Wednesday, 1 April 2009

500 Words on Ben Bowsher.

Graphic design student from Newcastle; Ben Bowsher is an illustration enthusiast currently undertaking his first degree year at the Leeds College of Art & Design.

Ben has a keen interest in comic books; their production and graphics assemblies. These form a more personal interest, somewhat playful and relaxing, rather than the intensity of his works. Unfortunately, Ben now finds it hard to keep up with the latest comics as he dedicates almost all of his time to his higher education course of graphic design. Ben spends the rest of his time devoted to his little girl, Tilly.

He has an up to date collection of 'Juxtapoz', a designer's subscription magazine, which gives him a lot of inspirational ideas to better his understanding and progress as a young designer.

His main focus of illustration forms his determination to succeed in sharing his skills and passion with those he meets. Not fond of vector based imagery, Ben pushes himself to convey how hand drawn imagery can be of a great aesthetic quality, telling his story of how it was produced; a more personal touch rather than too clean and crisp.

Alisha Wessler, an abstract illustrator and Eduardo Recife, a more conventional illustrator are Bens favourite source of inspiration. Their works give a message or meaning, which leads to this quote from his graphic design blog; "I believe that graphic design is at it's most interesting point, when it carries a purpose weightier than, say, a brief to do billboards on a television show; When design can create something that is visually poignant, that generates socially significant discussion amongst an audience."

Some of Ben's most enjoyed works include that of his pop-up book, hand crafted and illustrated. The attention to detail in the book shows his creative thinking as well as his professional ability to produce something that is physical from research and ideas. Ben has just finished his current module; 'What is a line?', where by he has approached the topic by producing a family tree. At first thought you may think that a family tree is something quite conventional and democratic, but Ben's design intuitive has lead him to bring a twist to his content. Ben has converged traits between parented animals to define that of the offspring, an interesting concept that reflects his ability to process abstractly.

Ben intends to continue pursuing his love for illustration into the next few years of his BA(Hons.) Graphic Design course, absorbing as much as he can from what the content and staff have to offer to assist him.

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