Product, Range & Distribution - Initial Artist Research.

More list writing in todays studio session. This time we went around linking Products, Ranges & Distribution to some of our given categories for the Applied illustration module.(Object & Environment, Product & Packaging etc) Although initially thinking i was going to work with Object & Environment as the basis of my project, after further consideration i think Product & Packaging will be better suited to what i'd like to achieve. The two subjects quite easily merge together anyways.

These are some of the lists people had drawn up. Was interesting to see just how much stuff you can associate with each category, and it definitely helped me to come up wit home initial ideas, as, at the start of the lesson i was still a bit baffled to what exactly we were being asked to undertake.

Having made the switch to Product & Packaging, i sat down for a bit and made a mindmap of the subject matter that excites and fills me with enthusiasm when its comes to being a brief. Something that I've been finding increasingly difficult in recent times. But theres always a stalwart selection of topics that i'll refer back to to generate some motivation to 'make'.

Mindmap of sole themes that power me & that 

would also fit into the Product & Production bracket 

After having a quick look at my mindmap, Teresa brought Mondo to my attention. I'd heard the name before, through being a follower of Olly Moss and Matt Taylor amongst others, so had a idea that they were connected to cult film merchandise, now, namely posters. Check out the website for further research, and theres a shit-tonne of awesome work on there, all based on the the sort retro/cult films i enjoy watching,and that I've grown up being aware of. Even though i hadn't seen many of these posters before they were somehow familiar, and i could see how certain artists' style or approach to designing was influencing other artists work that i had come across.  

There were so many that caught my eye and made me want to just give up and go back to being a gardener again! I've made somewhat of an effort since i started uni to lay off from doing any more fiddly,detailed line work, in favour of more stripped down shape-based work - but what the majority of these examples have is meticulous,mind-blowing craft going into the linework! Crazy amounts of it. It's making me want to go back and try to incorporate it with the simpler, cleaner shapes that I've grown fond of using, along with a limited colour palette and the graphic design/layout skills i came to uni with . Examples of those awesome bastards are featured below. 

(in order of appearance)

KEN TAYLOR • BONEFACE • JOHNNY DOMBROWSKI 

AARON HORKEY • RANDY ORTIZ  • SONNY DAY  

JEFF PROCTOR • OLLY MOSS •  MATT TAYLOR 

MARTIN ANSIN • JOCK •  MIKE MITCHELL • GIANMARCO MAGNANI • SAM WOLFE CONNELLY • JAY SHAW 

TOM WHALEN • HYDRO74 • GABZ • GODMACHINE