Illustrated movie posters - part 2

Continuing on from my previous entry of Illustrated movie posters, I have decided this time to focus on works produced by one of my favourite graphic designers/illustrators.
Saul Bass created poster imagery for many productions including 'Vertigo', 'West Side Story' and 'Anatomy of a Murder' to name just a few.
To me, his images cleverly and simply capture the essence of the movies that they portray and I admire their kind of cryptic elegance. (Images from IMDB)

Illustrated movie posters - part 1.

At the cinema recently I saw a few posters for some classic films. They reminded me of how illustration was utilized in this medium and how the image has probably become as iconic as the film itself.
Sure, it was a sign of the times. Paintings and illustrations were more frequently used in posters when these particular films were made. Some of them probably influenced me when I was growing up. The image from the Star Wars posters for example is kind of burned into my brain.
But in the next few blog entries I would like to look at some other illustrated movie posters from over the years. Please feel free to mention other examples of illustrated posters worth checking out too. I'm not expecting to compile a complete library here, rather a selection of work that shows trends, styles and hopefully masterpieces in this medium.

Venice sketchbook

Here are some quick sketchbook works done during a trip to Venice. As I was short on time, I thought it was best to get up at daybreak and wander the lane ways looking for a location before the place became filled with tourists. It just becomes harder to get around and then settle in a spot without getting interrupted or in someones way when the crowds come in. But I loved it there. So many picture postcard scenes - so little time to sketch them.

Venice watercolour

I painted this watercolour from a photo taken by a relative on their holiday in Venice, Italy. At the time I had never been there. But a few years later I was able to see Venice for myself and in my next blog entry, I will try and post some of the quick sketches that I gathered during my short visit to the lagoon.

Random thought

A crack in the ground got me thinking about how a piece of artwork can be created utilising a surrounding which becomes an integral part of the piece and helps to convey it's message. I'm sure that there are some forms of guerrilla advertising out there that do this as well as the occasional Graffiti artist (which I'm not condoning). But it just made me wonder.

Guitar Repairers - Session 2

The Guitar Repairer fellas have kindly allowed me to come into their workshop again to do another quick sketch session. As usual, the shop offers a smorgasbord of subjects to try and capture. There are so many interesting things going on in there visually from beautiful guitars hanging on the walls, to stacks of amplifiers, to the workspace itself that it is hard to know where to start. And this for me provides the first challenge to overcome. What am I going to draw? I decided to begin by focussing on some guitar details rather than trying to capture an arrangement of things in the room.
Something that I thought I would try this time was using pastel on coloured paper which is a medium that I am not really familiar with using. I generally use normal pencil on paper when I do sketchbook work mainly because it is easy to carry around. But because I am so used to working this way I tend to find myself labouring on finer details. By using a different media I was curious to see if it would help to break this habit and force me into a different direction.
It did in a way, but habits die hard and I did take more time sketching the guitar pieces than I probably should have. Moving my focus onto figures forced me into drawing things faster and getting the gesture and composition down quickly but it takes some getting used to and is something that I will look at more in my next session.
For me these sketches are as much about getting things wrong and learning from the mistakes as it was about getting something that looks halfway right. Here are all of the drawings whether I was happy with the outcome or not.
For those interested in seeing some of the beautiful handiwork produced by the Guitar Repairers, head to my 'Links' area for their website.

Grandfather's house

A little while ago, I had the opportunity to visit the house that I believe my Grandfather spent his childhood years. It was in a quiet little seaside town on the east coast Scotland and the owners at the time had done a beautiful job of restoring it. I love the character that old stone houses and buildings have but this one, because of family history, had special relevance. My Grandfather passed away when I was a young boy so I never really got to know him as well as I would have liked. I remember him as an interesting and intelligent man with a talent for music. He might be the person who first introduced me to cartoons and caricatures as I recall him showing me the funnies in newspapers or drawings that he had collected of people with these elongated noses and distorted eyes. This would inspire me to try and draw cartoons of events at my Grandparents house and caricatures of the two of them which they seemed to get a kick out of. My Grandparents played an important part in my life. While this isn't a cartoon, this one is for them.

The Busker

I saw this busker playing Piano Accordion while travelling around the South of France a few years ago. Unfortunately I didn't have much time to stop and sketch, so I snapped a couple of photos, tipped the gentleman and continued on my way. I remember how the area had a really warm, rustic look and feel about it which was something that I wanted to try and capture in this piece that I have recently completed. I thought that I would experiment a little with pen work over the top of watercolour because I wanted some warm loose tones to come through the crisp linework. The artwork is on a medium texture, cream coloured, archival quality watercolour paper.

Beer O'clock

It's a sunny Friday afternoon. Surely it must be close to Beer O'Clock.
It reminded me of this little acrylic painting on plywood that I did for my Father as his Father's Day card. (I had written on the back of it.)
Cheers, and have a good weekend.

Sketches at the Guitar Repairers.

A couple of months ago, the kind and talented folks at the Guitar Repairers kindly allowed me to sit in their workshop and do some sketch work. I'm certainly no expert on guitar makes and models but I love the look of them. This workshop has some lovingly restored beauties in all sorts of styles and shapes. Hoping to do some more sketch work in there again soon.

Coffee cravings

In the words of Lisa Mitchell - "Coffee, Coffee, you're my heroine..."
Here are a few pieces created in honour of my favourite brew.

Simple paper sculpture

I have never attempted to do one of these before but when I first started out in an illustration studio, I recall my boss having pages of beautiful and intricate paper sculptures in their folio. Times and styles have changed over the years and I don't see much of it at all these days. But I still love the effect that you get out of hand cutting, layering and lighting the paper. Unexpected things happen, and for me that's where the interest and beauty lies in paper sculpture. This piece is simple in terms of the layering but one day I might attempt something a bit more complex.

Postcard paintings

These are a couple of paintings that I have recently done onto plywood panels. With these I was really interested in simple graphics. Nothing fussy, just pure and simple silhouette. They were taken from a series of sketches based around kids at play.

Putting it out there.

All sorts of sketches, thoughts and ideas - some good, many of them bad go into my sketchbook. Most never progress past that point and a few might get finished off to finally get displayed around the house. But now I have decided to throw some of them up here in my first foray into the blogosphere.


My intent with the grubbyrubber blog is show anything that I've been exploring in my sketchbook or on the drawing table. It might be something that I have sketched while waiting for a train or something that has tweaked my curiosity on the TV. There might also be other things that I have found inspirational. All of the images displayed are under copyright of the artist credited to it.


I don't know where this caper is heading or what the results will be. But I guess I'll find out along the way. Cheers, the grubbyrubber.