End of University and beyond

So university finally came to an end some months ago now but I never got around to making a final blog post about it really. Below are a few images that may not have appeared on here before from my time at uni, just to draw a line under the whole thing so to speak and show the work I produced.

Swansea Metropolitan University, Illustration 2011 Graduate show

The third year students of Swansea Metropolitans Illustration course 2011 have just finished their first final year show titled Arboretum. The title came from the concept of the university experience been like a tree. Student came together as roots, joined together during university as the trunk and are now flourishing and spreading the seeds of their work around. An Arboretum is an area dedicated to the study  of various trees for exhibition or scientific study.

35 Students exhibited work with a broad range of medium and styles. 25 of these students elected to go on to produce a second show at London's prestigious Brick Lane Gallery in their new space The Annexe. This show will be on from the 22nd to the 26th of June (add a comment to receive fuller details as they become available).

New website

My new site  Still very much in its infancy but this is my new site which will serve as portfolio site and work in progress blog. Please take a look.

The Archbishop Calls

Another illustration for Caliban Full Text (please check it out the image will make a lot more sense alongside the text). Im particularly pleased with this piece and thanks to everyone on Conceptart.org who have given me feedback as its improved. The piece is cropped A3 bristol board with graphite from HB through to 9B pencils. I used a number of reference photos of ottoman tea sets to construct this composition. I was planning to add elaborate scrollwork to the image but with my graduation exhibition looming and a history of overworking and destroying artwork I thought it best left.

The Contestants

Another illustration for Caliban. This story is on a sword fight between a young man and an aristocrat. The fight ends with the death of the aristocrat so used to the fine art of fencing rather then the reality of a true sword fight Read the full story. This particular piece, despite its simplicity in composition, took around 9 hours to complete due to the huge amount of graphite required to light the area by candlelight.

This is the original drawing on A3 bristol board but I felt it lacked the true atmosphere of a candlelit area. So using a simple texture of some old sepia toned paper with very dark edges I created this piece.

While it isn't true candlelight colour I think it does go much further towards creating an atmosphere of candlelight.

"Egg"

Second illustration for text by author Caliban. This piece of writing looks at the small signs that a mans marriage is collapsing. In this case his egg which normally always has its top taken off is left intact. The stark nature of the intact egg made for a very simple but powerful symbol. Check out the full text Here

Knight Arrival

Knight Arrival
First illustration for a collaboration between myself and a writer working under the pen name Caliban.
This story is a short descriptive piece on the arrival of a crusader to the Holy land and the quick realisations of the brutality of war.



Full text to accompany this illustration