Today we feature Pete Harrison and his work. Take a break, pour yourself an espresso, top off your coffee, crack open another Red Bull or break out the china and sip on high tea... & let's see what Pete has to say to all y'all (just saw the Hatfields and McCoys)

Enjoy!

FF: How would you describe your art and design style?

Pete: My design style I guess at the moment you could say it was photo manipulation with lighting effects, I use similar elements and the way I work that now people recognise a piece and can put my name on it, the workflow of each project is different, normally if it's a personal piece, I will get the concept down, then sketch an idea and then go straight into photoshop. If it's a client piece well they might have an idea of what they want so I will work to that..or sometimes if I'm experimenting I just go straight into digital! Recently I got a new graphics tablet so my style is evolving, I am drawing more and you will see a lot of new stuff this year, that you probably would not expect from me!

FF: How much input do you have during the initial phase(s) on projects and how does that effect how you tackle the design?

Pete: It all depends on what the project is and who the client is. Some clients are pretty specific about what they want, others you can talk to and input some of your own ideas into the brief and design stages. If the client is specific I try and stick to their design but keep it in my own style, which is probably [why] they [came] to me for in the first place, I pretty much tackle the design the same way in any case.

FF: How do you prepare for a big campaign?

Pete:I set aside some time to just think about it, get my head around everything, make sure I'm stocked up on smokes, Diet Coke and snacks and spend a night working on it, come back to it the next day with fresh eyes and any feedback and then rinse and repeat :)

FF: What tools of the trade do you prefer to use and have you discovered any interesting techniques you could share with us?

Pete: I just use my iMac and Photoshop to create everything, like I mentioned earlier I have recently bought a graphics tablet, a Wacom Cintiq 24HD which will allow me to do a lot of creative things I could not previously do with the mouse, in fact, [I] have been working on a whole new style and going back to a few of my traditional techniques!

FF: Do your subjects (sport stars, models, celebrities) ever contact you directly? If so, share with us a memorable story.

Pete: I have had a few DJ's contact me directly, but most of the time its via there agents. I worked with Drum and Bass duo Sigma once, and we had our first client meeting in a club where they were playing! I love drum and bass music, its my favourite genre so to be on the guestlist and see other artists I knew that night also was a great experience!

FF: How often to do you illustrate? How do you compare it to your photo manipulation work?

Pete: Recently everyday! Doing drawing on my new tablet, I can't wait to share my new works with everyone, I might just do a bunch of personal and client work and then just update my website in one go!

FF: If given the opportunity who would you like to collaborate with?

Pete: Over the years its true I have collaborated with a lot of artists, I did this mainly because it's fun but it also pushed me and have develop my style and techniques. Recently I only collaborate with people with Depthcore if we are working on an artwork for a new chapter, or I do bigger collaborations with members of the Blackrock Collective as part of a larger project, recently we did a skateboard and some card decks. I would love to do more personal art and there are still a lot of people that I would love to collaborate with, its just finding the time, I do get a lot of requests also, but have to turn most of them down due to time constraints. My favourite collaboration was the one I did with Andreas Wannestadt, it was a flash animation for the splash page of my clothing label Funkrush.

You can view it online
http://www.andreaswannerstedt.se/motion/funkrush/

We decided to make an animated intro that reflects the essence of funkrush, and that highlights elements from the designs as well as some of the featured artists. I did most of the art directing and creating the graphics and andreas worked on the compositing and animations. The final result is a mixture of urban infused graffiti street art mixed with cool, funky and unique characters. The project took us 6 months on and off whilst we were working on our own projects and client work. It was so much fun because I was passionate about the project (It is my clothing company afterall) and it was fun collaborating. It was exciting getting an email back from Andreas and seeing the progress we had made and it all come together bit by bit. I think if I had to collaborate with anyone again it would be Andreas, and we will at some point when we have some free time!

FF: What are you currently working on? (can we peek)

Pete: I am working some stuff for a health product called Baby Quasar, we are doing a new website for their new product, so Im in charge of all the design aspects. I just took up some new work for a club in switzerland, apart from that just a bunch of new personal illustrations, I would give you a preview, but I'm saving them for a website update and to show everything new I've been doing!

FF: Give our readers some sage advice?

Pete: Live by a Amo la Vita lifestyle, love life! If you are passionate, you will succeed, just keep practicing! Don't forget to have a healthy social life too and try and balence you health, love and wealth. Overall just be happy and if you are creative, keep doing what you love!

[Pete, everyone here at FF Blog is looking forward to the new work, can't wait for the follow-up post. Cheers!]

Enjoy Pete's work, visit his PAD: /aeiko/