Art From Mark – Fun With Photoshop

This is a digital painting I did based on a very dull photograph of a little flower shop in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. To see how the picture was transformed, check out the original here.

This was my first attempt at a magazine cover, which was an assignment for OutNorthWest Magazine in Manchester. My brief was to provide a bright, uplifting image to inspire people and increase readership. I went for warm summer colours and a radiant, aspirational character, based on a photograph of a real person. Part of my inspiration was the Hed Kandi CD covers, and I think I managed to inject some pop culture into the image, because circulation spiked immediately: it was the most successful issue to date. Inset is the printed cover. I’ll be posting more magazine covers soon, but first:

Regular readers may recognise this image from my blog header. It’s Sparky, my ginger cat taken from a photograph of him singing. He was more than likely yawning, but singing sounds better. The original image can be seen in a forthcoming post about this handsome ginger tom in December.

There was some speculation a few years ago that the Daleks would be redesigned in the style of the 1920s. Noticing that the original Dalek already had a bit of a retro-industrial look to it, I designed the Art Deco Dalek, just for fun. Using an original 1960s movie Dalek as a base, I incorporated elements from chrome radios, toasters and glass valves – thank Buddha for Google Images.

This is my psychedelic CD cover for a compilation I did for friends called Far Out. It shows a Ganesh-type figure holding a Sonic Screwdriver (from Doctor Who,) a Mars Bar and an iPhone. I’ve noticed a have a radial style to a lot of my artwork, and rather than admit to being repetitive, I’m embracing it as my unique signature.

This is Panos, taken from a photograph and processed in the same style as the magazine cover above.

My friend Nikie wanted to raise her profile, so I designed this poster for her, using elements from her well-establshed barber shop in Manchester.

Here is another friend of mine, recreated in Photoshop.

This was made as part of a series of still images for an animation which I included in a Goldfrapp video. You can see the eye blinking here in the Goldfrapp Live! video.

And finally, my friends got married and as a big surprise, I did a huge ‘Gilbert and George’-style canvas which I gave them to blast away any nerves just before the ceremony. The canvas now hangs in pride of place in their hallway, and creates quite a stir for new guests as they come through the door.