thinking needs to be done regarding composition, focal point, shading, anatomy, and more generally, design. The final result of this stage is a finished drawing with established values and containing most of the details of the final piece. Unfortunately, this is also the stage where I abandon a lot of pieces, usually out of sheer frustration. Alternatively, this is the part that gets rushed, resulting in a sub-par foundation for the complete piece. This is also the bit where my time management is the worst, I sometimes dwell on a drawing for so long finishing it does not feel worth it at all.

If I feel the project needs to go in a different direction, it’s at this point that I abandon the first one and engage in experimentation. This could happen if I feel the previous technique does not fit the subject matter, if I ask someone their opinion and realize that the image might not read the same way to other people as it does to me or if I want to change the medium completely. If I am working with a client this is the last stage where they can make any major changes at all. Any of this happening obviously lengthens the timeline for the project, so I usually avoid it.

5. Finalizing

After the images have been polished in concept and composition (and color palette, if the images are in color at all) I will either finish the image on a large piece of my good paper, usually in ink and watercolor, or I will continue with the digital medium (Photoshop). This is usually the inking and coloring stage, though it can differ if I use another medium, like acrylic or oil. This is the stage that takes the longest in terms of time, but the actual hard work had mostly been done in the previous stage. One could almost consider this the “color by numbers stage”.

There are always finishing touches to be made, done after I have slept on the design for a bit. I usually need make corrections and be sure that the image contrast is good (I have a tendency to use too little contrast in my work). If the image is a part of a set, then there might be things I could do that help with cohesion though the most important things for cohesion would have been considered in the first stages.

6. Editing

If the image is finished traditionally, but I need it in a digital context, the image would be scanned/photographed and then edited into wherever it needs to go. If the images belong together in some way or if there is any text then the process would continue according to the needs of the project. If the image or images need to be passed down to someone else, then I do so with the client’s blessing.

Tools/Resources

Preferred tools: Graphite pencils, inks (black and colored), watercolors, gouache, fine liners, dip pens, Photoshop, phone camera for gathering images.

Resources: Image search using Google, Pinterest and various social media, multiple art books and magazines for inspiration and guidance regarding technical aspects, my own library of photographs, and the many ways one can access knowledge using the Internet.

Difficulties

I have a difficult relationship with “finished” work. As stated previously, if I abandon a project it is usually in the drawing stage, when I have to make the more technical decisions and the original concept loses its luster. When I do take the project beyond that point, I tend to finish it and either be fairly pleased with the result if the drawing process was not rushed or I would feel that the entire thing was a waste of time if the drawing process was rushed. The simple solution to this problem is probably just taking my time and not getting impatient with myself just because I don’t yet think the image is up to my standards. And even if the image really isn’t up to my standards, I should not expect every single one of the things I make to be perfect. Easier said than done, however.

Time management is also a big problem. I have a terrible tendency to underestimate the time I need for projects and to not make accurate (if any) predictions in the planning stage regarding time. I need to be much stricter about the way I approach my work in terms of time management. I like to do good, quality work, but if it is not finished then nothing I ever do will see the light of day.

Working with a Client

Task: Find out about copyright laws in your country. What do you need to know?
How much would you charge a client for your time? Think about how you go about working this out. You may want to research into what other illustrators charge for their work.

Copyright can be defined literally as “the right to copy”, but it is technically a protection for the author of a work in regards to the ownership and reputation of said work.

The author is the person who has copyright to a work, and the author is credited as the person who creates said work. Copyright is assumed even without the creation of an official document, formality or even without the copyright symbol, though an official document can provide an additional layer of protection. Registering the work at the Romanian Copyright Office would provide definitive evidence regarding authorship (providing it is the author who registered it) and would make any challenge of said authorship much easier to oppose. EU and Romanian copyright law recognizes two types of rights: moral and patrimonial.

Moral rights, which protect the reputation of the author include: right of disclosure; right of recognition of authorship; right to decide whether or not the work would be disclosed to the public; right to demand respect for the integrity of the work and to fight any corruption of the work; right to withdraw the work.

Patrimonial rights include: right of distribution; right of import of copies made with the author’s consent and commercialization on the internal market; right to lend or lease; right to communicate the work to the public; right to broadcast the work; resale right (the author is entitled to a percentage of the price).

These rights infer that the author has the right to oppose any who would infringe on the work in a moral, patrimonial and economic sense. Most countries subscribe to a life-plus-seventy duration of copyright protection. That is, the work is under copyright protection for seventy years after the death of the author. The only exception to this is Canada, which has a fifty year long duration after the death of the author, as is the bare minimum according to the Berne Convention.

In terms of fair use, as long as the work is transformative (it changes the original copyrighted material so as to be totally unique) it is usually fair, especially if one does not use too much of the original content and if the new work does not infringe on the original material’s place on the market.

Fees on the market tend to vary greatly depending on the type of product, the complexity of the product, the time and resources required to create the product and the level of personalization/uniqueness of the product. Prices also vary according to location and obviously the creator. An artist/designer/illustrator with more prestige will always “afford” to charge more. Some illustrators will opt to charge based on hourly rates and others will opt to charge by project.

Naturally, opinions also vary when it comes to what one must charge. According to Thervo, a service dedicated to intermediating between professionals and clients, illustration rates range between $90-$450 per illustration and $25-$100 per hour. A logo can cost between $200-$1000, a newsletter design begins at $1000, a corporate package starts at $250, and promotional illustrations start at $1500, not counting cost of revisions.

According to freelancerclub.net, hourly illustrator rates usually stand at £30. Regarding licensing they say: “Percentage rates are usually 5 -10% of the retail price or 15 – 20% of the wholesale price but are subject to agreement by the artist.”

The most interesting point about how to price one’s work is in an article by Neil Swaab at businessofillustration.com. He says: “The key thing to understand when pricing illustration work is that it’s not a service like painting a house or selling a widget. Illustration is all about rights and usages. What you’re trading isn’t actually your art, but the rights to reproduce it in various formats and media. As such, the more rights and usages a client wants, the more money your illustration is worth. I like to think of this as a direct correlation between eyeballs and dollars: the more eyeballs that could be potentially exposed to the work, the greater the dollar figure should be.”

The more exposure an illustration gets, the more one can ask for it. If it is on the front cover of a magazine, then it will be more expensive than the illustration on page 12. If the book is likely to sell in the thousands rather than the hundreds, then it is more expensive. If the illustration’s life is longer e.g. if it’s printed in a book rather than a magazine, then it is more expensive. If the illustration will be seen worldwide rather than locally, it is more expensive. If it is on the top and front page of a website rather than the bottom then it is more expensive, and so on.

He also brings up exclusivity. A more exclusivity a client wants, the more one can charge. If the client also wants additional rights of use for the piece, then the illustrator can consider charging more for the lost income in royalties. If an illustrator enters a Work for Hire agreement, they can also consider charging more, because they again loose rights to the piece. When considering working hours, he reminds to also charge for consultations, meetings, calls, etc.

Regarding royalties, which are not entirely ubiquitous, he recommends requesting as high a rate as possible, but to consider if one would ever see a cent of them. If the client is reputable and established, an illustrator may opt for higher royalties and less upfront payment, but if the client is not as likely to be successful, the artist may consider taking less in royalties and more in upfront payment.

Swaab says that when one sets out to settle on pricing, there are two methods: Pricing according to standard client fees and coming up with one’s own pricing. Adjusting according to what already established companies already pay is natural and requires much less thought, while coming up with prices can be a bit of a doozy. The best thing one can do is ask about what the client’s budget is and go from there.

Presenting Yourself

Reflect on the work you have produced so far on this course. Pick out a range of pieces that best express who you are as an illustrator and which show off your image-making strengths. These could be finished assignments, exercises or ideas that have developed out of your sketchbooks. Find a suitable way to present this body of work as a portfolio. Think about how you’ll describe these pieces of work. What would you say about them if asked?

I am first and foremost a storyteller. All of my work focuses on this, no matter the project. I especially enjoy illustrating fantastical, imaginative characters and situations. I am proficient in multiple mediums including watercolor, ink, gouache and digital programs such as Photoshop.

Sequential Storytelling/Comics

You are Here and The Masque of the Red Death are good examples of how I like to illustrate stories. I don’t rely on words very much and when I do I like to include them in interesting and dynamic ways as part of the image itself. My style is generally fairly sweet atmospherically (like You are Here), but I do enjoy leaning towards the darker elements of stories like Poe’s Red Death.

“You are Here” is a short story told in images. There is exactly one line of text, but it is just as much part of the image as the characters are. It was accomplished by drawing in ink and gouache, then building on the drawings in Photoshop.

The Masque story is much condensed, but still effective visually. I used color and striking imagery to drive the central point home. The text is lifted from Poe’s original one, though it is edited to fit the comic book format. The work is entirely digital, though I did try to create a gouache-like impression.

Sketches

My most frequently used materials are pencil and ink (both pens and India ink), this can be best seen in my sketches and more casual drawings. Etchings and ink drawing by masters such as Durer, Dore, Franklin Booth, and Van Gogh inspire me greatly in terms of line illustration and draughtsmanship.

Subjects which I default to are generally fantasy creatures, portraits and storybook scenes.

Object Design

The vase below is a perfect example of how I love to bring storytelling into every project. The design could have been a simple Hellenic inspired design with the traditional motifs, but I instead studied the motifs and translated them into a modern scene. Instead of people carrying pots or singing in their home, they are playing videogames and working on a laptop.

Satire/Caricature

Satire and caricature are simply the condensation of a face, subject or story to its base elements and their subsequent amplification in order to prove a point. It requires a great deal of paying attention to what a situation or person is saying and what is subtext. I personally try to bring a grounded perspective to the table, all done in good humor and just a little whimsy.

Book Binding

Book binding was a bit of a surprise, among skills I thought to acquire. It’s not prolific, as it takes a long time, and I cannot really make one book exactly like another. It’s not how I approach art. This makes each book unique onto itself. I have mostly used the bookbinding for sketchbooks, but below is an example of a tiny pocketbook of fantastical creatures entirely designed, written and bound by my own hand.

Whatever the brief, I enjoy including a bit of magic or a bit of dreaming. Anything that would introduce joy to the mundane. The stories we surround ourselves with tell tales about how we see the world and ourselves, and I hope that my artsy nuggets reflect just a little bit of something more into the world. Even if it’s just a drawing of a canary in a fancy hat or a bridge troll writing poetry.