Printed on super touchy feely premium lux velvet fabric (you're not going to want to stop) with extra plump insides, these are the cushions that you've been waiting for.
You will be able to get hold of them soon, but like my prints, they are limited in numbers, so only a set number will be made!
Can’t wait to get these on the site!
Here's some more information about the cushions.
The cushion shown here is the hidden language (bnw edition).
You can also check out my highlights on my instagram account to see me talking about and showing you the range of cushions.
Currently cushions will only be shipped within the UK.
The lux cushions will be priced at £39 each.
]]>I haven't created these with any one age group in mind, so some will work better than others, but download them and have a look. Just enjoy them and have a little fun. We all need some of that.
some page examples shown above.
DOWNLOAD HERE
kids activity time (volume one) 8 MB
kids activity time (volume two) 9.2 MB
Each volume is 12 pages, and I've designed them so they're all just black and white to save on your printer ink. All you need are some pencils, pens and one of the pages needs scissors to cut out some squares.
SPECIAL 'GROWN UPS' VERSION (with a few naughty words).
Taking inspiration from my very popular 'hidden language' prints I've created this special adult version of activity time! Please note there is swearing so please keep away from the kids!
DOWNLOAD HERE (contains swearing)
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Print links:
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Based on my personal issues with mental health, I wanted to create a design that encapsulated some of the key elements but also actually worked as a piece of typographic art that people would want on their walls.
This was a tricky task, as I didn’t want to design something that came across as too motivational or a singular ‘positive’ word that should portray how you’re meant to be feeling once better, but more of a journey that highlighted the feeling. Obviously it would be impossible to cover everything, and also even more of a task to create, so I focused on a few key points.
The words.
Those words are the outcome, those words are what drives you to overcome where you were to move forward to where you are.
live, love, life or love, live, life it doesn't matter in which order you read those three words, in fact it’s better that you don’t, as everyone is different and everyone’s journey and interpretation of what those words mean to them will be personal. But you need to embrace all three to complete your journey.
The design.
Hopeless, helpless, lost, no motivation, low-esteem these are just a few of the words that describe ‘living with depression’. Now I didn’t want to create a design that focused on highlighting these words (it wouldn’t make for the best image to have on your wall), but I wanted to try and visualise how it felt through the design.
This is why such a huge percentage of the image looks a little confusing at first, you’re not sure what you’re looking at, it’s just a mass of black (the darkness) words, all jumbled up. You don’t know which way to turn, or who to turn to?
It’s not until you reach the bottom, that you start to see what is actually really important, which in turn then becomes clear to you. This is the only time that the words are clear to read and you also realise that they are in fact repeating.
Although there is no start or end to the words, I wanted them to be housed within a large sharp white border, it didn’t matter where it cut the letters off, in fact the randomness of what I was left with made for a more interesting composition.
So why the folded paper?
This was the last piece of the design puzzle that came into place.
For me, opening up was the biggest thing in my life, if I didn’t open up I don’t know if I would be here today.
I was that folded up piece of paper, so afraid of what would happen to me if I opened up and talked to someone. Things that seem so simple, are actually the hardest, so showing this process as an open piece of paper felt like the right finish.
Overview.
So that’s a little insight into the design, I hope it still feels like a piece of typographic artwork that can be universally enjoyed and appreciated as that was very much its intention. I wanted to show and portray certain feelings that maybe others can relate too, but still be a typography print to have up on your wall!
Yes, there is a journey behind the idea, but it’s also a design that embraces progression. I mentioned at the start that I didn’t want to design something based around a singular positive word and I haven’t, but that doesn’t mean that this piece of work isn’t all about working towards positivity. It really is it’s key and defining message.
The print is called: Life (repeat) and is available in 3 sizes (A4, A3 and A2) click here.
I'll be donating 5% from each sale of this print to the charity mind.
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If I only had a brain.
So lets start at the beginning with the typographic print ‘I’m not in Kansas anymore’.
A tiny bit of background will help explain the key directions and ideas for this one.
I was creating and selling my black and white fine art photography prints which I love doing, but wanted to flex my graphic design and typography muscles. So I was stepping out from the black and white and entering the world of colour, ‘get the connection’.
From black and white into colour.
I’m also a huge fan of The Wizard of Oz, so that idea combined with the copy line being ‘a personal twist on the famous line from the film’, felt like the perfect fit.
There is also a third layer to this design.
What are the other colours, and why are they circles?
The ruby slippers.
The colours represent the key characters in the film, the two red circles are the two ruby slippers, then you have the scarecrow and … well, you can work out the rest. But why circles, and why like that? Well, this represents what would be the most elaborate traffic light system there is! Ha. But it’s not so much the traffic lights, but what they represent. Stop, wait, go there is an order to the motions that allow you to go to the next step, stop at red, move on and go with green. This was telling me that I’m allowing myself to move forward with my ideas, my designs and what I do next. It was opening the door to my creative Oz.
The final design.
So that’s my insight into that piece. Right where to next Dorothy.
The trilogy in the making.
I couldn’t write a post about my typographic work without mentioning the gorgeous ‘kiss kiss kiss’, and the prints that followed.
I had an idea for a trilogy of prints, but never thought at the time that I would see it through. I didn’t even know if people would buy it.
I wanted to create a journey of one person becoming two, basically a relationship piece, but not totally obvious with it’s words and layout.
The first print is called ‘gorgeous’, because that’s what you’re thinking about each other, then there is the act of the kiss. Why 3 kisses? I did try the single word ‘kiss’, in landscape first actually, but there are a few reasons why that just didn’t work. The first being that the underlying theme for me was ‘connection’, this would link everything together, and secondly the font I wanted to use. It took me about 40 days and 40 fonts (ha, no sorry made that bit up!), it took me about 2 days and 40 fonts to find and work with what I wanted to say and how I wanted it to work. The ’s’ needed to sweep around itself but also be detached, the ‘k’ needed to be able to connect but not dominate and the ‘i’ to interlink.
The ‘k’, works beautifully because it doesn’t have the top half which you’d normally have on a lower case letter, and it meant I could have that strong key line going down the design, when I finally connected those 3 kisses together. I knew I wanted more than 1 kiss and actually the final number has a lot to do with design and layout. 2 kisses didn’t fill the page, 4 looked to much, but 3 felt right visually but also worked narratively.
So that was gorgeous.
The very popular gorgeous print, also now known as the 'kiss, kiss, kiss' print.
Love was always on my mind while actually doing the gorgeous print, it's such a simple and strong word, it was the natural progression of falling in love ‘after those kisses’. Stylistically it was the same amount of letters and it meant I could continue with the idea I had in my mind.
I knew I could link the ‘k’ from kiss and ‘l’ from love together - it was a straight line, but would everything else work?
It took quite a while but my idea of actually being able to ‘overlay’, the words worked.
Just over-laying them though wasn’t enough, people needed to see the connection between the first print and the second, this is why the words ‘kiss, kiss, kiss’, subtly sit underneath the love. Those words would be 100% black and the whole background a few percent lighter, so it wasn’t in your face, but enough to see it in the right light.
Which brings us all - together.
The final love print design.
This was really tricky to design and get right.
I actually first tried a few other words, even though I wanted to use ‘together’, as I didn’t know if it was right. I then spent a long time seeing if I could overlay the words ’together forever’ and link those two, but the balance and clarity was all off. I even thought about just repeating the words ‘forever’ like the first two prints, even though I didn’t want to do the same again. My head was spinning a little.
Initial ideas working with the type.
Repeating the forever words like this felt like you were fading away, which was the opposite of what I wanted to say!
At that point I actually walked away from it for a week, and worked on some other ideas, and Instagram story posts (yeah, they take time!)
Then when I was working on something totally different, I thought, yep that could work and got back on it.
The idea I was working on when I started to overlay the text. This text idea never went any further.
It didn’t flow straight away and getting all the letter spacing correct took a while, but it started to feel like it was working. I wanted the circle on the ‘g’ and on the ‘r’ to represent the two people, so tried a few different variations. Making them different colours, overlaying additional circles, but it was making it all far to confusing. The idea was strong enough in itself, I didn’t need additional layers.
While creating this print I imagined the words continually moving into each other, what the final design shows is a stop in time as they start to interlink and overlay. I used to produce quite a lot of motion graphics for videos and tv, so my mind was already seeing how that would work. This is why there’s a symbol underneath, I thought that was so strong it actually made everything end perfectly. To me it represents a parent kneeling down in front of a child, which in turn represent new life as the story will continue beyond the parents meeting, thinking each other is gorgeous having that kiss, falling in love and staying together.
Really pleased with the final design of the together print.
Megamix time.
I don’t think I should write that much about all my other prints, you’ll be here for days. So I’ll try and speed things up a little.
Naughty Ghost
The story of a kid ghost who’s just learning how to go Boo, normally ghosts just say Boo ‘with two O’s’, but this ghost was brimming with confidence and thought he could do more than everyone else. So he went for a long Boooooo. Not only that, but the more he did it the better he got, this is represented by the thickness / weight of the font as it gets to the end, thin at the start as the ghost starts it’s Booo and bold at the end!
Fonts are broken down into weights (how thick and thin they are - normally listed as thin, light, regular, bold, heavy, words like that). This font has seven weights, so I was actually trying to create an idea where I could use all the weights in one design and for it to make sense.
This is why naughty ghost was born!
Big Hug
Using the same bold curved ‘Boston’ font, I wanted to create something very simple and direct. The colours were key with this design, it needed to feel warm and cosy. The copy line for an Instagram story post actually came before the print, as I wanted to give someone a ‘big hug’, and that was that. I tried a few different design layouts even trying to be funny and have a tiny hug in the middle and call it big hug, but if you didn’t connect the print with the title it didn’t really work. I also went for an even bigger hug word which bled off the sides of the page, that actually looked ok (I used that in a story post), but felt it was to concept heavy and not what I set out to create. It’s purely the word hug on page, I wanted it to be direct and simple for people to read and take in.
Initial ideas for big hug, this colour scheme did then become the 'wonky' print as I really liked it.
The final 'warm' big hug print.
Fun concept.
Although I see a lot of my work as fun and playful, they don’t really have fun quotes. The Rock____________Scissors print, maybe?
Open secret is my only current print that falls into that category.
I was seeing all these wonderful images of peoples gallery walls, and imagined the perplexed burglar as he was pulling each one down trying to find the safe. You know, like in the movies.
This is a great example of what I was thinking. The image here is from the wonderful Lisa Dawson who's gallery walls are legendary on Instagram. If you don't follow her then use should @_lisa_dawson_ . I'm so please to say that she has two of my pieces on her walls. Here she has the black and white photography print bullitt time which looks great. Click here to go to that image on the site.
So this concept was born out of that image in my mind.
It was very much about the copy line, the font needed to be clean and straight, I just filled it with concrete to ‘reinforce’ ha, the message.
Concrete text will 'drill holes', along with that lipstick number. X.
The finishing touch came from adding the safe code on the front, like the owner had written it in lipstick to make it easy for them. Sealed with a kiss.
And then I thought - this is digital printing, I can make each print have it’s own unique code making it even more special, and we can’t all have the same safe codes can we!
The final design.
To serif or not to serif, that is the question. ha.
This post isn’t about understanding the reasonings between a ‘serif’ font and a ‘sans serif’ font, maybe I’ll do that another time. But I do want to talk about the fonts that I love which then highlights the style and direction I take.
Here the serif font is Times and the sans serif font is Helvetica.
All through my college years and teachings I fall into the ‘sans serif’ camp, fonts like Helvetica, Futura, Gill Sans, Frutiger are a few I could mention.
I’ve used Helvetica and Futura a few times, but I’ve mainly opted for using a font called Boston quite a bit, which is a little different. It’s slightly softer with the curved edges and works for a lot of what I want to create. You’ll not find any script fonts within my work though, as it’s not who I am as a designer, it’s not my style. The gorgeous, love and together prints needed a certain style and look to be able to visually create what I wanted, but still sits within a classic approach.
I might go a little further afield with prints like wow, but that’ll probably be it. If you like script fonts then sorry.
Playing with type.
I remember as a kid loving a ‘smile’ poster in the dentist, it had the word smile written inside an open mouth ‘funny that - being in a dentist’ ha.
It was very crude, kind of hand written letters that made the word smile, but it made that connection between the letters and the word it was saying, to visually create what that word actually does. ‘Smile’. I was really fascinated by that, I was reading the word ‘smile’, and seeing a ‘smile’. Sounds so simple, but I hadn’t seen it before.
I went home and started to draw various words to see if I could make them into what it was saying. ‘Brick’, made out of bricks, a rainbow with a rainbow inside it, all basic stuff, but it was making me think more about what I was writing and drawing.
A kid tracing over some brick wording I printed out.
You should do this with your kids next time they’ve got the paper and pens out, try to think up a word and see if you can turn it into it!?
The next stage would then start to think about an action and a word and see if you can combine them, for example the word ‘yum’, with a bite taken out of it. This could be their first steps into becoming a graphic designer!
So yes, smile.
That had always stayed with me for some reason. I’d done a design similar for a client logo about 10 years ago, things were a little more refined then to when I was 7 years old!
So when it came to creating a new version as an art print I could work on it even more.
I loved the lower case ‘Boston’ font anyway and had already used this on numerous prints, so that was my starting point to see if it could work. I saw straight away that the curvature on the ’s’ and ‘e’ would symmetrically play off each other once I cut into the letters, just giving you that little curve at the corners of the mouth, perfect. And that was it really, it took a little while to get the curve right, but the concept, idea and direction were all in place straight away. Sometimes designs can take ages, but this didn’t take long at all, saying that I did know exactly what I wanted to achieve. That helps!
From a drawing as a kid, through to the latest smile design that became an art print called 'a simple smile'.
Don’t let dyslexia hold you back.
This isn’t about my prints, but after writing that section about seeing the word smile and creating ideas with your kids it made me think I should talk a tiny bit about my dyslexia. This, like for so many people is something I’ve had to work with my whole life, I really struggled at school and used to just stare at my paper just thinking about how a word I’m trying to write actually started. I was really bad with my ‘b’s and ‘d’s, I used to always get them the wrong way round. I still remember quite vividly sitting in a room by myself with a large sheet of tabloid newspaper the teacher had given me. I had a yellow pen for ‘b’ and a red pen for ‘d’ and I had to read through the pages colouring in the inside of those letters with the right colour. With a hopeful outcome that this would drum it into me. It didn’t and I still continually got it wrong for many years.
I remember it well, colouring in all the 'b's and 'd's.
I also used to hate reading out in class, my stomach would just turn inside out when my name was called, we used to start on one side of the class and work our way around, with me wishing that the bell would go before it came round to me.
But in the end it didn’t stop me with what I wanted to do, hell I’m writing this blog and I’ve spoken in front of many, many people.
I still have trouble with words, yes autocorrect helps (sometimes), but if you physically can’t construct the first few letters to even type it into google and hope it fills out the rest, you’re buggered.
Ideas, Ideas, Ideas.
Everything starts with an idea, and if you’re anything like me you’ll need to get it down before you forget it, and ideas can pop up at any time! Well they do with me. So I always have something with me were I can write it down, or type it in.
The start of sketching ideas down.
At my desk there is a note book and pen, this is full of scribbles, words and outlines for ideas - I go through so many of these. It’s traditional and old school, but I like it. When I’m not at my desk it’s all digital with my phone on the go (notes is by far my most used app, outside of Instagram!) and my iPad and pencil on the sofa.
The end.
So that was a little insight into some of my typographic art prints, and actually a little more about me. I hope you enjoyed what I had to say. All these prints are available on the site, and go and get those pens and paper out and get creating with the kids.
Also, on a side note, if you want to get to know ‘me’ a little more, then please go and check out my other post that talks about my background, influences and phobias! (Click here)
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It’s lovely when a ‘tagged’ image pops up, you then have a look where your print has been hung in their home.
This is a simple quick post to just say, thank you to all the people that have tagged my prints, I love them all and please continue.
Here's a small section of a few images.
Please follow me on Instagram for daily story content and other ‘in the wild’, images.
]]>When I was thinking about how to construct this new post ‘getting to know me a little more’, I thought the best way would be to actually have myself interviewed, and hopefully this would give a more in-depth insight that I probably wouldn’t of been able to write myself. Genius, lets see if that worked.
So here we have it! I think it gives a good insight without to much waffle - I hope.
Enjoy, oh and there’s a quick fire bit I’ve added in.
So tell me your name and where you’re from?
Em, sounds like I’m on gameshow, ha.
My name is Phil Christer and I currently live in a small village with my wife just outside of Northampton, basically the centre of the UK, famous for its shoe makers.
Kinky Boots.
Thanks, but they’re trainers, no I know what you mean. Yes the story of Kinky Boots is set in Northampton. Our football team is also called ‘The Cobblers’.
Ok, lets start at the beginning, what got you into design?
Ok, starting with a small question to answer.
Um, I guess I’ve always been interested in creating and loved drawing as a kid as most kids do, but it quickly became what I wanted to do all the time, that and football. I used to spend hours drawing Disney characters from sticker books, and was also allowed by my parents to paint a space scene on my bedroom wall. That was fun, I think it looked great.
How old were you then?
I think about 9. I wish I had a photo of it, actually my dad might have a slide in the attic - I’ll have to ask.
So you loved drawing as a kid, when did you think about it as a career?
Very early on actually, but not drawing characters or cartoons instead drawing houses and floor-plans.
Floor-plans?
Yeah, we spent our summer holidays at my nan’s in a place called Minis Bay in Birchington, very close to Margate, and along the sea front there were a row of amazing looking houses with front facing balconies, I was obsessed with balconies for some reason. But I used to go back to my nan's and spend hours drawing the floor-plans to how I saw those houses inside, and then started to draw my own. I remember them being incredibly detailed it was all about the detail, still is!
Sounds like you wanted to be an architect?
Yeah, I loved drawing house plans and I guess, though I didn’t think it at the time interiors as well.
So what happened?
I actually went for work experience at an architects, actually it might of been a civil engineers when I was 14 I think, I don’t have the best memory, and I began to feel this might not be the creative direction I wanted. That coupled with 7 years of study made me rethink things.
So being an architect was off the table, what creative direction did you go in?
I really enjoyed art which was just general drawing really and also technical drawing at school, which led me into graphic design.
So did you study that in the end?
Yes, I studied graphic design at Northampton College for 4 years and loved every minute of it. I could just focus on being creative and designing all the time, it was the perfect environment for me.
Did you have any design idols?
Yeah loads, people like Peter Saville and his work with New Order, Neville Brody, Vaughan Oliver and his work with 4AD Records and Saul Bass as I was also into films. I made quite a lot of short films and experimental work while there and just loved any Saul Bass film title sequence. But I think my biggest influence at college was David Carson, his use of typography was just out there, so creative to me then. There was a magazine called ‘Raygun’, check it out I still have lots of issues somewhere, it was such a great magazine.
Also companies like Designers Republic and Attik.
So it sounds like you enjoyed your college years?
Yep, loved designing but also loved questioning my designs and ideas. I think I was generally a good kid at college but I used to question the lecturers quite a bit and their opinions. I remember there was one project that they couldn’t really grade because of how I spoke about it and the opinions I gave. I think they just gave me a merit ‘which was in the middle’, in the end because they needed to give a mark, but it got them questioning themselves which is what I wanted.
Ok, lets fast forward to designing as a career and the type of work you’ve done in the past. Tell us about some of the projects you’ve worked on at the company you were at?
I worked with lots of different types of companies as you do within a design agency but mainly the music industry, a few artists but mostly compilation albums creating album artwork and TV adverts and I worked with quite a lot of different magazines.
What type of music?
Mainly dance music, do you know the Clubland albums?
Yeah, I’ve heard of them.
Well I created that brand and all the album artwork which I think started in 2002, it’s still going strong today after all these years. The style of the logo with all the dots actually became a typeface ‘unofficially’ called Clubland, I remember seeing it and thinking that was really great that it had that type of impact. But yeah, mostly dance music. I remember going into HMV and seeing the top 5 albums in the charts all of which I created, that was a nice feeling. As for artists, there was NDubz, remember them?
Yes Tulisa and wasn’t the other one called Dappy? But let’s move onto magazines, which ones did you work with?
No Dappy talk then. That’s ok. Loads of different magazines but the ones I did the most work with would be Max Power back in the early 2000 and then heat magazine up until a few years ago. I loved working with the heat team on so many different projects, you could really go to town with the creative ideas. They did this amazing thing for me one time. I love Karl Pilkington I think his style and delivery is just genius, then one afternoon I received this video file and it was from Karl, it started with ‘Hello Phil, I don’t know who you are but……’ The guys at heat had asked him to do this video to me. Loved it - amazing! Great people.
So do you have any interesting celeb stories with anyone you've worked with?
Ha, need to go back quite a few years but I’ve got a couple of juicy ‘Jordan’, as she was known then ‘Katie Price’ stories.
Do tell.
Sorry, my lips are sealed especially as this is going to be a blog post in the end.
So tell me, how did ‘what phil sees’ come about?
I guess I need to rewind a few years now.
I needed to change and needed to press the reset button on my life. I’d been living with mental health issues, predominately depression, for many years and it came to a point where I finally had to let it all out and speak about how I was feeling.
That must of been a big moment for you?
Yeah the biggest, it sounds so incredibly easy to say ‘just talk to someone’, but it just wasn’t, hence being in that situation for the amount of time I was.
And now?
Well like I said I kinda pressed the reset button and re-evaluated everything, mainly myself and what I was doing. I sorted my health and fitness out, cut out loads of rubbish food, lost 6 stone and took to running.
I’ve read that exercise is really good for peoples own mental health.
Totally agree with that. With everything I’ve been through over the past year I do think I have a great ‘hands on’ insight into this area, I’d actually like to look at developing this more and I’m sure I could help, especially with people wanting to lose large amounts of weight the right way and not just some crash diet where they’ll put it back on. I do believe you need to change the way you think before you look at changing your weight. I’m kinda going off on a tangent here, but it could be interesting to explore.
Ok, so what phil sees?
Yes, so along with changing me I wanted to address my creative side. I stepped away from the agency I was at and had 100 and 1 different creative ideas to explore. I’d had this idea for a children’s cartoon series and book for ages and thought about that, but I also wanted to be able to be free to experiment.
I’d always loved photography but hadn’t done anything with it. I worked on a couple of my images and someone said you should look to sell those, so I did. It was all very small, and I did a few art fairs which were really nice and a totally different change of pace to what I was used too.
But you’re doing a lot more than just photography with what phil sees?
Yeah, that’s how it started, but I quickly wanted to do more and create different styles, especially typography which I love. So I started creating new work, some of which was minimal and typographic and some where I work with the photography creating new pieces.
Tell me about a couple of your prints?
Ok, well I love not only coming up with ideas and designing, but also coming up with the names for the designs. There’s a print called Pink Casino that's been very popular which is based on a shot I took while in Las Vegas. I thought it was kind of an obscure composition and casino sign, like you really were in the middle of nowhere and you just stumbled across this mystic place that only a few people knew about. Oh yeah, I love to think up stories behind some of my work as well. A bit of a tangent here but it’s made me think about life drawing at college. We did quite a bit of life drawing at college which was ok, but it bored me a little so I used to quickly sketch the model and then create elaborate scenes around them, I put them in a circus one time, to me it just made it more interesting.
The reason it’s pink is that I wanted it to be a complete contrast to what the natural colour would of been, which was just rocks and desert.
I’ve just created a follow up called Pink Motel, that in itself I quite like ‘a follow up to an art print’, I guess that comes from my love of film, again that’s a shot I took and created an art print design with it.
And all your prints are limited edition, why did you decide to do that?
I like the idea of something being a little exclusive, there is so much choice online when it comes to buying art and photography prints that I wanted to create something that not many people would have on their walls, for me it makes it that little bit more special. I’ve been a collector of limited edition prints myself, so I wanted my work to have that same meaning.
Is it ok to carry on with a few more questions?
Yeah I think so, I need to type all this up I don’t think we’ve been going that long. (Insert: As you can see I’m actually typing up everything!!! If you’ve made it this far I hope its been ok, there were only a few more questions after this, don’t worry).
So how do you find working on your own?
Overall I really like it, well I do at the moment! It was strange at first not having a team around you, but the whole type of work, working hours and pace makes up for it. I wanted, I should say needed, a change and it’s working well so far.
I’ve seen you use Instagram a lot, do you enjoy social media?
Instagram is my main social platform, I used to use twitter but I stopped using that a few years ago and haven’t gone back since starting what I’m doing now. I also use Facebook, but not to the extent of Instagram.
It’s only been a few months since I really launched what phil sees with what I’m creating now and I’m finding the whole home interior, home decor audience incredibly welcoming and responsive. It’s an area I’m constantly learning from and enjoying. I love seeing my work up in other peoples homes, each order goes out with a hand written letter and I also ask that if anyone posts anything online then please tag me in. It’s wonderful.
Actually, I tell you what. I really love the directness you have with the people that buy your work, yes I’ve worked with big clients in the past but that was company to company, there’s something so great and personal when it’s really just you designing and creating and a person liking it enough to spend their own money on it. I really like that, it’s very touching.
Do you have any phobias?
Ha, where did that come from has someone asked you to ask that, I think you know the answer?
I might of been told?
Ok, yes I’m afraid of butter and margarine. Funny ha, ha, not to me.
Even if I’m in the same room as some exposed butter it makes me very uneasy.
I do like cooking shows, and seeing it on there is just about ok because I know ‘it’s TV’, but if someone is melting butter, or worse tipping it in to something then I have to look away.
I’ve been like this since a kid.
Do you know why?
Yeah I think I know, but I’ll leave that as an unanswered question for now - oh, the mystery!
Ok, final question then, what are your plans for Phil and what phil sees, and how did you come up with the name by the way?
The name is a quick one, I didn’t want to be called something like stardust prints or anything wanky like that, as it wasn’t me, I thought it should include my name, but not my full name. So Phil Christer, turned into (Phil C) i.e. sees and it’s what I see and do, what phil sees.
Plans for me?
For me it would be to continue on my work/life balance, continue exercising and eating ‘mostly’ good stuff. I tell you, it really hits you when you have something with quite a bit of sugar in it if you don’t really have it generally. I was tripping off that ice cream. Ha.
With what phil sees I want to continue to create new prints, also coming up with different and interesting ways to release them, I’ve just released two new prints that will only be available during the month of July for example, again I kinda like those ideas. I also have this idea about a new print that will be up to the buyer if they leave it how it is, or totally change it? Mmmm...
I’d like to get some of my work into stores so people can see it directly, a comment I get a lot is ‘it looks so great in real life’! So getting it into stores would be great, maybe create some exclusive work for some of them. Oh, lots of things, I’d love to expand on what I’m doing on social media, maybe try and talk about my work more, make more connections, so much stuff.
I’m going to leave this last bit totally up to you, just do some kind of quick fire round, you know what I mean?
Yep, lets go.
Some quick fire stuff about me! (In no order)
- I was the under 12’s county champion at the 'plunge'. (Basically you dive in the pool and it's the person that goes the furthest without moving their arms or legs).
- My all time favourite food is spaghetti bolognese (but the way I make it, not out in a restaurant).
- My drink of choice would be iced water. (Yeah, you could say it's boring but I love it). An iced cold beer from time to time also goes down very well though.
- I’ve always liked the colour orange.
- I think the first single I brought was Duran Duran Rio.
- I met my wife online, we’ve been together 13 years and married for 7 of them.
- We don’t have any pets but my wife would love a dog. I did have dogs growing up, maybe one day.
- I much prefer a sight seeing adventure holiday than sitting on a beach.
- The film I think I’ve seen the most is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, but probably haven’t seen in 15 years.
- I used to (though I haven’t tried it since at college), stick a paint brush all the way down my nose, yeah I don’t know why!?) Just thinking will that get me on Britain's Got Talent?
- I’ve been to a few states in the US, but would really like to spend some time in middle America.
- Or a log cabin in Canada (just somewhere in the middle of nowhere).
- I’d like to write a children’s book one day. (I have the idea all ready to go).
- And also write and direct a movie.
- Myself and my wife both love theme parks and rollercoasters.
- I don’t ‘do’ hot drinks, which means I don’t drink tea or coffee.
- I also don’t drink iced tea or iced coffee (just don’t like tea or coffee).
- The first commercial design job I did was creating rave flyers in 1990 for various warehouse parties. I wasn’t paid as I was part of the team organising them.
- I ran my first half marathon this year (on a flippin’ hot day)!
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I’ve always been interested in interiors and the way things look in your home, this just comes from being a designer, you look at the creative all around you. So I’m really pleased to be creating more styles that people can have on their walls at home. The perfect accompliment to your gallery wall.
All the new work will continue to be limited edition prints, as I want to make it that little bit more special, and will come in a variety of sizes from A4, perfect for filling those gallery wall spaces, all the way up to A1 for that statement piece.
Oh, and along with the new work, I’ve also given the site a bit of a polish too.
Here’s a link to the prints for you - enjoy.
I've filled in the blanks with a few examples - showing various sizes next to each other.
Here's an example of an A1 Gorgeous print which I've put up in our dining room which looks great, love it. I've used a Neilsen Pearl Matt Black Acrylic Glazed frame which I purchased from here.
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I’ve been working on some colour images for a while now, images that would flex my designer muscles along with my photography ones.
So I looked at creating a selection of art photography and illustration art prints that would take what phil sees into new uncharted sky’s and another land, which fell perfectly into the title of the first illustration art print I created called ‘I’m Not In Kansas Anymore’. I thought the title was a great way for you to express your own changes and adventures and for me to start my colourful journey.
Along with creating some illustration prints I wanted to push my photography and create some truly unique art prints that would become expressive in a different way to my current black and white prints. I really love not only the colours, the lighting and the texture colour brings but also the content and layers that I worked with to create these limited edition prints.
Look at the size of that thing... and the prints are bigger too!
These colour prints are printed on the same wonderful gallery quality matte art paper that my black and white prints use, with sizes from A4 to A1!
I’m really pleased with this first set of limited edition colour prints and know they would really add something special to your wall or gallery collection.
All my fine art photography and illustration gicleé prints are printed on museum grade art paper using archival quality Ultra Chrome K3 inks.
]]>The streets of San Francisco truely are like no other.
For a photographer you just walk around with a huge smile on your face, taking it all in. That’s what I was like when I explored San Francisco.
One of the most famous car chases of all time was filmed on the streets of San Francisco and featured the coolest film star on the planet, ‘Steve McQueen’, and his 1968 Ford Mustang, that film is called Bullitt.
The reason for me mentioning that film in the context of this article is in regards to the drivers point of view that you have in the film. You really do get a wonderful sense of how steep the streets are as the cars tip over those hills descending into another perilous corner.
Many people make the comparisons of it being like a rollercoaster and that’s very true, which brings me onto a set of three images I want to share with you.
Strap yourself in.
With this first photo I wanted you to feel like you wouldn't know what would happen if you went over the edge of the street, there is hardly any information to take in or process just a single street lamp that hints at more to come.
The view in the background is just barely visible as to not detract from the darker contrast of the buildings as they draw you into the centre of the street, with the parked cars at the side just tipping themselves into the unknown.
For me the numerous layers of road maintenance only adds to the patchwork of shapes and textures that reinforces the perspective I wanted to bring to light and makes for a far richer final shot.
A few more steps.
As you get closer to the edge, the buildings start to rise from what was originally seen as 'the unknown'. You can now start to embrace that magnificent view and continuation of the street.
Making sure everything was in focus was key to photographing this sequence, I needed to make sure that the street edge in front of me and the waterline off in the distance all played the same part. It was about showing the true depth of my surroundings and what was directly in front of me.
This shot was the perfect tease between height and distance.
All is revealed.
Look how much has changed through only walking a few feet.
I'm now at the edge, the rollercoaster effect is in full swing as you feel like you’re about to be tipped over, heart in mouth, and gripping the sides for dear life.
This sequence has gone from the simple tones and textures of the original shot, that was about focusing on the edge of the street, to now exposing everything below. I'm now able to witness the different forms of architecture and absorb those dark tree lines, which to me almost double up as explosions of smoke bellowing out from the sides of the buildings.
My favourite shot from the streets of San Francisco.
Why this is my favourite shot? Well, it’s a beautiful combination of connection, placement and people.
I’ve talked about and shown what it’s like looking down the streets of San Francisco, but actually looking up was even more wonderful for me. I felt this image really captured the structure and markings, playing with the curvature of the tramlines as they wave up the street.
Showing that ‘street edge’, in the sequence was interesting and worked incredibly well to emphasise what I was looking to achieve, but you didn’t actually connect with the street, you ended up embracing what was all around.
Just focus on this image for a second, take in the fabric of the street, the curvature of the tramlines, the road markings, the heavy patchwork of road maintenance, and then return to the sequence above. They all show the same content as this image, but I believe you just don’t connect with the street in the same way, well I didn’t.
Combing this beautiful street setting with these people made the shot take on a whole new meaning for me. Their positioning and placement is wonderful as they almost hover in the base of the dip, which only enhances the pseudo 3D effect of the street. Like a lot of the shots I take, I don’t know what these people are doing or where they are going, but I thank them for adding something special to this wonderful street shot.
I decided on calling this photo ‘Bullitt Time’, I thought it was the perfect marriage between the iconic streets, the film and the characteristics and motion of the people featured. You can also throw in the matrix as well for reference if you wish.
This image is one of my limited edition photography prints and is called: Bullitt Time.
For more photography from this and other trips why not check out and follow my Instagram feed.
Oh, one last image.
If your car isn’t flying through the air of those steep streets then you could embark on the twists and turns of Lombard Street.
If you decide not to embrace the angles that everyone else around you is trying to obtain and show the curves and bends, your image could take on a whole new context. Stripped of anything reminiscent of the 99% of photos you normally see this street starts to feel a little overgrown, something that’s been left for years, you could even say a little apocalyptic.
]]>So I did some google testing thinking what comes up if you type in ‘what phil sees’, not much I thought just some obscure stuff.
No, No, No, pages and pages and pages of that dam Groundhog from Punxsutawney! But I thought, no I like the name I’ll go with it and one day I’ll beat that Groundhog and people will see me on page one of google not that Punxsutawney Phil! Well I am on page one Phil, even with your up coming show.
So the reason for this post now is that Mr Punxsutawney Phil is about to make his appearance (Feb 2nd), if he sees his shadow it’ll be another 6 weeks of winter for them.
Live feed here folks: http://visitpa.com/groundhog-day-live-stream/
Now, on Feb 2nd I’m thinking about stepping out in the morning in my Jim Jams and hopefully I’ll not see my shadow so we can all have an early spring!
Note to self: Why am I promoting that dam Groundhog! Love you Bill!