Illustration Door
An ambigram of the word Phobia. Its rotational symmetry means that it can be read either way up. If you're viewing on a smartphone or tablet, try flipping it up the other way (I don't recommend this if you're using a laptop or desktop PC!). The product of my final degree project, this leather bound artists book explores ten seperate phobias through hidden imagery; the fear of heights, open spaces, people, spiders, clowns, the dark, ghosts, death, dolls and fire. Continue through this gallery to view a selection of pages from the book. Acrophobia is a fear of heights. This is a three dimensional anaglyph designed to convey the symptoms of the Acrophobic, and can be viewed through 3D glasses to cause blurred vision and a dizzying sense of depth. Viewing the arrows beneath the eye from a shallow angle will reveal a secret message. Agoraphobia is a fear of open spaces and the outside world. This scene depicts the demons that await agoraphobics outside their front door, each one representing a separate fear. In the book, the Agoraphobia scene is assembled within a multi-layed pop-up and concealed by the representative image of a front door. To find the demons, you must look through the letter box. This threatening face made of multiple figures symbolises Anthropophobia, a fear of people or society. A crude clay model based on the multiple figures image. Arachnophobia is a fear of spiders. If you're familiar with 'magic eye' pictures, you may recognise the stereographic wallpaper. What lurks beneath it? Look at it the right way and you'll find out. Coulrophobia is a fear of clowns, the deviant side of human nature. In this anamorphosis, the image of the clown is twisted and contorted like a funhouse mirror. The original image can only be revealed with use of a cylindrical mirror. Nyctophobia is a fear of the dark. In the original book, the green elements were painted with fluorescent paint so that they would only become visible in the dark, reflecting the way that imagined monsters only appear in darkness. A detailed ink study of the zombified appendage from the Nyctophobia illustration. Spectrophobia is a fear of ghosts, and the symbols are code for a ghostly rhyme. 'If you notice a flickering figure, be sure not to let out a shout, it stalks the halls with it's candle in hand, for the light of it's life went out.' A sound activated lightbox and slide used to project a ghostly image onto the wall of my exhibition space. Thanatophobia is a fear of death. Five faces are concealed within the symbolic foliage of the lilies, and death hides in the nightshade. Ink study of a grim figure. Pediophobia is a fear of dolls. This ambiguous image can either be interpreted as a girl in a snowy scene, or as the face of a frozen Charlotte doll Pyrophobia is a fear of fire. This matchbox can be flipped upside-down to reveal a sinister message about the hazards of fire. A miniature version of my Phobia book, contained within a matchbox along with a matchstick doll. Design for a foldy zine made from a single sheet of paper, on the subject of Phobia and Pareidolia. A stack of folded, packaged zines ready for sale at New Designers 2009. An early attempt at digital painting following the purchase of my first Wacom tablet. A character design for The Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll. An artists book with etched metal covers, based on the 7 ages of man, the 7 deadly sins and the concept of the soul in purgatory atoning for sins made in life. Retrospectively, the covers are the only thing I still like about this book, but nevertheless you will find a selection of its pages by continuing through the gallery. When we are born we are each given a soul. It is that indescribable entity which makes us what we are; our identity, our conscience, our good and evil, light and dark, heaven and hell. 'At first the infant, mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.' 'And then the whining school boy, with his satchel and shining morning face, creeping like snail unwillingly to school.' 'And then the lover, sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad made to his mistress' eyebrow.' 'Then a soldier, full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, seeking the bubble reputation even in the cannon's mouth.' 'And then the justice, in fair round belly with good capon lined, with eyes severe and beard of formal cut, full of wise saws and modern instances; and so he plays his part.' 'The sixth age shifts into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon, with spectacles on nose and pouch on side, his youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide for his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, turning again toward childish treble, pipes and whistles in his sound.' 'Last scene of all, that ends this strange eventful history, is second childishness and mere oblivion, sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.' 'I sent my soul through the invisible, some letter of that afterlife to spell; and by and by my soul returned to me, and answered, I myself am Heaven and Hell.' A study in Indian ink. A painting from my younger days, acrylic paint on a massive sheet of cardboard. A still life painted during my A levels. I rarely find the time to paint these days, but this serves as a reassuring reminder that I do have the capacity for patience - a virtue that my grandfather would have valued. Another painting from my A levels, no doubt strewn with repressed adolescent angst and woven with obscure symbolism. Acrylic on Canvas. The result of my final A level art exam, in which I vaguely recall having some sort of nervous breakdown. Acrylic on board. A study in acrylic. Acrylic on paper. Inspired by the rainforest and Henri Rousseau, acrylic on paper. A juxtaposition between natural and synthetic, another acrylic cliché from my A level days.