Spotlight
Mitchell Clulow
Like so many artists across the world, Mitchell Clulow is engaged in the constant battle between what he wants to do for a living and what he has to do to survive.
"I have a job where I spend all day talking to myself about the fact that I need a better job... and then I go home and work on as many design projects as I can possibly fit into the rest of my day".
Mitchell is a self-taught graphic artist and has spent much of the past three years developing his skills and technique with Adobe Photoshop. Until recently Photoshop was Mitchells' tool of choice; testing the limits of its image-manipulation and blending capabilities to the full. Over the last year however, he has sought to expand his creative possibilities by adding Adobe Illustrator to his tool box and seeking to introduce a "wider array of hand-crafted elements" into his work.
"I hope that broadening the range of tools at my disposal will ultimately make my work more expansive and enable me to create much more complex work that shifts effortlessly between totally organic and entirely digital elements whilst always retaining a stylistic signature that is my own".
His awareness of the importance of having a 'stylistic signature' has been fundamental to the way his work has developed and is echoed in his work; as are his inspirations. Mitchell lists (amoung a wide range of others), artists like Seldon Hunt with his "complex psychodelia" and Frank Miller with his simple, stylish imagery as inspiration for his own work.
In spite of calling on such a wide range of inspiration, his work maintains a fixed focus.
"My primary love is, and always has been, music. So, naturally most of my thoughts are geared towards music related design. I love album sleeves where the sleeve art brings the music to life and acts as another dimension enhancing the overall affect that the music has on the listener".
This love of music and music related design has recently led Mitchell to work on album sleeves, merchandise and websites for much loved local bands such as The Seventh Cross, The Fallout Theory and Pushmeunder. Further extending his experience in this field, he is currently "...staying up all night working on projects for more great bands like Deacon Birch and Great Eskimo Hoax aswell as working on a handful of websites for more local bands, record labels and independant businesses".
You can see more of Mitchells work in his Showcase gallery (click here) and if that still doesn't satisfy your appetite, why not pay a visit to his website: riverrunningbackwards.com
If, like Mitchell, you would like to get your work and skills featured in the regular 'Spotlight' article or in your own Showcase gallery you can. Click here for more details.
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