The image “Maia’s Morning Malaise” (oil-painting / digital hybrid) was created for the poster of the stop-motion, oil-on-paper, animated, short film “Loophole” (work in progress). It was awarded the prestigious AOI World Illustration Awards 2016 – Advertising (New Talent) award.
The poster illustration needed to succinctly encapsulate the film’s dreamy atmosphere and absurd themes without giving away any surprises. It also needed to be iconic and memorable whilst allowing enough space for the film title. Since the requirements aligned with my personal interest in surreal art, films, absurdism, existentialism, recurrent dreams, portraits, etc, the creative process for this piece was rather smooth.
The final illustration consists of three oil paintings that were scanned and digitally merged in a process that is reminiscent of photographic double exposure. In fact, although there is one final image, the sky, the falling lady and the portrait are actually three separate oil paintings. The digital merging enabled me to retouch all the elements with a graphics tablet and to move things around until I was satisfied with the composition.
This illustration was exhibited at Somerset House and was exhibited throughout the UK and South Korea in 2016 and 2017. (Event photography by Dan Weill).
It was also featured in an article on The Guardian (UK), and featured on numerous platforms including the book “The Power and Influence of Illustration” (published by Bloomsbury in 2019) and the internationally renowned blog This Isn’t Happiness.
