Don't Panic poster- 'Machine'

I did a version of this a while ago for a Don't Panic contest...again..., but i have since edited it vastly since then and made it a bit better looking.
The theme was 'Machine', so my poster is based around the question 'What makes the world go around?' This means that, in my head, the whole planet is a machine, manned by little creatures whose underground lives affect the actions above ground.
Cute, but surreal.
I have done 2 versions- a coloured one and a black and white one.

Ellis Kay goes 3D...

This is the main character for Animal Case Studies- her name's Ellis Kay, who is a bit full of herself sometimes and loves to have a good time, but looks into things too seriously. She's usually a 2D, handdrawn character, but i've made her 3D for your entertainment!

New Header

Hi, peeps!
This is just a quick note to say that i've finally added a proper header to my blog, to properly emphasis the 'Vampire Monkey' name!

There's actually a short story behind the name, and the drawings. Eagle eyed people will notice that 'vampire monkey' is in my email address, which actually came first.
The name gave me an idea for a cartoon, about 2 brother and sister monkeys, both of whom are vampires, who reside in a town of freak animals (zombies, superheroes, frankenstein-like hybrids etc) with their pet hairball, Eppie (see pic).
It's at this point i would like to point out that this counts as a form of copyright.

Anyhoo, the main story is that Boris, the brother and main character, wants to make it as an entertainer, preferably a magician, and goes through the series trying to find his talent and dream job.
His sister, Anika/Karina, often tries to help out, often being an assistant in his acts.

Seriously, MY idea!

Tribute to...Eric Carle

Right, this is the last of the 'Tributes' series, and this was the only one where the person in the picture asked to be done in a certain style.
Katie wants to go into designing children's books, so it's not a surprise that she asked me to do her in the style of Eric Carle, the guy best well known for 'The Hungry Caterpillar'.
I'm not sure I did him any justice, but i gave it a try (sorry it took so long, Katie!)

ERIC CARLE (featuring Katie);

Space, Man

Okay, i've been doing an internship for a design company recently, but becuase i'm new and can't do the major stuff yet, i often find myself with a lot of spare time on my hands. So during said time, I like to draw (most of the tributes were done at work too) and this next piece is the same.
The only difference is, I've never actually done a proper computer art piece before. Yes, I 've used illustrator and photoshop many times, but not for a poster.
Until now!

This is what happened...you ever started one thing, but got distracted and done something else? That's what happens with some of my work (Mary Jane's Picnic was the result of doing another contest entry!)
I was making a new background for an old poster, but i liked it so much, i could think of another image i wanted to see with it...and this was it!
I call it 'Stars and Shadows'

Don't Panic poster- 'Luck'

This was the first poster i ever submitted to a Don't Panic contest, and I think it still remains as my favourite, aesthetically speaking anyway.
To show the theme of 'luck', I have gathered 3 icons of luck with their own lucky charms (the rabbit's foot, a 4 leaf clover and lucky pennies);

Don't Panic poster- 'Peace'

Yet another entry for Don't Panic, this time for 'peace'.
I chose to draw a dead/wounded dove dressed in a war uniform, but i put him in a spotlight to emphasise the cruelty of war, and the lack of peace within (the spotlight also reveals the red sky war).
If you look carefully in the black background, there are words to a poem. It's called 'Dulce et Decorum Est' by Wilfred Owen, and is a significant WW1 poem;

Don't Panic poster- 'Tradition'

This was for a Don't Panic 'Design the Poster' contest. They run them all the time, but each time they have a different theme. This one was for 'tradition'.

Mine contradicts the idea, kinda. I took a traditional style photo of my sister, but took it at an angle to make it seem it was taken with a mobile phone, suggesting that technology has taken over tradition.
But the phone has been drawn and painted, as my attempt to put that bit of tradition back into today's art and design taken over by technology (if that makes any sense at all!);

Tribute to...Lev Yilmaz

I love this guy's internet series, 'Tales of Mere Existence'. Seriously, I own all 3 comics and watch his narrated cartoons all the time. But because i like this guy's work so much, I did a strip for ACS as a tribute to him;


ANIMAL CASE STUDIES STRIP- 'My Tribute to Lev Yilmaz'

And here's a solo pic of me in that style;

Tribute to...Zero Punctuation

This is a storyboard animation from a games review site, done by a man called Ben 'Yahtzee' Crowshaw. I'm not a games fan, but ZP is awesome!

ZERO PUNCTUATION (featuring me);

Tribute to...Typography

Paul Rand, Saul Bass, there are some great typographers I learnt of at uni, but concrete poetry was cool too. I took that and came up with this;

TYPOGRAPHY (featuring Paul);

Tribute to...South Park

I love this show, and it's done in such a unique style.
And i would just like to mention that i did EVERYTHING on this- i drew the characters, the background, even the signpost!

SOUTH PARK (featuring Nadine and Erica);

Tribute to...Gilbert and George

I first saw their work at the Tate Modern, and instantly fell in love with it;

GILBERT AND GEORGE (featuring George....and a new character called, erm, Gilbert)

Tribute to...Manga/Anime

I LOVE this style, and i know Liam does too'

ANIME/MANGA (featuring Liam);

Tribute to...Roy Lichtenstein

Another part of the Pop Art scene

ROY LICHTENSTEIN (featuring Hannah);

Tribute to...Graphic Novels/Frank Miller

I've only just gotten into them, but damn, they're cool! And the style they're done in are so influential, so I had to do this as part of my tribute series;

FRANK MILLER/GRAPHIC NOVELS (featuring Dave)

Tribute to...Andy Warhol

I learned about Warhol back in 6th form, and that led me to learn about the Pop art scene.

ANDY WARHOL (featuring Ceri)

Tribute to...Happy Tree Friends

As part of my 'Animal Case Studies' cartoon, I decided to do tributes to my favourite artists and shows, that either inspired my artwork or made me smile!
I did a whole bunch of artwork in style of these artists, but using my ACS characters instead. There are so many, but i narrowed it down. So I'm gonna give each picture its own post.
The first of my tributes, I actually did this in time for Halloween;

HAPPY TREE FRIENDS (featuring Sara);

Tribute to...Weebl and Bob

Yey, my first piece of work to go up here!

As I said before, I have a webcomic, featuring my friends as animal characters.
What you probably wouldn't know is that recently, I've been paying tribute to different artists and shows (just because they are so awesome) by replicating pieces of their artwork and replacing the people with my characters.
When I finish them, i'll post them all here in one go, but for now, I present you with my only animated tribute- to Jonti Picking's internet smash 'Weebl and Bob' (don't expect a lot, it's only 7 seconds long. But any ideas as to how to extend it are very welcome!) .
Introducing Katie the giraffe and Chris the wolf (you gave me the idea, Katie! If you don't like it, you've only yourself to blame!).



And here's also a still picture of Chris;

Howdy!

I suppose I should introduce myself...

Hi, my name is Sian Kenyon, and I love art, design, animation and anything that stimulates the visual senses.
I'm originally from Camberley, Surrey (don't worry if you've never heard of it, many people haven't. Although many people seem to have heard of Frimley, the town next door, so i'm thinking that's the new epicentre of the world...)

...ahem...
So yes, i like to draw, and am trying to start my career in illustration/art/design.
I also have a small webcomic called 'Animal Case Studies', which follows small parts of my life...but everyone's drawn as cartoon animals! Check it out at;
www.animalcasestudies.com,
www.myspace.com/myiqisnegative

This blog is basically for posting my work, starting from uni up to the present day.
I will start posting the pictures when I get home- i'm currently at work and I don't have any of them here!

Mary Jane's Picnic

Not too long ago, I submitted some images that i hand drew to an illustration competition. Unfortunately, i didn't win, or even get shortlisted.
I drew a series of pictures called Mary Jane's Picnic, which portrays a 6 year old girl, Mary-Jane, whose toys keep killing themselves. It's an idea about exposing childhood ideas that your toys are alive, but how do they feel when you move on to another toy? Can they handle not being the favourite? Do they have feelings at all?
(note how each toy is alive in one picture, but dead in the next one).

I drew 7 images, coloured them in with marker pens and paints,all in black, white, grey and red (for contrast) and submitted 4 of them to the contest.

Teddy hangs himself

Kitty ties herself to tracks

Kangaroo shoots herself

Froggy jumps off a tower

Piggy drowns himself

Giraffe decapitates himself

Lion gasses himself

And finally, a group shot!

Back to Scuni!

While i was at uni, one of my favourite things to do was screenprinting. A lost artform in today's modern idiom, and one i got really into for most of my briefs.
One project in particular was designing album artwork (i'll post that another day) and i did some prints for it. Each one contains lyrics from the album, pictures of objects in the lyrics and a surrealist scene;

The Udder Side

Last bit of uni work, I promise! (unless i decide to upload my old screenprints)

My final major project had to relate to our critical papers, which were about the environment.
Since my paper was about alternatives to paper to express the message of saving the planet, i decided to refer to one paragraph about how cows were being used as moving adverts..
...yes, my final project was dedicated to cows! It was mainly a website though, although i did some advertising for it. The idea was to expose both the good sides and the bad sides to the cow's existence, for example- milk + calcium= good, methane from farts= bad (i wish i could remember the rest!)
to view the website, go to www.theudderside.com

Basia Bulat

Back in February, I was shortlisted for a competition called The Ffres Awards. It's a student design contest held in Wales (i studied at the University of Wales, Newport) and my class was given a brief to complete in order to submit it to the Awards.

The brief was to redesign album artwork for a singer/songwriter called Basia Bulat, and produce 2 pieces of merchandise.

Because the lyrics were very deep, I chose to create a surrealist scene, with items made up of objects found in the lyrics, turning metaphors into a scene.
Her music was also described as a breath of fresh air, so i made the front cover bleak and depressing so that you'd open up the inside to reveal a happy, sunny scene!