Featured Member - Josh Miels

www.pelime.com/rawgraphicdesign
www.rawgraphicdesign.com

Graphic designer/ Illustrator/ Artist
Born: September 2nd 1982 Adelaide, South Australia
Studied: Bachelor of Visual Communications 2000 – 2003 University of South Australia

      

Q.  How did your career in Graphic Design & Illustration start out and what triggered your interest?
A.  For me, I have always had a love for art and all things visual. I always wanted to be an artist, but the chances of being successful in the industry lead I felt at the time were very slim. I decided to go a safer option in graphic design. It gave me the opportunity to be creative whilst having a steady income. I studied at the university of South Australia and finished a bachelor of visual communications in 2003. My first real job in the industry was looking after a portfolio of soft drinks and alcohol brands.

Q.  Are there any particular artists in your field that you admire?
A.  Everyday I walk down the street and into store and my inspiration come from there. So in a way the industry in general is where I draw inspiration. In terms of illustrators probably the one the influence me the most would be Byroglyphics (Russ Mills) he has perfected the use of illustration, painted textures and Photoshop to make artworks the have a very organic feel for digital work.

Q.  Are there any other contemporary artists your admire?
A.  In no particular order some of my favourite artist would have to be, David Kassan, Guy Denning, Jenny Seville & Charlie Isoe. All these artists have really captured the different emotions of the human face & body. I really love art where I can look at it over and over trying to understand what it means and what they are feeling. I also like raw emotion and the darker side of art, I don’t think there is enough of it.

Q.  Can you talk about your first major project or the one that in your opinion has brought you most success?
A.  My first major project in design would have to be the re-launching of a well known soft drink brand in Australia call Spritz. After 10years of been on the market, its market share had dropped significantly. New products had eaten their market share and people began to be more aware of the amount of sugar they were drinking. My role was to re-launch the product, making itmore appealing to a new generation of soft drink drinkers. Although the brand has never reach the great heights of when it was originally launched it had significantly increased it market share, brought new drinkers into the category and kicked started my career in package design in the food and beverage industry.  

Q.  What are your inspirations?
A.  My inspirations are all around me. I am always searching the net for the latest and greatest in art, packaging and design in general. I can’t help going into a supermarket to buy something as simple as milk and spending hours looking at packaging. I also never forget the past, I love taking elements and ideas from different eras as far back I need to go to get the results I am after. This could be a colour scheme, fonts, illustration or even the way something is printed.

Q.  How do you choose your subjects?
A.  With my art it really comes down to what is available to me at the time. I do like painting or illustrating all different kinds of people. I have used a lot of images found on the net to begin with, but you can only go so far with that. These days I chose who ever is willing to come over a let me draw, photograph and paint them. This is working well as I am beginning to have broad range of people who are willing to get involved.  

Q.  Is there any particular stories or themes behind your work?
A.  Depending on the piece and how I am feeling at the time really result in the story behind the work. I love to keep things free and open when doing my work. If I am feeling political then I will do political. if I am feeling emotional I will do emotional.

Q.  Can you talk more about your illustrations?
A.  My illustrations are mainly based around people. I love faces and expression. Visually I like my artwork to be bold and striking, I like to make the most of the negative space and draw the eye into the face.

Q.  Can you talk about your professional experience?
A.  My illustration work is something I do purely for the enjoyment of it. I have displayed it in a few Galleries but its very early days for me so there isn’t a huge amount to talk about yet.

Q.  Are you willing or have aspirations to collaborate in the future?
A.  As I am relatively new in the illustration side of things I haven’t had the opportunity to work collaboratively with anyone as yet, but yes, that is something I would like to do moving forward.

Q.  Can you talk about the creation process of your work?
A.  The process for this work is quite simple to do, but hard to master. Basically I take photos of people, animal and things I see. I hand illustrate the image using pens, texters etc. I scan the image into Photoshop. I then create hundreds of textured layers that I use when needed to create the art piece (Anything I can find that will make an interesting marks). I use Photoshop to merge all the pieces together to create the art piece although it certainly is used only as an additional tool. It is all done at an extremely high resolution so they can be printed onto a high quality paper and display for all to see.

Q. What equipment & techniques do you use?
Any thing I can make an interesting mark that I can scan in. the equipment I use it my camera, computer, scanner, paints, brushes anything I can get my hands on and scan. The program I use t bring it all, together is Photoshop.

Q.  What are you currently working on?
A.  At the moment in design I am working away on lots of point of sale and adverting for food companies here in Australia. In terms of my illustration work I am doing it as time become available. I am now making more time for my art as I do see a bright future for it and its something that I have a real passion for.

Q.  What are your professional ambitions and project aspirations for 2011/2012?
A.  I really want to get creative again as a whole. I have been working doing the same things for a number of years now and I trying to get back to why I love art and illustration. The last 12 months have been a step in the right direction for me and I look to continue this over the next 12month and beyond. I would really love to broaden my exposure and get as many people as possible to see my work and hopefully have it hanging on their walls.

Q.  How do you hope Pelime can help with this?
A.  I really am looking for people who love creativity as much as I do.
Building connections and relationships with like minded people.