Tuesday 27 January 2009

Commuter Birds / Tube Tree


It's been so long since I posted last... I don't know where the days have gone...? You know how sometimes you get fixated on an idea then as you work on the picture you realise it isn't living up to what you originally had in your minds eye... well this post is it. I've always loved the graphical simplicity of the London tube map and the way Harry Beck's original design approach has developed into an iconic image. The whole tree/tube notion has been floating around in my head for weeks now and I decided to do something with it. This doesn't do the idea justice but to honest I think it's a dead end path for the present and I need to get onto more productive projects. Plus I sometimes find working in adobe illustrator a bit sterile. This post felt a bit like doing a maths problem. Ho hum, you live and learn with every picture don't you.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe you could dig deeper with those commuter birds one day, they look suitably blank. I travel early in the morning to a part-time job to pay the bills at the moment, it's a strange world of very tired, fed-up people in suits.

Sounds like you're right to switch projects though, part of it is spotting when things aren't clicking. I agree, I don't like Illustrator, so hard to get any style out of it. It's an oddly-named program isn't it?

Anonymous said...

I like the commuter birds concept, Id like to see them maybe working away in some kind of tree-based office block.

Im with you and Simon regarding Adobe Illustrator, its a bit dry for me.

victoriaying said...

fantastic! such wonderful style!

Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli said...

Clever idea.
I love the graphic simplicity.

Chris Kennett said...

Cool concept. I like the vacant birds too.

xopxe said...

Failing to represent what is in your head? For me, it's weird when that DOESN'T happen... Sigh, i think i just should learn to draw.
Luckily, i never have ideas soooo cool like this one, it would be too depressive! :)
On that tree, i think it's just weirdly balanced. It needs a bigger crown/narrower root. With a bigger crown it would get more centered and the branches more radial, and the whole resemble more a real map. And add a ring line, too.

Kev Levell said...

I haven't commented for a while which is remiss of me - I've been blown away by the fusion of styles and ideas that you're drawing on and making distinctly 'MATT' - and this underground map piece is no exception. One of the birds should be reading a broadsheet!

I keep seeing a man's head in this - do you remember the Numbskulls? Could this be a system of veins or nerves in a head? I like the idea of making your connection/catching the thought train?

Keep up the exceptional work!

Anonymous said...

i love this image and the whole concept. :-)

Lifer said...

this one is awesome too!

Anonymous said...

That's fabulous - what a random but brilliant idea!

ArtSparker said...

I think possibly the birds could be messier in contrast to the map,inkier, something, or perhaps one of them is in contrast to the others. Cool idea, I know what you mean about the way some of these conceptual things go, whereas ideas in which one feels not so invested seem sometimes to fall into place quite easily.