Categorizing context book

Title: CHARACTER BASED ILLUSTRATION WITHIN COMMERCIAL USE.

Background
-Key influences & interests

What is character design?
-Dictionary Definition


Characters

Interviews
-Tad Carpenter
-Adrian Johnson
-Bubi Au Yeung
-64 Colours
-Jeremyville
-TADO
-Noferin
-Peskimo
-imakethings
-Jon Burgerman
-Pete Fowler

Magazine
-Tad Carpenter
-

Newspaper

Advertising
-TADO

Surface patterns
-imakethings

Skateboards
-Jeremyville

TOYS
-Vinyl
-DIY
-Paper
-Wooden

I make things - interview

Who is Andrew Groves?

He is an illustrator, maker of things and inventor of creatures and beasts.

Please describe your work in three, two syllable words

Super magic creatures.

What should we know about you that you normally try to keep a secret? ;) This is a bare all interview after all! Nudity not required.

My secret is I don't have any secrets.

How did you get to be the IMAKETHINGS that we know today? Was this even where you wanted to be or were the Ninja and Stuntman positions all taken?

I'm actually currently working as a Ninja and Stuntman as well as being an illustrator. The Stuntman position pays the best but illustration allows me greater freedom of expression.

The serious question: What’s your ideal job? Style, client, output etc.

Well, I've worked on quite a few skateboards which used to be my ideal job, but now I'd really like to work on some snowboard graphics. Anyone?

If you were a manufacturer of car which manufacturer would you be? – Question not taken from the serious book of interview questions, but quite revealing all the same!

Probably Honda.

The creative industry in 2010, discuss.

Hmmm. Tough question. I imagine it's not going to be all that different from how it is now, although hopefully with an increase in creative opportunities as the economy improves. Who can say though - I try and just keep focused on the present. Live in the now!

Where is Andrew Groves going to be in four years, three months and six days?

He's going to be living in a cabin in a forest, still drawing and making things.

NewSugar showcases a lot of new talent and we get a lot of one question in particular from artists just starting out. Maybe you can help answer this question. What are your top three tips for success?

Ok, well I'm not sure I'm the best person to ask, but these are the things I feel like I should say:

Write a list of all the people you want to work for and then contact them; most won't reply, but if you're lucky a few will and you'll get some great projects to work on.
Get a nice website and keep it regularly updated.
Develop a style that is obviously yours and stick with it.

Interview: newsugar magazine

Wringley's Chewing gum Ad

I love these characters in this new wringley's advert, brilliant concept, brilliant characters, especially that onion.

Pete Fowler Interview

Interview
British-born creative Pete Fowler has been a pioneer in the field of toy design with his playful take on the possibility of accepting a world with monsters. His career spans over a decade of unique work for the likes of Super Furry Animals to Kia cars. He gave UKAdapta an exclusive peek into the world of Monsterism with a visit to the headquarters, located on a little island….

- Tell us about yourself as an artist and your role within the company Playbeast.

P: My name is Pete Fowler, I am an artist, illustrator and toy designer and I work in a variety of mediums, for example toys, which I do with my company Playbeast, which is based in the UK. We set that up about 5 years ago to produce my own toys, after I had finished working with Sony in Japan.

- Tell us about your work/concepts, both as Director of Playbeast as well as your own personal work.

P: I guess my work comes from the world of monsters, the supernatural, myths and odd characters. I created this world called Monsterism where all these creatures I created exist and interact with each other. This is something that has been going on for a number of years and I also have my commercial-side of work, like projects for Kia cars and right now, I’m working on a project for a French power company. Some of the commercial projects I do, feed off the Monsterism thing a little bit. For example the characters I created for the car ads were quite monster-based and I guess this helps to keep my work fairly recognizable; so these two things run alongside each other. Every little project helps to feed into a part of the Monsterism world, kind of like fitting parts into a puzzle.

- Why have you decided to create a world?

P: It started when I was doing a lot of editorial work for GQ magazine in London. I was doing a lot of figurative work and had a brief for each project which I had to stick to. With a world concept, you can choose to make anything you want as there are no rules. I had some characters that I wanted to develop and came up with an environment for them all to inhabit. It also gave me a chance to really get into a project that could be developed over time and continue to grow and evolve.

- Where else do you draw your influences from?

P: From supernatural and scary stuff like the Yeti, ghosts, Loch Ness Monster, UFO’s and giant snakes. When I was young, they seemed so real and it really caught my imagination. British comics, now sadly a dying industry was also an influence as well as collecting a lot of music.

- You released a CD a couple years ago as part of the Monsterism world, any plans for a second one?

P: Yeah, I released that compliation album, entitled “Sounds of Monsterism Island” under Heavenly Records, to try and create a soundtrack for the monsters inhabiting the island. I have a big record collection and am a huge fan of music and it’s definitely been a source of inspiration for a lot of my own work; it can affect your mood in different ways and I quite often feed from that. The album varied from Psychedelic Rock, to Exotica to early electronic stuff and we plan to release the second compilation this year. This time, the style of the album will be based around “Library Music”, which is a style of music which is created by top session musicians.

The music that they made was sold for television and for films, so as a film maker, with not much of a budget for an original film score, you could buy these ready-made tunes from Library record labels. I’ve compiled about thirty tracks that I think fit with Monsterism, so the music tends to be slightly surreal, psychedelic and weird. These tracks were then given to some other musicians that I like, who have written a new track inspired by the Library music!

- What projects have you just finished/working on now?

P: I have just had my Vol.4 Monsterism toys released, I just finished with my solo exhibition at the Stolenspace Gallery and am also currently working on an animation. The animation has been in the works for a few years now and involves animating and bringing the world of Monsterism to life.

We have worked with a few writers over the years and each area of the island has grown and developed, making the need for a

funnier and darker, yet more playful script. Recently, we have been working with a London-based production company called Baby Cow and an animation studio called Triffic. At the moment we are in negotiations with various television broadcasters like Channel 4 and ITV to see if we can do a TV series about Monsterism Island. It’s great because I have always loved cartoons and with the music and toy-side, it can all be incorporated in an animation and it brings all my interests into one project.

- Any new projects that we should be looking out for in the near future?

P: Just did a hooded top, jacket, cardigan and t-shirts for Boxfresh which should be dropping soon. I’ve always been interested in doing fashion, for example I did some stuff with the Osaka based label Satan Arbeit a couple years ago.

Interview:ukadapta.com

Peskimo interview

AT:You have so many strings to your bow, with all the different projects you work on, whats new for this year?
We are really excited to try new things, and we started the year with a short screen printing course. As a result, we’ve set up a make shift screen print studio in our back room. The first fruits from this will be on show at our new exhibition and we hope to release more and more exclusive screen prints through our website throughout this year!
Your work is unique in its style. Who and what inspires you?

P: Everyday oddities and slips of the tongue inspire the content of our artwork. We always jot down funny sayings or overheard conversations that conjure up pictures, characters and scenarios in our heads, that’s how our Croc Monsieur picture came about. Visually, we are inspired by mid-century design and illustration, especially packaging design and characters from that era.

AT:Is there any piece of artwork you have looked at and wished it had been yours?

P:ooh, so many! Jeff Koons giant balloon dog, Takashi Murakami’s giant statues, all the Ghibli films!

AT:What inspired you to team up with Chris Dickason for the Tease Made show?

P:We are good friends with Chris and have known him since our university days, it was over Christmas (possibly over drinks and a pizza) that we decided to do a joint show and the pieces have fallen into place a lot sooner than we thought.

AT:Who do you rate illustration wise. Anyone in particular you think us guys should be keeping an eye out for this year?

P:There are so many great artists popping up all the time! We like to support creativity in Bristol so we’re keeping an eye on what’s going on at the Here Gallery in Stokes Croft and tend to pop in there as often as we can to find out what’s going on!

AT:Any new toy projects planned at present?

P:The news was just released in the past few days that we are going to be a part of the new designer series of Qee. Qee was one of the early platform figures that really brought vinyl toys to the masses. They used to release artist series every year, but this series is the first they have released for 4 years, so it is a joy to be included! We are also developing some more designs and ideas based on our Monster Burp figure from Crazy Label

AT:Who have you most enjoyed collaborating with?

P:Because we collaborate as a pair on all our work, adding another person into the mix can sometimes be very confusing! We have collaborated with Chris Dickason on a new piece for the show which enabled us to work separately on the individual parts of the piece. We then brought it together and the result was better than any of us could have imagined! It’s nice to be a part of a piece of work that you want to study and keep reviewing because you notice new things every time!

Interview: Alwaysthinking.com

Jon Burgerman interview

F’kn Mischief: First off, how was your trip to Beijing? What was it like working with Jeremyville, Luke Bennett, Ben Frost, and Asian artists such as Li Qiu Qiu, Song Yang and Nie Jun? [Got any pictures? ] Were there many street art[ists] in Beijing?

Jon Burgerman: It was amazing, go to tigertranslate.com for some images, I guess. Some will be added to my site soon of course, just got to catch up with everything, like sleep and various podcasts.

FM: At what age did you start doodling, and when did you realize you could make a career outta it?

JB: I realized once I’d been paid a good amount of money for a simple doodle I’d done for Levis. I gave up my part time job that month, working out that if I just managed to get one job a year like that I would earn about the same amount – which wasn’t a very big amount but enough to live simply from.

FM: I’ll ask you the question you asked me earlier: does getting paid to doodle | stencil | paint outside on the streets still make you a street artist? [tee hee]

JB: I guess it does; you’re an artist, you’re on the street, so therefore you’re a street artist. Whether you’re the one who has sold your soul to a corporate devil or not is up for further debate.

FM: Have you ever done anything else other than doodles on the streets? Ever tried a different medium or different form of street art, like stencilling or graffiti?

JB: I tried graffiti once, it was terrible and I’ve not tried since!

FM: I loved what you did in Derby recently: the wall where all the kids and adults alike could paint it in. It’s really creative. Was that your own idea or was it a comissioned job?

JB: It was a commissioned piece that started life as a blank page to do ’something’ that would / could involved the ‘public’. The resulting project came about through talks and ideas I had with Quad (the gallery involved).

The Pot Shots Section:
Random questions that came to mind when the serious one’s ran out.

FM: I’m from Malaysia, btw… Ever been here? If no, ever been to any other part of Asia besides Beijing?

JB: I’ve not been yet but would love to. I’ve just come back fom Beijing, which was my very first trip to Asia. It was amazing, I had such a great time and can’t wait to get back over to that side of the world.

FM: You’re from England, so the next question’s a must: which footy team do you support? N. Forest? Derby County? Whose the most famous football player you’ve ever met?

JB: I support Spurs (my dad is a north londoner). I’ve been lucky to meet the whole Manchester United squad from the early 1990’s and the Celtic team from the late 1980’s but I was super lucky to bump into
Andy Sinton inside Hillsborough once. (I also met Ossie Ardiles very briefly).

FM: Ossie Ardiles is a legend! Speaking of legends: ever met Banksy? He’s such a mystery but I’m sure that at least SOME people must know him!

JB: No, but I know people who have. Their response is always somewhat underwhelming. I’ve met lots of artists I really like though, and you realise that they’re just normal people who just happen paint good.

FM: What inspires you more: Barney The Purple Dinosaur or The Teletubbies?

JB: Teletubbies by about a million miles. I remember when they first launched them over here in the UK, it was mind-blowing (I’m not joking!) .

FM: Ever been arrested? What’s the most dramatic moment in your life?

JB: Nope. I know there have been dramatic days / moments but none spring to mind right now, let’s leave them in the recesses of my memory, which is probably a good place for them.

FM: What’s next for you? Are you going to evolve or do you already make too much $ doodling to bother with something new?

JB: That’s about right, if something isn’t broke why fix it? I think if you don’t evolve you’d be asking for trouble. Even little incremental changes in the way you make work are important. Things have to keep moving forward or else everyone gets bored, especially yourself (or in this case, me)

Interview: F*kinmayhem

Noferin Interview

D: Hi Nick & Candy. To start things off, what are your backgrounds? When did you start doing illustrations/sculptures?

Noferin: Noferin is a husband and wife duo.

Candy is an artist with a background in Graphic Design, whilst Nick writes and sculpts.

Candy started painting in late 2006. The fast-paced commercialized graphic design world was not really her thing, but the training and experience has greatly helped shape her work ethic and sense of colour and composition.

Our sculptures started coming shortly after that.

D: You work as a team – how did you get together?

Noferin: There wasn’t really a conscious decision to form what is now Noferin. It was more an evolution of continuing the things that we are both passionate about. We are both interested in characters, and the role that they play in representing philosophies and guiding both children and adults through the challenges that life throws at you. It is hard to pin-point when things started to grow into what it is now. Our ideas bounce off one another and before we realise it, a whole stream of creative energy has filled up the room, leaving very little room to breathe.

Even though we both bring different ideas and skills to the table, our vision is identical. We wanted to have a name that represented the both of us, which is why we are Noferin.

The Art
The individual characters are a reflection of ourselves in many ways. Their personality traits and the adventures that they get up to are based on our childhood memories, or the memories that we wished we had.

D: How do you mainly produce your art?

Noferin: At first I was trying different mediums such as canvas, paper, board and then wood. I found wood to be the most fitting as it often has an unpredictable result when the lighter colour stains are applied over the wood grain. There is a sense of warmth and character with the wood that is very important to us. The wood grain works harmoniously with the mood of the paintings, allowing the medium to become part of the finished work. It in effect becomes part of the environment.

D: What inspires you?

Noferin: Our biggest influences are Tove Jansson (writer and illustrator of Moomintrolls) and Hayao Miyazaki (Totoro, Howl’s Moving Castle, among others).

First and foremost, both of these amazing people are fantastic storytellers. They each have created timeless worlds where their characters are and always will be.

Their worlds are real and their characters have a strong philosophy. They are the things that memories are made of!

Jansson and Miyazaki both have a keen appreciation of nature. On almost every page or frame of their work, lush vegetation dominates the scene. They are expert landscape architects!

We are also very fond of Japanese woodblock prints. Utagawa Hiroshige is our favourite. He focused on landscapes of varying scales with a strong sense of narrative. We enjoy escaping into his worlds and following the often faceless
travelers.

D: Your artwork is based around a group of characters, the pecanpals – how did you come up with them and their world?

Noferin: The Pecanpals live on Carrara Island. If you like, you can read more about the individual characters via our website.

We didn’t exactly “come up” with the Pecanpals. They more so found us. I think that they were always within us, we just didn’t know what to do with them. The individual characters are a reflection of ourselves in many ways. Their personality traits and the adventures that they get up to are based on our childhood memories, or the memories that we wished we had. It is funny that we both share this same vision. Candy paints and illustrates it, while Nick writes about it.

The environment is an idyllic, very stylised portrayal of our vision of Carrara Island. Perhaps it is a form of escapism.

D: You’ve obviously got the website at noferin.com, any other presences on the web you’d like to publicize? Social networking?

Noferin: No, just our website. We neglect our other sites. : (

D: As you use the internet to showcase your art, are there any other websites you feel have influenced you, opened your mind or shown you new ways of creating art?

Noferin: We don’t really spend a lot of time on the Internet, but what time we do spend, we like to look at websites such as this one, that showcase a wide variety of different styles, mediums and platforms.

Generally, we get most of our inspiration from books.

D: Thanks, nice to hear you like the site.

Of all the work you’ve created, or at least the ones showcased on your website, can you name a couple that you have a special love for or connection to?

Noferin: Our wooden Pecanpals figures are very important to us. These were released at the end of 2008, after a very long and tiring process to get them produced. Wood is a very difficult medium to work with, as all the elements are entirely handmade. We are so happy that now people from all over the world are able to adopt our Pecanpals.

interview: Diskursdisko