[SON] Amongst the design community your personal work has been shining throughout the many blogs and portals lately, but you have much more under your belt other than illustration, please let the people know who you are, where you are from and what you do.
[Neil Duerden] I am Neil Duerden, a self confessed mac monkey 20 miles north of Manchester (UK), I create pieces that combine elements from mixed media and photography, that are interlaced with complex vectors to create pieces that always hit the brief for clients all around the world. My art is from the heart and this passion shows through the clever usage of the latest technology and traditional medias all mashed up together. I am always hungry for commissions!
I am also the creative director of a company called Modern-English, here we produce great work in the fields of film, music and interactive design. The concept was to bring everything under one roof. The first problem was to find a great building to house all the facets of the company, so we took over an 18 century school to provide us with the space for a huge recording studio, massive design studio, film editing suite and of course, all the latest technology.
[S] We all see these magazine’s w/ collections from a variety of artists. What do you see being the most pivotal trend w/ independent companies?
[ND] The thing with trends is they come and go, what is needed is a core style that connects with all demographics and then adapt this for each and every project. Then secondly, the core style should evolve, always keeping one step ahead of the following pack. This retains a definite link between each project but allows a different solution each and every time. It also creates a semi house style that is recognizable and makes selling process for project easier.
[S] I love this new collage style of work that your portfolio displays. How long does this take? Also, we all know there are copycats, can you visually translate some innovations to come in the future of your personal illustration?
[ND] Each piece takes a slightly different route and period of time, small pieces can take a few hours and some a few days with little sleep. The trick is to simply answer the brief and add enough visual content to draw the viewer in whilst delivering the companies core message and brand ethos. I try to add enough content to a piece so that each time it is viewed new elements are discovered, so creating a simple yet effective brand recall for each advertisement produced.
Copycat illustrators are becoming more common as my style spreads but most of their work is just visual fluff, I have worked previously as a freelance creative for well over ten years and in this time have been taught the true effective uses of advertising and applied the same rules to my pieces. This is the true secret; work must serve the purpose desired by a mix of the consumers and brand itself.
[S] Multi-discipline is the newest trait to design firms. Why did you decide to start this company w/ so many different divisions, was this a competitive move or a natural progression?
[ND] We decided it would be a definitive solution as we all worked together on projects. It was the next logical step. Being able to cope in-house with everything from an upcoming feature film starring Tamer Hussan and Danny Dyer, interactive work for EMI and various multinational advertising campaigns all at the same time. Not to mention managing various bands and promoting them successfully.
Working together has created a hub of creative minds and the facilities to make our combined ideas flourish into reality. Instead of “whats a good idea, shall we do it?†things just happen. For instance we got a brief for the new Mims advert, we sat down and listened to his tracks and then within 3 days had an approved final cut ready for the public. Not many companies would even dare try to produce an illustrated 30 second commercial in such a tight time frame.
[S] What time do you usually sleep?
[ND] I’ll sleep when I’m dead, or usually very late… It a hard to balance between working hard, family life and playing. Planning your time exactly will never work as different things come up every day and a flexible approach is the only answer.
[S] Who do you watch on a routine basis?
[ND] I have found that I do not have the physical time to watch TV, I still get all the best magazines in a variety of fields ranging from design, culture, fashion and of course the usual web mags. I read these while commuting and find that it’s a good way to keep in touch with changes in the world around us, without this change what a boring place it would be!
If I do get a chance to chill out and watch a film it’s usually whatever I have been lent or recommended by friends, the last film I watched was KPAX, a classic but still a great film.
[S] What music do you listen to in the office and does it differ from the music you listen to at home?
[ND] Music at work, strange one this is. We all have massive libraries of music, we all seem to play random stuff all day. This could be anything from Beasty Boys through to Beethoven, Radiohead to alpha brain waves sounds… and everything in between. We also get loads of promos from bands, singers and song writers, combine this with the work we do for various other record companies and there is no shortage of sounds. Then again in the recording studio it could be anything from thrash metal through to ambient sounds for film work… different every day.
We are always looking at the next cultural change and instigate this in all medias, trying to push the boundaries for our clients and exceed all expectations. We have found that the offers coming to the table are getting better and better, films scripts, music artists, campaigns and commercials. Tie this in with my personal illustrative work and the futures looking great!