The coming of the dust

sydney1.jpg

Impossible to avoid thoughts of either JG Ballard or various apocalyptic horror and science fiction scenarios when looking at these photos of Sydney, Australia, taken a few hours ago. A cloud of red dust passed over the city in the early morning and the depopulated views only add to the eerie atmosphere. These are from a Red Dust Flickr gallery. The Other Andrew writes about the inundation on his blog. I’m looking forward now to the reaction of another Sydney Melbourne resident, Simon Sellars, who runs Ballardian.

Update: The Red Sydney Project—Dust Storm Days

sydney2.jpg

Previously on { feuilleton }
Apocalypse now

New things for April II

squid.jpg

By an odd coincidence my work manifests in two different forms in Finland this month. Above is the Finnish reprint of ‘King Squid’ by Jeff VanderMeer, part of his City of Saints and Madmen fantasy novel which I designed as a self-contained work. SF magazine Tähtivaeltaja has produced this as a supplement to their latest issue and done a great job of maintaining the look of the original printing.

turisas.jpg

And in the music world there’s a new CD design for Finnish metal band Turisas. This is their second album, The Varangian Way, a concept affair that describes the journey taken by Viking explorers from the Gulf of Finland to Byzantium via the rivers of Russia. Very bombastic stuff, with choir and orchestra backing the band so it’s probably fitting that I again referenced (ie: swiped) the bloated sun from Bob Peak’s Apocalypse Now poster for the cover.

Previously on { feuilleton }
The poster art of Bob Peak
New things for April
City of Saints and Madmen

The poster art of Bob Peak

bob_peake1.jpg

top: Apocalypse Now (1979), Camelot (1967).
bottom: The Comfort of Strangers (1990), The Black Stallion (1979).

Bob Peak was one of the top Hollywood poster artists of the Sixties and Seventies. His site has a fairly extensive gallery which includes sketches and unused artwork. Movie poster art now is invariably the product of anonymous Photoshop artists and all the poorer for losing this kind of individual touch.

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
The illustrators archive

Previously on { feuilleton}
A premonition of Premonition
Perfume: the art of scent
Metropolis posters
Film noir posters