My name is Benjamin Symonds, I'm currently part of the BA Illustration course at AUCB.

What you see on here is a mix of my work and other peoples that I admire/take inspiration from & not just illustrators... work from all areas of art. I'm also using this blog as a digital sketchbook for course assesment etc.

Note. Click on any image to see it in full.

Wednesday 24 March 2010

Tuesday 23 March 2010

Visual Research Folder:

My research was mainly carried out online through looking at websites/blogs. These include FFFFOUND, Fubiz, The Bechance Network, Yay Every Day, Booooooom! & Make Something Cool Everyday. Since I started my BA in illustration it's become a habit to check such websites on a daily/weekly basis. Other than keeping me up to date with whats going on in the world of contemporary illustration, I find this gives me a huge amount of inspiration for whatever i'm working on! Over the several weeks of this project I found myself constantly adding more and more research to my blog, the research carried out gave me a great deal of inspiration and helped with the creation of my own work. I would particularity recommend the blog 'FFFFOUND' to and artist of designer as it showcases such a wide variety of works (Not all contemporary).


One of the most inspirational artist's I researched was Brock Davis, he created a new image everyday for a whole year! His works sits between graphic design, illustration and photography. The versatility of materials used along side the outcome different of styles is amazing, he often brings a touch of humour into his pieces as well, which I feel really adds to them.

Here are some of my favourites from 'Make Something Cool Everyday' project:

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Another contemporary artist I researched was the 21 year old designer Khristian Mendoza, his ideas are normally very simplistic but he pulles them off perfectly. His work consists of a mix of typography, photography and use of geometric shapes. Hes has a great eye for composition. His 'Transparency' paper cuttings project was particularly inspirational to my own development.

Some of his best work:

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I also looked at some more historical designers such as David Carson, i've been familiar with his work for a number of years. He was seen as a revolution within the world of graphic design. I recently watched one of his lectures online which I found extremely interesting. I also looked at his book 'The End of Print' and some of his spreads from 'Ray Gun' magazine.

Some of Carsons work:
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Another less contemporary designer I looked at was Paul Rand, who I only recently discovered (he was recommended in a previous tutorial). He has a very bold and coulourfull style which sits nicely along side a fairly playful way of working with text and symbols.

Some examples of Paul Rands work:

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Bibliography:

Brock Davis

Khristian Mendoza

David Carson
The End of Print: The Graphic Design of David Carson by L. Blackwell (Author).
Publisher: Chronicle Books (Nov 1995) ISBN-10: 0811811999



Paul Rand


Sunday 21 March 2010

Wednesday 17 March 2010

Paper Cutting:

First few lines of lyrics produced ready to start animating:

Tuesday 16 March 2010

Lyrics & Animation.

Bob Marley lyrics chosen to work with (Illustrated):
Experimentation with Lego/Duplo:
Test animation:

After the test animation i've decided I won't be using lego in my final animation as it isn't as effective as I hoped, I also had trouble with the flash and tripod which will need to be considered when filming in the future (a flood light will be used in the final animation rather than a flash so lighting shouldn't be a problem).

Tuesday 9 March 2010

Animation Research:

Lucas Zanotto:

Christian Borstlap:

Johnny Kelly:

Julien Vallée:

JUL & MAT:


Herrjaapmans:
 

Pleix:


PES:
Gorillaz:
 

Spike Jonez:

Conditional Design:

Makoto Yabuki: