Why graphic design?

I want to do Graphic Design because it incorporates all my interests into one particular subject.  I can combine my love for music, sport, design and games all in one subject, either by designing covers for albums, movie posters, magazine covers or even by just creating some graphic art on a program such as Illustrator.  I feel that I would excell at graphic design because its not a subject to me, its a lifestyle and what I want to be doing for the rest of my life.  I hope you enjoy my work.

Various Works

Here are some pieces I have done from As Level and recently. 

Two Oil Pastel Drawings of my friend

Missing Poster
(Approx A1)

This was an As Level piece.  I used various materials such as cardboard and mod rock to create the rough, rusty, metal-like surface.  I also used photoshop to create the stencil image of myself, which i then transfered on to material.  I did the same effects with the text.  The theme for this piece was missing identity.  I was to act as a metaphor for a persons emotions who was isolated, depressed and lost.

KFC Vote!

I did this piece in my As year under the theme of "more than just a likeness".  I think it would have been a good advertising campaign to get people to vote in the USA.  By replacing The Colonel's face with presidential candidates, it could have had subliminal effects on KFC customers.  

An Unexpected Perspective of NY

Here is work from my A2 Art exam.  The title for the work was "Unexpected Perspective" which was mainly influenced from my February 2010 visit to New York!

An Unexpected Perspective of NY
(approx 36x48)

This painting was done using acrylic paints.  Here I tried to create an Escher effect by making the centre of the painting appear to magnify.  I also tried to create another effect used by Escher in this drawing.  I was also inspired by Robert Delaunay's Tour Eiffel.  The mixture of cubism and Escher's mathematical style creates an abstract perspective.

Outside the MoMA
Photography

Here is a photo I took of the entrance to the MoMA gallery.  I liked the reflection on the side of the glass mirror building because it acted as a line of symmetry for the whole street.  I also edited the colours on Photoshop to give a turquoise hue.  This is one of my favourite photographs and I think it could be used for advertising for the MoMA on a magazine or poster.

Theme: Death & Cult of Celebrity - Inspired by Andy Warhol

The following work was part of an A2 level study on Andy Warhol.  I chose to look at his theme of Death and Cult of Celebrity, which was heavily influenced on his Marilyn Monroe prints.  My pieces look at life contrasted with death, and the effects of the media, headlines and the stress of celebrity life.

Mortality of Marilyn 1
 (Approx. 36x48)

This piece was done using acrylic paints in different stages.  First I painted a black and white layer to form the shape of Marilyn and to act as a 'skeleton' for the rest of the painting.  The next layer was colour. I edited a photo of Marilyn on Photoshop to create a similar pop art effect to Warhol, which I then painted on top of the black and white layer.  Finally, I painted thick black lines to resemble the mortality of Marilyn, which was inspired by this  Oswaldo Guayasamín image.  In this piece I wanted to represent what Andy Warhol did in his theme of Cult of Celebrity and Death.  I think this painting represents that no matter how rich and beautiful Marilyn's life appeared, there was still a dark side that was constructed in her.

Mortality of Marilyn 2 
(approx 20x24)


Similar to the above, this painting was also done using acrylic paint.  Here I painted one of the famous Marilyn Monroe prints by Warhol, and scraped the paint vertically to make Marilyn appear aged.  I think this painting is attractive to look at, yet also appears quite dark.  Again, this contrasts life with death and is an effective painting at illustrating the theme Death & Cult of celebrity.

Mortality of Marilyn 1 Photoshop Prints

These are 6 A4 Photoshop prints of my first painting.  I took a photo of the painting and simply edited the hue and saturation of the painting to create a similar style to Warhol's Marilyn prints.

The piece in action!

Death & Celebrity


Here, I created a video of various Marilyn Monroe images and projected them onto the body of an emaciated woman which was made out of mod rock.  The concept here was to show how the media had projected a stressful, public life on a fragile woman.  I think this piece stresses the effects of the media, which for Marilyn led to her death.

Cult of Celebrity

This piece was a support piece for the one above.  I wanted to play on the definition of cult of celebrity and created a triptych style sculpture.  This shows how the public worship almost religiously corrupted stars.  This work was heavily influenced by Alberto Giacometti and Oswaldo Guayasamín.