Benjamin Blogs

Arthur

2012-02-04T15:03:00.001-08:00

Always Darkest Before The Dawn

2012-01-20T15:47:00.000-08:00

Here she is, in all her art-deco splendour. My illustration of Florence Welch, for the Secret 7" competition. You can vote for my entry by following the link. Please do, as it may mean my design is printed as a vinyl to be auctioned for charity!
Dreaming In Deco

While I'm at it, here's a glimpse of my next friend, who won't be ready for a while, given my rate of working.

Vecton/Maxtra

2011-08-19T16:38:00.000-07:00

Shiny sci-fi lettering logo ideas for a client at work...

Bad Apples

2011-07-13T10:13:00.000-07:00

Today I made some scary fruit. That is all.

Doll-Churches

2011-06-24T14:55:00.000-07:00

I was doing a bit of research for something I'm working on and came across these cheeky chappies. I have no idea why they're holding doll-churches but it's a shame men of the religious inclination don't do this nowadays. Inspiration!

Decoman

2011-04-04T14:40:00.001-07:00

Random new friend...

What Alice Found - the opening!

2011-04-03T06:46:00.001-07:00

Here are photos of the What Alice Found shop that I recently did some design work for. I'm so pleased with how things turned out, it looks beautiful!

'What Alice Found' Shop Logo

2011-03-14T01:51:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I saw a design competition linked on a friend's Facebook page. It was asking for entries for the logo design of a new vintage/fashion/design shop in Boscombe, Dorset. The shop's called What Alice Found, inspired of course by the Wonderland story. The competition was only open for eleven days but by the time I had seen it there were two days remaining. I spent my work lunchbreaks putting ideas together, and fantastically enough, the lovely owners Nicki and Laura picked this design as the winner! I'm also working to develop layouts for the (very thin) main shop sign space. More to follow!

The Train

2011-01-28T14:35:00.000-08:00

Aubin and his background! I wanted to get this out of the way since I've got something else on the go.

Taking shape

2011-01-12T13:23:00.000-08:00

Meet my most recent friend Aubin, a nasty piece of work from the Wild West. He's waiting for the background he lives on to be completed.

Wonderful Life

2011-01-03T08:07:00.000-08:00

I've been...'working'...on this for ages. Decided to put the WIP on here as it might encourage me to get on with it! It's based on the beautifully shot Hurts video for Wonderful Life. If I ever finish it to a point I'm happy with, it'll go on the wall above our sofa. In theory, it will be my first completely Illustrator-based image where I've worked to a fairly high level of detail (in theory...).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYnIX9xjsZM

I love these two women and the guy in the glasses...they could be characters from an Edward Hopper painting.

Roughs

2010-12-30T20:22:00.000-08:00

I got a new tablet for Christmas and have been playing around with it for the past couple of days. This evening I've been inspired by BT and Daft Punk's incredible Tron score (the best album of the year?).

Combined with my plans to make a western-themed kids story for the U-Tales website (using a character I wanted to develop who appears earlier in my blog...), these initial roughs appeared. Not surprisingly for me, cowboys/steampunk/dystopian city/art deco stylings await...

Work placement!

2010-09-02T05:55:00.000-07:00

Finally, a post after all these weeks... I've been ridiculously busy, now almost one month and a week into my 3 month placement at Holmes & Marchant, a packaging design agency in Marlow. I'm having an amazing time, and have been able to work on projects for major clients from the off.

This is just a little rough I did as part of initial concept work, obviously with branding removed... it won't be taken any further as it won't work with the brand but I like it nonetheless!

I'm also getting to work on a commission for a great client who runs www.daygame.com, more to follow!

On The Beach

2010-06-13T14:03:00.000-07:00

Just spent a while tracing over an old photo of my gran and her sister. I love their poses, it seemed to suit an old poster-feel so much.

UCF Illustration Degree Exhibition

2010-06-08T11:47:00.001-07:00

Some photos of my boards in the Falmouth Illustration Degree show.

Business cards!

2010-05-30T20:05:00.001-07:00

One of my two business card designs, blogged especially for those I am too stingy to give real ones to.

Spaghetti Western

2010-05-10T02:41:00.000-07:00

Part of a page for my portfolio based around the theme of 'Spaghetti Western', more to come!

Captain Nemo's Nautilus

2010-05-08T14:36:00.001-07:00

This is a project I started as an entry for a competition; the idea was to create a 'luxury spa brand' and do something innovative and original. Because I was obsessed with steampunk/20,000 Leagues Under The Sea at the time, I decided to do something based around Captain Nemo and his Victorian submarine, the Nautilus.

The idea is that these products were actually used by the crew of the Nautilus, which was meant to be full of amazing objects and ephemera from the sea; the ingredients of these products are inspired by the sea. I liked the possibility that the range would be limited because they're literally taken directly from what was found on the Nautilus itself; that idea has been used in the blurb on the box (I guess I was thinking of White Star Line products especially designed for the Titanic etc).

Better pictures to come soon!! (oh, and the contents of this jar is actually just corn starch and water, mwahaha)

Explorers

2010-05-06T11:31:00.000-07:00

These guys are Jackson and Kiara, geography teachers by day, explorers by half-term. It was recently decided by persons other than myself that they are also South African. I'm going to Nickelodeon in NY and wanted to have some more young audience-friendly characters for my portfolio.

Zeustastic

2010-05-03T14:21:00.001-07:00

Just the finished idea for an advert featuring Zeus, promoting Gatorade.

Bicycle poster

2010-04-24T07:28:00.000-07:00

Another image I've been trying to get finished before NY, a poster for cycling in London which was originally started for a competition brief. Can't remember when the deadline is though...

Quotes piece

2010-04-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

Here's a small part of my illustration for the Illustrated Book Of Quotes and Sayings 5. It's not quite finished yet, another week til the deadline...

In other news, this illustrator is amazing. Across all fronts, which makes me extra envious.

http://www.ciesemier.com/default.htm

The Teapot

2010-03-25T16:20:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday morning, I went to the flea market in Wimbledon to look for exciting stuff. I came back with a tiny haul - a pair of creepy old green bottles that must've held chemicals or something nastier; on the side they read 'not to be taken'. This warning was clearly heeded - I accidentally left them on the pavement, but they were still there hours later.

Following an unexpected turn of events, I ended up being roped in to help design a space for a friend's story in the 'If I Ruled The World...' children's festival at BAC. The story she would be telling to groups of schoolchildren was Hans Christian Andersen's amazing 'The Teapot' (look it up!).

The kids sit in the middle, on the picnic blanket that sits on the real grass rug. They'll get tea and biscuits while they hear Allegra tell the story, Jackanory-style, as the giant teapot glows magically at the centre of the tea service. Fun!!

Thou shall have a fishy

2010-03-23T17:45:00.001-07:00

Just the start of something that, it has recently dawned on me, is going to take up most of my easter break to get finished...

As an aside, I would like to say that I do not approve of fish with teeth generally. This includes (obviously) sharks, but especially fish with HUMAN TEETH. This really violates a lot of things and is incredibly wrong.

Additionally, some of you will know already that I really object to animals that are bigger than they should be. For example - a tiger is a bigger version of a domestic cat, BUT it looks pretty different to a regular cat, so I don't mind. The same cannot be said for abominations such as African land snails, bull frogs, and giant Japanese salamanders (especially wrong) - which just look like enlarged versions of their smaller cousins. Gross.

Oh. God.

Project X

2010-03-10T15:52:00.000-08:00

I'm not a big fan of this piece but it's here nonetheless. Last week we were each given a 'Project X' by our course leader, a brief catered specifically to each student, with a deadline five days from the beginning of the assignment. I was asked to design a poster for a National Geographic programme, to appear in magazines such as Bizarre and Fortean Times (geeky stuff that deals with weird, sci-fi, aliens etc).

This is the second piece I produced, but it turns out I wasn't particularly happy with either. I wanted a pulp, b-movie creature feature poster feel. It's some of the way there, but I mainly really dislike the actual line drawing of the big bad yeti. Nevermind, I've learned that I need to do a lot more initial thumbnails in the future for a project with a tight deadline.

Unloved things

2010-02-24T11:57:00.000-08:00

I've finally got the internet back, and to mark the occasion I'm putting up some of the work that's been languishing in the dark corners of Photoshop.

The first image will most likely never be finished, even though I love the characters; the three saints. Claude, the leader, and his cronies, Bertrand and Dennis. They were inspired by Byzantine art and religious paintings. I love how the faces are always so sullen and gloomy.

The second is what I was initially thinking of going for as part of the Falmouth Illustrated Quotes and Sayings book. Each student gets their own double page spread. I'm liking the quote as it gives me a chance to do something fun, but I'm feeling defeated with what I've got so far. The intention was to have a pirate queen appearing from beyond the horizon, musket pointed at the cowboy (possibly a bullet-hole through the lolly), with the ninjas eating into the coloured areas as white shapes emerging from the top and bottom (and maybe a shuriken in his stetson...). Also, some kind of frame around the cowboy. I'm trying to get an exciting composition but this format's tricky! Thoughts would be appreciated.

Teignmouth

2010-02-01T08:55:00.000-08:00

I only ever listen to Patrick Wolf when I'm miserable, so this is one of those days. The song is taken from his album 'Wind In The Wires', which is written based on a journey into the west country. I listen to this song without fail when I'm on the train as it passes through Teignmouth, it perfectly captures the mood. The train runs along the bottom of the cliffs, right on the edge of the sea, and there's often an amazing orange light on the rocks.

Not for anything in particular, an imaginary single cover I guess.

Maya logo

2010-01-28T09:18:00.000-08:00

This is the logo design for my current project, I'm creating the identity for a restaurant. More to come!

New York

2010-01-26T17:59:00.000-08:00

(t-shirt version edited to remove textures that might not show clearly in print)
A design for Paloma Faith, based on this performance:

I discovered whilst doing this how I'm much more obsessed with steampunk than I originally thought after I tried to include a zeppelin and started going overboard with rivets...hmm...

Oh, a Flo one is in the pipeline too!

One For Sorrow Story Sequence

2009-12-14T17:43:00.001-08:00

Seven images to accompany a story based around the 'One for sorrow' rhyme. This will become a little book that goes inside the magpie jewellery box.

The Devil of Qeztaxolopec

2009-12-08T11:57:00.000-08:00

Inspired by
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls0f2ykf2O0&feature=related
(too bad I couldn't find the English version, this one's almost as enjoyable though, and probably more xenophobic), as well as tonight's Mexican, and an itch I had to scratch.

Miguel Vasquez

b. 1937, d. 1975

Miguel Vasquez was born in Cuernavaca, Mexico. The illegitimate son of a postman and his lover, the head of operations at a large churro manufacturer, Vasquez endured a harsh childhood. He fell in with gangs during his time spent loitering at his mother's factory, and soon became known locally as Pistolero after a notorious incident involving a row over a burrito.

His adult years were spent terrorizing the Guanajuato region, where he picked up the legendary title, the Devil of Qeztaxolopec. He took exceptional offense to comments that his messenger bag was 'unmanly', explaining that not everything a gentleman may carry will fit into a pocket before dispatching the instigator of the exchange (precisely what he carried around, however, remains unclear).

It is believed Vasquez's death was the result of a dispute with El Nombre, a mathematician and part-time swordsman. Although they were known to be friends, one possibility suggests that Vasquez offended El Nombre with a comment regarding the number crunching on his tax return forms.

Magpie jewellery box

2009-12-02T10:02:00.001-08:00

This is a quick photo from my current, soon to be finished project. A jewellery box with a papercut 'branches' design, which will go alongside some in-store campaign work, featuring the magpie rhyme ('One for sorrow...' etc). The magpie image fits neatly inside the hoop when the papercut side is against it.

The Tea Set - finished boxes

2009-11-10T12:12:00.000-08:00

Et voila! Earlier than planned, I decided to get these done so I could give myself some grace to think about the next project. Quite pleased with how this turned out given that I came very close to packing it in last week. Each box has a little individual story on the back. Some issues with the illustrations have been noted and will be resolved at a later date... (sorry about the dodgy home-job product photography!)

The Tree Of Lost Things - photos

2009-11-08T07:45:00.000-08:00

This is a very late update - the Tree Of Lost Things had its debut at the Latitude Festival in July. I initially got involved with the design side of things (see the blog post further back), but ended up becoming part of Ignore The Forecast, and went along to the festival to help run the project. People were invited to write something they'd lost onto a luggage label, and tie it to our tree.

When we arrived and saw our tree, we were excited but nervous - it was a HUGE tree. On the first day, we drew passers-by over (luckily we were in a pretty prominent location, with day ticket entrants passing right by our spot). By Saturday, we found ourselves sat underneath the tree, fighting demand and making extra luggage labels. We came back on Saturday night after we'd packed up for the day - the tree was still busy with people reading the labels at 11pm, and a few people were still around it well into the small hours! By Sunday evening, around 3,000 labels were hanging on the tree.

The project has since made an appearance at the Battersea Arts Centre as the Library Of Lost Things, and will appear there again on Dec 10th as part of an Amnesty International Gala - the Christmas Tree Of Lost Things. Photos taken by Allegra Galvin and Iain Lanyon!

Horses! Trees! Ninjas! Sunburst!

2009-11-03T14:06:00.000-08:00

This one shouldn't really be on here, I did it last week and sent it to a friend as a birthday present, after having promised to make them an illustration for absolutely ages. It's pretty much a going-over of the image I did based off the Bat For Lashes song 'Horse And I', I'm really obsessed with the imagery of someone riding a horse through a forest now... Anyway, add in some of my other favourite cliches ie. the sun and the Japanese theme, and you have a Ben Farrell artwork. Should I pursue this style? I don't know, any thoughts are welcome. I miss actually creating an 'image' as opposed to an idea for a project, and would quite like to try and get back into something with a narrative. I spent today looking at some beautiful vector and digital illustrations with a retro feel to them:

http://strongstuff.deviantart.com/gallery/ (check out his poster for 'The Shining')
http://peridott.deviantart.com/gallery/
http://jgecek.deviantart.com/gallery/

Amazing, amazing work!

Anyway. Ignore that the light is hitting the trees on the wrong side...realised my mistake after I flattened the layer and was too lazy to change it...

Toblerone - Only The Brave Rebranding

2009-10-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

Finally, a project from uni on my blog! This isn't the first thing I've done so far, but it's the first thing I'm pretty happy with (will be coming back to my first project). After speaking to one of my tutors, I decided to try promo for a sweet - since my favourite chocolate is Toblerone I thought it would be a good one to go for (always easier to work with something you enjoy). I was really surprised at the current advertising for the project, it's all geared towards women. To me, Toblerone is more similar to Yorkie ('It's Not For Girls'); it's chunky, and a lot of people complain it hurts their mouths when they bite it! I felt it was also disappointing that the product's shape has never really been used creatively.
To me, the shape of the product felt like a bar of Aztec gold, or some kind of ancient idol. The idea for the totem pole came just from playing around and standing the Toblerone upright.
The tagline 'Only the Brave can handle it' references the native American inspiration and challenges the audience in the way I wanted it to; I hope it would appeal to a younger/male audience. Feedback seems positive so far!
Not so sure yet about my poster ideas, I think each one has different qualities and weaknesses, but several tutors have had different thoughts about which one they prefer, so for the time being I'm not making a definite decision.
The Toblerone colours are for the different varieties - milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate and fruit & nut. You can also see the gimmick I included; the stripe design can become the wings on the totem pole. I was told to use myself as a yardstick, and this would definitely appeal to me!

Lance

2009-10-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

I was considering doing three circular images for Tennyson's Lady Of Shalott, perhaps to go into a teaching aide, but after finishing this picture of Lancelot I don't really feel like the style would suit the target age group, and I've got other ideas that are burning away at the back of my mind, taking precedence!

Liz

2009-08-20T14:59:00.000-07:00

I bloody love the Tudors. I did this after watching The Golden Age again. I'm thinking about developing an information project around these folks as a first project for my return to uni, the first of the third year!

Swordfish Girl

2009-06-30T14:59:00.001-07:00

Something based on the video for the amazing Empire Of The Sun song, 'Standing On The Shore'. Watch the video:

Lion Heart

2009-06-21T17:18:00.001-07:00

Inspired by a lyric from the Florence And The Machine song 'Rabbit Heart', and my 'Keep Calm And Carry On' poster.

Green Belt editorial

2009-06-02T18:16:00.000-07:00

For a Guardian article about the development of green belts around cities since 1953.

Horse And I

2009-05-10T11:04:00.000-07:00

Inspired by the Bat For Lashes song.

Ignore The Forecast

2009-04-30T14:57:00.000-07:00

Character/costume concept/mood board/things for a project I'm doing for my friend. The characters will be part of a piece called 'The Tree Of Lost Things' happening at the Latitude festival in July. It will involve participants writing down something they've lost on a luggage label. The labels will then be hung from a big tree until it's completely covered in them. Several characters will be around the tree to make this happen. The theme is generally lost property/Victorian/eccentric/lost people. I'm also doing some branding for the performance group, called 'Ignore The Forecast'. The logo was made into a stamp which will be applied to the group's promotional material. I will be producing business cards using a paper containing seeds, which will grow when the card is torn up and put in soil.

Easter work

2009-04-07T17:20:00.000-07:00

These aren't likely to stay here for long. They're not finished. My computer was scrambled by a virus and I'm likely to lose everything on it...this is currently a safeguard! Book jacket designs for 1984 and The Handmaid's Tale, cover ideas for The Children Of Men, and a prospective DPS from a children's book based on my own story.

Macbeth Witches

2009-03-15T05:27:00.001-07:00

I created these characters for an imagined version of Macbeth, with an Asian influence behind the design. I wanted to give them three distinctive ages: young, middle aged and old, and three separate qualities: foresight, beauty and destiny. This was inspired by the belief that Shakespeare based his witches on the Fates, who in some instances represent past, present and future. I wanted to add features that gave them character as I often neglect to do this. I ended up deciding not to take this image further, mainly because I lost interest in two of the characters and didn't have the patience to shade them!

'British' t-shirt design

2009-03-13T10:51:00.000-07:00

This is my entry for a brief from a new t-shirt website, specialising in t-shirts featuring the work of young British artists and designers. With just the theme of 'Britishness' to go on, I opted for an image featuring lots of cups and teapots. This developed into something slightly Alice-In-Wonderlandesque. I wanted a surreal feel to represent British eccentricity. The composition came about from wanting the design to stretch diagonally across the wearer.

Deyrolle Taxidermist's Box

2009-02-26T13:25:00.000-08:00

I designed this box after visiting an incredible taxidermist's in Paris. The shop sold butterflies and insects, along with very expensive glass display cases. The alternative to the glass case was a cardboard carton that served purely as a means of transportation. I decided to produce something that was affordable, allowed the insect to be transported, and also viewed alongside information about the species.

Older work

2009-02-14T18:53:00.000-08:00

Some first year work. The man is Faust, painted in gouache for a poster to promote the opera. The woman is based on a song called 'Goldfish' by Siobhan Donaghy.

Samurai Information Book

2009-02-14T17:18:00.000-08:00

The first image is a character I created for the title page of my information book on samurai, seen in the next photos. The book has a Japanese stab bind, and the Kanji symbol for samurai is lasercut into the cover. There are eight pages, each covering a different topic, with slideout inserts inspired by Japanese sliding doors.

Magic

2009-02-14T17:06:00.000-08:00

Illustration based on Ladyhawke's song 'Magic'.

'Jim' Children's Book

2009-02-14T16:55:00.000-08:00

Spreads to show how the final artworks might look for a children's book, based on the story of 'Jim' who was eaten by a lion, written by Hilaire Belloc.