

©1998-
Questions & Answers -


Compilation of edited transcripts from recent interviews (2002-
Q & A’s about Griff
What are your favourite projects to work on?
Griff: Well, I think anyone who sees any of my work can see very quickly that I have an unrelenting passion for all things mechanical, aeronautical, mechanical symbolism, and electronics.
For instance, to me a beautifully designed printed circuit board is a work of art.
I have some amazing examples framed on my office walls. There is beauty in the logic,
the form and the function. I know most of the chip sets by heart, and know their
function/pin-
To create my work, I usually scan a prototype board or schematic, and then using
either Illustrator, or DrawPlus, I redraw my own versions track by track -
All this can take a long time, but I'm told the results are worth it, and many manufacturers
have used my artwork on boxes and marketing materials, and no-
What advice would you give to those looking to start out in illustration and design
work?
Griff: It's vitally important to build-
Without a truly representative portfolio, you will get nowhere. One picture really
is worth a thousand words, and can mean a pay-
Stick to the stated deadlines. You are only as good as your last job, as the saying goes. There is always going to be someone better, faster, more talented that yourself so don’t get lazy or complacent. Don't get blinded by a big fee. Big fees only come with a big tasks, and big fees divided by the hundreds of working hours sometimes don't work out to much!
Know your skills, hone them, know your weaknesses, and tackle your fears. Work out
ways to exceed what you think you cannot achieve, and you will surprise yourself
-
What about those who already have started in that line of work -
Griff: Take the time to completely understand what the client is asking for. Read the brief many times (like an exam paper) and try to feel and empathise with what the client is really asking for. Sometimes they don’t exactly know, but they'll know when you've got it right, and will certainly not be scared to tell you when you've got it wrong.
Sometimes they may show a previous example of a successful piece, and ask you to emulate that. This is fine if the new piece is for an existing product line, and they need consistency. Sometimes I have done exactly what I've been asked, and they have been disappointed. But, I nearly always say: 'Okay, this is what you asked for, (I may get a deflated or okay that's okay look), but then say: 'but this is what I really think you wanted'! If they smile that smile, Yes! I win, and get to play the game again, next time.
How do you get most of your work?
Griff: Call me lucky, but so far I don’t think I have ever contacted a company looking for work. Clients seem to find me through my website, or by word of mouth, email, or my existing or new work out in the public domain.
Once you have a piece of work, what is your first step? (pencil sketches, low poly
mock ups, straight into the modelling, etc)
Griff: I am extremely visually orientated, both literally and metaphorically, and
I can pretty much build and then 'see' the finished artwork in my minds-
I have always been able to do this, even before I had even heard of 2D/3D. I do have a math background, and can ‘see’ equations, numbers and lists as though on paper in my head. I used to conceive computer architectures, code, designs and systems this way. I guess it may sound unusual, but that’s how I work. I do all the ‘experimentation’, and concepts in my head, and then when I'm happy I then use computers to make them ‘reality’.
What is your workflow once you are in the main body of the work?
Griff: I honestly think my workflow is different for every client I have. Some like
to micro-
As an example, on asking one of my clients how much involvement he wanted, he said
this: "Griff, it's like a horse race. I'm not interested in all the little details
of the race like who fell off, who stayed on. All I want to know is that we're the
winner. Give me a winner, that's all I want -
80% of my work cannot be used for anything except for the client who commissioned
it, so I get very little reuse from the work I do. One beauty of applications such
as trueSpace though is that that I do not have to start from scratch each time -
On a hardware level, I use two workstations, one is personalised for modelling, and the other personalised for assembling, and each has two screens. I use Logitech laser mice and keyboards and also Wacom A4/A3 tablets linked to both systems with a switch. For storage I use a large RAID/NAS with a common linkage to all the systems, Macs, printers etc.
How much artistic license do you get with most of these designs? Or is the look,
style, angle of view, etc, pretty much controlled by the client?
Griff: This largely depends on the client, and how well we know and trust each other.
I have built up some great working relationships with clients over the years, so
I have some who send me the info and just trust me to get on with it. If there's
time, I always send in at least three versions. If they've left some information
out, it's usually because the design is not finished yet, and in that case I either
extrapolate the design, or wait until they have the information necessary and integrate
it later, or even choose views that work with the missing parts of the piece -
The best projects though are the ones when I am given complete artistic license – and this does happen quite a bit. For example, I was recently asked to create three plausible engine illustrations that had to look convincing even to design engineers, and yet had to be quite fictitious with no part possibly connected with a known example or manufacturer. This was great fun! For me this is the kind of ‘dream commission’ that comes up every once in a while. The real icing on the cake was the fact that the commissioning agency was happy first time, and the actual client signed it off without any modifications at all. Now that for me was pure elation, and another reason why I love my job!
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With a background as a computer hardware and software engineer, Griff previously worked for a number of large computer companies around the world, and as part of that has used both 2D and 3D computer graphics in his work "all my career”. During school and college, Griff also studied music, art, and illustrating, and feels that "this background put me in a good position as a technical illustrator." Also, he studied fine art and art history, specializing in ancient Egyptian and Renaissance art. He now works "creating art and images for companies, collectors, galleries, and museums using traditional and modern techniques."
Many of his pieces are based on subject matter from museums or on products that don't exist yet, so Griff is careful to understand the entire subject before embarking on the artwork. His research ranges from "spending days in libraries to travelling to see the objects" so that he can gain a thorough understanding of "how one part interacts with another," an aspect that he finds "is crucial to illustrating. I really enjoy working out new ways of doing things, coming up with new ideas, techniques, effects and new ways of looking at things."
Griff’s other interests include: mathematics, logic, psychology, chess (has played at national level), playing the piano, space science & astronomy, Gerry Anderson TV series (especially UFO), Renaissance art (especially Leonardo da Vinci), engines (esp. Aero and rocket), jokes, music, animals, and fine restaurants...
Griff is happily married, and also shares his life with a huge and beautiful white cat, two very cheeky house rabbits, some very colourful and relaxing tropical fish, a pond full of unusually beautiful Koi (nishikigoi), and a wise and gentle Palomino horse. Griff lives on a very small and beautiful island somewhere east of the Atlantic...
Q1: What are your favourite projects to work on?
Q2: What advice would you give to those looking to start out in illustration and design work?
Q4: How do you get most of your work?
Q6: What is your workflow once you are in the main body of the work?
Q7: How much artistic license do you get with most of these designs?