How are we already over a quarter way through the year?
Hello. You're reading the first of what will be an ongoing quarterly update on the happenings at HuntingTown. Lucky you. I don't want to spam you, but I do like to show off, so I figured quarterly was a good call. Basically it's just a quick run through of some of the stuff I've been working on over here from print media and illustration to brand developments and website creation. That, and to just say "hey" and "how's it going?". I really hope you enjoy this quick flick through January to April.
Alex Singleton
Part time ladies man, Part time mans man, Full time designer
Illustration
The Bolton Octagon theatre contacted me recently to produce an image for their 2012 Christmas production; Peter Pan. The Octagon has a history of putting quirky twists on their illustrated advertisements and really wanted me to put my own spin on the J. M. Barrie characters. My solution to was to create an image based around my take on Peter Pan and Captain Hook, drawn in a heavily sketchy cross-hatched stlye. Pan was made to be a cheeky blonde with American Indian style war-paint, where as Hook's appearance was based on a Spanish Conquistador and his hook was turned into much more of a prominent feature.
"This looks great! I'm loving Peter Pan!"
Illustration
Cohort Pictures got in touch with me originally to work as a storyboard artist on their upcoming UK horror film, The Norther Mist. However after a few exciting meetings we had decided that I would produce a series of illustrations based on specific scenes and characters in the movie that could be used to pitch to investors. With such a strong concept and reference to work from these illustrations really came to life all by themselves and the results are truly fantastic. Using a mix of digital colours and copic watercolour style shading I was able to create these really detailed illustrations whilst keeping that gritty grungy look that would come across in the film.
"These are amazing- each one would make a great teaser poster!"
Website
Last year I worked with Joseph Belibi from Gospel Rock to create a new look for their event programme. Joseph was so delighted at the results that he asked us to do the same again this year and to completely overhaul the Gospel Rock website! I decided to go for a full screen slide show background to really show off the artists involved in Gospel Rock, as well a multimedia blog, twitter integration and respective contact, audition and booking forms for the website.
"The difference is like night and day!"
Print Media
With the flurry of Sherlock Holmes interest in the media today, author Mike Hogan decided that now was the perfect time to launch his take on the classic IP. Hogan's stories however have the twist of including a very young, but very ambitious Winston Churchill who decides to follow in the footsteps of the famous detective and involve himself in the 221B Baker Street agency. I've been commissioned to produced several covers for the books in the series but the first was probably the most important as this was the readers introduction to the characters appearance. Thankfully I managed to place Mike's thoughts onto paper a produce a fantastic first cover!
"I have naught more to say about these characters except that they are exactly what I want."
Illustration
In today's housing market sellers are always looking for that extra edge to make their home stand out, for property developers this can be doubly difficult as they often need to drum up interest in their property months before it's even built! To help sort out this issue I was approached to create a 3D rendered illustration of this Ladysmith property from nothing more than blueprints. Using architectural grade software and state of the art 3D rendering programs, I managed to produce a series of images that could be used to help market the property, including several overhead cutaway images that you couldn't even get with a completed house!
"These are fantastic, just what I'm after"
Brand Development
Illuminato Design are one of the UK's foremost technical lighting designers and have recently completed some amazing jobs such as Manchester's major Spinningfields development as well as countless other projects around the country. However, despite all this, Illuminato hadn't really developed a brand design of their own, getting by instead on the recommendations they had received for their fantastic work. They approached me to help put together a branding package that both used light in some primary way, whilst still playing on the words similarity to the cryptic Illuminati group. I came up with a puzzle inspired logo that used light to show up the company name when shone through a filter of incomprehensible lettering. Along with this I produced a series of professional stationary that helped define Illuminato as the industry leading company that they are.
"That's brilliant, thanks so much"
Office Revamp
The Hunting Town office has been getting an overhaul recently. Since video production company and good friends Banter Media moved into their new premises, I've had loads more space open up to me a the current office so I've decided to give the place a lick of paint and some new carpet to get it up to scratch. There's still plenty more to do such as setting up a dedicated drawing and inking area, indoor photography studio and client meeting area as well as a few other little tweaks, but hopefully once I'm all done Hunting Town HQ should be a fantastic place to meet with clients new and old, and while away by days doodling in the sun.
Engagement
On a less business related note, I'd like to announce that I'm engaged! My beautiful fiancé, Ann Challenor actually proposed to me on the 29th of February (who else knew 2012 was a leap year?). With the help of a few friends she lured me to Ikea (I love messing about in Ikea, which on an unrelated note has made this office revamp a real effort!) where she had staff hand me a top secret document containing a series of clues in Latin and ancient Greek! I actually have a degree in Ancient History, and am I huge fan of Indiana Jones and Uncharted, so by that point I was very giddy. To top it all off, each clue led to a series of cupcakes each with a letter on top spelling out 'will you marry me?'. I of course said yes, and was treated to a very cool engagement ring made from Bethlehem olive wood (very cool), and missile grade titanium (even cooler!).
