benjaminrider

Work Experience Blog

2011-12-29T11:36:00.000Z

Hello you lovely amazing talented people,
Ive started a new blog just for my work experience
why not take a look. it'll be amazing

http://benjaminrider.wordpress.com/

ITC layout / spreads / book // inspirations.

2011-12-05T10:52:00.000Z

illustration video

2011-12-05T06:13:00.000Z

Introduction from Jean Jullien on Vimeo.

been hunting for this for ages!

first saw this at YCN when i was doing that fair trade brief for DPStudies last yr, just discovered itby chance on many stuff.com

what i like about it is the simplicity but through that simplicity its actually really intelligent
i think from watching this video encouraged me to go out and buy a load of brush pens

right its 6 in the morning.time for work

The Pinnacle of modern film making [THIS IS AMAZING!!!!]

2011-11-16T07:40:00.001Z

Typo london 2011

2011-11-09T11:25:00.000Z

Thanks you FDA DGC and thank you Jeff Faulkner from XBOX. thanks to you i got to go to Typo london 2011. I definitely made the most out of it and was lucky to be one of the 20 to do the calligraphy workshop!

As everyone had much better cameras than me, and are probably take much more interesting photos than me, i thought it would be a nice idea to sketch some of the speakers I went to see.

We're making a newspaper inspired by this even. or well at least as a starting point, if this even was inspiration than I'm already losing hope. I am very thankful to go to the event and i took a lot from it, BUT

I was disappointed at the organisation, the place it was held and some of the talks were very dry, or with one particular well known individual, the same old stuff I've seen before and with no energy.

If i had paint the £700 odd quid i would of been very disappointed.

wasn't even that much type there to be honest. having said that there was loads of great stuff and I learnt loads. anyway heres some of my sketches of this years typo london!

Jeff Faulkner from xbox
-thanks to him me+some other DGC student got to go

cheers jeff!

this woman sat in front of me had a massive bird shit stain right there on here leg
it definitely wasn't random toothpaste or tipped

neville brody
aka "nev"

this is the founder of 'its nice that'

this is one of my favourite drawings, as, I'm not sure why I've drawn him with double eyes

When i was taught to draw from life, It was drummed into me-quite rightly- to make it as close to what you see as possible
but through this little mistake I quite like exaggerating or adding things, as its just a drawing it has a kind of believability about it. ill muck about with that a bit more i think

General observation of the typo london go-fers

the king of ghana
[it really is]

sketch notes are the best thing in the world
this illustrator was very inspiring for me

mikey beirut

this is laurence weiner
and that is his beard.

Insanely brilliant screenprinty collage by Greg Gossel: THIS IS AMAZING!!!!

2011-11-09T11:14:00.000Z

Graphic Portrait.

2011-11-08T22:40:00.003Z

Recent Portrait done.
I started with a photo and worked from there
the actual layout is all done digitally, then screen printed!

I did do a background for it, so i could register a colour underneath
[the final blue+yellow is the only one i liked]

as you see i really liked just printing the top layer, inverting it and printing a darker colour on top
so simple!
but i feel really effective.

This is the Portrait i chose to have framed and presented to the client
they loved it!

Double Exposures//2011 [Black&White]

2011-09-27T17:46:00.000+01:00

A little selection of this weeks marathon neg scanning

These are just the b&w's!! only had about 5 rolls,
colour i had about 25! so thatll take me a while to edit and go through

in the meantime here's a selection of some of my faves
-taken since around april

some still from china, some from the seaside
some from egypt.

Underwater Photography-first experiments

2011-09-26T18:19:00.000+01:00

Right well ive made a right arse out of using the actions on this version of photoshop

im currently using.

but i want to put this up therem

and see how it works at this scale regardless.

I went to Egypt and learnt how to take photo's underwater

and why not.

here's the first batch

-currently doing a marathon scanning session so expect the last years worth of film photography flying into your face soon enough!

Egypt X energy X subversive X funny = ?

2011-09-11T12:07:00.000+01:00

Egypt. Its a beautiful place but its a desert in more ways than one.

Before I left I was asked to keep my eye out for things with ENERGY, SUBVERSIVE, FUNNY,
it was a bit of a drought for that, not so much because everything was in arabic script, but there just doesn't seem to be that much kind of graphics or advertising or anything of the sort out there. there were a few little gems though that caught my eye...hence this lovely post just for you

Ill have some more beautifully insane double exposures for you soon. thyre in the oven as we speak

non alcoholic beer=driving beer
brilliant.

ha!

this isn't anything at all to do with anything
-but i like it cos it reminded me of the temple of doom off indiana jones

tree made of old beer bottles.
excellent use of recycling / going green [going 'green'! gettit!?]

from a distance this really looked like a tree

arab wabi sabi

the reason i liked this, its obviously just been smashed together in minutes
its like the maker of it said right we've got the back bit of an old film poster,
and some black paint; fuck it lets just go with it

I'm impressed most with the 'lo-teck' inverted title, like a stencil was cut out and ink daubed around it

i know its blurry, but look closely..see what it is?
literally the seediest nightclub you could ever go to,
i think it was literally just some guys driveway
love the go-get attitude though

thanks again iPhoto for not making it easy for me to save it when i rotate photo's the right way
i know its upside down but i uploaded it anyway cos i think its cool ok

this is, what i assume to be, hand painted directions/info
bootiful

a load of bumbo jumbo
I absolutely love fake ripped off things.

and i still love slightly dodgy hand painted shop signs
the more ambiguous the better

MUSIC HITES!!
actually its really cruel of me to take the piss out of bad use of english
im not exactly a shining example of the language myself

but still this was brilliant.
-never saw it but was told of a bottle of wine there called "auld slag"

fire station

i really need to get on this rotation saving business.
blatant rip off of donald and i love it

revolutionary vegetables!!
did you know the revolution in egypt is still ongoing??
Bizarrely under the water could be found engraved/painted
large stones with pro revolutionary slogans/chants etc

-wish i could provide a photo of them but only got it on film
as water+digital cameras never mix
especially seawater
[i had a waterproof film camera-and id like to talk about cameras as were on the subject..
yes my 4-year old 2nd hand £40 minolta film camera is still going strong
4 years! its seen a silly amount of mileage, and shows no sign of giving up
yet my brand new samsung digital camera was a complete arse
10 seconds to take a photo outdoors!!??thats insane!!
with 10 seconds per shot [it blurs if you move it]
not only do you look like a mug you can never take a quick 'of the moment' snap
and you can never ever take them secret naughty photos in galleries etc

I'm quite impressed with the history just painted up on the walls, in a way they kind of remind me of the murals on the sides
of houses in derry/belfast etc.
wouldn't harm to have a bit more of that in london maybe?
or just more colour on some of the walls?

Victorian Graphics are brilliant

2011-08-23T14:38:00.000+01:00

Recently went along to see this intriguingly old Victorian surgery of all places

hidden above and behind and old church in kings cross.
its a gem of history in the middle of town.

Im really into the odd history still alive in london, how we have centuries old buildings,
monuments and whatnot all squidged alongside a Boots and Ladbrokes etc
Im really into these old labels, intrigued by the old handpainted adverts you can still see emerging into the 21st century now and then, this place was great.
particuly love some of the brutal old ingredients and selling points:
"IT KILLS PAIN"
brilliant

look at the age and colour!
wabi sabi in your face

arent these old etches just uber Olde

victorian time=bleak times

does what it says on the tin

medicine garden
ominous

Whitecross Street Art party!!

2011-08-22T10:59:00.000+01:00

This was another one of those fantastically enjoyable and inspiring summer days
an outstanding way to waste the day
I love this event, I went last year and loved that too

lots of weird things, sculptures things to do,see and eat

this guy!
i think this guys a luncatic
but brilliant
going about painting intricate paintings onto chewing gums on the floor..

brilliant

actually this had nothing to do with the exhibition
i just love how this is the most rediculous bit of street type ive seen

Hackney WickED tube map

2011-08-22T10:36:00.000+01:00

This was an intriguing bit of work; it was people's random submissions about where they live,
a kind of peoples map of London, like 'tommy's house' etc
and i liked that. people who submitted got emailed the pics!
thanks hackney!

Hackney WickED

2011-08-22T10:13:00.000+01:00

Dear Blog:

Sorry for leaving you out of all of the cool graphics art n street stuff thats being going on recently.

But I did have a very nice few weeks off thanks for asking

all images in this post have been taken on a really dodgy £20 mobile phone camera

as alas, my trusty old digital finally had enough.

it took many a photo and opened many a bottle.

id also like to add my laptop has also died this summer.

why is it digital things seem to have a life of no longer than 4 years if you're lucky??

yet my beaten old warhorse of a film camera has been round my neck

quite litrally almost every day since '08

AND ITS FINE!!

that really was probably the best £40 odd quid i ever spent was that film camera

still glad we discovered each other

"lolz"

So hackney wick, I absolutely loved this time of year, there seemed to be a whole bunch of odd weird and wonderful street art and good honest down to earth -well not so donw to earth, but honest original bits and peices

with music and red stripe thrown in and a bloody sunny day
whats great is the sheer amount of people who swarm to these events,

its almost interactive, its a bit fast and loose:
and its free

it seems to me a bit like, its summer and lets do something outside
something outside that isnt sitting and ignoring with your wife whilst studying The Observer

theres nothing wrong with the observer. I just think this was a far better way to waste a day
or ignore your wife

actually this was my first time to Hackney Wick, and i thouroughly liked the area itself.
you know how much I love things slightly rough and ready
not too sure then why im hoping on going to singapore then

I love how having grown up in london, im still discovering these cool little nooks and crannies all around

This guy is a genius love the work
i feel really lucky to have done a couple of markets with him at the Flee market at Corsica Studio's in E&C
[thanks to jack +Ben harris from FDA organising it!] [more on that little malarky another time!]

uses recycled materieals to create a whole manner of brilliant bits and pieces
he was sound enough to trade one of his spare brains and a finger for some of my wares
nice one!

ha!

love the music

love the sun

theres something about this i think is just absolutely brilliant

why arent i messing around with these myself!!!?!?!?

*good boy*

boat races!

..and that was hackney wicked!

Cornwall

2011-08-01T13:15:00.000+01:00

looking left

looking right

Scotters

2011-08-01T11:00:00.000+01:00

SCOTTERS! i popped up for a cheeky jaunt up scotland
this post is more about the history barely beneath the surface of this old town
history as in the really frigging old signs and adverts still there, still advertising, in some cases, litrallu 100's of years old

that old world, and particuly old signs are really interesting to me

of course you do

actually this site is of the appant HARRY POTTER SCHOOL
there is a old castle, now a school behind this wall that is apparently
inspired harry potter's author.

i didnt even bother taking a photo.
it was fairly bland and actually i found this gold sign quite interesting instead
[i like the way the "o" is spelt]

infact adults taking photos of schools is surely against some kind of law.

i love how these two really old signs have somehow overlapped
why? could they just not be arsed to paint over the other??

LOVE LOVE LOVE
how this whole other world,
this window into the beginning of the previous century is barely just under the surface,
still breaking out, like echo's still telling you something.

deep fried mars bar & a can of iron brew
the meal of champions

i like how it looks like someone nicked the poles for the signs,
and they just hang there momentarily before dropping as if in cartoons

PUB TOKENS!

this is the front door to a newsagents.
i found it incredibly depressing
but i did appreciate the early 90's drinks brandings

love this film poster

2011-07-05T12:34:00.000+01:00

Some of my favourite things

2011-07-05T11:37:00.000+01:00

Studio on Fire

Wabi-Sabi
Imperfections and making mistakes is all part of the fun of being creative and allowing change to flow into our lives.
Wabi-Sabi is all about the beauty of imperfections, and that which has been exposed to use,age etc. for example how an old mug is more interesting than a brand new one. The old one is chipped/stained; it has character, personality and history.
http://www.wabisabi.org.uk/2.html

Old hand painted signs

Faile

Chinese Woodcut [and propaganda]

Pick me Up

http://benjaminrider.blogspot.com/2011/03/pick-me-up-2011.html

123 Klan

http://www.123klan.com/post/50

In general think zombies, dragons and robots are brilliant...

The LCC DGC show comes to you!!

2011-07-05T08:19:00.000+01:00

http://lccdgc.co.uk/benjamin-rider

why no have a wander around on here?

DGC showtime!! ...preperation that made it brilliant

2011-07-04T20:49:00.000+01:00

early meeting in progress.
Notice the free sweets!

The FDA Design for Graphic Communication show is on!!

The private view was last thursday and was a massive success. open until this thursday when we will have a rounding up event everyone is welcome to.

A massive amount of hard work went into the show and I wanted to show some of that as a thanks to the fellow students and tutors who all pitched in to make it absolutely brilliant.

The work was shared amoungst a few volunteers. I mostly helped with the publication and content for it and pitched in werever else id be most useful.
we worked together to discuss and decide outcomes.

It was actually great working as part of a team on a real live project that affected more than just us working on it

My biggest contribution was screenprinting the covers [every 300 odd of them]
[thanks to sam for doing the back!]
the biggest challenge with that was going old-school and trying to mix the exact 'DGC green' we were working with. that was a real worry for a while.

this was a brilliant idea on nicks part.
but a complete arse to put together.
and it was definately worth it

this was a not too subtle way of trying to draw people towards our exhibition.
and looks brilliant

registration is a bitch

coming together!

SHOW TEAM!

we felt that as our course has alot to do with getting and doing things,,,
alot of craft, and making and doing..

we wanted to reflect that in the show by binding and screenprinting the show publication
live in the show itself.
also with a range of postcards people can pick and choose from to make their book unique.
[thanks to Nath to the 'live' screenprinting with me]

check nath sneaking into the '2 hours to go' pep talk

calm before the storm.
oddly, about an hour before the show 'opened' it was weirdly calm.

'live' screenprinting should of been alot messier
i had a blast with it

the beuty of being there doing it it shows the process,
and shows its human and possible to do and anyone can get involved

a few times i was more than happy to show people how to screenprint
..and they get their own personalised cover!

I was quite annoyed at one individual who I felt completely jibbed the binders
acted all controlly and organisy and completely left it

that was a difficult task, being salesman and binder,and explaining what it is we're up to to people

while me and nathan had a right laugh printing crazy covers and chatting to the guests

Some of the other things round the University...

Some of my work on display...

love it when people look at our hard work
love it even more when they put it back nicely :)

Alway much better to have a look at the work the day after the private view.
much quieter
and a nice surprise to see people looking at our work

Some of the crazy covers!!!...

My personal favourite..Graphic product Innovation put on an excellently themed show
I loved this and they deserve every bit of excellence they get for it

CHINA!!

2011-05-08T13:23:00.000+01:00

Arrived yesterday after 4 weeks in China!

I did a study program there and loads of travel and crazy chinese things

Blogger is banned in china so this is my first chance to make a post.

There is so much I want to share about China.

With so much on and so much to say i thought id practice my editing skills and

show China in a dozen-ish pictures.

well some of the weird and wonderful of China

these are kidney beans,coconut and jam beleive it or not
and it was bloody lovely

yes the music is shite.
sorry china but it is

how would you even put it on!!??

she is weighing up how much can she skank a foreigner

chinese del-boy on the go

i love whatever that thing is in the right hand corner.

NoBrow further research gathering

2011-05-08T07:56:00.000+01:00

YOUR input in particuly is greatly needed.
I want to do a little bit to make the world a better place
why not give it a go itll be good i promise
click here :
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BV8698H

thanks!

Illustration//scrapbook post: NoBrow project inspiration

2011-04-03T11:28:00.000+01:00

Designers April Fools

2011-04-02T09:33:00.000+01:00

bit of a laugh this! love it how comic sans is a bit of a designers in-joke.

FAIRTRADE

2011-03-28T21:13:00.000+01:00

Open publication - Free publishing - More animation

Pick Me Up / 2011

2011-03-21T13:38:00.000Z

was genuinely quite excited to see this. With the NoBrow project on the horizon,
and generally being into this kinda stuff
i was well up for seeing the kind of mischief collectives designers and illustrators get up to

this is just such the kind of thing i so hope to get into
and soon.

again with tic tok
there wasnt any fucking about or pretentiousness artwank or forcing you to buy stuff

it was cool stuff made by people who are passionate.

nice idea!

made me chuckle

really like this illustrators work.
giving me ideas for style to tie into my NoBrow brief
which will be amazing

very cool drawing. im really into line drawings with pen
must improve
this is how its done

yeah these letterpresses are cool
simple
but i like the message and way its done
[i also really like the "?" question mark in this above piece]

but if you like these
WHY NOT HAVE A LOOK AT MINE
AND THEIR IN COLOUR!

Ditto Press..

this was the only picture i got off the NoBrow section
-ill have a good dig through their books over the breifing

the Tic-Toc pop up shop!

2011-03-21T13:03:00.000Z

The tic top pop up shop was almost exactly as it sounds
a dodgy shop in Euston only open for 3 days

i think today is the last day if your quick!

personally i loved it
loads of great graduate illustration
all printed on a risograph!

ive been well into risograph the effects is lovely
so im a bit biased, but the great thing for this collective
[ Eff Dee Ay-who also did the fanzine one in book club other week]

you can mash out a massive stack of awesome work dead cheap, and sell it affordable
[ £10 a print. not bad. not amazing. but right]

im really into these almost renegade print shows. maybe cos im on a similar level, but maybe because there no pretentious bullshit. its real work done by people who love what they do and are going to continue doing it regardless

anyway, some of the highlights....

Face Type // Typographic book based on content taken from Social Media

2011-03-12T21:30:00.001Z

div>

Open publication - Free publishing - More art

click here http://issuu.com/benrider/docs/benjamin_rider to see my brand new explosion of experiments,
this time focusing only on Type.

one of the restrictions for this brief was to only use type. I self imposed another restriction to colour, otherwise it would of been too mad and chaotic, and the two restrictions actually opened up my work alot and brought it together

Will be beutifully printed into a hard bound 200mm X 155mm book and presented in a pop up exhibition soon.
[ill upload some bits from my sketchbook-its insane. and is actually my first project sketchbook from fda!-we normally only use PDFs which i 100& agree with]

-

Manifesto//2011

2011-03-12T00:11:00.002Z

funny political comment

2011-03-01T19:31:00.000Z

3-D printing!

2011-02-28T09:42:00.003Z

Newspaper Club // 'Vicious Circle' spread development

2011-02-16T12:46:00.000Z

VICIOUS CIRCLE-the jobhunting board game

This was originally to be the center spread for my 12-page newspaper.
the idea behind this is to communicate what i've learnt from the
people I spoke to about how to get a job
: and ultimately the key elements on how to become a successful designer.

I felt that getting a job can be a bit of a game,
i went with the idea that without experience
you cant get a job
but experience is unpaid
and you need a good portfolio
but you need contacts too
etc etc etc
so this theme of swings and roundabouts/games came up and i wanted the paper to be interactive as well
-

how it started

i wanted a bit more character and style
and I wanted to sue illustrator to develop my skills with this software
and also because at this stage I wanted to create this almost entirely digitally

I wanted to call it 'SWINGS AND ROUNDABOUTS'
thinking about how that idea of going back and forth and reflect the process of getting a job

becoming more refined
Even though I was doing this digitally i didnt want it to be 100% perfect and neat
but still wasnt quite working

At this stage, during a tutorial I was given the brilliant suggestion

-regarding my previous work, aspirations and interests-

to make the aesthetic of my overall paper to look much more

punky, rough+ready, fanzine-y kind of style !

brilliant. to me this translates as pretty much-refining and practicing exactly what i love looking at

think is great and enjoy doing.

using hand made elements, imperfections, texture, printmaking, craft etc etc

but this also stumped me to think I need to rise to the challenge and complete something I like.

from this point on i think i should of been much more drastic.

I think i should of done much more hand made elements in my balance of hand made and digital

having said that i felt this stage of outcomes are still successful

after a few more library sessions I started refining the style
I wanted ot go for simple 2 colours, i quite like self imposed restrictions
but also using that element of simplicity with the colour
to contribute to the style

started using illustrator to play with the type
first time ive done this

really working further on this, at this stage i thought of 'the vicious circle' after
reveiwing my research and furthering the copy

i felt that calling it this also gave me a solid guide for how to lay it out!

close to being done, more refined, but I feel this stage would of benefitted from much more manual input

the current final
still very pleased with what i produced.
particuly like the concept
the layout
and the style of the vernacular type

I intend to progress this with interesting background-that relates
more printmaming
better content
and rubbings of coins for the background for th circles.

Ive started a new project now so when i find time ill upload the other spreads i spent as much time on

123 Klan // Vector Illustration inspiration

2011-02-03T07:36:00.000Z

Robots

2011-02-01T08:17:00.003Z

robots are amazing. but this is insane
-just found this on BlackBoard! [the LCC student e-bulletin site]
if you havent seen it yet have a look!

Chinese Propaganda Pt.2

2011-01-31T19:08:00.000Z

look at the panda

MORE ILLUSTRATION INSPIRATION

2011-01-30T12:37:00.000Z

these are just giving me some more cool ideas for my zombie style posters

I like these mostly for the story they tell, thyre quite weird in a positive way, you can see theres some kind of mad story behind them and i like that
the colours a pretty cool too!

Screenprint poster inspiration

2011-01-24T22:39:00.000Z

I absolutely love these retro style posters. Its seeing something like this that gives me ideas in what direction to develop my Zombie poster. nice idea for a progression: "it came from elephant and castle"

Liberated Press // published work!

2011-01-23T22:56:00.000Z

fresh off the Liberty printers and the LCC blog!...

Students in The Liberated Press

Good news for some of our FdA Design for Graphic Communication and BA Journalism students who were selected to feature in lo-fi quarterly periodical, The Liberated Press.

Chloe Rosina White, Eurico Sa Fernandes, Benjamin Rider [gettin!], Mariana Lobao, Pimm Chongcharoen and Petter Lundgren (BA Journalism) were successful to a call out for “manifestos, gonzo journalism, DIY fiction, poetic ramblings, mix-ups, mash-ups and screw ups” amongst other things, and their work helped comprise Issue 2.

Students were briefed by FdA Design for Graphic Communication alumna Rebecka Behrman who is currently working for Liberty as a graphic designer.

The Liberated Press is inspired by 60s and 70s underground counter culture and ‘zines and is made keeping computers at a minimum. It seeks to provide a platform for emerging writers, artists and designers wanting to “explore their creativity in print” and is stocked in Magma and Concrete Hermit.

I really like the paper itself! bit of fun and interesting. it genuinely is worth a leaf through

if your very lucky theres some circulating in nice letterpressed brown bags with 2 free badges

quite pleased I got involved in something outside of uni, unfortunately most of our submissions are tiny and Im probably not going to bung it in my portfolio. not going to stop me putting it on my blog though!

fingers crossed still for the V+A illustration competition, judged this coming april

[and my application to the study china program!]

London Art Fair 201

2011-01-23T11:30:00.000Z

I noticed this year when I visited this massive assault of art prints in islington that I was paying a lot more attention to how galleries displayed their work.

My personal favourite, the above image, was where one gallery instead of being a nice white walled box amoungst 250 other white walled boxes got out of it and displayed 4 or 5 instillations accross the building itself.
I thought that was really innovative way of displaying the work.

But they handed me a really boring A4 black and white piece of paper covered in times new roman, blandly set, explaining the pieces and the gallery. it was incredibly boring and binned it at the first opportunity
as did many others I noticed.

Again with the innovation is the below images,
of one gallery section, i thought it was quite novel the way they sold their work

packaging it and displaying it in this way as if some kind of art supermarket
quite funny as well i thought!

but it had the effect of making accessible and affordable and almost recognisable and I liked that.
Im sure there are plenty of bespoke purists who where utterly aghast at this sight
which makes me like it even more.

deep fried bible.
litrally

this was all cut out, as if a stencil
each letter individualy painted, cut out, stuck on.
bloody hell!

I now want to give my dog dreadlocks.

this sculpture looks like michael winner

I almost cringe at mentioning the word street art
but i do love it, i feel as if alot of people internally groan at the word as its used so much
and used so much artificially

but this guy 'Jef Aerosoul' made some great pieces and it was refreshing to see an individual use of stencils
It made me re consider them

I also appreciate the collage to give texture,
i tried to achieve the same with old yellowing sci fi comics and letterpress
but when painted over i just lost all the quality

robot spaniel!

Being good at drawing still counts sometimes
you never get good
only a little bit better than last year,
must keep practicing

i thought this was good!
combining colour mag photos into a collage painting
good use!

stupid
but i love it
makes me smile, im getting into this daft style alot

Alan Kitching. LETTERPRESS INSPIRATION

2011-01-19T17:11:00.000Z

One of the main things ive always been chasing is the modern use of 'hand made' , of more traditional or analogue process used in a contemporary, or digital way
well here it is!

well one example out of thousands my attention has just been drawn to.

Thanks to an incredibly invigorating meeting with my mentor this is one of the great things that came out of our meeting. this is insane! ive heard the name but never looked it up!

so much to say but too much to do!
more soon


i think this is one of my favourites. for the colour and use of process.		definately all about using things interestingly I wonder how many times he tried this before getting this result

thats clever!

Newspaper club. first days.

2011-01-16T23:50:00.000Z

Newspaper club: first days...

We have begun a new project.
I am doing a project focusing mainly on research and research methods.
I say mainly as im not sure what level im on with research.
going on my last projects feedback;not that good
I want to go all out on this project its got great learning potential for me,
im excited by the goals: those who do good enough get their work printed as a 12 page paper!

the project, how I understand it, is looking at design in the 21st century
I will do thourough research to produce something that is more interesting than factual

at first I wanted to do some kind of 'designers survival guide'
nah.not answering the brief
so im going for something bit more off the wall, but stil useful, factual
and compelling to read

like; out of a 100 emails ill send how many will actually bother recognising I even exist?
but how many will respond to a beutifully printed personalised letter?
what will actually get me a job? having a good portfolio of knowing someone high up in the studio
or having a beard

anyway next weeks post should hopefully have something solid on that for everyone

but this week we received the brief, and started on our first workshop with Jo
i like her lessons a lot
i like her approach to design
it kinda makes it feel new and exciting
not as thought i need any more of that

we looked at the elements of a newspaper,
disected it and rebuilt it
at the same time considering language
mast head, sub head, body text, running head
etc

language ive come to realise is a very important tool.
im now more pleased than ever that I did an elective in something that supports this for me.
I wish I had more images to show from darrens workshop, where we looked more at ideas and understanding the brief
but i cant download the images from my phone...

lesson 1 of 2011:

never ever rely on technology

angles are amazing

action shot

vector inspiration // Wall Graphics

2011-01-11T22:25:00.000Z

a few Fanzines..

2011-01-09T19:04:00.000Z

Quite a while ago we had the head of the LCC library come and show us a few choice fanzines form over the years
Im making a post about it now as im about to start my newspaper club project and want to have something to reference
and to refresh my memory
and cos i only just uploaded the pics from my fone!

i liked these rough ''n' ready 80's ones
i liked how these ARE so D.I.Y

I particularly liked this booklet
im familiar with this folding
but what i like the most is the colours, process and big use of illustration and how theyve replicated the imagery

i found some of these at the anarchists book fair for only a couple quid!

this one is just plain rediculous

A-Z \\ LINO CUT extention \\ home printmaking Pt.2

2011-01-08T16:25:00.000Z

Good ol Lino Cut.
another experiment to seeing whats possible out of printmaking at home
-an issue on my mind as I wont have access to printmaking facilities after this course
and also to save time, if i could do this at home i could spend the day at LCC doing something else
which i dont have access to.

Firstly- LinoCut is rediculously easy at home and real easy to get really good results
We dont need that massive victorian machine[-as brilliant as it is!]
Just some inks, paper, a wood/lino cutter and a roller.
barely a tenner for the whole set up!!

I began by drawing my image onto paper, then rubbing it onto the lino itself.
I never saw this but appaently this is the korean approach.
here i was told to draw straight onto the lino which is also fine
but i prefer the paper method, easier and better quality image

I think the hardest part, was cutting into the lino itself, not hard, i found it quite easy to focus on it
its just slighty time consuming, but not in a boring prolonged way
this first stage took a good hour if not more
this is the stage i handed in the lino.

the reason i havent cut away the line but instead cut Around the lin is because it prints in reverse,

I worked more into it.
i think this image is quite funny which is one reason i did it
so i wanted to add a little more impact to the nature of the image

inks!!

once i inked the lino with the roller i placed the paper and dragged a ruler accross it
this almost embossed the paper at the same time

the first print!!
i love the first print! i was delighted to see it worked! it actually worked!

few issues with ink on unwanted parts. i left it to retain more quality of the process

i tried printing by just using the pressure of my hand.
it did yeild a slightly different effect. ..

tried out different papers
I found thicker paper better just because it felt more solid and therefor valuable

this is calligraphy ink.very watery.

i though the first print was shite, but rest had a really cool quality.

acrylic ink just ruined everything
total waste of time and ink

towards the end i had quite a simple, but good, effective set up
I used a large cutting mat to roll and apply ink, and the smaller one. kept clean to print

block printing ink. bit weird stuff.
the best ink by far was the oil based ink.
was a right messy bastid but gave excellent prints.

using old canvases as a kind of makeshift drying rack.
One thing ive enjoyed particuly is making do and finding new uses for things.

"NEVER GIVE UP" A-Z extention // [mantra] letterpress development

2010-12-29T17:36:00.000Z

What with the current job market,
what with fee's going up,
and cutbacks on so much of our education and daily lives
theres just a thing I want to remind you all for 2011....

This is part of the A-Z OF GRAPHIC DESIGN extention.
I really wanted to develop a competent level of experience with letterpress.
My first poster wasnt that great, but still cool.
im not uploading any more images of it but was the same 'face with slightly less leading
and it was silver on black.

- With a week of open access I wanted to develop my letter press skills
and I felt the original poster I made could of been so much better

and try out a few things Ive been dying to experiment with
but never had the time or space [it gets proper busy in there]

I began by simply printing each word,
from the previous poster I felt the spacing between letters was fine
so left it as it was

I used the prints to cut out and make this 'Paste-Up'
this allowed me to visually see how much space i wanted, the positioning and layout on the page etc

This was also very useful for me when printing for registration
and to be able to determine how much space I needed to fill with 'furniture'
[lumps of lead or metal]

I spent frigging ages on this.

I set my type out on the printer the evening before and woke up ready to print.
I spent a good hour or two picking the right colours I imagined,
picking paper
and tr

this is a truly evil looking machine, but cuts paper beutifully
I chose a size just shy of A2 ["A2B2"]

The First print!!
the first proper print was, as nerdy as it sounds, damn exciting
I went insane at this stage.
i find it so satisfying pulling off a perfect coloured collection of type or image,
with either letterpress, photographic development or printmaking.

After a decent few prints I tried out some blendings, nothing too fancy,
A darker red into a lighter one,
quite subtle but i felt supported the message of the text
having this deep burning red heating up towards the end of the quote

this is a technique id been dead keen on for ages
and is another reason i like getting my hands in and on with the elements i work with

As the type is physical objects I like to use that uniqueness and work onto the type
creating this mini monoprint
and looks insane!
make a cool camo pattern too

In the examples ive uploaded further below ive put varying levels of white spirit on it too
-something we use to clean it with!
I layed the paper down onto the type to create a blurry soft outline of colour
then overlayed it
and did all this with different colour combintions.
as happy as larry

My main objective was to print white onto a selection of oil based monoprints I made
I been saving them for ages
I wanted white for them,
but I also had in mind applying a pure white onto an off-white paper stock
with the intention of overlaying some text on top of this,
with the intention of each supporting each other,

- As this mantra Ive chosen is designed to be motivating and inspiring,
I plucked some key notes I picked up during some basic research into next years project.
I overlayed these in a strong colour and much smaller point size
on top of the white on dark white mantra,
the concept being that the smaller type draws you in, revealing the mantra.

I used some notes ive been told of things to bear in mind as a designer:

AIM HIGH
VALUE YOURSELF
DONT BE SCARED
DONT BACK DOWN
STAND OUT
GO FOR IT

I used 18pt GROT for this element
someone told me GROT is only available in letterpress
not sure if thats true, but i never used it and really wanted to have a go with it
I wanted this poster to be Very letterpressed,...

Because I felt that to use, what could be argued as a particuly enduring process,
a process by its very nature completely obselete
-yet still going strong!
still valued and has carved its own kind of niche

also the process itself can be quite frustrating, difficult and time consuming.
it does take time patience and a little practice, another reason I wanted to practice it
its actually also quite a dangerous process,
constantly handling poisinous metals, inks and highly flammable cleaning products.
I personally feel the time and effort it takes to produce something is well worth it
the quality and feel is just delicious and special

so I argue that using this process for these reasons, greatly supports the message of the mantra.

once you've finally figured out the registration, that each line of text is where it should be,
-remember to put the f*cking paper the right way round!

an important part of experimenting and doing is the discoveries along the way!
I noticed this, this embossed type
and i htought hey, people do that for real why not try it without the ink
and I did!
just put an extra half dozen sheets of newsprint under your paper and there you go
looks fantastic with or without ink

I noticed in some fancy japanese magazine people using letterpress [and type] in interesting ways
something thats very much capturing my interest lately

I am still keen on the idea of combining that which is handmade with digital,
and the above is quite a cool example of that
this is quite inspiring of how to further treat the work i do
to give me something more to stand out and fit in with current trends

something i definately need to keep an eye on

some of the finals!!!

very satisfying seeing all the difinished pieces stacked up drying

These are some examples from the first project I did using letterpress this term

Its significant as I used two diffeent colours and spacing out the type was a total arse

spent ages just setting it up

but worth it

This was originally to 'TYPE' but changed it to fit with quote

Its A2 folded into an A4 [to fit in the A3 box, something i considered from the start]

again using letterpress and the reasons mentioned previously to support the message

entry for V+A Illustration awards 2011

2010-12-22T09:34:00.000Z

this is one of my sumissions for the v+a illustration awards.
I did a series using chine collage as well as monoprint.
check it out!

http://www.vam.ac.uk/activ_events/events/illustration_awards/student2011/index.php?section=2&postIndex=28&postSearch=&category=&start=24&show=121

'Lost Knowledge', Benjamin Rider, 2010

'Lost Knowledge'
Benjamin Rider
London College of Communication, FDA Design for Graphic Communication
http://issuu.com/benrider
13 December 2010

My main submission is a cross process etching print. Part of an edition I wanted to use a repeatable image making process and combine with unique one off mono prints and chine collage. My original concept is to illustrate how as humans there is a lot we dont know from one another through how and what we choose to show one another. By studying the human form in its most honest, combined with my approach I want to show how we are each incredibly different and fascinating, and not all cast the same.
View the whole edition a

A-Z// Z is for ZOMBIE!!

2010-12-21T14:46:00.000Z

as you see i began with a sketch, i traced over this scanned, resized and worked on top
to define with stronger lines and used photoshop for some simple effects.
Made 3 seperate images for three different colours.

Theres a few things in life I think are just brilliant;
spaniels
robots
dragons
and zombies.
i think thyre just awesome. i think thyre such a strange but cool thing in popular culture. and of all these things the great potential for cool imagery

with Z being a bit vague and open i just went for it with this, I wanted to practice my image making skills and printmaking.

I did go insane, producing over 80 finished prints. But this was mainly to experiment and learn with technique and most importantly colour co-ordination and a took alot from this.

the below are a handful of favourites I handed in. If you know me, One of these will turn up in the post.

the colour of the photos is a touch blue, but that aside
this colours are great

this is also the first time i used metallics , relaly just to see the results
thyre rediculously metallic, gold is proper gold
did 5 or so on black backgrounds. looks ace

Negative Space // brilliant star wars posters!

2010-12-20T10:09:00.000Z

Not a massive fan of star wars, its alrite, but in terms of graphics, i think its damn cool. Loving this negative space.

I know its been ages since I last posted I owe you all something special.

working on it.

amazing illustration styles

2010-11-26T12:43:00.000Z

ANALOGUE // MULTIPLE EXPOSURES : edited

2010-11-26T09:50:00.000Z

im never going to grow out of double/multiple exposures ive decided.

thyre just too damn fascinating for me.

people describe as being completely 'random'

i disagree, each angle and shot has been taken with this in mind, ive easily done more than 100 rolls now

so i feel ive a good eye for setting up each shot knowing how it will blend with the next,

of course there will always be a large degree of utter spontaneuity, and thats what makes it fascinating

i cant determine exaxtly hwo its going to mix, what shapes/ colours are going to emerge and what thyre going to create.

these are a handful of the latest batch from the summer [still got a good half dozen to scan in still!]

my main problem now is how to feed this into my A-Z project, it fits in beutifully with the word 'analogue' but the thing is am not so sure about just bashing out another book-is that really the best format for these things?

i may do a few on t-shirts.

recommendations are VERY welcome

what the hell kind of title could i use for these?
what word comes to mind for you?

one of my particular favourites...

Otto illustrator // handmade and bound fair

2010-11-26T08:57:00.000Z

When i visited the handmade+bound fair last week this illustrators work stood out for me, his books are very expensive but hand bound and printed,

i think his use of imagery to create say buildings out of receipts n that is brilliant

brilliant work

Type-Face

2010-11-19T23:13:00.000Z

this is what a fucking amazing design website look like
this person still hasnt even graduated yet!!

http://grey-wilson.com/index.html

LIBERATED PRESS // digital development!! [finally!]

2010-11-16T10:14:00.000Z

finally got cracking on some digital stuff! - i know not quite what ud call digital but it is for me! this is the first cracks into what id love to achieve out of the computer. mixing hand made with digital LOVE IT!!