Hi there! The name's Jason Stanley. I'm an Icelandic born American graphic designer living in the UK. It's okay, that's a lot to take in all at once. Take your time and have a look around!
// December 24th, 2011 // No Comments » // Graphic Design, Photoshop, Site News
It’s that time of year and what an awesome year it’s been! Settling down to some time with family and friends and a nice break to recharge those creative batteries!
Just wanted to wish everyone a very happy holiday and I look forward to 2012. Bigger, brighter and beautiful!
Jason.
// October 31st, 2011 // No Comments » // Illustration, Photoshop, Posters
Every now and then ideas pop into my head and I just have to put the idea down onto paper. Zombie Astronaut was something I came up with about a month or so ago and it just so happened that it was perfectly timed for Halloween! Zombie films, zombie television show, zombie games and well basically anything to do with those crazy undead creatures instantly captures my attention. Even some of my earlier sketches and a couple of my illustrative pieces on this site feature a few zombie creations.
The idea behind the poster was to replicate something similar to the photos that the real astronauts have taken of themselves. It was going to feature a zombie posing for the camera much like this photo below:
NASA Astronaut, Michael T. Good. This is NOT who I based the illustration off of!
I liked the thought of replicating this but as I progressed, the idea of zombies not needing oxygen popped into my head and how terrifying that threat would be in space.
In the past, I would create my illustrations mostly by sketching first, scanning the image and drawing using Adobe Flash. For this particular illustration I wanted to work entirely within Photoshop as I’ve been trying to get used to the different brushes and more particularly the detail you can get from using a stylus. I went to town with the gore on this one and with the help of a few blood brushes created some decent splats and sprays. I built up the image using layers of shading and then added dirt/grunge and blood on at the end. This enabled me to go back and make any adjustments on any layer I wanted. A really handy tip if you ever make a mistake and have to go back to redo anything.
With the title of the piece I was inspired by the look of The Warriors font with it’s rough spray paint style and The 1985 Twilight Zone title. I wanted to create the title rather than use a font so I decided it was best to try and sketch my version out by hand and once again scan it in. I still haven’t mastered writing using a stylus so this was an easier option for the time being. I refuse to give up the sketching!
Detailed image:
So here’s my poster in all it’s GORY! I hope you enjoy it and have had a fun and safe Halloween! Might get one of these printed and see what she looks like full size!
// August 9th, 2011 // No Comments » // Discussion, Graphic Design, Photoshop, Posters
The scenes in London as most who have watched the news over the past few days have been pretty worrying stuff. I find it difficult to understand what could spark such anger and violence in such a short time. Social media has no doubt impacted this event in both aiding groups to organise looting and also to inform others of developments. So much is happening so fast and as the looting/rioting progresses it’s becoming more difficult to control.
At this time the situation doesn’t seem to be getting any better and it just begs the question: For what cause?
My thoughts are going to those caught up in the situation and with my family members currently in London. Stay safe.
// July 7th, 2011 // No Comments » // Graphic Design, Illustration, Illustrator, Inspiration, Photoshop, Posters
I’ve always wanted to do a poster featuring my favourite web-slinger and I can now show you the finished piece! I like to make sure at some stage throughout each project to learn something new and this poster was no exception. I’ve never really gotten into illustrator before so I decided this was a good opportunity to dive in head first.
The entire poster was created in illustrator (all except a few touch-ups with lighting and the text) starting from a sketch I’d scanned in. As Spidey is frequently seen swinging through New York’s amazing cityscape I felt I could take advantage of Illustrator’s new ‘perspective tools’ and create a convincing backdrop. It takes a little getting used to but once you let the perspective do the work for you, you’ll get a better idea of the composition you’d like. Within Photoshop I added a few textures to the buildings, added his webbing and created the glow effect you see around him.
I’ve always sketched out comic book characters as a kid and it’s really where I started in terms of my interest in drawing so to be able to transfer those skills to digital art was a really fun experience!
Copyright © 2012 CreativeJUUS. All rights reserved.
