Computer Arts Gallery: July 2005

Sam McCullen studied at APU Cambridge School of Art where he achieved a First Class Honours degree in Illustration and a Masters in Children's Book Illustration. It was during his time at APU that he developed a passion for children's picture books. "From when I was very young, I'd always loved writing stories and drawing," he says, "so picture books proved to be the perfect outlet."

For his final Masters Project, McCullen produced Billy Back-To-Front, a picture book featuring the images shown above (to be published by Hodder Children's Books in 2006). At first he was unsure what stylistic direction to take… "But then a tutor got us drawing with different media, and I found that with pastel pencils I could create a certain subtlety and charm. By using scanned-in pastel pencil outlines and manipulating hand-rendered, found and photographed textures, I was able to create illustrations with more atmosphere."

Billy Wishes "To maintain consistency throughout the book, I made a moveable model to draw from, using metal rods, ball and socket joints, Fimo and other bits and bobs. The model enabled me to be quite adventurous with Billy's poses and make sure that he always looked correct, no matter which angle he was viewed from."

Sam McCullen studied at APU Cambridge School of Art where he achieved a First Class Honours degree in Illustration and a Masters in Children's Book Illustration. It was during his time at APU that he developed a passion for children's picture books. "From when I was very young, I'd always loved writing stories and drawing," he says, "so picture books proved to be the perfect outlet."

For his final Masters Project, McCullen produced Billy Back-To-Front, a picture book featuring the images shown above (to be published by Hodder Children's Books in 2006). At first he was unsure what stylistic direction to take… "But then a tutor got us drawing with different media, and I found that with pastel pencils I could create a certain subtlety and charm. By using scanned-in pastel pencil outlines and manipulating hand-rendered, found and photographed textures, I was able to create illustrations with more atmosphere."

Moses Parts The Red Sea "This is a concept illustration for a children's Bible. When looking at other interpretations of this scene, I noticed that the Israelites looked peaceful and calm. With the enormity of the situation, I wanted to show a real sense of fear and amazement in their faces, with the exception of the oblivious sleeping baby."

Hot Night Crash "For this piece, I used a combination of hand-drawn images and painted textures, which were all created by hand."

Highway "Here I referenced photos for an authentic car illustration - the rest of this image was something that had been in my head for a while, kinda building on the American dream theme."

Guitar Girl A lot of our work is influenced by music. We try to stay away from smooth vectors and focus on the hand-made look

Fresh "This was a commission for Boxfresh. Like most of our work, it started off as a hand-drawn image before it made its way onto the computer."

The Village "When I created this poster for a new Melbourne theatre festival, I tried to make an eclectic poster that would look great on walls - slowly ageing."

Rents are up "In Holland, the rent will be rising up to 25 per cent. Imagine the panic! I looked for an elegant translation of that stress."

Landing "I created this poster for a group show in Portugal, which had the theme "Everybody is looking for something new". I used my own and vintage photos."