tysall

[tysall]

I've been a comics fanboy since picking up a copy of 2000AD in the 1980's. 2000AD - and Warrior - being the gateway drug(s) that inevitably would lead to harder stuff, in the late 90's I was given a selection of Frank Miller graphic novels: The Dark Knight Returns and Elektra Assassin. These subversive origins were enough to give teenage Tysall some focus and a major life-goal to pursue: I was going to make my mark in the world of comics as an artist! The only thing I was good at school was drawing so I was determined to combine my skills with my passion. In my final year of secondary school, I discovered I could go to college and study Art and Graphic Design. The later was a completely new term to me which sounded interesting and (more importantly) like a *real* job, which was good news to my clearly concerned parents. College would be the ideal way to create a portfolio, something I would need in order to get a job as a commercial artist.

Art college was amazing. Finally, I was learning stuff I actually wanted to know. Every week I was life drawing. I was learning about illustration, advertising, typography. They even had "computers" that ran "software" you could use to paint over and even "with" photos.

There was one downside though. Everywhere I studied, and almost every design lecturer I met, made one thing very clear to me: pursuing comic-book illustration was a waste of time. In hindsight, it's clear these various institutions didn't know how to teach comics so couldn't impart the necessary experience to help direct my studies, so I understand their reluctance in dealing with a budding comic illustrator. And for now, I was being exposed to new and alternative areas of graphic design and was happy to let the pursuit of a career in comics take a backseat.

Another important thing was also happening that would eventually steer me off course. Something completely unexpected. Something that would stay with me for the rest of my life and is still pertinent today…

When you enter Art and Design education you're exposed to something you never prepared for - you're now in a room with several people that are equally (and in many cases far more) talented at image creation as you are. Every new friend I was making that shared my love of drawing comics was also blowing me away with how gifted, unique and adept they were. Far more than me. So what hope did I have at making the grade?

Higher education ended and it was time to put it all into practice. I would eventually fall into a 17-year long career making magazines, which culminated in me joining digital art magazine ImagineFX as their Art Editor. This is where my urge to become a commercial artist resurfaced yet again. On leaving IFX in 2012 the first personal project I gave myself was to write, illustrate, design and self-publish a graphic novel.

The project codenamed: Das Geheimnis was alive. A paranormal story seeded in WWII Germany, playing with crypto-historical themes of Nazi occultism and how it could permeate via real-world events such as Operation Paperclip, MKUltra and Monarch into shaping the world we live in today.

The problem is when you start to research WWII and Hitler's Nazi party the whole idea of adding demons into the mix seems a little impotent. Almost disrespectful (and that's coming from a fan of F Paul Wilson's The Keep and also the Indiana Jones movies). If there's a time in human history that doesn't need fictional monsters it's somewhere between the Nuremberg Rallies and The Holocaust.

So, what changed? Why now..?

A hand full of reasons: 1. Months after bringing the project to a halt I had the (now painfully obvious) epiphany I could tell the story in an alternative universe that mimicked our own, resolving my concerns over belittling real-world events. In doing so the story accelerated into new spaces. Simultaneously not being locked into an actual historical timeline meant I could compact time and merge events and places. The story was now free to explore new routes.

2. Over the last 4 years, I've re-engaged with my drawing and painting to the point where I'm now more confident I can deliver visually pleasing results worthy of a reader's attention.

3. Regardless of how/when this story gets published and told I have a set of characters, worlds and events bouncing around in my head that need setting free. I genuinely want to see where it all goes. So consider this an exorcism. Even if no one else reads it at least *I* would like to see this story unfold.

Considering the above points and my current employment concerns (or lack thereof), really… what have I got to lose?

So. How to proceed. Do I Patreon? Do I Kickstarter? e-book it? Create a pitch and shop it around various indie publishers? If you've made it this far then I would love to hear your thoughts and advice on this matter.

@ me, please.

[tysall]

It’s 25 years since the release of Akira in UK cinemas. Akira has a very special place in my heart, it was the first series of ‘adult’ comics I got into, and it was **my** series. To explain its significance we have to go a bit wobbly-TV-screen and travel back some years…

Back in 1989, I was in my final year of secondary school. After years of moving around I’d ended up moving between my 4th and final year, totally screwing up my GCSE’s - the school I had been at for year 4 had a very forward thinking approach to their curriculum, unfortunately, the school I was finishing at was very traditional and had clearly struggled to adapt to the GCSE modular system. I realised very early on that my exams and end of year results were going to be an utter mess. My saviour came in the form of my art teacher - Mr Jones. This chain-smoking, raspy-throated, no bullshit fellow helped me in two very tangible ways: 1. He told me that what I was doing was called Graphic Design and Illustration. That I could go and study this at something called an Art College. That I would need something called a portfolio and it would need to be strong. 2. In order to create a strong portfolio he allowed me to take up residence in his art class. Didn’t matter what year he was teaching, I could sit in, take a corner desk and carry on working on my ‘portfolio thingie’. (I think the trade off was I would supervise the class when he popped off to his materials room for a cheeky fag break.) Mr Jones had also extended this invitation to some of his 6th form A-level students, who I got to know fairly quickly. One individual noticed I was into drawing 2000AD characters, he was into comics too and asked me what other comics I read…

…

…

“What other comics are there?”

…

…

One blank expression and a week later I had read both The Dark Knight Returns and Frank Miller’s Elektra: Assassin series. My journey into “grown-up” comics had begun. Naturally, I went out and bought copies of everything that had been loaned to me but I was also keen to find something new, something that would be my discovery. Which is when I found issue one of EPIC’s western reprint of the Japanese manga: AKIRA.

World, and mind, blown apart.

Manga back then was very new to Western eyes. Yes, it was clearly tainted by American comics, but what stood out to fans was just how different and, well… Japanese it all was. Yet Otomo’s work went beyond that of the derivative Manga gradually filling the shelves of comic shops all around the UK (my own comics-Mecca was Nostalgia and Comics, Birmingham). What appealed to me about his work back then still rings true today; his future-tech had a sense of design and functionality to it. Neo-Tokyo felt alive in the same way Ridley Scott’s rain-soaked, neon-noir Los Angeles did in Blade Runner. Also, Otomo can compose a scene/frame with a heightened sense of drama without reverting to the American style of cartoon-like exaggeration ever present in Western comics - something that still makes me wince today even when I see comic artists I admire doing it. The combination of these things - plus great characters and a captivating storyline - resulted in the Akira comic feeling very cinematic.

Anyone that collected Epic’s reprint of Akira will remember the back section; a couple of pages full of Akira ephemera, one-off Otomo illustrations for YOUNG magazine, insights into the production process of transmogrifying the original Japanese comics for an English speaking [reading] audience. Then they started to use this section to announce the release of Akira the anime. Thanks to a Channel 4 documentary I had already seen clips of the Akira animated movie so the hype was already very real for me. By the time the film’s limited UK run had been announced I’d converted enough close friends - that could drive and owned a car - I had a small gang of cyberpunk types to ensure we were one of the first people to see Akira on the (smallish) big-screen. On a Sunday evening in 1991 we travelled down from the Midlands to the aptly named Watershed (cinema) in Bristol. Two hours later I walked out of the screening, full of those feels I had after seeing Star Wars and Alien for the first time. I’d just watched another film that would shape me as a person, a film that now - 25 years later - I still watch, either to get inspired or just to be entertained.

Recently, in my new-found lifestyle choice of struggling artist [Note: Not as romantic and mysterious as it was originally sold to me… trust me] I’ve started to incorporate inks - both traditional and digital - back into my work. Whenever I take a left turn like this it becomes a great excuse to re-study artists I admire that work in similar mediums. With this illustration I revisited Otomo’s ink work, reminding me that… a) The single image can tell an entire story. b) Negative space affords the subject room to exist and helps to focus the viewer’s attention on subtle details. c) Explore and find another perspective. d) There is a time for complexity and a time for simplicity, recognise when they’re appropriate.

So, here’s to Katsuhiro Otomo and his seminal AKIRA - good for health, bad for education.

[tysall]

I was born in Berlin. To British parents — I hasten to add — posted there as part of the British Forces…

Does that above sentence seem slightly jarring to you? Why do I feel the need to say: ’… to British parents’.

You see, for several years growing up, moving from posting to posting, I would always have to blurt that line out to the local bully-militia. Even when I did my qualifier would be drowned out by the inevitable  “Are you some kind of NAZI?!?”… accompanied by comedy ‘Sieg Heil’ salutes - a finger from the opposing hand placed under the comedian’s nose, mimicking Hitler’s tiny moustache. Pure comedy gold I’m sure you’ll agree. ffs.

Naturally, attitudes changed the older I got, my claim of ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ started to become something I was very proud of. It was different. Different changes from ‘weird’ to ‘cool’ the more intelligent the people surrounding you are.

But it actually took me decades to return to the city of my birth. By this time I’d  grown up in love with the world of Hip-hop (with it’s own visual art form: graffiti), gone to Art & Design college to study graphic design and illustration, spent close to 20 years working in magazines as an Editorial Designer, and was now looking to begin a *new career as an illustrator… [* work still in progress]

I needed inspiration…  and Berlin had it around every street corner.

Berlin’s a city that’s full of street art and graffiti. It’s woven into the urban landscape. From an outsider, it appears more than just tolerated by the locals. Which makes a kind of sense seeing as Berliner's relationship with graffiti has been a long one. For several years it had one of the biggest outdoor galleries, dividing the city into Ost und West, and famous the world over: the Berlin wall.

But there’s another side to graffiti that goes beyond artistic expression. Graffiti as protest. And Berlin/Germany understands the need for its citizens to protest. In a fair and safe society, this has to occur with minimal harm to those that march, those that observe and those that may challenge… the new wall has become the Polizei tasked with this duty.

So this image is not an anti- [add as appropriate: state, fascist, liberal, immigrant, gay, police] illustration. It’s an observation. That, to me, Berlin accepts and understands people's need to have their voices heard.

To Demonstrieren.

[tysall]

Recently Netflix announced that they’re making Richard K Morgan’s Altered Carbon. This got me excited. Very excited. Altered Carbon is my all time favourite SF novel. Since putting the book down for the first time (back in 2002) I’ve wanted to see this future thriller realised on the screen. I was always concerned that ‘Ollywud would fuck it up, or that a great director would have to hack it down for screening times… but now TV has become the great saviour of long-form storytelling, with Netflix leading the way, so I’m quietly optimistic.

Depicted is Altered Carbon’s lead character Takeshi Kovacs, post revenge slaughter, the quote that runs down the side is a Quellism. Quellcrist Falconer being the fictional political activist/revolutionary often quoted within the Kovacs novels…

Quote:

“The personal, as everyone’s so fucking fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, take it personally. Get angry. The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here – it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft-. Only the little people suffer at the hands of Justice; the creatures of power slide from under it with a wink and a grin. If you want justice, you will have to claw it from them. Make it personal. Do as much damage as you can. Get your message across. That way, you stand a better chance of being taken seriously next time. Of being considered dangerous. And make no mistake about this: being taken seriously, being considered dangerous marks the difference - the only difference in their eyes - between players and little people. Players they will make deals with. Little people they liquidate. And time and again they cream your liquidation, your displacement, your torture and brutal execution with the ultimate insult that it’s just business, it’s politics, it’s the way of the world, it’s a tough life and that it’s nothing personal. Well, fuck them. Make it personal.”

Quellcrist Falconer - Things I Should Have Learnt by Now, Volume II.

… it resonated with me pretty hard, in light of the recent political debacle this country I currently reside in is going through. As someone that has bitten down hard on their tongue - on social media, at least - on how they feel about recent events, it goes a long way in capturing my emotions.

I fear I might be a Quellist. ;)

[tysall]

I’ve had my eye on Courier magazine.

I’m a devout consumer of good editorial in print and Courier continues to pop up in all the right (blog) places. So, I sent them my folio and a couple of months later they got back to me with this commission: produce a portrait of Blaise Bellville, founder of Boiler Room.

After some quick research, I decided on two avenues to explore…

The first I dubbed The Architect - as a nod towards the cinematic masterpiece that is the third Matrix movie. In this composition we see Blaise seated, surrounded by old style TV screens depicting live DJ events.

The second concept - dubbed The Concierge, I’d watched The Grand Budapest Hotel that week - played with the exclusivity of the small, intimate DJ sets that Boiler Room broadcast.

Courier settled on the first idea but wanted to see some other elements added and tweaks to the composition. I’m fairly happy with the outcome, things can get tricky when you’re posing for reference shots and the intended subject has a very different build to yours… I had to extend his legs a fair few times. I’m pleased with the likeness, especially considering his distinctive hairstyle has changed over recent months, dating the majority of reference photos you find when doing an image search - thank Instagram for making issues like this less of a problem.

Special thanks to Tomas Jivanda (Associate Editor) for his direction, patience and feedback.

[tysall]

Back in January (’16) I was approached by the 220 Triathlon Art Editor - Neill Donnelly - to illustrate a feature for the magazine. I’d been working with 220 for a while as a freelance editorial designer, so Neill had had his fair share of me badgering him for illustration work… clearly I had finally worn him down. To begin with details on the article’s focus were light; it was going to be a tips feature, over several pages, and each ‘section’ would require an illustration.

And then the trail went cold. Turns out the wordsmiths were still crafting the feature into shape.

By the time the feature found its way back onto the flatplan Neill had already booked me again to help design the mag. Which left me in a rare (and welcomed) position - not only was I illustrating the feature, I was also designing it. Which was great, I was free to see the entire spread as a canvass, integrating design elements across the page(s).

Being honest, some illustrations are stronger than others - I like the ‘cycling’ and ‘mindset’ images, not so keen on the ‘workout’ one - and some of the pages look tighter than others. But it was nice to have control over the entire feature, which would definitely be something I’d like to develop further with future clients.

Check out the full set on my ‘folio site.

[tysall]

I was lucky enough to get drafted in as freelance Art Editor on BBC Focus magazine last month. They’re currently going through some changes - the content is superb and they’re looking to convey a bit more confidence on the newsstands through their cover design - which hopefully is achieved here with a braver, less conventional cover approach. I’m certainly proud of it as a piece of cover design, and I’ve included some of the features I worked on too…

[tysall]

Hi! Here’s a quick video from me all about the Nomad art satchel - a great bit of kit for those of us that enjoy getting out of the studio for a spot of drawing. More details here: http://www.nomad-artist.com

[tysall]

My latest cover for the Little white Lies weekly app out today - it’s for the movie Slow West. It was a lot of fun to put together, I’m getting back into using traditional media to give the digital work a bit more life.  

When the team briefed me a few weeks back they asked me for some w.i.p. stuff to help promote the issue on their socials… I got a little carried away with the idea and decided to do a time lapse video of the painting process - traditional and digital. Check the LWLies blog for more…

Or head over to my YouTube channel to watch the process video using this link: https://youtu.be/-B5WldA5uTg

[tysall]

Did some design work for a Bristol based advertising and marketing agency recently - they where pitching new CRM ideas to one of their clients in the mobile-tech market and needed some info graphics to accompany the presentation.

[tysall]

This illustration was commissioned by Little White Lies - the UK based movie magazine - for their weekly app (OSD: 16/01/2015).

The brief from their AD was tight - as was the deadline - but Timba (Smits) knew exactly how he wanted to illustrate their Whiplash cover. They wanted to make a connection between JK Simmons' performance in Whiplash to R. Lee Ermey's Gunnery Sgt Hartman in Full Metal Jacket. This definitely appealed to my movie-nerdalism…

[tysall]

Really looking forward to the new Mad Max reboot, so I knocked this together…

[tysall]

drone strike deck

[tysall]

Been caning the sketchbook recently, usually on the train - beats staring into my mobile…

[tysall]

Stanley (Artgerm) Lau's turnaround for the cover of -- ImagineFX Presents -- Comic Artist was about the same speed as the animated gif…

[tysall]

These covers are from my recent run as freelance Art Editor on ImagineFX bookazines - it's such a robust, unique brand that I had the opportunity to give each cover it's own identity…

[tysall]

Values stage for a new project - propaganda posters