Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich

www.devicq.com

Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich is a type-based illustrator and graphic designer who was born in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. In 1982, de Cumptich moved to New York and studied art and design at the Pratt Institute earning a MFA. Nowadays de Cumptich works as a Senior creative director at Harper Collins.

I came across de Cumptich whist I was researching for my self-directed project. My self-directed project was a self-portrait moving image piece that is made up of typography. De Cumptich 'Bembo Zoo' was a huge influence as he makes up animals just out of typography, this is the idea that I used as I made my face out of different sized typography.

Bembo Zoo was de Cumptich's children's book debut, although many adults and students have bought the book for themselves. De Cumptich produces a abecedary picture book that has an animal represent each letter of the alphabet using just typography. "Bembo has long been one of the most popular typefaces for continuos reading. But never before in the history of typography has its versatility been better displayed than in Robert de Vicq de Cumptich 'Bembo's Zoo'. In his first book for children, de Cumptich has created an abecedary of animals made entirely from Bembo letter-forms and punctuaction marks nothing else. And, you know, the conceit works." (www.devicq.com)

De Cumptich's Bembo Zoo has been huge influence so far on my multimedia course. I think that his clean aesthetic, limited colour palette and minimalist style will influence me for years to come because this is the style that I prefer to work in. 

Gillean Blease

www.gillinblease.co.uk

Gillian Blease is an illustrator who was our first guest lecturer at Stockport College in the third year of my degree. Gillian came across as quite a laid back and friendly person who was very direct and straight to the point with her story of how she became the fantastic illustrator she is today. Throughout the lecture she was very modest and explained how alot of her work was through 'being at the right place at the right time'. However I felt her amazing illustrations and pure talent were the reasons behind getting the jobs she has done.

Gillian began her artistic career studying a foundation course at MMU before studying fine art at Newcastle University for 4 years. However, she found herself more as an illustrator and had always been influenced by illustrators such as Terry Frost, Paul Rand and Andy Warhol. She also explained how spending 6 weeks in Japan shortly after her studying has always been a huge inspiration in her work.

You can clearly identify the similarities in the work of Gillian and her influences, as she focuses her designs on colour, shape and line using a minimalist approach. Gillian tends to use lots of empty space in which she explained, "Empty space emphasizes the drama of the main subject". I feel that the minimalist approach using lots of empty space creates a positive feeling for her illustrations.

Over the years Gillian has built up a very impressive client base including Barclays Banks and The Guardian newspaper, where she worked on a weekly project creating over 150 illustrations in 3 years. She described how working to deadlines and having to come up with different ideas each week was an invaluable experience.

As a Multimedia student, I thoroughly enjoyed the lecture, however because of my moving image background I would love to see her work morphed into animations or anything moving image.

On the whole, I found the lecture very entertaining and educational and her work has made me think about trying to come up with my own style so I can be recognized as an individual designer.

Joe Zammit-Lucia

www.jzlimages.com

Joe Zammit-Lucia is a professional environmental photographer based in the UK and the USA. He was born in Malta and has been involved in photography since the age of 16. Since then his photographs have been on shown around the world, including New York, Miami and London. 

Joe Zammit-Lucia uses the basic formal elements of photography and produces stunning photographs using a minimalist style. Joe combines the basics of line, shape, form and space to give each photograph a unique style. He uses lots of positive space by removing each subject from its original background and replaces it with a black background. By doing this, the composition of the photograph makes the viewers eye lead directly to each animal.

The way that Joe Zammit-Lucia crops and positions his photographs has a major impact on the emotions of each animal. For example on the photograph of the Giraffe above, he crops the image so that the viewer can only see half of the Giraffes face. Personally, I feel that this gives the animal its own identity because the line, shape and form lead your eye to the Giraffes eye, which looks as though it is thinking about something.

I came across Joe Zammit-Lucia, whilst studying a part-time photography course, and have been inspired ever since. The way he uses lights and shadows emphasizes the emotions and feelings of the endangered animals. I found a quote on Joe's website that describes the way he feels when photographing each animal, "Portraits celebrating the animal as individual not as mere specimen on species" (www.jzlimages.com) I feel that this is a strong quote from Joe, as it shows how he feels about each animal, he feels that every animal has its own identity and he shows this with the photographs he takes.

I feel that Joe Zammit-Lucia can have an influence on my work in the future, as I really enjoy the minimalist approach and using black and white. He has influenced me to try and capture my own photographs in a similar style but also look at different area's of design and try and incorporate these ideas and technique in my own work. 

Richard Morrison

www.th1ng.com

www.figproductions.com

Richard Morrison is one of Britains greatest title sequence directors, creating more than 100 feature film title sequences over the last 30 years. Morrison explains in a documentary how his title sequences have been hugely influenced by Saul Baus and explains how working with Morris Bindler in his early career on the title sequence for James Bond helped him develop new skills and techniques.

I am a huge admirer of the work of Richard Morrison because of his unique style of title sequences such as the original Batman, The Golden Compass, Vantage Point and Sweeney Todd. Sweeney Todd is the title sequence that excites me the most because of the combination of live action and CGI animation, that builds up the suspense and tension of the film. 

Morrison worked on the title sequence for Sweeney Todd with a company called th1ng, which is a leading animation and mixed media company who create TV idents, Commercials and Title Sequences. I feel this title sequence fits into my Multimedia path perfectly, as like my course, it uses many different techniques and mediums to create the abstract sequence. The sequence uses dark and  shadowy scenes to create an eerie and suspenseful narrative that builds up the tension and mood of the film. The way the bloody sequence is edited, it drags the audience in and sets them up for the rest of the film. 

The title sequence uses lots of sources from the film such as showing the barbers chair, the meat pies and the blood. The idea of this is to give the audience a preview of what they are about to see in the film, which I think builds the atmosphere. I also admire the composition of the sequence, with the blood being the main focus. This makes the audience follow the movement of the blood, from the blood drips on the window, to the blood between the clogs and continues towards the oven. Another area I am intrigued by is the way the blood transforms from CGI animation to live action as it flows towards the sewers, I think this is done so that the transition between the title sequence and the film is alot more subtle. 

On the whole, Richard Morrisons Sweeney Todd title sequence has been a huge inspiration. Although I have not used any of the ideas and techniques used in the title sequence as of yet, the idea of mixing CGI and live action is an area I will look into in the future. I also think that the idea of building the tension and suspense with the title sequence to create the mood of the film is a technique i could use in the future.  

Toast Concept

www.toastconcept.com

Toast Concept, are a design company based in Lyon, France. They were formed in 2007 and cover a broad range of design such as Graphic Design, Product Design, Motion Graphics, 3D Animation and Web Design. As-well as Posters, Logos, Flyers and Montages.

I came across this company, whilst researching into Audio and Visuals for my self directed project. I particularly like the 3D animation they produced called Speakers because the visuals and audio is in sync with each other and I really like the way the speakers are created in an abstract form. I also like the use of colour that they have used and the smooth movements of the camera. This animation can be seen in the video below. This is something that I am looking into for my self directed piece and has been a huge influence for my research and development.

I like the way all the work uses simple aesthetics which gives a clean and professional look to the whole portfolio. I also really like the Graphic Design work they have produced because they all use the theme of having a white background that makes the abstract shapes and colours stand out alot more. I have posted some examples of their Graphic Design work.

Gary Fernandez

www.garyfernandez.net

Although I am a Multimedia Designer, I am still very interested in other areas of art and design such as Graphic Design, Illustration and photography. I really like the design work of Gary Fernandez who is a freelance Illustrator, Art Director and Graphic Designer from Madrid, Spain who now lives and works in Vancouver. I came across Gary's work after seeing his illustrations on the front cover of Septembers issue of Computer Arts.

Inside the magazine, it shows more work from Gary and also has a short interview with him. In the interview Gary explains how he comes up with ideas for his work. "What are your creative influences?" he answers, "The outside- urban or forests. That s where the actions happens. Inside, the things from the outside change in surrealist way. I listen to music all day. It helps me push what i have inside."  

You can clearly see how these influences have inspired his work, especially the outside world, which you can see in his work with wildlife, plant and trees appearing throughout his way. I also think that Gary's work could have been influenced by the work of Bridget Riley, with the shapes, colours and shades that he uses. Although Bridget Riley tended to use Black and White optical illusions in her work, i can see some similarities. 

Gary has an impressive portfolio and has worked for large companies such as Coca-Cola, Corona, Camel, Volkswagen and Nokia. I think these companies have used Gary because his unique illustrations catches the eye of many people with his use of colours, shapes and abstract forms. However, Gary can also work in a way to suit a certain client, such as his work for Coca-Cola, which is very different to his other style of illustrations. He uses alot of white space with the main focus being on the Coca-Cola bottle and the swirls coming out of it. I think Gary must of been told to emphasize on the bottle or he would of created his abstract wildlife that you see in his other illustrations, which would of took the focus away from the brand. 

I have chosen to put this illustrators work into my research because I think that looking into different areas of design can only help you become a more creative person. His work has influenced me to want to try and create my own illustrations and maybe move them into an animated after effects piece.