I had a chance to work with Pendulum once again. I was asked to design artwork for upcoming shows which will take place in Australia at the end of the year. This poster was also used in YouTube and MySpace pages.

I had a chance to deliver ad design for Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. My work included background and copy graphics which were used in augmented reality ad campaign at contests.gamesradar.com/airstrike/.

I’ve delivered illustration for “Tourist”, a novel by Matej Subieta - Winner of 5th European Script Contest “Nisi Masa”. It was also used in intro animation which I hopefully will be able to post here soon ;).

Credits:
Photographer: Pawe? Krawczyk
Costume Designer: Natalia Miko?ajewska
Make-up: Karolina Ciszewska
Models: Olga Olsza, Dorota Piasecka, Agnieszka Subieta, Krzysztof Antolak, Jan Mierzejewski, Krzysztof Rusinek, Kabel (dog)

Director/Script: Matej Subieta

Producer: Odeon Film Studio/Warsaw

Official website: www.tourist-film.com

The Merging of Styles

It’s common for styles to merge, especially dominant styles. As grunge rises in popularity on the web more designers (who are used to working in web 2.0 methodologies) will experiment with grunge. There is a crossover point where these styles merge. This is where Gradient Grunge design emerges.

For quite some time grunge graphics were at the periphery of web design. They have risen to mainstream. More and more websites have adopted grunge styles. In most cases, it isn’t a matter of a designer wholeheartedly grabbing the next trend. Designers tend to experiment and get inspiration from many sources. Bringing grunge elements into ones design work is a gradual process.

This is typically the way designers working in the trenches change their normal output. They find one project here or there that they can do something different on. They try new types of designs. When web 2.0 style designs are the dominant trend, designers develop workflows and habits built around creating this style quickly, as with any popular design that clients would request.

Many of these designers would simply merge grunge design styles into there existing workflows. It’s a common practice when moving from one dominant stylistic trend to another in design. There will be overlap. The combination of web 2.0 styles and grunge graphics is Gradient Grunge.

Some Details about Gradient Grunge Style

Let’s look at some specifics. Sure, some aspects of web 2.0 aren’t as cool as they used to be, like reflections. However, the use of some web 2.0 styles are still rampant. Review the Web 2.0 design guide to get an overview of this style to decide for yourself what elements are still popular today. Some notable trends still practiced are: Solid Areas of Screen Real Estate, Simple Navs, Bold Logos, Strong Colors, Gradients, and others. Combine these styles with textures and worn imagery and you have a new take on grunge graphics.

This new aesthetic doesn’t emulate nature, but rather it stylizes nature. Bright plastic doesn’t degrade as paper in real life, but it certainly can in Gradient Grunge, and it looks cool doing it. Typically, Gradient Grunge is brightly colored, though it could be applied with a more subdued palette. In web design, it often combines the use of gradients and other web 2.0 elements with the look and feel of stylized worn texture.

Gradient Grunge at it’s more extreme end is the pure combination of Grunge and Gradients. Many examples of this style are of brightly colored gradients blending with textures.

Examples of Gradient Grunge in the Wild on the Net

Nothing explains a style better than to show some example of it out there in on the net. Let’s check out some graphics that show a merging of both web 2.0 styles and grunge graphics. Also, we’ll look at some Gradient Grunge that is made of gradients merged colorfully into a grunge aesthetic. Following are some Gradient Grunge designers and designs.

Maciej Hajnrich AKA Valp Nietylko

I had the pleasure to interview this designer and digital illustrator over at PSDTUTS. Since then I try to keep track of what he’s up to. And he’s been making some great Gradient Grunge style work. Check out his Flickr Photostream’s Portfolio: Graphic Design Set. He has some brand new work up. Valp has a strong Gradient Grunge style permeating much of his work. The website below shows how he carries this style into web design. Notice the Gradient Grunge badges in the design below. This is a characteristic web 2.0 element given a new stylistic treatment.

Notice how he combines gradients and grunge in such a highly saturated colorful way in his illustrations. For more of his illustration work visit his portfolio.

Sleek Design Tutorial

This tutorial Collis wrote called “Create a Sleek, High-End Web Design from Scratch,” has a great Gradient Grunge style. It follows a similar spacious website layout as web 2.0 sites, only it adds in a good mix of gradients and texture.

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“We all love images: it’s why we’re here” sounds familiar for you, right? I guess it does, same as for me. Punctum is iStockphoto’s 3rd annual celebration of all things arresting and puncturing: videos, vector illustrations, photos and designs which gained Design of the Week award between July 1, 208 and July 5, 2009. All users can vote for their favourite piece in each category starting from today.

As a member of this great community I’m glad to say my artwork Winter Espionage takes part in this years run and getting Punctum award is another recognition I’m dreaming about. This belief has some background - Trust the Future was in the last years final 10.

Vote here, if you like my illustration. Thanks!

Agency: Click5, Production: Odeon | Spot Knorr Nudle 2009 30″ (Vimeo) and Youtube.

I did half of the layouts for Knorr Nudle tv ad, which are online on my showcase.

And some more photos from West End launch are available at facebook.

Now I just want to share this trailer from Priscilla - Queen of the Desert, musical I was working on last year and designer main illustration. Hop on board!

Also you can become a fan of Priscilla at facebook, myspace and follow updates via twitter.

(click to enlarge)

I’ve also attached low res poster photo poster, taken* recently in London.

*Thx Radim!

Recently I had a chance to make this illustration for Deep Silver, which is developing and publishing Ride To Hell. It’s a video game set in 1960’s, player become a Vietnam soldier returning back to home and simply cannot find his place in the world again. But it’s not so easy for man who was far away for few years so he join biker gang… Open world, nonlinear format, lot of missions and more.

“The friendly mob that is the depthCORE.com Collective are proud to present our 36th exhibition, a freestyle collection of sins, crims and good old fashioned booty entitled ‘HEIST”. One of my recent artworks - Pure Energy - is available through dC. Enjoy!