Famous Artists (You've Probably Never Heard of) - No.1 Léon Spilliaert

The first in an occasional series.

Plucky little Belgium, for such a small country they've given the world so much!
 

Beer; more beer; Jacques Brel (no he wasn't French); chocolates; Poirot (fictional) and a whole host of exceptional artists, architects and designers.
 

Most importantly for the Grillust Team, it was the Belgians who first had the genius idea of combing chips (french fried potatoes) with mayonnaise (mayo), to produce a delicacy we truly consider Haute Cuisine (Hot Food).

However, we're not here to talk about fine food, it's the Fine Art (do you see what I did there) of Belgium that must concern us, specifically the haunting work of Léon Spilliaert.


The Essential Facts:
 

Léon Spilliaert (28 July 1881 – 23 November 1946)

Born in Ostend

Self-taught artist, initially worked as an illustrator

Sickly, unhappy and reclusive as a young man = his greatest work
Happily married family man later in life = less interesting work

At the heart of the Symbolist Movement

Mostly worked in charcaol with ink.

Produced some of the most haunting and subtly disturbing work of the twentieth century... 

See for yourself:

Vertigo (1909)


The Gust of Wind (1904)


Self-Portrait with Mirror (1908)


Self-Portrait (1906)


La Galerie Royale d'Ostende


The Persuit (1910)


The Moon and Lights (1909)


Figure (1905)


Self-Portrait (1908)


The Night (1908)


Digue D’Ostende Aux Reverberes (1908)


Portrait (1907)

There are shoes and There are Shoes...

...and then there are Vienn's (Year 0) SHOES.

MEGA!

First Years, Second Project

The First Year students have been exploring typography, the third dimension and craft skills.

They were asked to closely examine two very different fonts and then produce a 'mashed up' hybrid letter of their own choosing.

Happily, we can report that their making skills are not too bad (there's always room for improvement) and that happily (for the first time ever) no blood was spilled.

Here's the pictorial record:


Rhian's bouncy K!


Jessica's pimped Q


Maria's sparkly Q.


The wall of mashed-up letters (you'll need to click on this and keep scrolling right>>>>)

Competition time!

The rumour is true. At the end of November, Captain Davies is going to abandon the Grillust™ship to make a fortune plying his rascally trade in new waters? (as long as he doesn't lose the keys).

Q. What is the reason that Captain Davies is jumping ship?

a. He had no choice. We just had enough of him. He's been politely ask to leave.
b. He had no choice. We just had enough of him. He's been politely ask to leave. Several times.
c. He had no choice. We just had enough of him. He's being cast adrift.
d. He had no choice. We just had enough of him. He's being made to walk the plank.
e. It's that Ladyboy thing.

Answers on a postcard to the usual address. Exclusions apply.

bike lunacy. Nothing to do with graphic design or illustration.

Several Grillust Officers own bikes. None of them (apart from Tony) can do this sort of thing.
Redbull Rampage is a death defying contest, held annually in Utah, Arizona. Contestants must make their way from top to bottom with as much flow, speed and trickery as they can manage. Here are this years top 3.

Why’s this on the blog? I’ll let you know when I think of a good reason.

Bob dylan poster comp

Each month in 2013, Creative Allies and Sony Legacy Recording's feature an "Artist of the Month." This month they are celebrating the life and legacy of Bob Dylan.
Create commemorative art for Bob Dylan inspired by the legendary singer/songwriter's album titles and win a rather stingy $500 (that’s just one man’s opinion).
For competition details head on over to this here link and remember, don’t follow leaders, watch the parking meters.

The conceptual editorial illustrations of Pete Ryan

Peter ryan is an illustrator and in his own words - "He works with acrylic paint, silkscreens, block prints, and airbrushes to make his work. He works insanely long hours, but that's what makes him happiest. Pete has won some awards and been recognized in some industry annuals - I'm sure you can guess which ones. He loves coming up with solutions to problems and will likely shock you with the amount of ideas he provides for each project. Pete also loves Boston Terriers and Middle Earth".

The reason I'm posting Pete's work on here isn't simply that it looks great, though that is true. I'm posting because of the communication, the way in which Pete has summed up often complex messages in a simple and striking way. More often that not you can see what the article is about without reading a thing and that, ladies and gentlemen, is good illustration.

I’m Boulet, a french cartoonist…

Saturday morning. Bacon rolls, a cup o’ tea and some web scanning for inspiration. I found this fellas work. His illustration style is beautiful, a self contained world overflowing with warmth, but what really impresses are the ideas. Boulet is French - I’m not even sure of his full name – and the blog I found is a work in progress where he is painstakingly going through a massive backlog of his French language work and translating it for us awkward English speakers. It’s well worth a look.

One of the simplest but most effective uses of gif animations I’ve seen.

and this little idea was the one that first caught my eye

2nd YEAR, 1st PROJECT

Over the summer, our new second year students were asked to document their passions, other than design or illustration. On returning to University students were tasked with developing visually arresting editorial spreads using that research.  Here are just a few examples...

Adam Peel (21)

Reece Crowder (21)

Sophie Driffield (21)

illustrating the intangible

It bears repeating - illustration doesn't have to be concerned with the obvious or the tangible. Very often illustrators are asked to draw what can't be seen.

Here's a couple of successful examples to set you on your way

How to defeat your inner saboteur by Adrian Johnson for Stanford Business Magazine



War and male leadership by Noma Bar for The Guardian


Bunny Lake is Missing by Saul Bass

First Years, First Project

The Brief (two weeks, working in teams of two):

1) Select a location

2) Produce an ISSUU publication that captures its essence

3) View the results:

Jessica and Lauren give you a day on the No. 68 Bus.

Alex and Vincent explore Carlisle's legendary 'Strawberry Fields.

Katie and Bradley look at a tiny piece of Bitts Park.

Zac and Rebecca find myths and monsters in a Horse-Chestnut tree.

You can see many more responses to locations here.

Uh-oh, it's the new students!!!

We apologise for the paucity of recent posts but we've been very busy making our new students feel at home.

As things settle down a little, we're grabbing this opportunity to introduce our recent Grillust™ recruits (all 21) to all our loyal followers on the world wide inter-web.
 
As is traditional, our first action was to arrange them all from North to South (based on the place they call home). Here are the results:

 
What conclusions can we make...

Well, we can categorically state that we really are a truly 'global' course, with all four cardinal compass directions covered: N - Helsinki (Finland); S - Durban (South Africa); E - Hong Kong (China); W - Tampa (USofA). 

We also found out that the people of 'God's own county' (Yorkshire) can get along with Lancastrians, Grillust™is still 'massive' in Salford (and Spain) and Nottingham is North of Leicester.

Once the students had been arranged and catalogued, we officially 'broke the ice' using our very own ancient, top-secret recipe that has strangers talking to one another almost instantaneously. See below if you don't believe us:


Next it was time to break out the tennis balls for our annual game of 'Studio Ball'. 

At this point the tutors retire to a safe distance. In our case 'Mac'Enroe Mountain (do you see what we did there), the lofty vantage point, covered with computers from which this dramatic photo was taken:


Finally, it was time to unleash our students onto the tranquil streets of Carlisle with our very own digital 'treasure hunt'. The ensuing chaos is graphically pictured below:


PS. It really was a fun week and we can state with confidence that they really are lovely people.

Competition Time!

One of the unforeseen and regrettable ramifications of the Border region digital switchover in 2008-09, was that we were no longer able to use our old analogue Tony Peart.

While we’re obviously delighted with our crisp new digital Tony we didn’t just want to throw the old one away so, like our Betamaxvideo recorders and View-Masters, it’s been sat in the cupboard ever since. 

However, as our 3^rd year graphic design students have recently been working on a project with Bargain Hunt antiques expert Paul Laidlaw (more of that later), we asked Paul if he would cast his expert eye over our discarded Tony in the hope we might be able to raise a bit of cash at auction.

Paul Laidlaw. Antique Expert on BBC's 'Bargain Hunt'

Paul Laidlaw, from off of TV's Bargain Hunt, casts his expert eye over our rare, mint condition, analogue Tony Peart.

So, what's it worth?

Simply send in your estimate of the worth of our obsolete Tony. The person who get’s closest to Paul’s valuation wins postal orders to the value of five shillings.




LITTLE KNOWN CUMBRIA FACT #1:
A 'Tony' is Carlisle un-rhyming slang for a portion of chips & baked beans as served in our canteen. e.g. I think I'll have a Tony for dinner* today

A 'full Tony' 

*for readers in the south Dinner = Luncheon

Iginio Lardani

Along with Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone, title designer Iginio Lardani, helped shape the modern western. For the story behind some of his best known work head on over to ‘Art of The Title Sequence’.