Oliver Butcher Illustration blog

A commission!

2011-08-31T06:48:00.000-07:00

These are a few key frames from a storyboard commission I have just completed for a music video produced by Lynch and Leigh studios. The idea is based around the classic story of a black widow killing her prey. The video follows a man wondering a barren desert to find a peculiar woman who has set a trap for him. There are more frames here

The Green-eyed Monster

2011-08-02T12:15:00.000-07:00

These are some pages from a sketchbook between February and June this year.

The Underwater Room

2011-07-17T08:57:00.000-07:00

This is a page from my colour sketchbook for 'The Underwater Room'

Short Fiction final 'The Under Water Room'

2010-09-21T13:27:00.000-07:00

well it looks like i was wrong about not getting some artwork into the book. this is the final that will accompany 'The Underwater Room' in Short Fiction 4.

more short fiction roughs

2010-09-21T13:24:00.000-07:00

my short fiction roughs

2010-08-23T12:03:00.000-07:00

i drew some roughs for 'The Underwater Room'; a short story that will be featuring in the fourth volume of Plymouth Press' 'Short Fiction' compilation, though i don't think my drawing will be.

large swimmers

2010-07-01T09:21:00.000-07:00

my 'swimmers' painting was blown up to three metres wide and used for the mural of our degree show exhibition which was great of all the tutors so many thanks for that!

CONTROL

2010-06-30T07:12:00.000-07:00

These paintings are focused on sports and social activities. they are figurative explorations and they reflect on the communication between players of a sport. The main influences for the study were primitive painters such as Matisse, Picasso and Cezanne. Their intended contexts range from small intimate artifacts to large public artworks or murals.

Polski Sklep finals

2010-05-04T18:21:00.000-07:00

the finals for the Polski Sklep project. three panels from a narrative about somebody stealing from the Polish shop. monoprints using three different colour plates on newsprint.

'Polska! Year' festival

2010-04-26T09:32:00.000-07:00

two poster commissions i did for Peninsular Arts Plymouth. One for a Polish Chopin poster exhibition and one for a Polish film season in association with the 'KINOTEKA' film festival. Both events were part of 'Polska! Year'. Both in gouache

Polski sklep [LIDL palette]

2010-04-26T09:18:00.000-07:00

some closer observations and made up situations from the Polski Sklep. a gouache painting and some pen drawings

observaions of the Polish shop

2010-04-26T09:08:00.000-07:00

these are some drawings that i have done of a local Polish shop in Plymouth in felt tip pen. for my last project focusing on the Polish community in Plymouth.

A O I Images 33

2009-08-11T17:14:00.000-07:00

'1977, or so.' by Meredith Miller

2009-08-08T05:17:00.000-07:00

this is a drawing i did for a University of Plymouth Press publication called 'Short Fiction'. the book is a collection of short stories by 16 writers from around the world. the story i illustrated is '1977, or so.' by Meredith Miller.

2009-05-03T08:35:00.000-07:00

2009-05-03T07:55:00.000-07:00

2009-05-03T07:15:00.000-07:00

24hr

2009-04-09T06:55:00.000-07:00

These drawings are about isolation. the focus was working on a night shift in a supermarket. the brief was to draw an advertisement for Sainsbury's to promote employees to work on the night shift, but these were more personal responses. i thought they were too bleak for a promotion but the idea of using two complementary colours, blue and orange, was used in the poster.

this man is orange, he blends into the orange street, but he can be seen when the blue light complements his body and turns him grey.

drizzles

2009-01-06T12:11:00.000-08:00

this is an idea i had about a man who is wasting away onto the streets. he needs to stop his body from drizzling away by consuming other people. the original idea was influenced by Dracula and a few other classic b-movies.

i just used tipp-ex.

hungry

2009-01-06T11:17:00.000-08:00

this frame from the story of the drizzling man was picked by AOI to be in this years Best of British Illustration book; 'Images 33'. A few other people from Plymouth are going to be in it as well which is pretty decent.this frame is about another man finding unsettling trails leading to a dustbin. the drizzling man is behind it.

more horror

2009-01-06T10:52:00.000-08:00

more frames from the story. oil pastel

bleak deleter

2009-01-04T18:56:00.000-08:00

down in Plymouth i did some drawings of a subway with some pillars holding up another concrete roof. a place next to a bar called voodoo lounge. these are monoprints i did using the drawings as a source.

concreteblocpastel

2009-01-04T18:46:00.000-08:00

drawings of the subway next to voodoo. etched into oil pastel.

between lines

2009-01-04T18:38:00.000-08:00

linocut print

monoprint

illustrations of extracts from;
'The Raven' by Edgar Allen Poe
'The Jersey Devil' - a famous myth
and
'In the Belly of a Shark' by Gallows

black pepper

2009-01-04T18:32:00.000-08:00

i bleached some black paper to turn it grey, its quite rough and grainy. it looks pretty gritty, like a thick layer of fog or coal. its a pretty classic style of drawing, i used soft pastel, at the time i was looking at Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's early drawings.