Artist: Tim Smith
Website: mypoorbrain.com
Who are you, where you from?
My name is Tim Smith, I’m a designer and illustrator from North Wales, but have been living and working in London for around six years now.
What do you do?
I am senior designer for digital design agency AllofUs, based in London. I work on a number of really exciting projects, from augmented reality smartphone apps to online and digital branding to large scale physical interactives and beyond. Outside of my role at AllofUs, I like to flex my illustration muscles, working on projects (such as the one you see here) for the likes of Orange, Game and PlayStation amongst others.
How did you create these images?
First, I printed out a number of isometric sheets, which I used to sketch my ideas for the composition and scene onto. I scanned my favourite of these into my Mac and began putting down the foundations in Adobe Illustrator over them. From there, I created the majority of the artwork in Adobe Photoshop, as this gave me much more control over the effects I could use and the overall quality of the piece.
Can you tell us about the project, the client, how it came about?
I was approached by a marketing company who in-turn were approached by Label Expo, the world’s largest printing industry expo, this year held in China. The strategy and marketing was all planned out, all that was missing was an illustrated story that had to carry the theme of the expo itself; ‘Gremlins of the Print Industry’. I was tasked to illustrate this theme in one central illustration, with three supporting illustrations. My illustrations were used in everything from the expo’s websites and e-newsletters to newspaper adverts, stationary, posters and many other forms of marketing collateral.
Are you happy with the outcome, did you have to compromise at all?
Given the time constraints, I am happy with the outcome. The central illustration became quite processor intensive, which really slowed down my work flow, meaning a few frustrating late nights just attempting to save the work. It’s the type of illustration that you can add to and add to forever, I was up against an extremely tight deadline, which in the end was the concluding factor.
What’s your next project?
My next project involves branding, a website, app and a few more bits and pieces. I’m afraid I can’t say any more than that.
A word of support for aspiring freelancers?
Confidence.
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