Friday, 1 May 2015

Dadaism


Dada or Dadaism was an artistic and literary movement that started in Europe when World War I was raging on. Because of the war, artists and writers, many from France and Germany, moved to Switzerland, which was neutral in the war. Instead of being relieved that they had escaped, they were furious with the modern society. So, they decided to show their protest through art. They decided to create non-art since art in the society anyway had no meaning.
These so-called non-artists turned to creating art that had soft obscenities, humor, puns and everyday objects. The most controversial painting was by Marcel Duchamp, he painted a mustache on a copy of the Mona Lisa and scribbled obscenities under it. He also created a sculpture called Fountain, which was just a urinal without the fittings and a fake signature.
The public was shocked and disgusted by the movement. However, the Dadaists found this encouraging. And, slowly the movement spread from Zurich to other parts of the world. Just as many mainstream artists were thinking about this movement seriously, the Dada movement dissolved in the early 1920s.

Josh Nizzi


After graduating from the University of Illinois, Josh Nizzi was hired by Volition, Inc. to work on Red Faction 1, Red Faction 2 and The Punisher. Moving on to Day 1 Studios he worked on Mech Assault 2 and Fracture. Josh then became a freelance artist and in 2007 his concept design for a Transformers called Long haul caught the attention of Hasbro's design director Aaron Archer who wanted him to do concepts for a Un-named Transformers sequel and not long after he was hired by Michael Bays studio as a concept artist for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Since then he has worked on the other Transformers sequels and also for some of the Movies in Marvels Cinematic Universe such as the Avengers, Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. 

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Josh_Nizzi
http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/540/#.VUNcYq6GBl0

Francesca Matthews



Francesca Matthews aka Pythos, is a concept artist best known for her well-loved and technically masterful portrayal of Dragons of Videogames art-prints on Gametee.co.uk with AJ Hateley. This work brings a touch of drama and fantasy using a Victorian Science art style. Along with the Dragons of Videogames series she also does her own concept art foe videogames and does commissions. She was previously a student at  SCAD Savannah, she lives in North Carolina and is a regular exhibitor at US conventions. Her work is inspired by video games and the fantasy books that she has loved and read since childhood. 


Friday, 24 April 2015

The Festival of Britain


The Festival of Britain was in the summer of 1951 and celebrated the UK's recovery after the Second World War. Although it was a national festival, London was at its heart. The most important site was the South Bank of the Thames at Lambeth. Here, an area of old Victorian industrial buildings and railway sidings was transformed into the site of the South Bank exhibition. New buildings were built to house exhibitions exploring Britain's landscape, the British character, British industry and science. The buildings included a new concert hall - the Royal Festival Hall, the Dome of Discovery and the Skylon. The only existing building incorporated into the site was a tall brick shot tower, built in the early 19th century to make lead shot by dropping molten lead from a height. For the festival, it was used to house a large radio telescope and transmitter.Although the Festival took pride in Britain's past, most of the exhibits looked to the future. Science and technology featured strongly. In one of the pavilions, many Londoners saw their first ever television pictures. The festival also took place on other sites in London such as Battersea Park where a large funfair built. In Poplar, east London, a new housing estate was built as a 'live architecture exhibition', a kind of model village. The Lansbury Estate was designed to incorporate all the latest thinking about architecture, planning and communities. Over the summer, the Festival of Britain was everywhere: in shops, events, exhibitions, radio programmes and concert halls. The Trinidadian All Steel Percussion Orchestra came to play in London which was the first time steel pan music had been played formally in the capital. Although most of the festival structures were demolished at the end of 1951, the Royal Festival Hall was retained. It became the first in a group of arts-related buildings on the South Bank that, by the end of the century, included the National Theatre and the National Film Theatre.































http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk/festival-britain-1951









Friday, 17 April 2015

David Wyatt

Wyatt is an English commercial artist born in Northampton where as a child his interest in reading and drawing led to a love of comics. He has worked with many different media from paint to sculpture. He is well known for his book covers and illustrations for authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien, Philip Reeve, Terry Pratchett, and Philip Pullman. And also works on album covers for bands, Games and beer labels. He was trying to make a career for himself in music but after an unsuccessful band tour he decided that it wasn't for him. He got his first work creating the occasional page for the British comic 2000 AD while at college in reading. He now mainly works from his computer in Dartmoor, Devon using the landscapes for some of his inspiration.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Wyatt

Corita Kent


Corita Kent or Sister Mary Corita Kent was born in Fort Dodge in 1918.  She took the name Sister Mary Corita in 1936 when she joined Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She worked nearly entirely with silkscreen. She took classes at Otis and Chouinard Art Institute and then earned a BA from Immaculate Heart College. She worked in the Immaculate Heart Community and became the chair of the Immaculate Heart College art department. She Left the Sisters and devoted the rest of her life to creating artwork. She created many hundreds of posters, book covers and murals using silkscreen. She died in 1986 from cancer and her work can still be seen in art museums, which include The Whitney, The Museum of fine arts in Boston, the Metropolitan museum of art in New York and The Corita Art Center located on the campus of the Immaculate Heart High School.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corita_Kent

Constructivism



Constructivism was the last and most influential modern art movement to flourish in Russia in the 20th century. It evolved just as the Bolsheviks came to power in the October Revolution of 1917, and initially it acted as a lightning rod for the hopes and ideas of many of the most advanced Russian artists who supported the revolution's goals. It borrowed ideas from Cubism, Suprematism and Futurism, but at its heart was an entirely new approach to making objects, one which sought to get rid of the traditional artistic concern with composition, and replace it with 'construction.' Ultimately, the movement foundered in trying to make the transition from the studio to the factory. Some continued to insist on the value of abstract, analytical work, these artists had a major impact on spreading Constructivism throughout Europe. Meanwhile, others pushed on to a new but short-lived and disappointing phase known as Productivism, in which artists worked in industry. Russian Constructivism was in decline by the mid 1920s, partly a victim of the Bolshevik regime's increasing hostility to avant-garde art.
 

























http://www.theartstory.org/movement-constructivism.htm#

Bauhaus



Bauhaus was one of the most influential art schools of the 20th century, its approach to teaching and the understanding of arts relationships to society had a big impact in the US and Europe even after it closed. The school was first founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar and the school existed in three German cities: Weimar from 1919-1925, Dessau from 1925-1932 and Berlin from 1932-1933. It was shaped by the trends such as the arts and crafts movement. This led to it pictured as a medievalism sort of crafts guild. In the 1920s this gave way to a stress on uniting art and design, which ended up being its most original and important achievement. The school was also renowned for its staff, with artists like Paul Klee and Josef Albers to architects Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and designer Marcel Breuer.



















http://www.theartstory.org/movement-bauhaus.htm

Hiro Mashima


Hrio Mashima is a Japanese manga artist well known for his series Rave Master and Fairy Tail.  He along with the story itself he also creates all the illustrations and covers for his works.  His first gained success through his first series Rave Master which was published in Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Magazine from 1999 to 2005. He is currently working on Fairy Tail which began serialization in 2006 and is currently one of the most well-known manga in and outside of Japan. He’s envied by many other manga artists due to his speed, dedication and he still manages to get 7 hours of sleep.


John Jude Palencar


Born in 1957 Palencar is an American fantasy, horror and Sci-fi artist whose works has been used on over 100 book covers. He uses both painting and illustration in his work. One of his most notable works is the covers for Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle but he’s also done covers for The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Earthsea.  He has created covers for several novels by Stephen King, who also holds Palencar's work in his private collection. A location in the Inheritance cycle known as Palencar Valley was actually named after him long before he was asked to create the covers. In 2008 he was awarded a Spectrum Grand Master.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jude_Palencar
http://WWW.JOHNJUDEPALENCAR.COM/Bio.htm

Friday, 20 March 2015

Chirashi

Chirashi are mini-posters/ flyers used to advertise movies in Japan. They are double sided with the poster on one side and information and more imagery from the film on the reverse. Due to the fact they are only available from movie theatres while the movie is showing, they are collectible movie memorabilia and rise in value based on age and scarcity. 


















They are similar to the unlimited magazines we get in Cineword cinemas in the UK but whereas the unlimited magazine has multiple movies in it a Chirashi is for one movie or sometimes will advertise some of the directors other works.

Tuesday, 3 February 2015

The Great Exhibition

Confident that you are the best in the world, the natural reaction is to show off your talents. In the mid-nineteenth century, Britain's success in engineering, inventing, science and the arts was displayed during the Great Exhibition of 1851. It was housed in The Crystal Palace built by Joseph Paxton who was also known for his work at Chatsworth house.
The Great Exhibition was put together in a very short time. It was the idea Henry Cole, a member of the Society of Arts, but took off when it gained support from Sir Robert Peel. Once Cole got Prince Albert’s backing and royal consent in January 1850, he encouraged the belief that it had been the Prince’s idea, as a way of attracting exhibitors and visitors.
Visitors were treated to 100,000 exhibits from around the world. Displays included industrial inventions, medical artefacts, labour-saving devices, arts, such as photography, and all kinds of novelties. Visitors could look at tinned foods, a stuffed elephant and a locomotive, as well as the massive Koh-I-Noor diamond and an envelope-folding machine. Jean Bernard Léon Foucault hung a pendulum from the roof to demonstrate the rotation of the earth.
Although the Crystal Palace burned down in 1936 but the Great Exhibition left several legacies. The building’s nickname lives on as the name of the area where it stood for over 80 years and a London football club. The money from the Exhibition was used, along with public money, to buy land in South Kensington. This would later become the site for the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the Royal Albert Hall.

http://www.history.co.uk/study-topics/history-of-london/the-great-exhibition

Tuesday, 27 January 2015

Olly Moss's Studio Ghibli work

Olly has worked with Studio Ghibli and Mondo to create some official posters for some Ghibli's biggest films. Olly is a fan of the films himself and you can tell with these prints. 










Olly Moss

Olly Moss is an Englih Grapic designer who is well know for his re-imagining of movie posters and designs based on popular media such as video games and TV. His designs can range from posters to bone china. He has been commissioned by many big companies such as Marvel, DC, The Academy Awards, Warner Bros and Studio Ghibli just to name a few. But he also does designs as just his own doodle like designs like Pokemon, Guardians of the Galaxy, Game of Thrones. Much of his commissioned work is sold at the San Diego Comic Con and any of his other work is sold on his online store.


These are some plates he design for himself based on video games using the willow pattern as a influence.






An official poster designed for The Dark Knight Rises
A poster created for Disney Nothing is Impossible gallery



























http://ollymoss.com/
http://www.moss.fm/

Tuesday, 13 January 2015

Transformers Boxset


 Thiswas the first design I created, it was the cover for a Transformers movie boxset. Looking back it now I see that had a lot of rough edges but I still like the design.