Wednesday 29 October 2008

October 2008 - Sign of the times

The original:


The brief:
I drove through a patch of unexplored countryside recently, and came across this intriguing signpost. Who occupies Occupation Road? What on earth happens in Barton in the Beans?

You have pretty much a free rein on this one - whatever it inspires you to do. Replace all the text, if you like, and let your imaginations run wild.


Finished work:




Tuesday 21 October 2008

October 2008 - City in the clouds

The inspiration:

The brief:
TV news channels around the world have had difficulty coming up with suitable images to depict the current banking crisis. We've had plenty of brokers with their heads in their hands, downward-spiralling graphs, and so on.

One of the most appealing images I've seen was on BBC news this week, showing the financial district of London shrouded in fog. I thought it was a Photoshop job at first, but as it's seen from a circling helicopter I've come to think it's definitely real footage. Above are a couple of stills:

This week's challenge is to reproduce this effect, or a similar one, on your own home town or city. You'll have to source your own starting images, of course - but that should make for some variety!



Finished work: The original view (from my back garden):

My interpretation:

Tuesday 14 October 2008

October 2008 - Out of body experience

The original:

The brief:
I had a commission last week from an Italian news magazine, to do a cover about how the head of the United Nations is showing very little international presence.

What they wanted was for me to portray him at his desk, on the phone, but as an empty suit - so the man inside was missing.


This turned out to be a tricky job indeed. I ended up combining the two body parts shown here (so I could patch the missing hand areas) and of course added a suitable desk, chair and background. Would you like to have a go at this one? I'll show you mine if you show me yours!


Finished work:

Monday 6 October 2008

October 2008 - Rail conversion

The original:

The brief:
Snapped this at my local rail station yesterday. Looking at the recessed rails, it struck me how it would make a good canal. Of course, if we converted this line from trains to boats, we'd need to make quite a lot of other changes too...

Feel up to the challenge?



Finished work: