A portfolio by

Christopher King

Artist, designer, illustrator

Wingnut Designs is small design and illustration service based deep in the Somerset countryside with a passion and dedication to quality illustration and design for print based media.

Résumé for Christopher King

Disciplines: Artist, designer, illustrator
Media: adobe, colour pencil, computer, computer graphics, digital, graphics, ink, magic marker, mixed media, pastel, pastels, pen, pencil, photograph, posters, product & packaging
Styles: cartoon, computerized, contemporary, digital art, fantasy, fantasy etc..., fashion, figurative, figure, flowers, horror, kitsch and funky, pop art, portraits, posters, science fiction, technical, whimsical
Location: England, UK.

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Creative: Christopher King

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Creative:	Christopher King
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Creative:	Christopher King
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Creative:	Christopher King
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Creative:	Christopher King
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Creative:	Christopher King
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Creative:	Christopher King
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Résumé for Christopher King

Ever since I was old enough to understand what illustration is, I’ve held a huge admiration and respect for the creative people who are the masters of this age-old craft. The level of skill, patience and mental determination required to be a great artist is unmatched in any other profession and overlooked by many.
My earliest memories of illustration that actually emotionally affected me are of the American comic books of the 1970’s and 80’s from companies such as Marvel and DC. I would spend all of my money on them as a child and take on little odd jobs around the house to fund my growing habit. After I was finished with the story I would religiously scan every single panel on the page to try and work out how these amazing artists created all of those cool effects. I believe that there is a soul to comic books that is hard to find in other mediums. When you consider that most artists that work on them aren’t paid particularly well (unless you’re Jack Kirby or John Romita) to spend night and day over a drawing board, forfeiting most of their lives for their art and basically doing it for the love of it. There must be more to it than just simple cartoons?
Punk and rock album covers of that era are also extremely graphically powerful, from their typography to the actual cover art packed with symbolism and atmosphere. Being a self diagnosed Vinyl Junkie I have collected what I call my ‘reference library’ of old records mostly purchased for their cover art. I have always found them a massive source of inspiration and you can usually find them for 50p at Oxfam! If you search the photograph above you will find what I consider to be examples of great album cover art. The music also is a strong influence on my work. I love the ‘shaking the cage’ attitude of bands like Guns ‘N’ Roses, Alice In Chains, and Faith No More. This sense of energy is always something I try to carry across onto the page.
When I reached my late teens I feel in love with a different kind of art form altogether; Surfing. You can usually find two very different types of surfer, the fast surfer and the slow. There is nothing wrong with either, just very different in that fast surfers are all about pulling off tricks on their short boards and searching for the next extreme, where slow surfers like myself are into cruising and gliding over the waters surface. We live by the example set by surfers like Robert August and Mike Hynson as shown in classic surfing movies like ‘The Endless Summer’. We like to just take it easy, ride our long boards and watch the world go by. The name ‘Wingnut’ in Wingnut Designs is a nod to the surfer Robert Weaver who shares the same nickname. “Not quite shaking the cage?”, you might be asking. Well all I can say is that the peaceful feeling and euphoria you experience from surfing is enough to chill the most stressed of people. The Californian surfer / artist Rick Rietveld perfectly portrays this spirit with his amazing paintings which you can find in many surf themed books and t-shirts.
I’ve always linked the music of the 60’s, Woodstock era to this kind of surfing. Artists like Crosby, Stills and Nash and Jimi Hendrix really seem to capture the mood of being out there in the water, breaking free from the stresses of the real world. If I’m ever working on something surfing themed, you will always find me listening to this kind of music. This methodology carries across to other genres as well. If I’m working on something that needs to be slick and stylish I will listen to smooth jazz music, for example. It’s a great way to get your mind in the right place.
I hope this has gone some way to show how I work and describes the basic principles behind it. There is a passion injected into all my work that I hope shows through would like to think is appreciated by the people viewing it.
I hope you enjoy it,
Chris King.

©Copyright notice.
All artwork is the sole property of each respective creative. Any reproduction or other use of images contained in this gallery without written permission of the respective creatives is expressly prohibited.