Tellers artwork.

Hullo.

I've recently designed some artwork for the band and good friends Tellers.

Having been to a few of their gigs I always had a vague idea that a repeated linear artwork would really suit them, stuff like waves/optical illusions close to a Bridget Riley style (who I've been a massive fan of since Year 7 art class). The idea of simple lines repeating themselves to make a grander composition is a lovely and intricate idea. The band touch on a Math Rock genre, which has it's emphasis on complex layers so I knew this aesthetic would go down well.

So from here, I looked at similar themed bands to get an idea of styles and trends, a lot of them had this style of geometric shapes, tessellations and detailed illustrations, which is right up my street.
As a sucker for word play I thought I'd play around with the Math aspect a bit more. At design school it was ingrained into us that when it comes to composition, you must always consider the rule of thirds and the golden ratio. Now, the golden ratio is intimately interconnected with the Fibonacci sequence and from this I remember there was a spiral in particular using this rule, it seemed pretty obvious that this was a good place to start.

So I played around with it a bit, did a few variations including different fonts but we decided to settle with the original logo. Here are a few of the initial ideas:

I added the logo in the last one to give it a better visual context. The guys liked this one so I developed it into a few different versions to make sure all aspects were covered. After a few adjustments the band decided that the this one was the best one to use. They wanted the logo to be made a bit larger which I was fine to do, there's an inside joke that clients generally ask for their logos to be bigger, here's an article that talks about it.


Since this will be predominately used on their web profiles and social networks, it does make sense for the logo to be a bit larger - think what it would be like as a thumbnail image - no point of having it smaller if the logo is too small to actually read. I can feel my ears burning as typographers will be casting a menacing eye over the centering and where the top left of the 'T' lingers over some of the artwork - the logo is right orientated so is a bit asymmetrical, not necessarily a bad thing it just means it won't be bang in the middle. Here it is:

Very happy with this, the band have released their EP this weekend, which I highly recommend. They were also played on the 'BBC London introducing..' radio show last night so congrats on that!


Click here to check out their awesome EP.


Here's their Facebook and Twitter links. Soundcloud for good measure too.




Toodle do.


 

Abstract photos.

Aloha.

I've been making a collection of photos for about the past 2 years, they're essentially images that were either about to be deleted, forgotten on a camera, taken by accident or taken whilst inebriated (Drawing similarities to the Nightbus Chronicles I used to do). They're mostly from my iPhone and digital SLR. What I like about them is the mystery. Some you can make out, others you can't. Without getting too deep I like the idea that none of them are preconceived as a pose, or a selfie or anything like that. I've never been a huge fan of posing for a photo, it feels forced and I usually end up pulling a weird face.

This reminds me of a time when a couple of friends and I went on a holiday to La Rochelle a few of years ago. I had my SLR with me and we started talking about how holiday photos are generally forced to make you look like you're having fun all the time (don't get me wrong, holidays are super fun) but there was that element of 'we're on holiday so it must be fun' which seemed forced, especially when you think of the fact that the majority of photos that you're ever in, is of you holiday.
So we hilariously came up with the idea we should try and look like we're having an awful time despite our beautiful surroundings. There were some pretty funny results and it was genuinely a lot more fun than doing cheesy smiles. Here are a few examples below, the last one is my favourite:
(Featuring Leo and Adam).

So back to the point, this collection is essentially unplanned and unposed photos that have a slightly interesting end product. Who says I couldn't sell!

I really like the one with white trousers - it's quite striking. I definitely recognize a few situations, if anyone can figure out some of the finer details in the pictures, I'm all ears.

TTFN

New Facebook page.

It happened.

Zuckerberg's charming curls finally entwined their way into my soul and forced me to make a Facebook page. I'm quite self aware how self centered this is, especially just naming the page as 'Jamie Kyle' and not a variation of 'Jamie Kyle illustration' or 'jkdraws' or 'like a fox'. I spent an hour typing, deleting and retyping different names for this page, really can't believe it took me so long. I came to the conclusion that I'd like to represent myself, rather than a brand or an alias. I guess a part of me doesn't want to hide behind something?

"No one will suspect a thing"

But why create a page? Well, similar to my Twitter account the vast majority of my followers are people I don't know and I like that. They chose to follow me due to my interests in art and design and that's fun. So, with my normal Facebook profile, I know a lot of 'Facebook friends' are interested in what I'm doing, but not all of them. So I figured that those who like my stuff can still follow me, as well as people I don't know directly follow me if they're interested too, I'm making it a choice. Vote Jamie! Democracy Jamie! Huzzah.

"Like his page, punk"

Here's the page: facebook.com/jamiekyleillustration