AAD010 Graphic Design – Contextual Research (Peter Strain)

Peter Strain ( https://www.peterstrain.co.uk/ )

Peter Strain is an illustrator/graphic designer who specialises in portraits and typography.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou Film print — Peter Strain

A lot of the concepts around his work mainly revolves film, as he has done many posters for movies he’s a fan of, as well as home media release covers for Arrow Film releases like Dark Water and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. He has also done various satirical pieces that deal with political issues and events that have happened at the time he had created one of his pieces. His use of typography is his most noticeable trait in his work, as words surround the subject of the piece, mainly quotes said by or related to them. His typography is bold and wavy, the subject has words plastered on them, bending around their entire face or the clothes for example, as well as has drawn them as the subject’s hair or facial hair. His portraits are highly rendered, looking near photo realistic though he adds a more abstract element to his pieces whether it be his use of solid colours that he uses to add type on, illustrations surrounding the portraits related to subject (references to a movie he made a poster for, quotes by the subject, etc) or the subject being rendered in an abstract way (rendered with exaggerated linework, having strange visual elements added to the subject, etc) while still maintaining the look of said subject. His work usually has a limited colour pallet, with 3 colours at most. His backgrounds are either solid colours or have a subtle texture behind them.

Terminator 2 A2 Giclee — Peter Strain

He has also made animations, from gifs showing the process of his work to commissioned work for several projects, such as animated sequences for the documentaries One Million American Dreams and Unquiet Dreams, as well as a music video for the Arborist’s Dark Stream.

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