Shane Meadows

I am a huge film geek and feel a sense of pride when I see great work from Britain. The likes of Danny Boyle, Ridley Scott, Tony Kaye to name a few directors which have brought to life some of the most amazing stories. Tony Kaye's 'American History X' has to be one of the greatest films of my generation. Danny Boyle's incredible work on 'trainspotting' and '28 days later' was outstanding and are cemented in my DVD collection. Ridley Scott has made an unbelievable impact on Hollywood with numerous hits such as 'Gladiator', 'Black Hawk Down' and a current favourite of mine 'American Gangster'. All amazing films showing incredible vision and cinematography.

Shane Meadows has had recent success with his work on 'This Is England' from 2006 but its not just his current work which I have found a great inspiration. 'A room for Romeo Brass' from 1999 and 'Dead Man's Shoes' from 2004 were great examples of powerful British cinema. The fact that I can relate to the stories, feeling it could be happening in the town I live makes me have a connection with the film which I cant find in some of the Hollywood pics.

He also has a sharp eye for talent by casting the likes of Paddy Considine and Thomas Turgoose who made the characters they played unforgettable.

My recycled robot

I made my own 'recycle robot' to see if my concept to help children understand recycling could actually work. Well I am the biggest kid there is and I enjoyed making it. It was made from recyclable cardboard products we use on a daily basis. I then painted it black and stuck some detail on to make the robot come to life. I do feel this concept could work as a tool to bring families together and enforce the understanding of recycling. 

"Try it yourself......Recycled robots!!" (that's my reference to my many years watching 'art attack')

How I work

This is a bunch of my doodled illustrations I have collected. It is supposed to represent my ideas and thought process, the tools I use and the style I create. 

(click to enlarge)

Together.com 'Cut It Out'

Last term I chose to tackle a brief from the YCN website. It was for 'together.com', a company who are trying to fight against climate change. The brief was to get young people interested in climate change. I wanted to give the project a style which would be visually pleasing to a younger audience as well as being interesting and informative. I started by thinking of ideas, names, interesting copy and styles which would be appropriate to the target market. I decided I liked the idea of cutting things out! Cutting out the bad in your life, so i wanted to show the cutting out f the causes of climate change. I was happy with the concept but felt the final outcome lacked the spark I was trying to give it. I want to try printing on different surfaces and push this project further.

Flash experiment

I recently had a flash tutorial at university. We were taught the basics of flash, how to import images and create movements. After the tutorial I wanted to create a small animation, I used some type I had creates and used the tools on flash to create a moving title. I wanted to make it look like blood cells floating. Getting to grips with flash has opened up new possibilities for visualising my work and ideas.

(The file hasn't illustrated the smooth movements created in flash)

Sticky Fingers

These are two t-shirt designs for a project I am working on called 'Monsterboy'. My own little brand, producing t-shirts which represent me, all the things I like and all the crazy ideas that pass through my mind. It s fun project and this is easily seen in the work I am creating. These are part of the 'Sticky Fingers' collection which is just about the things in life we crave. Here I have illustrated treats we hate to love. Other designs in the collection are ice lollies and penny sweets. 

Nike Dunk X Cherry

I am a big trainer freak and have a huge love for 'Dunks'. I found this design on Sneakerfreaker.com and thought it was fantastic. Nike have taken one of there most successful trainer models and used the print designs of french textile designer Paule Marrot Editions. The outcome is a thing of beauty. It is part of the summer 09 dunk collection, i could imagine seeing these walking past me on a sunny day and me turning my head and picking up my jaw. The are really fresh and bold, not for everyones taste but are still a beautiful creation.