Cycling in London

Here's my outcome for AOI's Cycling in London competition brief, it's about cycling being safer, quicker and greener. Still needs some tweaking though.

Resistance Finished.

Here's my final outcome for D&AD's Resistance brief. I chose to illustrate resisting and fighting against OCD by scratching through the dark, controlled world of niggling OCD to the ability to remove the rituals and enjoy life.

Obsessive Compulsive Development

At the moment I am doing the D&AD brief on Resistance and where I am so far is:
Producing a poster about the fight in overcoming or controlling OCD.
2-3% of people in the UK have it which is huge!
Some sufferers will have to check through their rubbish before taking it out, in fear that they have thrown something valuable away, or in one case I have read, thrown a dead baby out. Seriously.
I experienced this examination of my flat's(don't tell them they'll think I'm crazy) garbage to produce this (in progress).

The Left Hand of God

During the past week and a half I've been working on the competition brief for the book The Left Hand of God, and here are my outcomes (one for each excerpt):

The first excerpt describes Cale (14/15) watching some Lord Redeemers bring new children into the 'Sanctuary' which is a very cold restrictive and highly controlled prison-type place. It is said to smell bad and be surrounded by smog. So I depicted Cale looking out the window with the children reflected, walking through the gate and into the haunting place.


The second excerpt is the battle between Cale and Conn. Conn was believed to win with no doubt, however Cale dodged and weaved his sword so fast and before long defeats Conn with a dagger. I decided to illustrate the moment when Cale is dodging Conn's sword to create these blurred Cales which nicely form what appears to be a glow or wings (Cale being the the Angel of Death).


The Third excerpt is about Arbell, who is desired by every man. Before this moment she had no pity for Cale, however after seeing the scars all over his back from where the Lord Redeemers had beaten him since he was a child, realisation struck.

Design for Perfume book cover

The story of perfume is about Grenouille, born in 18th Century France and abandoned in a pile of rotting fish. As he grew up he discovered that he had a gift, an incredible sense of smell, he had the ability to differentiate between different kinds of wood, milk etc, he could smell for great distances, through walls and glass and could tell every ingredient in every perfume.

For this cover I chose the scene when Grenouille smells the first scent he falls in love with which he cannot help but chase, find out what it is, take in every detail up close and possess it. The image is from his point of view so rather than using realistic colours, I altered colours and increased saturation just to show how intense the dirty streets of Paris affected him. I used a lot of layering of buildings to illustrate how complex his world would seem to us, being able to see with the sense of smell, through objects in front and all around us.

The red spiral and red ribbon-like textures on the front cover lead us into the middle of the image where you may not or may just make out a white female figure. As Grenouille has never smelt such a beautiful virgin before this moment, he has no idea what it could be, which is why you too may be confused and wondering what it could be that is leading you into this central object.

Wondering about Wonderland

I love the story of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, it's so weird and curious, which is why I decided to enter the Puffin Book Cover competition. I chose the scene where Alice has just seen a White Rabbit running past with a waistcoat on and a pocket watch, and so curiously follows him. I like to use a lot of depth in my work with vanishing points and angles, which is why i decided on this viewpoint. All the patterns and colour on the inside of the rabbit hole look so much much more appealing than the grey sky behind Alice, however also complicated and perhaps confusing like Wonderland is to her. There are characters merged into the background like the Mad Hatter, March Hare and Caterpillar but I have manipulated them to look not so clear, as if they're hiding, waiting to jump out at Alice after curiosity leads her down the rabbit hole. There is a dark side to the story which I have brought across in the way that the tunnel gets darker the further down you go, the two heads at the top are lit from below(or above as the case may be) to give that torch-under-the-chin/Halloween effect and red eyes on white rabbits always seem quite creepy to me. The two heads at the top belong to the Queen of hearts and the Duchess who both take charge at some point.

Dora Turns the Lights On!

Hola! Dora the Explorer is turning on Loughborough's Christmas lights this year, exciting! This is another illustration for Label magazine.

The Sound of the Underground...

This is an animation I made as part of a location project in London. It is expressing how the underground can seem from the viewpoint of an outsider. You can visit London, see the sites, character, activity and then down in the tube, things become quite silent and eerie....

Window Wonderland

Christmas design for a cafe window

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© Clare Dolan 2009

Label Magazine

Here's an image I made for the university magazine Label about graduates being refused jobs.