HR magazine commission

I drew an illustration for the July issue of HR magazine to accompany a very interesting article on flexible working - working from home. The art director had a clear idea of what they wanted which was a rather traditional doll house with a modern office and no people in the image at all. Placing the house on a hill was my idea based on the fact that no matter how beautiful the surroundings, working from home can often be lonely.

I found it easy to engage with the article since sometimes I work from home too and I'm familiar with the pros and cons. What I wasn't aware of prior to reading the article was that companies now embrace flexible working and give their employees the choice of either working in the office or home. You can read the article here. Photos of the printed illustration coming soon (I am in Cyprus at the moment and it will take a few days for it to arrive from the UK).

Politis feature

Yesterday I was excited because I was featured in the arty section of one of the main newspapers in Cyprus (despite the fact that I was featured as a graphic designer instead of an illustrator/animator) called Politis. I was curious to see which photo of myself they used since I left their studio the other day with an aching back from all the weird yoga poses I was told to perform. In the end they chose this one which refers to yoga but it is not TOO yoga-like (if this makes sense). There is a short interview on the side about what I draw/think. 

Short interview

I was recently contacted by gazette inspiration collector (a lovely arty blog) and was asked to answer a few questions about things I like (I tried to find a better phrase but 'things I like' seems to sum up what I want to say) and my work. I enjoyed answering these inspiration related questions which sort of reminded me of why my work ends up looking the way it does. Some times the work just develops automatically and remembering the reasons why I work using this style and ideas was quite reassuring. Anyway you can visit the beautifully designed gazette blog here and read the short interview here. 

Cyprus Archaeological Museum visit

The only image that stayed with me since my last visit to the Cyprus Archaeological museum is a room full of clay figures of varying sizes. Even though I was around eight years old when I saw these figures I was amazed by how many sculptures there were in that room. So yesterday I decided after so many years to visit the museum again and experience the room again!


I discovered that there are only one hundred sculptures in that room out of the two thousand found in the excavation...there is simply no space to put them so some of them were taken in Sweden (they were discovered by Swedish archaeologists). 


I also enjoyed the naive and amusing pot drawings and there was something really scary about the life sized sculptures. The whole experience was inspiring and the fact that people have been making art for so long is fascinating! 

Vishnu the Preserver

I admire religious / spiritual art mainly because of its symbolic nature. I particularly like Hindu images and Indian miniature painting because of their rich color and naive use of perspective. So after I read this bit (well some of it) on Wikipedia about Vishnu while brainstorming for an animation I started this drawing of Vishnu which is sort of my own version of him. So here are a few fascinating bits about Vishnu's iconographic representation (there are a lot of different interpretations of these elements so if you are interested in learning about them it's best if you do your own research rather than take my writing for granted): 

His skin is 'like water filled clouds' and he has four arms which symbolise the four aims of life: pleasure, success, righteousness and liberation. In his hands he is holding a Sudarshana chakra (upper left hand) which represents the will to multiply and also that he is the protector of the heavens. He is also holding a shell (Sancha) symbolising prosperity and a trident  which is a sign of asceticism. Vishnu is standing on a pink lotus in bloom because according to esoteric Buddhism the heart of a being is like an unopened lotus and when the virtues of the Buddha develop the lotus blossoms. The pink lotus is also a symbol of the highest deities. There are countless names and representations of Vishnu and the list of characteristics and symbols is endless so I will probably draw him again in the future!

AntiVJ

AntiVJ is a visual label working with projected light and messing with people's minds! My friend Costas was telling me how unique their work is the other day and I finally had a look on their website which made me want to move away from the traditional rectangular screen. You can see more of their work here.