Claudia Varosio Designs Posters

I really like poster design. Posters are pretty universal - they can advertise events, sell products, show you the latest movies and games or even just entertain you. Good poster designs come in all shapes and sizes, but some of my new favourites are by designer Claudia Varosio.
Claudia remakes movie posters in her own style, which is fairly simplistic and often in a basic, complementary colour scheme.
I looked on Claudia's Etsy Shop and found posters for some of my favourite films:

This poster is for a  big favourite of mine, Juno. I like this for several reasons: the colour scheme is simplistic and gives the movie a quite old feel, which it doesn't really have as a fairly new film. I also like the use of the two acoustic guitars as the focus of the poster. This showcases the guitars that Micheal Cera and Ellen Page play towards the end of the film, but they are by no means the focus of the film. This less obvious approach to the poster gives it a much more mysterious feel. The placement of one guitar leaning on another also hints at the romance in the film.

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This poster was one that leapt out at me immediately. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is one of my all time favourite films, and this poster is a totally new, interesting take on the poster. I always found the original film poster to be, which relevant, overly cheesy:

 

The 'trippy' image on the original poster was very relevant, but personally I had always found it overly busy and distracting. Obviously, taking into account the time this film was made, this poster was probably fantastic at the time, but I much prefer Claudia's remade version for it's simplicity. The colour scheme also reflects the colours used in the film very well, the sandy colours from the desert and the clear blue from the rolling sky. The 'accent colour' of the bright red convertible is also a very nice touch, and draws attention immediately.

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Finally, a poster from possibly my favourite film of all time, The Big Lebowski. Claudia has redesigned a lot of the Coen Brothers' movie posters, but this is definitely my favourite. I like the fluidity of the bowling pins and the colour scheme of orange and purple which works really well. The layout draws the eye into all the right places: across the title, to the bowling ball and up the pins to the cast. Casting aside my adoration for this movie, this poster is brilliantly designed and easily eye-catching.

Phlegm's Street Art

Phlegm is a street artist who works in Sheffield (though he has branched out to locations like London and Manchester recently). His work is characterised by an illustrative style and is almost always in black and white. A lot of his work is meant to work around the landscape and architecture he paints on.

Phlegm's work is interesting to me for many reasons. First of all, it's local and it's really easy to find near me, as opposed to more famous street art like Banksy's which is difficult to come by. Just the past week I was lucky enough to head to The Forum in Sheffield and found some Phlegm work in one of the independant stores there. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me, but it was a fine example of how local street art reaches out to people in a way that more famous work can't. 

Another reason I love Phlegm's work so much is because of the intense attention to detail involved. As an artist, I have trouble paying so much attention to the details, and I envy artists who can create mind-blowingly complex work like Phlegm's. As I develop my work, I will definitely try my hardest (as always) to bring this style in, as it truly amazes me.

Because Phlegm's work is so usually seen in black and white, his work is even more striking once colour is used. Above, the red immeditely catches the eye, and the shapes of the red paint are captivating enough on their own, without the additional painting of the figure. Phlegm's work is highly detailed but not so realistic. His style is more cartoonish, but with a more realistic shading style that makes his work seem almost old-world in style. Phlegm also works on comics, and his work is put on t-shirts by Syd and Mallory, a local Sheffield company. Phelgm's work is truly transferrable to any canvas, which is a feature of his art I will always admire.

Illustration Friday - Duet

This week's Illustration Friday was 'Duet'. For this theme, I decided to stray away from my usual digital illustrations of people and draw some birds in a style I love - tattoo art. Swallows are often used in tattoo designs and here I drew this swallows duetting a song together. This image was made with graphics pen and watercolours.