michael arnold
DESCRIPTION
Michael Arnold is a 20 year old Illustrator and Designer working in the UK. Illustrating in a variety of mediums, he bridges the gap between culture and simplicity with playful projects and illustrations. This magazine acts as a showcase for his work in a practical format; it explores culture and ideas to produce an eclectic but coherent body of work.TRANSCRIPT
- 1 -
A showcase ofwork and ideas
August 2012
How To Travel: Paris
Frank Ocean's -ChannelOrange
Game Changers
2
Michael Arnold is a 20 year old Illustratorand Designer working in the UK.Illustrating in a variety of mediums, hebridges the gap between culture andsimplicity with playful projects andillustrations.
During his time at school he was fortunateenough to develop his skills practicallythrough a small t-shirt business with hisfriend. Upon eschewing his place atFalmouth University he set up his own printshop named The How To Project to furtherhis knowledge with a hands-on insight intodesign.
This magazine acts as a showcase for hiswork in a practical format; it exploresculture and ideas to produce an eclectic butcoherent body ofwork.
www.mkrnld.co.uk
Some photographs within are property oftheir respective ownersand have been used respectfully as part ofthe magazine andmy
Illustrative work.
The Cool Issue
6 What is Cool?
- The ambiguous term cool is a word that’s meaning
changes with every use of the word. What can be
categorized definitively as cool?
10 Listen
- Eclectic music from the studio including a review
ofFrank Ocean's debut album Channel Orange.
14 Game Changers
- A look into athletes that defied convention and
changed their respective sports for good.
19 Interlude
- Thoughts and ideas.
20 How To: Travel - Paris
- Amy Reynolds takes us in depth through her recent
trip to Paris as part ofThe How To Project.
26 The How To: Project
- Ideas are something that, for the most part, I find
easy to cook up. My biggest sticking point up until
2010 was doing anything about them, until The
How To Project.
28 Pop Up Pixels - Cities
- Being the curious type and a poor man, there are
often places I dream ofvisiting but are unable to.
Pop – Up Pixels began as an experiment to take my
approach to illustration and implement it in a 3D
context.
6
The ambiguous term cool is aword that’s meaning changeswith every use of the word.What can be categorizeddefinitively as cool? Is itsubjective? More often than notwhat’s cool to one person is,without questioning it, thoughtofas cool by his peers. But whatCool ultimately comes down to isthe attitude of the word’s user.It’s an unapologetic state ofmind where you like what youlike and think what you think –uninhibited by others.
Let’s start at the beginning: the word
cool is said to have been introduced to
the world through Jazz and popularized
by Saxophonist Lester Young. It
bounced around the bohemian culture
as a word to describe something in-
fashion and laid back, later developing
into a term to describe a self-assured,
individualistic quality – that was most
notable in Jazz players of that 1940’s
era like Louis Armstrong.
As words do, it mutated and moved
away specifically from Black America
and Jazz and seeped into popular use
across the world though its underlying
meaning is still the same. Used to denote
all sorts of criteria the word has
somewhat lost its impact as a, well, cool
word because of its overuse, however
there are definitely some note worthy
icons ofCool.. .
More On MuhammadAli
His three biggest fights were Sonny Liston, GeorgeForeman andhis third bout with Joe Frazier but
ifyou want to see grace andflair watch his matchwith ClevelandWilliams.
16
‘I've missedmore than 9000 shots in mycareer. I've lost almost 300 games. 26times,I've been trusted to take the game winningshot andmissed. I've failed over and over andover in my life. And that is why I succeed.’
Interlude
2010 was a time of change. It was one
section of my life so far ending and
another beginning to start. Which was
kind of scary. I made the decision not to
attend my place at Falmouth University
feeling that it wasn’t my scene, I’ve
always preferred to learn things myself –
never feeling totally comfortable with the
idea of a student and teacher role.
Because of this I’ve been able to pick up
skills and techniques and experiment with
them without any prior bias that would
have been passed on through being
taught.
It was then that I came up with the idea of
The How To Project. A project where I
would learn the things I thought I needed
to learn to work my way into the business.
I started off simply, working on the
concept of it: what would I sell? How
would I sell it? What did I need? After a lot
of fine tuning of ideas I finally started to
lay the ground work for The How To
Project and began learning my first
invaluable skill – preparing files for print
and getting to grips with the screen
printing process. I teamed up with
Birmingham’s Get A Grip printing studio
who were able to guide me through. Of
course I ordered too many prints initially
and back then my designs were too
cluttered, another two lessons learnt
there.
From this beginning I began to make
small waves and refine my style, making
the move to separate my Illustration from
my Design work. Though my design
sensibilities from screen printing make its
way into how I plan illustrations and still
inform many of the decisions I make
within my work.
It’s been a difficult route to take
sometimes but I believe I am better for it.
Bill Bernbach put it well when he said:
This quote has stuck with me ever since I
heard it, it resonates with me because I’m
of the mindset that new ideas can only be
reached by doing things in a way that
hasn’t been attempted before, I believe
there are still completely original ideas
out there but it has become increasingly
difficult to find them because we have are
so used to not straying from the path.
I don’t know any other way to think and
sometimes the way I choose to conduct
myself seems strange to others, they can’t
understand it but to me it’s as ifI can only
see the opportunities to do something
new, and everything is simply invisible. I
hope I don’t lose that.
Michael Arnold
"falling upon unknowncreperies and patisseries, I
ate with the locals andordered in broken Francais"
22
Here's a cheeky little bit of information for you: Ifyou’re a student or under 25 – take your student cardor identification. This will get you discounted, ifnotfree, entry into many touristy places. Delicious.
.
24
Amy Reynolds is a one ofa kind traveller, part
Psychology student - part adventurer. Since knowing
her; she has always been one to go it alone and explore,
travelling to Florence and Paris. She is currently
spending her Summer making her way through Europe,
stopping offin B&Bs and couch surfing after finishing
up her second year ofUniversity.
Keep checking The How To Project for more travel
writing and an insight to life on the road.
www.howtoproject.co.uk
All posters are screen-printed by hand in
Birmingham and sourced with environmentall
friendly materials
Beach London
OpeningTimes:Mon-Sun 10.00 -18.00
20 Cheshire StreetLondonE2 6EH
Launched in July 2011,Beach London is what can bebetter described as a creativespace rather than a CoffeeHouse, Gallery andBookShop.
Housing an array ofprintsand artwork, Beach Londonis quietly nestled away readyto be discovered andtreasured.