Damien Weighill

Screen grab of his website.






A brilliant play on the new online 'craze,' Chat Roulette.



This one is by far my current favourite. An hilariously funny take/dig on the current political state of affairs. What with the general election due an all...


Damien Weighill is another illustrator who I take great inspiration from. I think the way in which he incorporates humour and illustration together to put across even very serious current public controversy and events is fantastic. What initially draws me in, is his use of line and how he uses it to add depth to his work. I'm instantly drawn to black line illustration at the best of times, but there is the added bonus of humour in his work too which really makes me smile. He also has a great website with loads more of his work up on which I advise to check out if you like this style of work...

http://damienweighill.com/

It contains all events and updates of his work along with the work itself, a link to his shop, blog and contact details.

Because I have been so inspired by the work of Damien, I have contacted him to see if he might be able to help with my design context and I would like to possibly feature him within my design context product. This is the communication we have shared so far as part of my research...

Re: Illustration Inquiry‏
From: Damien Weighill (damien@damienweighill.com)
Sent: 20 April 2010 16:03:12
To: Liv Greaves (liv_952@hotmail.com)
I think that's the difference between being a graphic designer and
being an illustrator. When someone comes to me with a project it has
already been decided that my drawings fit the brief. My work is never
going to be appropriate for every situation but I'm unlikely to be
approached for those jobs where it's not suitable.

Lately the majority of my work is editorial for magazines and my
illustration seems to fit comfortably with that kind of job. Being
pretty simple there isn't much problem meeting their tight deadlines
and they tend to like to have some kind of interesting twist on the
articles by an illustrator which is great for me.

Damien

--

http://www.damienweighill.com
(+44) 07920 844 545

On 20 Apr 2010, at 14:56, Liv Greaves wrote:

Hi Damien,

Thanks so much, that was really helpful. Thank you for taking the time to get back to me and check out my blog. Similarly I work predominantly in illustrator and I find the ease of it to be very helpful too. Do you find it difficult to put your work in context or do you find the resolution just works with the idea you have behind the work you are producing? I seem to find that I instantly want to resolve a brief by illustrating but then feel worried that the resolution might not fit appropriately to a context because I get carried away doodling! Do you feel your work has particular areas of context it works stronger in and that you try to work to those, or do you find it easy to contextualize your work everywhere? Where/where would you say your work works best?

Olivia.

From: damien@damienweighill.com
To: liv_952@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Illustration Inquiry
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:37:42 +0100

Hey Olivia,

Thanks for the email.
The question of defining my illustration style is actually a really tough one for me. The part of my work where my interest lies is in the ideas. The style of the work is only secondary and I guess is ruled by what comes most naturally to me and what allows me to get my ideas across in the most efficient way. That's probably where vector illustration fits for me. I find I can colour illustrations with the least hassle in adobe illustrator. The same goes for the ease with which you can make adjustments to size etc. I'm also drawn to vectors just because it gives a pureness of colour in my linework that suits me.
I'm never sure how qualified I am to make judgements on people's work but the What Is Good Promo Pack stands out for me because of the humour and smart thinking behind it. I like the amount of detail you use in that stuff too (the same with 'I won't have my cake..'). The only advice I have is to continue with how you're going, produce as much work as you can and I think you will find that your style will define itself naturally.

I hope some of that is useful to you or at least makes sense.

Damien

--

http://www.damienweighill.com
(+44) 07920 844 545

On 19 Apr 2010, at 17:19, Liv Greaves wrote:

Hi Damien,

I have recently been checking out your website and illustration. Wow. I'm really into the work that you produce and wondered if I might be able to ask you a few questions about it? How would you define your style of illustration? What do you understand vector illustration to be? I'm currently looking into vector based graphic illustration and trying to find out where it can be contextualized for this style of work. I'm trying to define my own style of illustration and looking at the work of those I find really inspirational. Would you mind taking a quick look at my work? This is a link to my blog home page and on there you can find the links to other pages: http://o-greaves0710.blogspot.com/ Any feedback on my style of work would be great and I can't stress how helpful.

Many thanks,
I look forward to hearing back from you at your earliest
convenience.

Olivia Greaves.