This short essay is a subjective look at the work of Geoff Grandfield http://geoffgrandfield.co.uk/editorial.html who is currently director of Illustraion and Animation at Kingston University in the UK. At first sight his work is reminiscent of the work of Saul Bass's film and poster work of the 1960's and the "Film Noir" cinematography of John Alton.
Above John Alton
Below Geoff Grandfield
Geoff uses a "chiaroscuro" technique which originated during the Renaissance,it literally means light-dark in Italian. The artist would work from solid black to pure white or vice-versa,within the image to create depth or to make the main focus of the picture stand out. "Google" Carravagio to see this technique executed by a master painter.
Geoff's editorial work can be seen in The Guardian,The Times and The Big Issue amongst others. His style of work is well suited to the small scale allowed in most newspaper editorial pieces,having both visual punch and wit which in itself is no mean feat to combine the two.His compositions are beautifully balanced with his use of colour being key to the overall impact of the images,primary yellows reds and blues predominate.
It's hard not to see a nostalgic influence in Geoff's work. The art of Saul Bass(1920-1996) who was primarily a Graphic designer but who also worked in film titles and posters seems to "channel" through Geoff's editorial work. I think the correlation of film poster and an editorial piece is close. A poster needs to entice someone to see a particular movie and hint at the films content/mood,similarly an editorial illustration must do basically the same thing to entice a reader to read what could be a dry editorial by the use of a single image.
Film posters by Saul Bass
Geoff works in pastels and gouache predominantly using photoshop to digitise his images for transmission purposes, though he now says the use of photoshop is increasingly influencing the way he produces images.(a common tale from all arms of the creative industries). He is also known for his book-cover work,his style fits "noirish" subjects like a glove.http://causticcovercritic.blogspot.com/2008/10/grandfield-on-chandler.html
If you would like to hear more from Mr Grandfield on the subject of Illustration,I suggest you listen to this http://www.graphicdesignontheradio.com/ click on listen and select "The state of illustration" where you can listen to him,Roderick Mills and Darren Clifton discussing where illustration is likely to go in the next few years. A very interesting listen if you aim to work in the creative arena
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