About the Artist
I am a graphic designer living in Bristol, and have trained at Camberwell College of Arts in London.
My focus lies mainly in printed matter, identities, typography and front end web development. However, I can quickly adapt to diverse briefs and have completed projects involving video production, art direction and art installations.
I have worked freelance for companies such as Netflix and Mango. Furthermore, I have completed work experience at a range of firms ranging from Aardman to Holition and many in-between.
Since leaving the world of Graphic and Marketing Agencies I have worked on period dramas including Sanditon (Red Planet), The Trial of Christine Keeler (Ecosse Films) and Agatha Christie's Pale Horse (Mammoth Screen).
I am highly proficient in the full Adobe Creative Suite as well as having knowledge in Autodesk applications such as Fusion and Eagle. I pride myself on being able to pick up and learn new software depending on the project at hand.
Vermeer's 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' Photoshop of my dog.
The Offenders
Assistant Graphic Designer
A Stephen Merchant production about seven strangers from different walks of life , forced together to complete a community service.
The Pale Horse
Art Dept. Assistant
Early 20th Century period drama, based on the work of Agatha Christie. Unable to disclose more information at this time.
Sanditon
Assistant Graphic Designer
Regency period drama based on the final work of Jane Austen. Letter writing including calligraphy, poster design, bottle labels & more.
The Trial of Christine Keeler
Graphic Design Internship
Mid-Century drama based off the events of the Profumo Affair. Poster design, letter writing, bottle labels & more.
Otrovez
Junior Graphic Designer
Cross-media design agency in Bristol. Multiple projects completed for Bristol Animal Rescue Centre & others.
Mango Consulting
Graphic Design Internship
Marketing and design agency in Bristol. Projects involved the development of multiple branded packaging designs for NIVEA body-care.
Film & Television
Sanditon
ITV
For the production of Sanditon, I was met with a new set of challenges. This was by far the oldest period I had ever worked on and this required me to use a completely different skill set.
Areas such as calligraphy, letter writing and map making were greatly utilised as displayed to the right.
This being said, my graphic skills were also employed in the design of bottle labels, stamps and bank notes are always of utmost importance.
I faced a further challenge on Sanditon when asked to be the the 2nd Stand-by Art Director. This role was entirely new to me and much was learnt about the on-set workings of productions. This included the ability to dress sets, recreating scenes for pick-up shots, as well as resets before shooting multiple takes.
the Trial of Christine Keeler
BBC
Mid-century printed matter has always been one of my favourite eras of graphic design. As such The Trial of Christine Keeler was as much an enjoyment as it was a challenge. My projects varied greatly from the production of postal stamps to bottle labels to medical and legal records and papers.
Shown above is a screenshot of the show depicting a hero prop I created for Christine's time in jail - a 'hate mail' Christmas card with an original illustration by me.
Below is a selection of other designs largely used as set props.
the Pale Horse
BBC
As an Art Department Assistant for Agatha Christie's The Pale Horse, I collaborated in the creation of imitation bread masks as well as the
depicted corn dollies for the village fête.
Greg Davies Special
Netflix
Greg Davies' "You Magnificent Beast" Netflix Special was shot at the Hammersmith on the 17 November 2017. His set touched on terrifying dates, 'manscaping' disasters and his father's pranks amongst a hoard of other items.
I was brought in to create graphics for the large LED screen that acted as the backdrop of the Hammersmith Apollo stage. This required numerous slides that acted as visual aids for his jokes. I also produced a 'lyric video' that was shown at the end of his set accompanied by a singing Welsh male chorus.
Short Film Production
My personal interest in creating short films lies largely in the cinematography of the pieces as a way of creating narrative where there is no conventional writing.
To that end, it is the imperfections in classic cinema that attract me, that is the visual artefacts arising from the use of outdated glass coatings in the lens and the technical limitations of the time. The anamorphic lenses for me represent the pinnacle of achievement from this late Golden Age of Cinema, with their extreme depth of field, colour separation and fringing, warped horizontal planes and the beautiful waterfall-like bokeh are deeply reminiscent of the late Golden Age of Cinema.
These lenses are financially entirely out of my reach, however I was able to find a vintage projection lens (originally designed to de-squeeze anamorphic footage coming out of a projector). Using some home brew clamps and fittings I managed to attach it to a cheap digital camera.
The above short was filmed using my self made anamorphic rig. With an eye not to story but to composition, I allowed the imperfections to become the focus, with the constituents and locations taking a step back from the limelight.
Below is a piece, used as a trial into Canon FD Series spherical lenses and post production effects.
Book Binding
Modern book-binding can largely be split into two camps - restoration and creation. I am proficient in both areas, being able to restore and rebind old blocks (the sewn leaves of pages) as well as fully bound custom pieces.
My area of interest mainly lies in classical western bookbinding, although I can perform more contemporary or Eastern forms such as Japanese Saddle-Stitch.
Weathering and distressing of new books to make them look old is easily done with very fine grit sandpaper, leather strops and body hammers.
Calligraphy
Much like bookbinding, I approach calligraphy in a traditional sense. Starting with western letterforms, I am capable of producing Bookhand, Uncial and Italic as well as Blackletter Script. These scripts form the basis of almost all western calligraphy up until the mid 18th century.
Copperplate then surpassed these forms and is a style that I am currently studying. These styles can cater to wide range of periods starting from Medieval texts (Uncials) up to Georgian, Regency and even Victorian periods with Copperplate and its derivatives.
Combined with Gilding, I can illuminate manuscripts and other written matter with period correct text as well as gilt illustrations.
Gilding
Gilding can be carried out on both three-dimensional objects such as sculptures and picture frames as well as printed or written matter such as manuscripts.
My technique for both is largely the same: cut the gold leaf on a padded cushion with a polished knife, apply delicately with a brush onto an area with an oil based Size such as Japan Gold Size then burnish and remove excess. It is the burnishing that differs between materials and subjects.
Architectural Design
Within my set of skills lies both design from a real world marketing standpoint in the form of shop frontage creation as well as the development of entirely fictional locations. These locations are often inspired by pre-existing structures and buildings (as exemplified to the left which was inspired by Graeco-Roman architecture in Sicily) but this is not a requirement. Locations can be concocted as Medieval fantasy forest camps, Regency grand halls or industrial, cyberpunk wastelands.
In terms of real life experience, below is a project completed for Otrovez. It is often said that a building is never built in isolation - meaning that utmost attention must be paid to its surroundings. This was largely the reason for both the palette choice as well as the typesets, due to the area being a more luxury locality for 'well- heeled' shoppers.
'Vanity Fur' was created for Bristol Animal Rescue Centre as an upmarket charity shop in Clifton Village, Bristol.
Life Drawing
The natural form has always been of great interest to me. I find beauty in gestural drawings and I believe the human form can tell a story as much as a camera or a pencil.
I study and attempt to render the human figure in motion through gestures, poses and emotions.
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