This new series is a little of a departure for me. I decided to try something fairly new and create some pieces based on popular comic characters.

Recently I was sorting out my old artwork, and came across a series of super hero paintings I did back in high school. There were about ten in total, painted on thick watercolour paper using Windsor and Newton gouache, a medium I really enjoyed working in for a while. It made me think that it would be interesting to do a new series.

I’m not sure how exactly I selected the characters; it seemed rather arbitrary. I know Catwoman was a natural choice since she is probably stylistically one of the coolest comic characters for me. The others were chosen either because I like their overall design and persona, or I actually thought they would be a challenge because they weren’t particularly appealing initially.

Personally, I think Wonder Woman seems particularly visually-dated, but thought it might be a challenge to add some mood to her and try to represent her in such a way that didn’t bring to mind that 70′s TV series. The result is a piece that is closer to my traditional style than the other three.

I tried not to place too much emphasis on making the four images the same in style and treatment, and just let the individual piece dictate the direction I would take it in. As with most of my work, the pieces almost take on a life of their own, and I feel I simply facilitate the progression to their predetermined end result. Because Wonder Woman‘s persona is so straight-edged, I think it was only natural to compensate for this by adding some complexity and roughness to the design. Throwing some heavy shadow on her and silhouetting parts also helped.

Supergirl was also like Wonder Woman for me; a rather plain type of character without much edge or grittiness to work with. This time however, I decided to go with her super clean image and represent her as one of the simplest pieces in the series, which fits her overall persona. Unlike Wonder Woman, I felt she is far more contemporary in design, so I didn’t feel such a pressure to compensate for a dated costume like I did with Wonder Woman.

Batgirl was the piece that took the longest. Much like Wonder Woman, I felt I had to fight the squeaky-clean image Batgirl has and to try to inject some attitude into the composition. I wanted to try to utilize a lot of textures and layers with at least one piece in the series, so decided this would be the one, especially since it would also help me introduce some mood.

Catwoman was the easiest one, the only real dilemma was deciding how much detail and layers to add. Like Supergirl, I decided to keep the piece more simple and concentrate on the quality of the line-work and creating a strong composition. The logo played a larger part in this piece, so I spent some time on the design of it.

For all the pieces, I also tried to think about the time period each hero might live in. Supergirl to me seemed the most modern, so the cleaner and more graphic approach seemed to suit her. As I worked on Batgirl, she seemed to start feeling very 1920′s, so I started to introduce subtle elements that supported that. I used a halftone pattern quite extensively throughout the piece that adds a nice, raw feel to the image.  Also, I used many layers to build up the texture of the illustration, and this helped make it feel more like an antiquated print that’s the worse for wear.

Part of the appeal of creating this series was the chance to revisit the characters’ logos. I modified all four of them, and tried to simplify the lines in each one.

Catwoman doesn’t seem to have an official ID on her costume in most of the images I found.  I did find one rendition that had a silhouette of a cat’s head as a belt buckle, and that gave me the idea of turning it into more of a logo for her. For the others, it was more a matter of simplifying and refining the lines.

I have some ideas for further additions to this collection, so in-between other projects I may start to add pieces to this one. It would be interesting to do a male character such as Batman or The Hulk, and Storm and Black Panther also keep coming to mind.

I may also pick a couple that are really unappealing to me simply for the challenge, such as Superman and Captain America. Both are incredibly passé to me, and can’t imagine exactly what I could do to compensate there. Having said that though, Wonder Woman was my last choice in this series as a subject, yet the final result turned out to be quite possibly my favourite.

Grafika66 aeroplane trolleys (yes, you read that correctly) are now available through Skypak.

Two designs are available: The French inspired ‘La Prochaine Fois’, and the London inspired ‘Piccadilly Circus’.

The trolleys are just like the ones used in commercial aeroplanes, are extremely robust, and can be customised to the individual’s needs. Extra attention has been given to the details; the inside of the door as well as the outside is adorned with the design.

For more information, visit Skypak: English Site | German site

Grafika66 Trolleys: ‘La Prochaine Fois’ | ‘Piccadilly Circus’

A set of 3 illustrations, plus a repeatable design.

Based on the new BBC Doctor Who series, with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan as Amy Pond.

New Fine Art Set: Turntablism – Set of 3.

We are the dead of night
We’re in the zombie room
Heavenly oversights
Eating from silver spoons

‘The Dead Of Night’ – Depeche Mode

The complete feature can be read here.

And here are the original posters…

New art release – ‘I Am Invisible!’

A selection of editorial illustrations created for Top Gear magazine in 2009.

Produced for both the UK and Australian editions. Created to illustrate articles by various writers including: Richard Hammond, James May, Paul Horrell, and Pat Devereux.

New art release – ‘Match Stick’

New editorial illustrations for Top Gear magazine, January 2010 issue.

Another set of pieces for both the UK and Australia editions. The Australia edition always uses the same images completed for the UK, plus an additional one. This extra piece is used to illustrate an article from one of their own writers, and augments the other articles from the UK version. The top piece in this post shows the one created for the Australian Top Gear.

Both Top Gear UK and Australia editions should be on shelves now. North America imports should be out next month.