The Explorer

Here is a new work I created yesterday in almost one sitting, start to finish. I was heading over to the city to sit in a coffee shop to do some creating, and while on route to the ferry terminal I came up with “a giant triangle over the desert”. That’s all I had, not even a sketch this time.

I got to the coffee shop and started layering textures and images in, just playing. Tried a whole bunch of stuff. At one point the triangle was a giant crystal with red and orange stripes. Over the next few hours I beat this piece into shape, loads of trial, error and fun along the way. I was listening to Scott Walker on my headphones the whole time, which might have brought some influence with it.

Over the last month or so I’ve been messing with my own process in all kinds of ways. Really turning the knobs to challenge myself. I dove into this one head first and The Explorer emerged.


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29 responses to “The Explorer”

  1. salva Avatar

    amazing as always!

  2. Mat MacQuarrie Avatar

    SIck! Did you get the planet pic from the NASA gallery?

  3. james Avatar

    Mat, I built that planet pixel by pixel in 3D Max! That’s a lie. It’s a shot of Mars I found on a stock site, but you’re right, it’s probably a NASA shot originally.

  4. John Avatar
    John

    Woah! This is really awesome space work design James. Really love the overall theme of it.

  5. Jason Avatar

    The opening of an inter-dimensional portal perhaps? I envisage Krang using this for his evil plans!

    Very well done sir!

  6. Jeff Avatar
    Jeff

    I think the little detail of the triangle breaking is a perfect touch. It gives it a ton of weight in the work. As always amazing.

  7. Janne Avatar

    This reminds me of my childhood when I spent hours going through my father’s LP collection. The cover artworks were amazing just like this one. Great work James!

  8. Marcos R. Favretto Avatar

    Hi James!
    Amazing work dude!
    I just wondering, how you work outside the office? You use a macbook and a wacom table, trackpad or a mouse?
    It’s intersting to know how other people work, the tools that they use, the “backstage” you know.

    Thanks!

  9. ryandupre Avatar

    friggin cool.

  10. DarkoDesign Avatar

    Awesome stuff. Everytime I look at it my eyes get attracted to something different, now that’s attention to detail

  11. Duran Avatar
    Duran

    I love the crumbling effect between the pyramid and the floating triangle/planet/thing… It adds a sense of connection between them in the implied space, instead of it possibly being an imaginary product logo over the planet, or some other symbology disconnected from it.

  12. Jayson Avatar

    Awesome stuff. You know building that in Max would actually not be that much of an ordeal…

  13. Cameron Avatar
    Cameron

    That looks pretty damn sweet James! I could just see this on the front of a Pink Flyod LP. Looks amazing, well done!

  14. Jake Avatar
    Jake

    Amazing work as always. I love the depth of this piece – so many details to get hung up on. I could stare at this for hours!

  15. Dave Avatar

    Stuff like this is the reason you’re my favorite graphic designer. I really, really dig this… your ideas totally resonate with my own creative taste, and your execution has influenced my design process drastically in the past six months.

  16. Reeve Avatar
    Reeve

    Maybe it’s because I saw this while reading your post on my iPad, but any chance you could share a higher resolution version. Would love to use this as my iPad background.

    Awesome work!

  17. Nicolas G Avatar

    nice one James. this will make an excellent flyer for my next rave.

  18. james Avatar

    Thanks so much for the comments, everyone. Really appreciate the kind words on this one. To answer a few questions:

    Marcos, I have a MacBook Pro 17″. It’s my home and mobile workstation. I pack it up with my Wacom and it’s super easy to transport. Well, not “super easy” as it’s can get a bit heavy.

    Duran, I was really close to adding some kind of symbol to the smaller pyramid. Based on your comment I’m glad I left it out. Thanks man.

    Reeve, I’ve gotten away from releasing wallpaper versions of my artwork only because that’s what club event organizers rip-off to print on flyers. Unfortunate, but true.

    Nic, you son of a …

  19. Ryan Avatar

    Really like that. Color me impressed.

  20. Luke Desroches Avatar

    Wowza, looking at the preview you posted on G+ I thought it was going to be based around the reflection of a helmet visor. Whether it was intentional or not, I still see a visor out of the hills, triangles and pyramid. Very cool!

  21. Sebastian Avatar

    Amazing work james.

    I made something similar a couple days ago: http://www.flickr.com/photos/andaurstudios/6066491284/in/photostream

  22. julio bustillos Avatar
    julio bustillos

    James White will ultimately rule the world….just amazing work….for sure in the top 5 designers in the planet….yeah

  23. Chris Avatar

    Great work, James, but I’m way happier about finding another Scott Walker fan. Brilliant.

  24. Nick Evans Avatar

    Solid work dude! Love it! Keep on throwing curves.

  25. Simon Avatar

    Nice work fella!!! Puts me in the mood for a sci-fi movie marathon!!!

  26. Simon H. Avatar

    Neat. I need to do one of these 180° challenge of my process soon.

  27. Chris Avatar

    I really love it. It reminds me of your old school works, very cosmic and textured. Love it

  28. Andrew Avatar
    Andrew

    Ah James, you’re a bloody genius you know that? Hats off to you, this has to be one of my favourites. Changing your process seems to really be working for you, its different but the same if that makes any sense.

    Anyway, great job.

  29. Jp Avatar

    You should sell this as printings. I’d buy one no questions asked.

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