I was very excited today randomly looking online at various bits and pieces when I thought that I would check too see the website of a client to see if they had finished their new site - and they had (www.grunberg.co.uk) featuring an illustration I completed for them a little while back.

The illustrations for this website went through many different phases and the finals are whopping 300MB photoshop files with loads of little subtle details and layers that do not show up on the internet, but do when printed (which was one of the requirements).

The buildings are the actual buildings that the company uses as their offices down an old cobble-stone side-street in Golders Green, London. Every effort was taken to make it look as recognisable  to the actual buildings as possible. From the old wooden textures around the door frames to the myriad of cables and pipes on the roof the illustration is a fairly accurate representation of the Grunberg & Co offices (with a few artistic licenses). On the website the doors actually ‘open’ when clicked on and the windows have lights that switch on which looks quite cool.

Just to add to the challenge for this job I was also instructed to complete a ‘day time’ and ‘night time’ version for use on the website at different times of the day.

It was allot of frustrating work at times, and very relaxing at others but I am really pleased with the result!

 

And on  the 08th of February 2009 there shall be printing – The printing of a stereotypical brain hungry Zombie from the haunted house on the hill.

With my desk cleaned of all of the usual clutter that accumulates thanks to the previous days room-cleaning marathon I finally decided to do some good ol printing. It’s been a while since I had printed any lino blocks and I was curious how it would go, and wether or not I could actually find all of my equipment! After a bit of reconnoissance and much checking of the various boxes around my room I finally found everything I needed and got under way.

I was printing a block that I had carved some time ago. It had been sitting hidden in my book case waiting for just the right time to be printed. A fun little piece, yet one of the more detailed pieces I have done in terms of fine little lines and subtle cuts. I was a little nervous about printing it and was worried if I would be able to accurately pick up all of the fine detail. Much to my amazment everything went smoothly right from the very first print, it went so well infact I decided to keep going. At the end of the mamouth session I had managed to ink up and print 20 different prints in 5 different colours, something I have never done before in one session… and my arms really hurt! 

Despite the pain and lack of muscle power in my upper arms I am so happy with the way these turned out. The purple was a little tricky as the ink had become very watery and almost un-usable but with some perseverance, trial and error I managed to make it work and think it compliments the set nicely. Now I just have to wait for them to dry and stick them up on my wall! I will upload some more pictures of the coloured prints once they are dry enough to scan.

 

Generally I don’t do cards, they can seem very meaningless and pointless unless they are well thought out. I don’t give cards just for the sake of it and when I do I try to make them a bit more personal for the occasion. Today was my friend Candice’s birthday so I made her a card and drew this on the front. Happy Birthday Candice!

Getting frustrated with my poor old Mac at work I tried as hard as I could to make it faster, surrounding its aging and fading display with motivational messages on little post it notes to help it along. Unfortunately it still didn’t work…