Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Andy Hixon

Check out Andy Hixon from Manchester, UK! He weaves his images together beautifully using a combination of sculpture, mixed media and digital manipulation.

How did you start working dimensionally?
To start out with when I was studying Illustration several years ago the course I was on was heavily graphic design based, I initially wanted to work in paint and Photography just to be doing something a little different. I had all these great ideas in my head of what I wanted to achieve with my work and what I wanted the final piece of work to look like and what actually came out at the end resembled nothing of what I had originally intended. I felt like I wanted more control over the work I was producing at the time. From this I started experimenting in the Darkroom I really had no idea what I was doing, overexposing 3d objects on photo paper etc just experimenting really and steadily learning more about photography/lighting etc. Then the sculpture aspect came into play, along with that and the photography just clicked for me I guess.

What or who has influenced the way you work?
Initially I was a huge fan of the work of Henry Moore I used to go to the Yorkshire Sculpture Garden quite a bit that contains a lot of his work , I thought ’I want to do that ’ ( but smaller, less highbrow and not in a muddy field). Looking at his work along with Illustrators such as Dave Mckean and Jordin Isip helped shape the way I work today.

Please describe your working process.
Sketch, ball of clay or Polymer or Placticine for animation, model, dry, photograph, Photoshop- in that order. Although I have just began working using 3D Software such as Zbrush & Mudbox which I have found to be really interesting and gives some fantastic results. The sculptures I produce in clay are modelled in detail only on the side that is being photographed they are never a ‘complete sculpture’ and often get thrown away when I am finished.

What do you enjoy the most / least about working dimensionally?
The photography aspect in many ways I feel is just as important as the sculpture aspect especially if the work is in an Illustrative context .I feel that sometimes a camera really distorts the 3d objects hence having to take hundreds of photos with different lighting settings till I get the right one. Other than that it is a very enjoyable way to work in a style that really not too many illustrators are doing right now.


Check out Andy's stop-motion music video for the band Woven!

Andy Hixon
www.andyhixon.com
www.andyhixon.blogspot.com
www.myspace.com/andyhixonart
images and content © Andy Hixon

3 comments:

  1. Your work is so beautiful Andy! I love the emotion that in each piece. It's interesting to hear that you often throw away the sculptural elements from your pieces when you're finished. I thought I was alone :)
    The 'Prickly Pear' video is amazing! Looking forward to seeing what you do next!

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  2. Andy, I really have enjoyed learning more about your work.. very cool lighting effects and great color palettes. I especially like the collage effect with flowers and use of patterns. Nice!

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  3. This is amazing! very inspiring.. thank you so much for sharing!

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