Jason Stavrou's news blog

Prince William - News of the World (UK)

2011-02-24T22:41:00.001-08:00

I was commissioned by the trashy UK news paper 'The News of the World', who are apparently trying to big up their image with a new glossy suppliment. The writer is 'John Lydon' who writes 3 short stories a month based on topics of interest going on in England... Anyway the story picked to illustrate this month was the build up to the royal wedding (William + Kate) and the strain it will have on the UK economy. His writing is twisted, fun and quirky, squeezing out the visuals in me in the best possible way. I went too sophisticated in my earlier idea of bunnies running around in tight pants and pink tails. Lydon did mention cross dressing at a party so I managed to get the go ahead for placing William in a wedding dress... The cross dressing bunnies can wait another day.

Below: Layout + Rough + Alternative idea

Toro Boro - Shots Mag

2011-02-24T22:29:00.000-08:00

This was an article that focused on the recession that Spain is currently in, and most of Europe, and just how it is effecting the market place, including the creative industry. I went for a bit of a cliche with this one, but hey.. some times the obvious is the right way, with a strong execution. The page was already designed, and the text sat on the top left hand-side. So that dictated the composition to a certain degree. The Idea: The article was on how smaller ad agencies are surviving and adjusting better to the current climate, where as the large ones are struggling. The idea is a huge pissed bull face-to-face with the small one.

The Big Chill - Shots mag

2011-02-24T22:13:00.001-08:00

So Here I am in Vancouver, Canada with an illustration market as dry as a baboons arse, when suddenly my agent calls me with the news of another editorial job. The article was about the melt down in Canada's creative markets (funny that), with various theories behind this, one being that the training isn't what it was, and also budgets are getting smaller. The article picked up on the successfulness of the Doves ad campaign for cosmetics, with the heavy usage of Photo shop, amongst the hair and make up stylists. So the idea was to have a cold setting with the girl from the ad, whom slightly resembles a good looking Jack Frost. The white dove(s) represent the Dove brand, and also as a symbol of hope.

A Brave New World Ahead - Shots magazine

2010-03-06T21:32:00.001-08:00

A recent commission from 'Shot' magazine on the future of advertising. The text hadn't yet been finalised, so all I was given was this:
The future of advertising
Brief: a conceptual image looking to the future... space analogy? New frontiers?
Key words: didgital, virtual, experiential, virals, viral marketing, social networking, facebook, 3D content, user generated content, online, crowd sourcing, branded/sponsored content, twitter

This was a real brain twister for me to find ways of communicating the subject matter, just due to the mass of information, with specialists on the net only really able to predict the future of the net to a point. Managed to find a great talk given by 'Tim Berners - Lee' (ted.com) creator of HTML, amongst other things, who talked about social networking being the future, to cut and long deep discussion short ... So the image was eventually inspired by the use of 'link data' generating 'raw data' that is created through social networking.
THE IDEA: I reluctantly used laptops that the editor wanted, but they were originally going to be transparent boxes giving the image more of a conceptual look and approach. The mad twisted jelly bean like characters represent the information being transmitted through social networking. The image is simple with the idea taking longer to come up with than the final illustration, and it sits well on the spread.. still waiting for the BIG A is OK from head office. I'll keep you posted...
(click on images to view larger)

US Advertising series, writer Jeff Loeb - Web 2.0, Advertising Nil - Shots

2010-03-02T00:30:00.000-08:00

This was my first commissions for the 'Jeff Loeb' series that was a regular feature in Shots magazine. This was a piece on TV advertising still dominating the scene, with a branded Google dino eating old skool retro TV sets showing the brand (Candies) done in a similiar style to Coca Cola. The dino's tail is connected to an ADSL line.
(click on images to view larger)

The spread on US advertising run for a long period of time, and kept me with a monthly flow of work for a good year and a half. The art director (Sarah Watson) and the team at Shots where great to work with, and I am forever grateful for the creative FREEDOM, in this growing industry of creative prostitution.

Seismic Shift - Shots

2010-03-02T00:11:00.000-08:00

This was a piece I really enjoyed working on, and had no digital retouching what so ever. The idea was inspired by spin off search engines using names like 'Yah Soft, Yaol, Goo Hoo, Micro Ho.' The words reminded me of how the Telly Tubbies attempted to communicated on that surreal children's show. The rest is history.
Gun hoo ya soft.

Pitt Bull Mix

2010-03-01T23:47:00.000-08:00

A hardened Pitt Bull representing the dominant search engine Google, sitting next to a pink poodle with its mixed biscuits of smaller search engines. I managed to sell the idea to the art director, and was pleased with the results. Hooray!

Hold the Home Page - Shots

2010-03-01T23:30:00.000-08:00

Google, represented by a manic Jack in a Box, speaking the almighty words of "google, wiggle, giggle, wiggle" dominating the internet. The final touches was applying Mac mouses for the hands.

Apple Seeds New Age - Shots mag

2010-03-01T23:08:00.000-08:00

This piece represents the second generation iPhone that had technical problems connecting to the net, and glitches to its software. The bug is represented by a crazy joker like Cheshire Cat coming out of the phone, like a gene in the lamp, with the iPhone continuing to transmit data attracting more robot bugs to it.

Please click on Older Posts link below should you wish to see more...

Attention Deficit Disorder - Shots

2010-03-01T22:49:00.000-08:00

The constant flooding of daily emails entering your mail box can be very distracting. I was inspired by the mention of erratic squirrels in the text, and felt they would be perfect as a representation of the annoying emails flooding the mailbox. You have email, you have email, you have email...