Life on Marc

Moving on...

2011-03-10T04:14:00.000-08:00

This will more than likely be the last post on this blog.

My new website www.marcbessant.com incorporates a blog and so I will continue to update from there instead..

Thanks for supporting Life on Marc.

Name that Rune

2011-01-28T02:02:00.000-08:00

Over the last couple of months I have been fortunate enough to work with a great band called The Mountain Goats providing artwork for their forthcoming album 'All Eternals Deck'.

I'll post more info on the entire project and also show pics of cd/vinyl packaging when I get/photograph them in the next couple of weeks, but in the meantime heres one of the point-of-sale posters which'll be gracing stores shortly...

Reject of the Week (and its only monday)

2011-01-24T09:48:00.000-08:00

WOMAD will be returning to Cáceres in Extremadura, Spain for the twentieth year this May and i was asked to pitch for the poster design, a first draft of which is shown above.

Some background - the 'emblem' of Cáceres is a stork so i thought i'd get the woodblocks out and give it a go along the lines of the old style travel posters but alas it wasn't to be, and now it sits atop the reject pile, shame because i quite liked this one....

New Blood on the road

2011-01-21T07:59:00.000-08:00

For a couple of nights this March PG is taking his 'New Blood' show to the Hammersmith Apollo, these dates have been added to allow for the possibility of filming the concert in 3D for a forthcoming release. It all happened a bit quick therefore I had to pull something together for print in just a couple of hours to make the promoters schedule. I would love to have done a run of these showing the embryo in various stages of development, ah well maybe next time..

OXO=?

2010-11-19T09:25:00.000-08:00

November has seen me fortunate enough to have a couple of pieces included in an exhibition of album cover art/design being held at the OXO Gallery, London.

Dates: 18 November 2010 - 9 January 2011
Opening times: 11am-6pm
Admission: FREE
Venue: gallery@oxo, Oxo Tower Wharf,
South Bank, London SE1 9PH

More details on 'The Art of the Album' can be found here

Return To The Ugly Side

2010-11-19T08:44:00.000-08:00

Malachai are back with a new album early next year titled 'Return to the Ugly Side'. Tasked once again with the art & design, I was given the opportunity to listen to it early on and its a much sharper, darker affair this time round - they've certainly picked up some cuts and bruises along the way and of course this needed to be reflected in the sleeve, but wait, its not all doom and gloom, quite the opposite in fact, the end of one thing is very much the new beginnings of another, so thats the angle, beautiful things gone bad only to become beautiful again, the natural order of things. Cover pictured above. Will post more on this eclectic bunch soon...

Contaminated Waters

2010-10-12T04:42:00.001-07:00

When i was younger there was an old guy who lived by my mums place who had a studio in his garage where he would hand-paint pub signs, i would walk by and see him in there working on various unfinished pieces that would soon adorn drinking spots around the country, it was fascinating work, in what was a very underrated artform, which is sadly now (like the pubs themselves) victims of hamfisted corporate giants. I like to think gig posters should also work in the same way as the pub signs of old, encapsulating a sense of place, time and atmosphere, a clue as to whats behind the door.

The poster above was done for 'Diego and the Dissidents' album launch event, i'd subsequently put the sleeve art together based on an old linocut of a tall ship i'd found, and this was another chance to do something along those lines. I love these old ships, and stories of the sea, comes from growing up on the coast i guess.

anyways, enough nostalgia, should be a good gig if the albums anything to go by..

Peter Gabriel 'New Blood' poster

2010-09-16T08:30:00.000-07:00

OK, Due to high interest (and kind comments) I have decided to do a short print run of the new 'New Blood' poster.

Printed on 100% cotton rag paper and measuring 420x594mm, the print is for sale on a 'first-come-first-served-once they're gone-they're gone' basis.

I will sign them, number them, roll them and post them to you for only £25 (inc P&P) each.

Once again thanks to all those PG facebookers who took the time to comment.

You can purchase the poster here

Please Note: These posters are exclusive to PG.com and will not be available at any of the current 'New Blood' gigs.

Peter Gabriel New Blood poster II

2010-09-08T02:27:00.000-07:00

This week has seen me working on a new poster for the 2nd leg of Peter Gabriel's 'New Blood' Tour. Its a three colour affair consisting of the human arterial system and a caged mocking bird (a songbird which sings the songs of others). I was unsure whether to run a load of these out, but its had a good response so I just might..

Little Axe Gig Poster

2010-08-25T05:16:00.000-07:00

Last couple of days I've been working on this tour poster for Skip 'Little Axe' McDonald, just the right side of messy I reckon. Always nice to get back to basics...

Clear as Crystal.

2010-08-04T03:39:00.000-07:00

'Capture 1995-2010' is a two-disc, 15 year retrospective of the Afro Celt Sound System.

A few months back i met up with James McNally who'd had the idea of making the ACSS logo out of crystal-glass. As good as it would have been, we neither had the budget or the time to cut something physical so I spent an afternoon sketching up how the logo might appear in 3D with Alan Tabrett who makes living from making things look real. True to form, Al T came up with the goods and the result was the image you can see above. the rest of the package consisted of fairly lean, clean design incorporating spot silver type, which seemed fitting after the smorgasbord of colour that made up the bands five previous studio albums - the only colour here being a photograph of an oil painting the group have hanging in their London studio.

EXIT 451

2010-08-04T03:13:00.000-07:00

About a month ago i was contacted by a Canadian group called 'EXIT 451' who have put together an album with the help of producer Mark Howard (U2, Bob Dylan, Marianne Faithfull, etc.) of Daniel Lanois' crew. They are a positive and forward-thinking bunch, making records, running a studio and generally being creative and so i offered my services of which they politely accepted.

The album was called 'The Sea Above the Sky', the group were into reversibility, portals and quantum physics(?), all of which appealed to me. I went over to my mums flat on a particularly foggy morning to take some pictures of the sea, i was interested in the lack of a horizon line and how one element fades to another. turning the image upside down made more of a mindbender out of it, suddenly looking like TV static. The chopped up lettering added to the uncertainty of it all, like some sort of code inviting to be cracked. Finally adding a metallic spot copper PMS for good measure. Overall i was very pleased with this bit of work, extremely simple both in its discussion and execution. Just the way it should be.

You don't have to be WOMAD to work here but it helps

2010-08-04T03:02:00.000-07:00

Suffice to say, the ID for this years WOMAD festival was a bit of a rush. I farmed the job out this year due to other commitments but unfortunately what came back didn't quite cut the mustard so i had to act pretty quick. Simple really, photograph of a field with some poster paint splashed on top (albeit loosely tree shaped) leave to dry, scan, add a dash of Inkymoles wonderful calligraphy and hey presto! - WOMAD 2010 Festival poster. Serves thousands.

peter gabriel 'scratch my back' collectors edition

2010-05-10T05:49:00.000-07:00

Although I designed this quite early on in the project, for various reasons its taken a little while to get together but finally i can reveal the Collectors Edition box set, its been a long ol' process made all the richer from working with some great people along the way, in particular Sophie Beck at RealWorld who has tirelessly added up all the numbers, made all the phone calls and filtered all the emails and Daniel Mason whose print/production knowledge is second-to-none;

here are some pictures (Photos: Will Thom) along with the marketing blurb (and a few notes from myself)..

Limited to 500 copies worldwide, this multi-format box set of Peter Gabriel's new album 'scratch my back' is available exclusively through petergabriel.com

Designed at Real World by Marc Bessant, this 'scratch my back Collector's Edition' is presented in a rigid, full colour and gloss laminated lift off lid box, which includes:

• A 4gb USB key containing 96khz/24 bit studio quality audio of the album, housed in a high density laser engraved foam tray (we went through several versions of this before i was happy, the laser cut the foam at various strengths and i had to keep simplifying the arteries illustration until a balance was met)

• Blood Red, 180gsm heavyweight 12 inch vinyl pressing of 'scratch my back' featuring new sleeve artwork unique to this edition (the red vinyl was something i'd wanted to do from very early on in the project, at first i was quite picky about the particular shade, a certain mix of red and blue crystal would have to be mixed to achieve the 'blood' red i wanted but alas the colour could not remain consistent and there was a possibility of some 'streakiness' within the vinyl - not good - so eventually i concurred that a regular red would have to do. The image on the sleeve itself is another scanned electron micrograph, this time showing the grooves of a record but with a big scratch running through it)

• A 12 inch square print of the album cover, printed on the 352gsm Mohawk Superfine Ultrawhite Smooth stock, signed and numbered in pencil by Peter Gabriel

• The Special Edition double CD of the album, presented in a case bound full colour and gloss laminated 10 inch cover. Housed in a high density foam tray

• Foil blocked and numbered Certificate of Authenticity

• Production credits panel with an introduction to the project by Peter Gabriel on the verso

Little Axe

2010-05-04T09:01:00.000-07:00

Here a packshot of the forthcoming Little Axe album 'Bought for a Dollar/Sold for a Dime'.

I had to pull this one together pretty quickly and so enlisted the help of the superb collage artist Mark Wagner. I've always liked Marks work (pls take a moment to view his site) and his currency collages seemed to sit so well with, no only the title of the record, but where Skip McDonald was coming from in terms of the songs/lyrics and general vibe of the record. Produced by Skip and Adrian Sherwood and out soon on RealWorld records, be sure to seek out and listen.

Peter Gabriel Scratch My Back - 'New Blood' Tour Visuals

2010-03-26T04:05:00.000-07:00

Plenty of clips turning up here, there and everywhere of the current Peter Gabriel 'New Blood' tour visuals which seem to be holding up and getting some good responses. Perhaps not quite as purely graphic orientated as it could have been given more time but I think what was achieved in the time was well worth the effort and went some way towards what I envisaged.

The particularly-late-in-the-day idea I had this time round being that all the visuals for the 'Scratch My Back' part of the show would be generated by the sound of the orchestra and/or Peter's vocal, sort of like cymatics only digital, using 'processing'. I wanted the show to look/sound like this great machine had awoke, and the orchestra was its beating heart. Each track then responsible for showing a different emotion of the machine, with the colours red/white/black being dominant throughout to tie-in with all the print art. Alas doing this sort of thing live was deemed a little risky so a few magic tricks had to be done as to appear it were. I really wanted the audience to leave with a real sense of having seen something very different for this sort of show, something that would perhaps be more at home in a nightclub as opposed to a classical concert, Peter Gabriel was being brave with the sound so it seemed fitting to be equally bold with the graphics.

Credit where credits due, I should give a special mention to a select team of talented (and sleep deprived) programmers (esp. to Stef ) who took my ideas/storyboards before weaving their wizardry in order to bring the machine to life, and also to Rob Sinclair who continued to wear the keepers gloves regardless of who moved the goalposts...

Peter Gabriel 'Scratch my back' sleeve animation

2010-03-26T03:44:00.000-07:00

Heres a short animation that was put together in collaboration with a master of the 3D arts - Alan Tabrett, originally intended for the 'Scratch' TV spots (which we sadly ran out of time on) it now adorns the big screens on the 'New Blood' Live show currently touring the globe. I was very happy with the results, especially the texture of the cells which Alan painstakingly crafted and rendered to match the original sleeve. A Job well done.

PG Live poster

2010-03-19T08:17:00.000-07:00

Spent this week at Shepperton Studios finalizing the video graphics for the forthcoming Peter Gabriel live dates, i'll post pics soon. In the meantime heres the tour poster...

One particular itch Scratched!

2010-02-15T01:44:00.000-08:00

Today saw the UK release of Peter Gabriel's 'Scratch my Back ', so i thought i'd post some of the artwork, which will hopefully entice (and not put-off) you buying the record. There's more to come but for now heres the CD/vinyl art for your viewing pleasure....

Prints of Darkness

2010-02-11T09:15:00.000-08:00

Sneak-peek of my latest cover/print coming off the presses. Really pleased with how its come out, the SEM was taken by a fine fellow (and photographic wizard) called Steve Gshmeissner, a little tweak here and there from yours truly, et voila! lurvely!

it never rains...

2010-02-05T03:37:00.000-08:00

its been a very busy January into Feb, Peter Gabriel 'Scratch my Back' will be released in a number of days and I have been designing many projects connected with that - Vinyl, iTunes LPs, posters, T-shirts, (and something very special), etc alongside all the other stuff, in particular, Malachai 'Ugly Side of Love' released on Domino Records US, Tom Kersten's 'Utopia' on RealWorld, Syriana and a late runner for SkyBsB (i kid ye not)...

Freedom Band Poster

2009-12-09T03:26:00.000-08:00

"The Freedom Band is a meeting of free spirits in music. The art and practice of improvisation will be our platform. And it's most fun with musicians of like mind as in Chick, Roy, Kenny and Christian. The quartet will be celebrating freedom of expression and freedom to make music the way we feel at the moment. This is our definition of "freedom" - is what Chick said.

"how about a bunch of grey squares with a Piano-key ladder up to a green hole?" i suggested.

"Love it!" Chick said.

End.

..and i'll scratch yours!

2009-11-19T12:03:00.000-08:00

OK OK so I didn't get it on here first as promised, it seems only right that PG should get it on his site first, but heres the post nonetheless (perhaps i'll put some other bits and pieces up soon..). its not ears, lips (of any kind) or even apricots, but a micrograph of two blood corpuscles gently tumbling over each other, further imagery within the package will hopefully make it clear where i was going with this one... if you know your micrography that is!

Peter Gabriel 'Scratch my back' is due for release in January 2010 (i think) ;)

LLLots of bLLLack ink

2009-11-11T09:10:00.000-08:00

Heres a two-colour poster just finished for Rob of Lonely London Lad fame, its a biggie, weighing in at 39x27" and soon to be available over at www.lonelylondonlad.com. I'm pleased with the result but then anything with Hammerhead sharks in it makes me happy...

i-have-a-warm-affection-for-offset

2009-11-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

Fresh back from the emerald shores of Ireland after a weekend of all things designery-finery (well mostly) and ready to spill the beans and raise a toast to the iloveoffset festival. Twas the first of its kind in the original city that never sleeps, Dublin, and i hope there will be more as i really think it can only get better. There were many speakers there, keen to show their wares and on the whole it was an enjoyable and informative event, i do wish there had been more interaction with the audience, perhaps more Q&A or a design 'Question Time' affair as it did feel a lot like 'them and us' at times and more often than not descended into straight-up portfolio showings - "this is something we did for so and so" "heres one we did for such and such" - in years gone by this sort of thing was appreciated but now, with so many books and of course the internet, i think something more needs to be transmitted once things get personal.

Someone who started out with these sort of good intentions was Scott at StudioAAD, keen to advocate a designers responsibility to the job at hand, he was definitely searching for more in what he does and more in what he gives, he avoided the usual designer gripes (altho was adamant he was no longer just the 'T-shirt Guy' for those of you that remember Angry) and asked questions of our profession but, sadly, it did slip into a portfolio session albeit a good one.

Next up was a warmly spoken chap who goes by the caustic name of 'Asbestos', showing all his 'street art' shenanigans, at which point i was ready to fly home, but i stuck with it because he does have craft and his work depth beyond its medium, and it didnt slip into the usual (and often trite) 'police bad/rebels good' nonsense associated with what is becoming the Mark Ronson of the art & design world. It might be our age but he too seemed to be looking for more of a reason to get up in the morning, to have some emotional connection with his work, certainly the paintings of his family had much more going for them, the constantly peeling of layers and smudging of paint had love in them and was reflected in the finished artworks, but there was still a sense of needing to be part of a hipper social group in some of the other pieces which i was less impressed with. He also had a piece in the Colston Hall show last month so i took the opportunity to say hello, a conversation which didnt go on much after that. i just gotta get hipper!

further into the w/e a highlight was Massimo Vignelli , a designer ive been a fan of for some time and, tbh, pretty much the reason i went along. He turned out to be a really nice bloke who seemed very happy with what he had achieved over the years, rarely complaining about the industry (apart from his dislike for marketing and focus groups) and generally being positive which left the audience inspired to be better people and not just better designers. i guess its easy not to talk about your work when it speaks for itself, but he and his wife have really lived the business and they've come out smiling - great stuff.

Known throughout the world as a prolific type foundry, House Industries has made a considerable impact on the world of design and Designer Rich Roat made an impact here too, with type tales and hot rod fables from over the years, again here was a speaker who clearly loved his craft and it really showed, a great presentation. Tara McPherson's talk was fun and informative (despite technical problems), Tara's attitude to work coupled with an odd sense of humour is what makes her stuff so interesting to me, there is definitely something deeply personal going on in there, not sure what but i think the longer she continues to paint the closer to the answer she's gonna get and i dont think its gonna be pretty. Another painter/artist also walking the wire goes by the name of Daniel Danger , now this guy had craft, i really like his work and after hearing him talk about his life/history it all makes sense now, a real pouring of emotion in some pieces and anger at loss in others, whatever, his stuff is always quite raw and unsettling yet also strangely nostalgic and comforting, much in the same way i feel about Mark Brabant's work (altho Mark's are often more playful) - check him out.

There were many others - Peter Blake, Dave Mckean, Chip Kidd, Serge Seidlitz, to name but a few, in what was a well organised event which seemed to cover all the bases.

i have never seen so many iphones, limited edition Tshirts and wire-rimmed specs in my life tho, and i have to give a big shout out to one of the doorman whom i had the most conversation with over the event, even tho it was nothing to do with design - thank the lord - as sometimes you just get sick talking about it (and typing about it)

Movember

2009-11-05T02:47:00.000-08:00

Oct/Nov see's me up to my eyes in blood, finger-nails and intracranial MRA scans for the Peter Gabriel 'Scratch My Back' album art which is due for release in the very near future - as soon as i get the go ahead i'll post images first here, Some big name tracks on there too - Radiohead, Elbow, Lou Reed among many others and all delivered with an orchestral twist.

also been getting the sleeve art together for Tom Kerstans new album 'Utopia' - an abstract paint/press affair which is coming together nicely

On another note i still have a couple of the Bristol Design Festival prints for sale so if interested pls contact, i post prints on ebay from time to time and right now i'm trying to sort a shop section off of my website for any future poster/print sales.

right now i'm gonna head off to Bristol Airport en route to the iloveoffset festival in Dublin where a host of designery finery are showing etchings and talking doodles...should be good.

An alternative portrait of Edward Colston

2009-09-29T08:58:00.000-07:00

Last saturday (26th Sept) saw the Invada Invasion at the Colston Hall and in amongst the musical extravaganza there was a small art show tackling a somewhat thorny subject under the title of 'An alternative portrait of Edward Colston'. Organised by 'Friend & Co', the exhibition contained artwork from Russell Maurice, Andy Council, Mr Jago, Paris, Ben Eine, China Mike, Asbestos, Acerone and Myself (far left on pic - thanks Tom). It was a good night all round and as far as i could make out the punters liked the pieces too...

A Sight for Sore Ears

2009-08-05T07:36:00.000-07:00

... so this one took me ages and got a bit messy, but i think it was worth it as I'm very happy with the result, really looking forward to seeing the A2's posted up around Brizzle in the near future. Should be a good gig too!

Blast!

2009-07-23T02:09:00.001-07:00

Rejection of the month. ah well, i thought it had potential....

perty type

2009-07-23T02:00:00.000-07:00

heres a little poster i put together for RealWorld Records at WOMAD, just an experiment really, theres a lot of this sorta stuff doing the rounds at the mo so thought i'd chuck my hat in the ring...

Update

2009-07-13T01:42:00.000-07:00

Well its been a little while since i wrote on this blog, but all for good reasons, apart from the rigmarole of moving house I've just had a lot on and alas some things fall by the wayside, this blog for example. Nevertheless here i am typing away, recent projects to be ticked as completed are sleeves for 'Spiro', a tasteful two-color affair with a silver block foil cover, 'Speed Caravan' (yes thats their name) which was a bit of a rescue mission drawing heavily on Russian poster art, and also a self-initiated project (and they're always the best) from 'Lonely London Lad' which turned out to be a real smorgasbord of a project drawing from places near and far (CD sleeve and T-shirt design above).

WOMAD Charlton Park 2009 is all but wrapped up design-wise although there'll no doubt be a couple of last minute jobs.. oh and a Peter Gabriel album on the horizon called 'Scratch My back' which is sounding very good indeed (designs not bad either), couple of other things on the hob but i'll serve them up a little later on...

Bristol Design Festival

2009-06-01T04:15:00.000-07:00

In conjunction with the wonderful wizards at White Duck screen print comes this two-colour poster commissioned for the Bristol Design Festival this year. Originally created from a number of wood block prints and intended to be hung either landscape or portrait, its a pun on Bristol's most famous creator Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the man with the tall hat and short cigar responsible for umpteen modern marvels in-and-around the South West of this fair Isle...

Available for purchase from the festival and then over at White Duck shop

When Worlds Collide

2009-05-01T06:24:00.000-07:00

Now heres an interesting collaboration - rock and roll guitarist Justin Adams has worked with Robert Plant, Peter Gabriel, and Tinariwen, among others but on this tour he's strumming his stuff along with Juldeh Camara, a Gambian Griot master musician himself.
So i thought i'd knock up a poster to commerate this clash of cultures, (OK perhaps its a little obvious i've been watching 'The Wire' every night).
The album 'Tell No Lies' is available on RealWorld records.

"We shall bite them on the features!"

2009-04-22T01:51:00.000-07:00

New T-shirt design for Tophers 'Hand Of Rock' T-shirt emporium, soon to be worn by patriotic oil-stained jitters across the land...

Pressing matters

2009-04-21T02:51:00.000-07:00

I've had to do some big (16 sheet/48 sheet) posters to promote the WOMAD festival at Charlton Park this year and i've gone for the whole letter press thing, 3-colours, all a bit wonky and coming soon to motorway roundabouts near you..

Treat Your-shelves.

2009-03-31T02:12:00.000-07:00

There was a time when us designers had a whole 314x314mm to doodle on but alas times change and we have to settle for meagre 5-inches (ahem!) - well in this case it was kinda both. Predominantly for the Japanese market (altho you can pick it up at womadshop) comes this Peter Gabriel mini-vinyl boxset, which is exactly as it says on the tin really. The sleeve-art was cleaned up a bit, all the original inner artwork has been scanned and given a good brush up too, even the CD labels themselves are how the original LP labels appeared - so think vinyl put on a hot wash, rinse, repeat, steam press and this is what you get, all this and music too!

Chirpy chirpy cheap cheap!

2009-03-31T02:01:00.000-07:00

Heres a new T-shirt design that was put together for RealWorld recently, I know the birds thing is something thats been well used over the past couple of years but if you saw the view from my window then it'd all make sense - pick up this chirpy number over at the womad shop.

The not-so-small world of Al T

2009-03-30T09:19:00.000-07:00

These are tough times indeed and unfortunately none of us are immune to whats happening financially in the current climate. Over the past few weeks a number of people i know have found themselves looking ever-harder for that next project and in some cases, a new job entirely. One such friend is Al T; Alan is a fantastic artist who over the last couple of years traded in the HB's and started using 3D software, and it has to be said he's bloody good at what he does too.
I've always thought that the less precious artists are often the best, and during the late 80s, when i was very much into Graffiti, Al was one of the few people who openly shared his sketches (and tunes) with us (slightly) younger folk just dipping our toes into the scene and we've been friends ever since, he has a blog you can check out his rantings on the great and the good (and the not so great and good) and he's currently getting his website together, in the meantime if you've an idea that you need to be visualised extremely realistically then you could do a lot worse than drop him a line..

The sun is out, the sky is blue....

2009-03-30T09:11:00.000-07:00

Heres a new one for Jim (altho he doesnt know it yet), all a bit on the p*ss, just like the band ;)

Give the guy a hand...

2009-03-23T04:00:00.000-07:00

Recently been working on stuff for Peter Gabriel's South American excursion (mentioned the tour visuals on previous posts) including the 3-colour poster above, not sure if they're gonna be for sale via the PG site yet, but i was happy with the results...

March Update

2009-03-11T10:13:00.000-07:00

Apologies for not posting for a while, it doesn't mean i've packed the crayons away - quite the opposite actually, just been a little busy coupled with being a little lazy blogwise but i'll put up some new pictures soon. I've spent some time over the last week or so in a very cold aircraft hangar somewhere in the Wiltshire countryside helping out with the stage visuals for Peter Gabriel's tour scheduled to head off to South America next week, (there are a couple of rehearsal pix over on Tony Levin's frequently updated blog), and also getting together all the peripheral tour stuff like T-shirts etc before it all kicks off, sadly i wont be joining them this time round. For RealWorld i'm working on a new record by Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara titled 'Tell No Lies', the intention is to make the sleeve a 50s style affair, y'know sorta Bo Diddlyish, definitely vinyl junkyard stuff. Also working with Spiro, The Black Swan Effect, LLL, and there are even rumours of a Document IV. The WOMAD wagon continues apace with all the advertising starting to do the rounds from next week, look out for potato printed pages coming to a newspaper near you. Stayed tuned.

Walk the Lino

2009-02-04T04:14:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the best thing for your work is just to do something different, something you enjoy but something of little consequence apart from your own distraction and enjoyment. Such is the case with some linocuts i've been doing when i get a minute from the daily grind and just to pep up my interest i thought i'd do cuts from some of my favourite movies - in this instance, Quints vessel Orca from 'Jaws', I think i'm gonna press 20 or so and flog them to like-minded buffs. Next up - Devils Tower from CE3.

One potato, two potato, three potato, four...

2009-01-27T01:57:00.000-08:00

Recently put a poster together for WOMAD with the help of some brightly coloured paint and good ol' fashion Maris Piper potato's. Good to escape the clutches of the Mac occasionally.

A quick wash, 20 minutes on the hob, splash of milk and they made for nice mash too - hows that for recycling!

'Thats alright Mamer'

2009-01-27T01:32:00.000-08:00

One of the delights of doing what I do is on the odd occasion i get to hear something that i wouldn't normally get to listen to. Such is the case with 'Mamer / Eagle' due to be released shortly on RealWorld records. Not too sure how to describe it really, central asian folk perhaps? go take a listen yourself over at this blog. The sleeve shows a photograph taken in Mamer's native grasslands of the Kazak, a region under constant industrial development often seemingly regardless of its beautiful natural landscapes. Good, honest sounds.

happy talking..

2008-12-18T03:26:00.000-08:00

Had to talk the talk for a couple of magazines this month which does mean i get some work published so i ain't complaining. Music Graphics feature in Hong Kong based design magazine iDn, Internet art feature in Advanced Pshop and a spread in the new Ivory Press Photography book...

And who but my lady?

2008-12-18T03:00:00.000-08:00

This past fortnight I've been delving into Documentland again with Andy Smith's latest mix for Greensleeves records aptly titled 'DJ Andy Smith Greensleeves Document'. I was a little weary at first as i've always associated Greensleeves sleeves with Tony McDermott's great drawings but the label were keen to attract a wider market so i had a go, the boombox is Andy's and authentically used in the 80s by the aforementioned DJ, its another Paint versus Mac affair which has seen many revisions but I think its almost there...

Nectar Points

2008-12-15T08:05:00.000-08:00

Had to do a fairly quick job for Chick Corea & Hiromi Uehara's new album 'Duet' last week and I have to say (type) I was very pleased with how it turned out. Sometimes less is definitely more. Humming-bird was a bit of a prima donna tho, hell of a rider...

Made yet rarely played

2008-11-11T03:32:00.000-08:00

Whilst on the short film tip, heres another i fatefully played a part in. Made in 1997 (my god 11 years ago!) and shot over two days (including editing etc) this promo for Portishead's 'All Mine' was my first soirée into music video and good fun it was too. Its not perfect by any means but I still think it creates the right vibe for the group at that time, I remember the shocked faces at a trendy Soho film suite when asking that they keep bumping down the original film to VHS tape and then back again so as to get a proper degraded feel to it, as opposed to a computer filter added after. To me it looks just the right side of ropey but alas the TV powers that be weren't so keen so the film was rarely played. The italian subtitle mid-way through the promo reads 'We apologise for the poor quality of sound' - an obvious pun when the sound is really the only thing of true quality. An odd little ditty which I'm quite proud of actually, if only because it was such a struggle for Geoff and I to get it done. Enjoy.

Right between the eyes!

2008-11-07T06:12:00.000-08:00

Whilst getting my website together i rediscovered this little commercial I did for Peter Gabriel a few years back, it was to promote a greatest hits CD called 'HIT'. The shoot was done in london with a very small crew (5) and budget, originally I wanted to have real giant letters at the end inside a huge white room but alas time/money wouldn't allow. There is a longer version which contained snippets of PGs videos but this little teaser I was always more happy with...

www.marcbessant.com

2008-10-30T04:29:00.000-07:00

Well, I've only bloody gone and done it, finally there is a place one can visit on the web to see a selection of projects/artwork I've stuck my oar into recently - go to marcbessant.com and see for yourself. Its a VERY simple affair, more pictures than words, essentially a portfolio site that hopefully people will enjoy using/looking at and perhaps even get me a bit more work(!) in the long run.

A BIG thank you to Graeme Swinton who helped me get this together in record time. I'll continue to post stuff here tho when i can.

Did i mention the url - www.marcbessant.com - kinda catchy aint it!

Get what You want/Lose what You had

2008-10-17T01:47:00.000-07:00

Last night was the opening of the Friend & Co gallery/shop in Bristol, it went very well i think, some good work from Andy Council, Mike Maxwell, Faris Badwan, Pinky, French and even the Gold/Blue screen-print framed (or unframed) above by myself is on offer to those with a dollar or two to spare. There aren't that many (only 30 or so of each) so if you are interested get over to the website or better still hop on a bus and take a look - 8 The Promenade, Gloucester Rd, Bristol BS7 8AL

..as one door closes...

2008-10-10T08:44:00.000-07:00

Hot on the heels of WOMAD 2008 comes (unsurprisingly) WOMAD 2009, I'm still working on the designs for next years festivals but I had the opportunity to put a little flyer together for the forthcoming WOMEX event (above) that people seem to have warmed to, might be worth further investigation...

Satan's Fingers!

2008-10-09T07:54:00.000-07:00

A good friend of mine known to the Bristol head-banging community simply as 'Topher the Mullet King' has set out on a quest to adorn friends and foe alike in a range of T-shirts via a company he's set up called 'Hand Of Rock' which, as the name suggests is a celebration of Old Nicks Digits. He asked me to come up with a couple of designs, so i downed a bottle of Patchouli oil and splashed some Jack Daniels on my old leather jacket then jumped right in, and good fun it was too...

Audio Fingerprints

2008-10-03T01:51:00.000-07:00

One of the good things about your own blog is you can put on it things that may never be seen ordinarily, such is the case with the two colourful images above. A very talented chap i know called Stefan Goodchild is a bit of an all round whiz-kid when it comes to sound/vision and together we worked on these images which were both created for Portishead singles Machine Gun/Magic Doors but alas rejected. I've put them up because the process in which they were created deserves to be aired. Essentially (pay attention here) they're created by splitting the original audio files into left/right channels then fed through Stefs secret code which further splits each channel into three bands -bass, mid and treble - which you then assign a colour. The audio file length is divided into the width of the image you want and for each vertical pixel row the corresponding left/right channel is analysed for amplitude across the three bands. still reading? The band amplitudes are then translated into the pre-chosen colours which appear on the screen before your very eyes, rinse, repeat across each vertical pixel row/corresponding audio until the right hand edge is reached. sounds technical i know but its quite simple really and i think the results warrant further investigation, besides that, they look great blown up and printed.

Have you Third?

2008-09-18T04:17:00.000-07:00

For those of you interested in this sorta thing, there is a nice little article on contemporary music packaging in this weeks 'Music Week' magazine which features the Portishead/Third boxset among others. If you haven't got the new album yet then you're missing out as its a corker. (designs not bad either)

Whole lotta ink!

2008-09-03T07:06:00.000-07:00

Bit of a late post i know, but otherwise this stuff just goes unseen and moldy in a tube somewhere - til now that is! Unless you have just arrived from a different planet, you could not have failed to notice that 75% of Led Zeppelin reformed last December to do a one-off gig at london's o2 arena. Sadly i never got to see them, altho i seemed to be surrounded by people whom after the event would always casually shrug and say 'oh i had a ticket but didnt want to go...' such is life in the outer rings of music biz orbit.

Regardless, i thought i'd do something to commemorate the event in the vague hope that one of the surviving Zep's would call me out of the blue and ask for a poster, and lo, this single little silver and black number was born...

Five Peace Band

2008-09-02T02:21:00.000-07:00

Heres a new Tshirt i just put together for the jazz piano/bass guitar combo that is Chick Corea and John McLaughlin - ok, ok, i know that Saul may not approve but the style is a play on words (well thats my excuse and i'm sticking to it)

Big Time Charlie

2008-09-01T02:02:00.000-07:00

Many years ago i served my apprenticeship putting together sleeves for local bands, frequently unpaid but always good fun, one such band was a group from Bristol called 'Airbus' - four decent chaps whose company i thoroughly enjoyed but alas unlike the groups engineering namesake, they failed to take off and then after a brief stint in the US they decided to go there separate ways. Me ol' pal Charlie kept on strummin' however and joined in with a few LA rockers over the years whilst always keeping a little home-brew together under the name of 'Jinxremover' - he's putting out a new album shortly called 'Beyond a Big Hit'. The cover art is something i did quite a while ago, which Charlie still liked, and despite the current shitegeist for this sorta thing, i was happy for it to be out there if it helps the cause.

Malakrikey!

2008-09-01T01:38:00.000-07:00

Short of knocking on every door in Britain carrying a cassette player and blasting out the tunes to the occupants inside, there isn't much that the dynamic duo that is Scott and G of Malakai arent prepared to do in order for their songs to be heard, and rightly so, because its an audio treat thats well worth hearing. The group has had their ups and downs, struggled to survive on a desert Island for a while but then jumped on a self-made raft named Hope and left that all behind them. Now with the album 'Ugly Side Of Love' finally set to be released by Invada Records in the coming weeks ahead, it looks like the masses will have the opportunity to join the few and listen to noises they've been making. Sleevewise, its a home-made affair with G (the singer) putting the cover together, inside tho its a smorgasbord of doodle-ness from artists all over this fair isle including Mr Jago, Nick Walker, Acer & Paris, and even less fashionable fogies like my good self. Definitely worth a listen and certainly worth a look (perhaps while your listening)

Limited Edition Prince

2008-08-12T01:52:00.000-07:00

Someone i know is opening a shop selling posters/prints, and i, along with a few others will be putting something in to commemorate its opening, whenever that may be.

This is gonna be my effort, possibly.

The Dark Knight

2008-08-04T02:45:00.000-07:00

Last night i finally got round to seeing 'The Dark Knight'.

I had avoided reviews on TV, write-ups in magazines and articles on the web - i wanted to watch it 'clean'. I had my apprehensions tho, after being so impressed by 'Batman Begins' surely they couldn't do as fine a job again or, dare i say it, go one better? so, on this dark,wet english summer evening i met with my brother and we strolled over to the local cinema, i'd heard the shows were selling out so we went early to get good seats. unashamedly geeky we went into the theatre as the credits were rolling from the previous showing and faced the 'tuts' from the people coming down the stairs as we battled our way up, hellbent on capturing the chair of optimum viewing, which after a quick row x seat count i found, and so with one hour to go and less-than-fragrant cinema staff sweeping up discarded (or preferably fallen from awestruck open mouths) popcorn from around our feet we waited...

first, some history, i have been a reader of Detective/Batman comics since i was old enough to read and before that i was happy to just look at the pictures, i had stayed true despite mother natures attempts to outgrow 'him' and Hollywoods best efforts to lampoon 'him' and, when Christopher Nolan stepped in and assembled the best of our collective imaginations, i like many others had been rewarded. Please Mr Nolan, don't mess this up...

How dare i even think he could.

The opening credits rolled, the first rumbles of Hans Zimmer's fantastic score sent a tremor from rows A to Z then back again, the hairs on my neck stood to attention and we were off, i had promised myself i wouldn't cry at this one, i have this tendency to just start crying when faced with wonderful things, i had lasted about 20 minutes on 'Batman Begins' before the first blub surfaced and i was determined to hold it together this time round.

7 minutes later i broke.

To be honest i was thankful for the extra liquid around the eyes because for the next 2 hours or so i dare not blink. I was gripped by my tear drenched collars, lifted from my seat, slapped by every member of crew and cast and left exhausted and totally exhilarated by this film.

Absolutely brilliant. Go see it. Take a friend then go again.

Graphic Exchange... kinda like Swop Shop..but with Graphics

2008-07-24T07:39:00.000-07:00

I recently did an interview with a chap called Fabien Barrell for his design site/blog graphic-exchange, turns out he's a very good designer himself, and if, as i do, you like to have a collection of cardboard tubes containing wonderful prints/posters behind every door/back of every cupboard in your house then he sells stuff too at his sister site harmonie-interieure - he also has this set up where you can swap work of your own for work of his, nice idea i reckon...

Who watches the Watchmen?

2008-07-23T08:31:00.000-07:00

we will, in our droves next year if the trailers anything to go by!

The Walrus

2008-07-14T03:54:00.000-07:00

i'm probably way late with this but being a big fan of the beatles, monty python and all that sorta malarky i felt the need to share/comment. brilliant

'The record shows, i took the blows...'

2008-07-14T01:50:00.000-07:00

there is a poster ive been working on for some time now, too long in fact - all the gusto is gone, still revisions continue to be asked for, 'how about green? try red! my wife likes blue!' - how about fuck off and play the guitar and let the art monkeys do there thing. rant over, back to monday.

Dark Knights-a-coming

2008-07-10T09:13:00.000-07:00

With a hefty nod to Dave McKean's 'Arkham Asylum' comes this new poster from BLT for 'The Dark Knight', reallly nice i think altho i wish they'd just ask Dave to do it as the marks he makes seem less deliberate than some here but then thats me just being picky..

The Bank Job

2008-07-10T08:56:00.000-07:00

I watched this movie yesterday, it was ok but what really drew my attention was poster for it (above) - classic 60s style to it, de-saturated colours n'all, not so keen on the centred type but hey-ho. Designed by ignition print , a job well done.

Gawd blesh tha NHesh!

2008-07-10T08:37:00.000-07:00

felt the need to say something about the hospital treatment my dad is currently getting for his dicky ticker, the NHS gets a lot of stick from public and politician alike but we should try living somewhere other than this fair isle then we'd really have healthcare issues. the staff at the Bristol Royal Infirmary have been welcoming, patient (no pun intended) and upbeat every time ive been in and the level of care and testing is superb, altho dad's not keen on his 'salmon-pink' pyjama's - once a docker always a docker eh!

Addis in Yonderland

2008-07-07T09:46:00.000-07:00

Working with 'Dub Colossus' on some stuff at the mo, EP above and ive gotta do the album art by friday - a whole 4 days woo-hoo - should be a belter then... rraaasssssssssssssssssspp!

Tapping on my window...

2008-07-07T09:42:00.000-07:00

It just keeps bloody raining, rain, rain, rain - when will it end, its like being in Blade Runner....

UK Rock Poster tour 2008

2008-07-05T13:59:00.000-07:00

Friday saw the the arrival of a joint exhibition of Rock Poster art from San Francisco based Firehouse and the locally brewed Jacknife to The Croft on Gloucester Road, Brizzle - i went down with a couple of pals and suffice to say the work on show was excellent and there was plenty of it too. i had a good chat with Ron Donovan and Chuck Sperry from Firehouse which was great, altho i'm concerned i might have bored them to death talking about how english rock posters could be more recognisably english than the current faux-american stuff currently hogging the gallery walls, not sure meself what i mean by that but i'm sure we must have a style of our own right? anyways they were top geezers, i only wish i could have talked further to the Jacknife lot, what with them being local and all it might be nice to collaborate sometime in the future. watch this space...

Mystery men

2008-07-04T03:46:00.001-07:00

Lots of new people milling around the place at the mo, not sure who they are or what they do, they look like money men, posh shirts and belted jeans...?

Designer lunches

2008-07-04T03:30:00.000-07:00

Last week I was fortunate enough to have lunch and chew the cud with Stefan Sagmeister, who dropped by the studio en route to a lecture he was giving in Cardiff that evening. I've been a fan of his work for a long time so i was a little worried at first, there's always this thing with some designers, they're just too up themselves for there own good, fortunately Stefan is not like that at all and it was a real pleasure talking to him about cheap cigars, well-worn chairs, ice cream, oh and a little bit about drawing and colouring-in too!

if you're not familiar with his work, its well worth investigating, great stuff.

Hovering Objects

2008-07-04T01:20:00.000-07:00

Mark Brabant over at Hovering Object continues to come up with great prints that i can't help but purchase and this latest effort (above) is no exception, go take a look, always strong colour on good stock, dark humoured yet oddly romantic - or perhaps i'm just too much of a crayon-boy- geek with a UFO fixation?

Miss Amy Jo

2008-07-01T09:56:00.000-07:00

heres a lovely two-colour print i just bought from Miss Amy Jo for my little girls room - go take a look at her website as there is some wonderful work there and very reasonably priced to boot!

Rock Explosion II

2008-07-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

Something else that happened in June was the Rock Explosion II exhibition at the Movie Poster Art Gallery in London, i was asked to provide a poster for the event which i did and you can see it above. In hindsight i think what i did was a bit too heavy metal but nevermind, the evening was a success, lots of great work on show from the likes of Gilbert Shelton, Peter Max, Jamie Reid and of course, Martin Sharp right up to us mere 21st century doodlers. High-light of the night for me was talking to Jimmy Page about the british band posters of the late 60s. good work, free wine, Led Zep, heaven.

WOMAD 2008

2008-07-01T02:06:00.000-07:00

Well its that festival time of the year again, i know 'cos there was the obligatory photograph of Kate Moss and pal suitably attired with designer wellies in the paper at the w/e. Somehow i cant imagine the same spray-on-mud jetset will be heading to Charlton Park the end of this month for WOMAD but then again stranger things have happened. I'm still doodling various aspects of the campaign but above is this years poster, i've been working with illustrator Ben Newman to come up with, what we all hope will be a fitting contribution to this years event.

If You've got the dosh - head to the Cosh

2008-07-01T01:21:00.000-07:00

Darren Firth of Wear It With Pride devised a little experiment to see how todays designers would visualise posters for cult movies and the results are well worth a look at here. They're all hung on freshly painted walls for your viewing pleasure over at the Cosh Gallery, - but be warned they aint cheap, it is the Economic Republic of London after all....

Big Blue Ball

2008-07-01T01:13:00.000-07:00

another of this months accomplishments (altho technically i finished it last month), as usual getting it done was a little more complicated than i first thought, I always wanted to do something that looked a little odd in the wiltshire countryside to reflect its content but alas i was on my own with this approach (at first), the Americans wanted something much more accessible and generally 'lighter' so i did a different one for the folks who like to think everything's rosey whilst keeping this dark-humoured oddity for UK/Europe where so far its been well received. Ive managed to see one copy in the flesh as it were but nothing else, there are a few imports floating around out there and some reviews elsewhere online if you like this sorta sound, officially it gets rolled out at this years womad festival - find out more about the record here , apparently there is an exhibition of artwork connected to the release, somewhat embarrassingly i don't know anymore about that than what i've read on the aforementioned link, not sure even if the sleeve featured? if anyone went/is going let me know...

Portishead - The Rip

2008-06-30T09:47:00.000-07:00

I won't go into the stuff ive done previously with this bristol beat combo, only to say if you haven't bought the new album 'Third' then you should, because in the sometimes overpowering deluge of whimsical noodlings thats out there we can sometimes forget that some groups are still trying something different, i only hope i manage to do the same with the sleeves when i get the opportunity, as was the case with this new 12" 'The Rip' completed this very month (and hence its inclusion here), it was always gonna be a gamble screenprinting black on black but in a moment of Spinal Tap clarity we thought 'what the hell!' and had a go, suffice to say the first trials weren't great but i'm hoping the next test will prove better (awaiting a proof to drop on my desk imminently) - the etching looks great tho (thanks Nick) - heres a mock-up of the sleeve...

New to this...

2008-06-30T09:25:00.000-07:00

Taking inspiration from me ol' pal Al.T (thesmallworldofalt.com) i thought i'd have a go at this blogging lark, so, here i am having a go. i'll try to update when i can so until then welcome and adios...