Played for and got...

This poster was designed for a competition, now I am not normally one for competitions, but there was something about this film that caught my attention and clicked something in my brain that said, "make the poster brainless!"

Here is the official word from them:

"Clint Eastwood wannabe Jimmy finds escape in his shoot 'em-up video games - which leads to a caffeine-induced flight of fancy including Mexican stand-offs, mischievous gnomes, and invisible bullets!"

As it happens, I wasn't doing anything when the I saw the comp posted (I was idly time wasting on the internet), and I've been telling myself that I should make more positive steps when things like this happen, so this seemed like a good reason to stop faffing and start doing something.

I'll cut to the chase, I enter and won. Meet the poster for a special film that is part of the Virgin Media shorts competition.



The poster might be a little lost on you, if you haven't seen the film, so be ready for a lot of links to follow! Fair play to the team behind the film, they have done a wonderful job of promoing the film, just follow the links...

Hold your breath...
Michael

Links
Largesr Version
Watch the Film
Invisible Bullets Homepage
Stan the Gnome on Twitter

Exciting times!

I was asked to produce a poster for a gig I am playing, the brief was "Do whatever you feel like, just make it screen printable and 3 colours or less. Oh, and make sure it doesn't suck!"

So thats a simple brief and a job I can really get behind, mainly because I get to support the Swingin' Utters! Remember them for the heyday of Fat Wreck Chords? No, shame. It makes me very happy!

I started doing the poster and got a bit confused by the idea of 3 colours, so stuck to 2.



Woo!

Roll on Novemeber!
Michael

Link
Larger Version

Digital artwork and shirt!

I was lucky enough some years ago to play a few shows with a fine gent from New York called Mike Borgia, and his new mini album/EP was recorded and ready to go, artwork was needed! This was a new experience for me as the focus was artwork for digital download more so than physical format, don't worry there will be a physical, just not yet.

The title was the simply amazing "Live or Die, you won't be Lonely", I was totally behind this project and I had the idea straight away that this reminded me of the sort of monogram you see on a family crest, so that was the inspiration for the artwork.

So cut the crap and post the artwork...



The interesting plan is that the band name is going to be on the back of the physical product, and not on the front, interest but an idea I love.

The best part of this job was the idea that the coat of arms should go on a shirt. Also an idea I liked! So here it is!



Mock up!



Link
Mike Borgia's Website
Largesr Version

The best looking quiz poster ever!

It's a brave claim to fame, but I'm going to run with it regardless. What? Are you arguing? Prove me wrong, most of them are done in word!

This one was a weird challenge as I had an idea that was awesome, cheesy and fantastic in the best kind of way! Then I went hunting for logos, and corporate information and my idea got totally shelved.

So this became a real challenge as I had to make a poster that worked within 2 sets of corporate guidelines. Meet my effort...



Not complicated, not mental, but far FAR more stylish than the average word art rubbish!

It's getting hard to post and watch Mythbusters!
Michael

Link
Larger Version

For sale baby yeah!

I did this design whilst trying to convince my band that the design I am working on for them is the right one for the job, sound strange? It is!

What I am saying is, this is a perfectly good design that I did to prove that the design I am doing is the right style as something like this wouldn't work for us. Make sense? No, I don't think so either.

But there is a point, I did this design, I like it and its a shame it doesn't have a home, its a one colour print, so would be relatively cheap to get a run of shirts made! So if you want it, feel free to drop me a line and we can talk about making this yours.

Meet the artwork:



And a mock up!



Still posting more....
Michael

Link
Larger Version

My band's EP!

Well, the best time to get creative is on your own time, for your own stuff, and this was one for me.

My band needed to get our songs out there, and we were looking for an affordable and interesting way to do so, I started looking around the net for packaging that was a little out of the ordinary.

After a little bit of digging around I found a company who make card CD wallets similar to 7" wallets, and then the CD on body seemed perfectly logical, it had to look like a classic 7" from the heyday of its medium. I know there are vinyl effect CD's in the world, but with a one colour on body print on the disc, I was certain I would achieve more. So inexpensive CD wallet, inexpensive disc all equals win win!

Meet the onbody artwork:



For all you nerds out there, it is based loosely on a Capitol Records 7".

And here is how the finished product looks...



This is one of those jobs that prove you don't need to spend a fortune to get something awesome looking! If you want one, good luck, there is only 100, and we don't have online sales, so come to a show!

Woo!
Michael

Link
The Modern Farewell Myspace

Something I should have posted ages ago!

I spent the best part of 6 months working on this, seriously 6 months! Not constantly, but it was a long time from the first photo to the sending off stages.

I will give some explanation of this, as I am happy to explain; Peachfuzz are an amazing rock band from Bridgend, they needed artwork for their album, they asked me to do it. I have know Peachfuzz for some years, and I would describe their sound as similar to the Lemonheads and the Replacements, you know the wonderous branch of rock that fills you with happy thoughts of summer and the perfect soundtrack to a beautiful holiday...

When I listened to their record(s) I think of a soundtrack to a summer film based in a run down theme park, if we are being stereotypical I would say Coney Island, NY, this all got me thinking about a chapter from Mitch Albom's "The 5 People You Meet in Heaven", the lead character arrives in the afterlife to be greeted by a carnival freak who's idea of heaven is Coney Island (where he worked) without people to point and shout at him. "But these guys are from Bridgend in south Wales" I hear you say, so I decided to take advantage of the dilapidated south Wales seaside!

I spent an afternoon in November in Penarth, an afternoon in January in Porthcawl and an afternoon in Barry Island in February. the hardest part of getting good quality/brightly lit photos in Wales in the winter is waiting for the day where the sun was out and the sky was clear. If you know Welsh weather at all, you know how rare this is! I'm not lying when I say some of these photos were taken in a scarf and gloves!

Front Cover:



On body:



Back:



Sleeve outside:



Sleeve inside:



I would like to thank Tom at Sound Print for doing an awesome job helping me turn my artwork into an awesome poster, which I swear one day I will find a frame that will fit it!



One day I will get the enormous InDesign files off my external hardrive and posting them here, I swear!

These 2 made me smile as well...



Yes, up for sale on HMV.com, its a small thing that made me smile...



and my artwork taking over the homepage of their label!

Right...more posts to come.
Michael

Links
Check out Sound Print
Peachfuzz's Myspace

To the max...

Or some kind of statement like that...oh, the point.

Not so long ago I did a shirt design for South Wales ParKour, great guys super happy with my work (who knew I could make people happy!) so when they wanted to focus on their team/crew they needed a branding and then something to start making them some dollar bill y'all (I swear I will stop talking like that). The aim of their branding was to move the feel of parkour away from martial arts style (go look its surprising) and closer to the high end skate feel (a la Volcom).

First of branding...



Strong bold text, I tried to link it together a little to keep the sense of flow to it, as flow is a big deal to free running.



This is the branding mark, now you can look at it for ages and get a bit confused as to what its about, or I can tell you it's the negative space between 2 f's facing each other. I tried loads of combinations of double f's, and this was the only one that looked individual.

In situ on a sticker:



I also did them a shirt design!



This is how it looks in 2 colour format. A few colour options...







The interesting part of this is, the screens for the white and black elements should work wonders in one colour as well!





I really enjoyed working on this piece, it was cool to combine a few things I really enjoy doing, branding and shirt designs. So plenty of love to them!

More to post!
Michael


Links
Fluidity Freerun
Larger Versions

Logo Test...

I had a spare few minutes and a friend asked me he for some help with one of his flyers, so I did this.



This is one of those things that I have no idea if it will get used or not, but I like the style so I thought I'd post it here. I wouldn't mind doing something like this again. I hope someone wants a logo designing like this!

Star Trek to be watching...
Michael

Link
Larger Version