Gary Redford

Gary Redford is an illustrator that has a vintage style but with a contemporary twist. His digital illustrations are used for advertising, packaging, editorial and book publishing internationally for some of the worlds’ top brands, and his client list includes; Bupa; Debenhams; Google; Heathrow Airport; Kelloggs; Land Rover; Lotus F1 Team; Marks & Spencer; McVities; Orangina; Shell; Telegraph; Virgin; Waitrose; and Wall Street Journal.

http://www.garyredford.co.uk/

I have chosen to feature Gary Refords work within this project because i feel that i can draw inspiration from what he does and his style he uses. Like this steam stack portfolio pieces project his work is digital and clean, the only difference is that i overlay a rough watered layer. Here is an example of Gary's work:

I have taken time to email Gary with my self promotional questions, but i thought it'd be obvious to include his reply here too:

Hi Nathan Thanks for your email, yes its a good idea to have another steady means of income when you first start out, it will also help with funding some self promotion  i had a look at your tumblr, its nice work, i would recommend sending samples of your work to newspapers and magazines and also to take a page in contact illustration and have a look at the discussion boards on AOI theres lots of advice and help on there Good Luck !  Gary

Steam Train

The fourth and final installment of the steam themed vehicles is the train. Again, a strong part of the English heritage that i would like to continue to reflect. The aim would be to keep to roughly the same style/template of image and instead of a couple of fair tents or living van in the background, i would like the piece to include snaking carriages against a hill-side background inspired by Arik Roper's illustration (http://www.arikroper.com/) found on the cover of the most recent Black Crowes album Before The Frost:

With this in mind of roughly what i am aiming for i have begun scowering both books and internet for images of trains that reflect my ideas The first few old black and white images are form a book titled In and Around Blandford, which is my hometown:

The outcomes:

Having scanned my final outcome i am displeased with it because of the line quality i obtained whilst putting the pen over the pencil lines. However, the only thing that this means is that i will have to work extra hard in Illustrator to correct myself.

Scanned and detailed in Adobe Illustrator just like the previous three pieces of work, this is at last now ready to be coloured digitally.

Using The same colour schemes once again as these seem to be working the best, either black or red has to be my initial reaction if i were to pick between colours. There's something about the burgundy that makes me think of steam trains. The green however does work well and is reflecting of British Racing Green, But i think that green would be best suited on the steam roller.

Ready for the water over lay, here is the scanned outcome ready for use again having been live traced at 125:

These outcomes have greatly restored my faith in these pieces of work. Each one is tied together fully now in my opinion as before they felt lose and un-concentrated. I still think that it's between the red and black outcomes that i will have to be choosing from though...

Steam Roller

Steam Rollers were the next obvious vehicle to drift towards from the traction engine and again a definitive part of the English heritage. i was a little stuck as to what can represent the steam roller in the background of the image but from my research below i have come to the conclusion that a living/works van would be best suited in this case. My thoughts about bunting for continuity were challenged with this piece, but i think that having the rope flailing from the corner of the living van reflects the usage of the steam roller; a tool doing a job that essentially would never have been overly clean and tidy.

From my research below i have once more captured the important bits from the engine which this time don't differ to far from the traction engine including the rolls, steam stack, and a smaller roof. And once again, a helpful image from In and Around Blandford:

The Living Van: