Indiana's nemesis......

Childrens Books - Laura Carlin

With an upcoming competition brief to design a front cover for James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl, I went and had a look around a few book shops to check out what sort of stuff is being published at the moment. Among the many, many bright coloured and more traditional line type illustrated covers, there were a few really nice ones that stood out to me. 

I noticed a lovely cover for The Iron Man by Ted Hughes, that had been done by illustrator Laura Carlin. She has used a mix of ink and line work, along with bold cut out shapes. The cover stood out to me because of the more unusual layout, the slightly muted colours and the hand draw type. On her biography that can be seen here, she mentions about the importance of white space, and I think she has judged that perfectly here, giving the images room to breath. I've posted a few examples from the book below, and remember to check out her page for more examples of her work......

Minimalist Posters

I have a bit of a love of minimalist film posters, and there are quite a few floating around on the web at the moment by different designers, but these star wars planet posters by Justin Van Genderen recently caught my eye. I absolutely love them. The mix of textures and mark making with simple digital graphics and strong, simple type makes these look really great, particularly as a set. Being a bit of a Star Wars fan myself, I wouldn't mind a couple of these on my wall......

Adam Thurland

I came across these cool film posters by Adam Thurland, created for a Quentin Tarantino film week. He explains the concept behind them :

"Each poster explores character interaction within scenes, displayed using a circular
mapping system." 

 

I thought this was a really interesting way of creating something from the films; kind of maths meets storytelling, whilst still looking visually interesting and engaging. I've posted a few examples below.... 

 

 

Stolen Peace Previews

Check out the Stolen Peace album and single previews on youtube, which include some of my artwork....

The Warriors

Whilst browsing the web looking for the poster for one of my favourite films, The Warriors, I found a few cool versions created by different illustrators. It seems to be one of those films people like to make their own posters for, probably because there is just something cool about the film. I guess I would describe it as a cult film, made in 1979 and set in New York city. It follows a gang call 'the warriors' as they try to get across the city, passing through the territories of loads of different gangs. Although the film looks a bit dated now, what i love about it is the simple story, and all the different gangs and their amazing costumes, who literally just hang around all wearing the same clothes. There are real distinctions and differences created between them with their names and clothes, and they visually look great. I mean who wouldn't want to dress up as a raging baseball player with face paint?.......no? just me? Anyway, I posted some of the different posters I found below, including one by someone I looked at last year, Tom Whalen, who I'll post about separately soon......

(p.s. check out the film if you can, or even the game.........then go buy me a baseball furies t-shirt.)

Original Movie Poster

Tom Whalen

Tomer Hanuka

Eric Tan

Tyler Stout

Nate Duval

Found some really nice screenprints by illustrator Nate Duval. He apparently prints these using normal house paint, sounds like a good idea, he must work quickly though! Really love the detail and colour schemes he's used here....

Bernard Barry

I really love this 50's inspired identity/brand scheme created by graphic designer Bernard Barry. The type, visuals and colours work perfectly. Check t'out......