Desktop the halls...

I'm on a roll, i'm on a roll...
3 posts in two days! :)

Here's a desktop to give you holiday browsing a festive edge...
One size fits all, hopefully, but if it looks particularly bad on your machine let me know what size you'd like and i'll sort one out :)

Let it snow...

In an attempt to blog something 'current' here's the Christmas greeting that I did for our office...
If you don't know us it's maybe not too interesting, though you could just appreciate the tree.
:)
Have a happy holiday!

New tease at print...

This is a mock-up of my latest tshirt. I'm having some test printed just now and a batch will be printed in the new year in a couple of colourways..
Let me know if you are interested :)

NEoN Rocks

Dundee Digital Arts Festival arrived, finally, last weekend... predictably, in Dundee. It's called NEoN, or North East of North and it was a consummate 'cracker'!
For more info on that visit http://www.northeastofnorth.com
So, NEoN Rocks is a Spotify playlist:

NEoN Rocks - original digital arts festival soundtrack

1 Neon Knights Black Sabbath

Great song - Neon in the title!

2 Lucky Star Madonna

The Pixar man shone!

3 You’re The Voice John Farnham

@FlackBoy suggestion - You are.., etc

4 Realtime Frequency Dre-Stortion

APB - coming soon...

5 Whatever Happened To Pong? Frank Black

Yeah, whatever did...

6 Weekend Wars MGMT

A big chunk of what NEoN is al about

7 Theme From Narc The Pixies

Classic tune from, apparently, classic game

8 Superfly Curtis Mayfield

A fringe benefit..?

9 When She Loved Me Sarah McLachlan

A Pixar classic, and so is this song

10 What! No Pearls Earle Bostic

Hmm.., the new buzzword at Adobe

11 I’ve Been Waiting For You David Bowie

NEoN has been a long time coming

12 Superfly Guy S’Express

How could I resist..?

13 Invaders Must Die Prodigy

For that classic VGL logo

14 You Only Love Me For My Lunchbox Asylum Street Spankers

The lunchboxes were great!

15 Neon Rocks Calvin Harris

Well, does it not..!?

16 100% Dundee The Roots

@newvibes idea... and NEoN’s defo Dundee

17 Sweet Emotion Aerosmith For that masterful VGL performance

It's not scientific, but it references NEoN and there are a couple of suggestions that arrived via twitter. So, this is the fictional artwork for the fictional album - the main purpose being that it reveals my train of though with regards to the selections.

So, hope you enjoy at least some of the playlist and feel free to download the pictures :)

Ha-Ha-Hallo'een..!

May I direct you to a post from about this time last year.. The competition still stand altho the prize will not be the same as I've run out of those particular badges... will organise an alternative prize... so get carving!

Remember I need photographic proof - I still need to find last years but at some point I'll create a gallery - we're nearly into double figures. I find they look particularly creepy if you keep them for a week or two after Hallo'een...

http://gilagraphics.blogspot.com/2008_10_01_archive.html

Odopod

Just interested to see if this works..?

Great sketch website where you sketch online and then embed you images into other webpages or emails, etc...

http://sketch.odopod.com/

Try it out..!

Rubbish..!

There is nothing worse than people who keep telling you how busy they are.
So, the reason for the neglect of this page is pure lazyness :S
I have been working on a little project called SuperFly which is doing quite well and launched 'proper' this week - you can read and see more at www.superfly.org.uk - unless you are in Dundee, in which case just take to the streets between now and then end of October :)
So, anyway, while I was out taking pics for the SuperFly site what should pull up across my path but this - which links back to a post a few months ago... hadn't seen it before and quickly seized the opportunity to photograph it. Another example of how vectoring hand drawn artwork can be to it's advantage... nice big 'clean' graphic.
Anyway, re. the blog - Normal service will resume shortly! ;)

Classic Character Design... #002

Need to do a few more updates here but been a bit busy with www.superfly.org.uk :)
Half the problem is that apart from my own work which I need to get on here I said I would do more of these character design spotlights and I have so many that I would like to do I keep putting it off because I can't make a decision...
Anyway, today I saw one online - ready made - so I thought I would link to it and move on. It's particularly relevant with Disney acquiring Marvel this week. If you do a quick google of Disney/Marvel mash-ups you'll find any number of creative collisions of these two worlds which have now taken a step closer to each other. I'm curious as to what would happen to the Marvel universe in the hands of, say, the Pixar team..? but also wondering what will happen to the Marvel Superhero Island at Islands of Adventure at Universal in Florida. Difficult to rebrand I would think but will the Magic Kingdom be able to resist building it's own Marvel Themed park and business from Universal..?
Anyway, I was on Muttpop this morning as the have a new Lucha Libre vinyl character out in a 'Hulk' styled colourway. I'm still working on how I am going to purchase one for myself, it's a gem.
But I also noticed that they have a mini Spiderman retrospective and examples of the many artists who have added there own spin to the character design.
I won't bore you on this occasion with tales of my Spidey fandom... suffice to say that he's been a favourite for as long as I can remember thru the cartoon show, the (dodgy) TV show and now the new movies which surely stand apart amongst a very few 'decent' comic book movie translations. But there is NO disputing the 'classic' status of the Spiderman design so take a look for yourself via the link below and stay tuned for more 'me' styled info :)

Cheers all,

J

On the SuperFly!

Well, it's been a long time coming but finally SuperFly is a reality! To find out more about SuperFly, visit www.superfly.org.uk
In a nutshell it's an art exhibition that will take place outside by using flyposters as canvas!
The first batch of 'call for entries' posters has gone up, so if you're in Dundee keep an eye out for them and spread the word. The closing date for entries will be very soon but dates are to be confirmed and will be announced about a week from now.

www.superfly.org.uk
Email superguy@superfly.org.uk
twitter onthesuperfly

Penzance Pirates and Vampire Plants..!

> Two new posters for the Dundee Schools Music Theatre (DSMT)...
>
Always a good job to get involved in and particularly so this year as
we hope to have a pop-out insert in the Little Shop programme... but
more of that in a month or two.
So, these are going to be out on the streets of Dundee in a few
weeks... i've included 'little Audrey II' as I particularly like how
she turned out... under pressure to get the posters done that was the
last bit of illustration I did and without any sketching, just done
straight in the machine... exactly what they tell you not to do...
wrong side of the brain and all that... however...
Just to prove that I do use the creative part of my brain when doing
this sort of stuff i've added my 'monster Audrey II' sketch which i've
yet to 'flesh out' in Illustrator... i've only got as far as a
silhouette so i'm a bit intimidated by that at the moment but that
will form the centre spread illustration in the programme.
As always, because DSMT do two shows only a few weeks apart it's good
to contrast the styles of artwork in the advertising and so from the
start I knew what I wanted to do with 'Pirates...' but again, was a
bit intimidated by my ideas because as always i'm up against the clock.
So, I cheated a bit in that I got the ship from 'iStock', but I
tinkered with it and reshaped bits and added it to my pirate with a
few free squiggles which I found and adapted...
Looking forward to doing the programme and playing around with
different background colours ad keeping the illustrations
predominantly black... we'll see.
Incidentaly, I cheated a bit with the Little Shop logo type... I used
Comic life which comes free with the Mac. It allows you to do stuff
with text that would take an age in illustrator... maybe there is a
plug-in that would do the same job in AI and that would make the fills
and gradients easier to do once I imported them (can't do those in
Comic Life) but it was a time saver all the same :)

Top Character Design #001

What is it with character design these days..?

I suppose for a generation of designers it's a throw back to what got them drawing in the first place place and has now become an art form in it's own right, away from the cartoons and comics.

So heres part one in my occasional series 'Great Character Designs'...

I'll try to stay away from the obvious... everyone loves a Imperial Storm Trooper... but some of the obvious may turn up just because they are so classic... like Storm Troopers!

So, my first, and the inspiration for the series: (drum roll)

Darth Maul
The Phantom Menace is 10 years old this year. The fact that that makes me feel very old put to one side, it's the first movie that I remember as being an 'internet fueled' hype machine. After about 3 days of waiting on a 26k dial-up modem I had my own copy of the smallest trailer i had ever seen! But I felt liberated! :D
So, for my generation, who by definition, were far too old to be complaining about stuff anyway, the movie was a disappointment. There WERE some good vehicle designs but great character design was thin on the ground particularly with so much of the good stuff from the original trilogy standing out like Jabba, R2 and C3P0 etc. I'm a big fan of the new droids in SW:TPM, the destroyer ones that folded up into wheels in particular, but the stand out character, and one of only two reasons to go back to the film at all (the other being the pod race) is Darth Maul.
Darth Maul was just too cool for school.
If only he'd disposed of Qui-gon sooner.
Maul could have realised the error of his ways, Obi Wan could have seen the banal humdrum of the Jedi order for what it was and they could have met half way to become the Batman and Robin of the outer rim, a true rebel force keeping the scum in order and bringing balance to the SW universe. That would have been worth a watch.
As it was he got chopped in two and spawned the most pointless action figure ever (one that breaks in two BEFORE the kids get hold of it!).

But from his horns to his 'force kicking' boots he was a destined to be a design classic and one of the best baddies to come out of ANY universe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9UEV-b2Ws4
He even has a BMW... http://jalopnik.com/5259283/mwdesign-darth-maul-bmw-m3-the-dark-side-of-tuning
Peter Seranofiwics dubbed the voice but the stunts were all Ray Park, who suffered a worse fate than Darth Maul - a life of comic conventions!
So, ladies and gentlemen, your thoughts and memories please, on the tattooed tyrany of Darth Maul.

Zoom-in...

In my book Zoom-in is a great idea... in fact it's the sort of thing I would probably do without any promting but the fact that lots of people are contributing to this idea makes it even better!

You get supplied with a disposable camera by the good folks at Bio-Diversity and then you take a photo of you favourite spot every month for a year. They then get put together on a dvd with lots of other peoples favourite spots and a few get to do voice overs explaining the story behind the images.

The only downside is that it's open to folk in Tayside and i'm in Fife!

I'll just have to do my own ;)

Anyway, I was given the job of doing there promo stuff (attached)

See what you think.

J

:)

And another thing... MOJI's!!!

Mojis... little characters that do battle...
I have some characters in competition just now... please vote for them and get me into battle!!!
You have to sign up and log in so the hastle is appreciated and i'll remind you next time I have Moji's in comp so it's not entirely wasted time :)
Go to http://www.mojizu.com/ and once you've registered and loged in search for 'gila' and you should find my Mojis. I have 3 in competition just now under the banner of gilaBots!
As a 'small' thank you i've attached a gilaBot desktop wallpaper...
Thankyou one and all. :)

More tees...

The gilaBots are coming..!

Lots to say but too busy to say it... however, this, for future reference, will do for now...

First: gilaBots, they are coming - keep 'em peeled as they say!
Second: Superfly - looking more and more likely by the day, more news v. soon!
Third: Illustrator dude from across the pond who purchases my tee regularly has included my last design (Twilight Bonzes - sizes still available in the shop) in his most recent self portrait...

http://industri-studios.blogspot.com/2008/11/sigh-trying-again_09.html

Thanks maan!

Will be back soon with more info on the above points plus NEW tees!

:)

Street View...

Street View...

I love street posters... as (hopefully) a future post will 'confirm' that i'm a Super Fly Guy..!

Found this today... i know, I was (genuinely) doing something else on Google Street View and then got sidetracked wondering if I might find one of my posters... and i DID! :)

I've included the original so that you can see what you're looking at through the blur.

The odd thing is that if you go one more step up the street and do the 'full side on view' then it's a different poster all together so obviously this street view is made up of several passes with just enough time for a new poster to go up.

Anyhow, I have some glory!

Moooon...

No, that's not a call bare bums, but a new movie due out later this year - called 'Moon'.
The trailer looks v. cool... (http://moon-trailer.blogspot.com/) somewhere along the lines of Solaris and Alien via 2001 with a healthy dose of Silent Running, and stars Sam Rockwell.
It's directed by Duncan Jones who's a regular on Twitter, and as the movie has such a cool poster design I made Mr Jones a theme, for his Twitter page, based around the 'Moon' poster design. Both attached for comparison.
You can find/follow Mr Jones on Twitter under the pseudonym 'manmademoon' - http:www://www.twitter.com/manmademoon
Of course, if you have any Twitter theme requests you can get in touch with me: @gilabot or follow the links on my blogger home page.

:)

Evil Empires...

Besides working full time and doing my freelance projects I also do a lot of free work for the Christadelphians... we are a group of people who believe and study the Bible are waiting the return of Christ to the earth.
I work on posters, leaflets and the usual stuff... but this recent project is really enjoyable.
Evil Empires is a colaboration between me and another Christadelphian - so far we've yet to meet and have done this all through email... it's part one of at least 4 or 5 but once we've done those i'd really like to expand it out further and maybe even a book...
It's along similar lines to the 'Horrible Histories' (http://www.horrible-histories.co.uk/) that you may be familiar with and it's our take on the world Empires that are described in the book of Daniel...
Another reason for posting this is because I'm going to start another blog that chronicles, not only Evil Empires, but all my other freebies... so stay posted..!

NEW website...

New website... glitches seem to appear in Safari Beta from time to time but if you experience problems else where fling 'em over...

Ta

Illustration style...

Having a style is something that I've worried about (relatively
speaking) from time to time - or more to the point, the lack of one.
I seem to have several depending on what I feel like doing. One of the reasons I got fed up doing comic book illustrations was because I couldn't happily maintain the same style without wishing I was doing something else... maybe that just raises discipline issues, I don't know...
Anyway, I worry less about it now because I enjoy working in different ways from job to job and I enjoy so many other illustrators styles that I'd hate to be lumbered with just one outlet or another...
So, to 'illustrate' the point i've attached two illustrations. I don't think either represent a style that i've featured on here before although I have plenty of illustrations that do reflect this style. Both have been around for a few years but both have been dug out recently because the two leaflets they grace the covers of have been revised.
On the face of it the two schemes are quite similar but I approached the illustrations slightly differently... at least that's how it seems to me, maybe you see them differently?

Clatto fun...

This was a summer job from last year (to mask the lack of current post-able work.. :( - lots of typesetting at the mo...)
It shows what you can do with some scalable illustrator files and big pieces of fabric and vinyl'd MDF!
Unfortunately the building isn't properly open yet and the windows still have the shutters bolted fast so the photos were taken under nasty fluorescent light but it's another example of big stuff - which isn't as simple as it might seem, but lots of fun to do - especially with an open brief... :)
So, the building is Clatto water sport centre - go to www.Ancrum.com for more details.. tell 'em I sent ya!

Business cards...

I'm thinking of re-branding...

Nighmare idea I know but I think I need to be a little more... I don't know, anyway, this came along at the right time to give me some ideas.

:)

http://tinyurl.com/50cards

Nectar nirvana...

Point 1.
Just finished a bit of work for a new-ish unsigned band called Nectar.
I've done the sleeve to their new promo CD and the EP that will follow. It was commissioned by a new local label who i've also done a logo for. Once the EP comes out i'll maybe post the entire inner and back sleeves as well.
I also had a crack at some tee for them - unsolicited but I can never resist a tee :) (tee hee hee..?) groan :

Anyway... it's early days yet, for the sleeve and the logo, not to mention the tees, but, Point 2. (a big part of why I'm making this post) is to illustrate the following. This jucnture in the jobs timeline is usually (in my experience) the 'nirvana' for the designer - in my mind the job is complete, i'm happy with it, i'm even having a bit of fun in my own time with the tee designs. Now, whether things stay like they are is another question entirely. Once the record company people, managers, not to mention the band, get involved and add or take away from the project (which is their perogative) a little bit of your designers soul is erased. Humbly I must admit that from time to time this process has been known make the job equally as good but in a different way - nay, even to improve the job!
And so point 3, (and by now you'll be thinking that Point 1 was enough) it only goes to show what a miserable bunch designers can be :)

So, it's early days, nothing has been finalised or approved but for once I thought i'd post something now and see what happens latter.

If you want to hear the music of Nectar visit their myspace page... http://www.myspace.com/nectarrock

You could also visit Hero records... http://www.hero-records.com

Until next time...

Back to school...

Ahh... the school badge, that much maligned and defaced of all badges!

Well, anyway, didn't stop me having fun making school badges for work. I've collected these over a few years - the earliest being about '04. Can't remember which order exactly and not too bothered in checking to find out but as I now have a few under my belt, here they are bunched together for all to see...

The more colourfull of the St Andrews badges is the one I would have liked them to have used but they chose the other one. The Rowantree, Craigowl, St Paul's and Braeview basic layouts were suggested through student design competitions and then worked up by me... althought the owl is very much me. Finally, The Claypotts was purely me...

It's great seeing them on little sweaters and ties and badges - i'll maybe post some samples at some point.

Mr Blue Sky...

So, no sooner are the Christmas banners up that it's time for the
Spring banners to replace them...

Fortunate enough to photograph them on a day that reflected the 'blue sky' feel I was aiming for with the designs... 

And during the cold winter days while I was working on these 'Mr Blue Sky' on a loop was a great source of inspiration. I should probably post my 'Sunshine' playlist along with this.

Hope you like :)