Aidan Hughes was born on Merseyside, England and was formally trained by his father. His influences include Golden Age comic artists Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Jim Steranko, the Russian Constructivists, the Italian Futurists and the work of woodcut artists Frans Masereel and Lynd Ward.
Despite having never attended art school, he entered the world of commercial art producing artwork and storyboards for clients such as Warner Bros. the BBC and The London Evening Standard. In the 80's he began a long-term collaboration with industrial band KMFDM, created BRUTE! pulp magazine and worked extensively in radio, TV and the media. Hughes other work includes designing and art directing, computer games, short film making and animation. Official Wikipedia entry
Face and hair undergoes modification in Illustrator.
In depth vector modification.
An early version with darkened sky and sponsor text.
The version eventually used for the poster
I was commissioned to come up with a suitably dynamic image for this year’s High Jump freestyle diving competition here in the Czech Republic. Much of the artwork I’d seen for similar events had been from photographic sources that focused mostly on side shots so I wanted instead to use an improbable POV to heighten the drama of the dive. Using under-lighting, I was able to bring out an urgency to the face and hands and utilised the natural cliff shapes in the background to force speed and perspective. For the text, I created a style that merged both techno and retro themes, mimicking those racy pulp cover titles of the 50’s. The weight of the title grounds what would be a top heavy composition without it.
The new print of this poster is now available. minus text, from the print section of the BRUTE! blog shop.
The BRUTE! show continues its relentless push across the city of Prague as it moves into its newest home in the heart of the historical Mala Strana district.
Covering three rooms of the gallery, the exhibition includes several large canvas digital prints, custom BRUTE! skate decks and T-shirts and will continue for until July 4th 2010.
Come on down to the Napa Bar and Gallery, Prokopská 8, Prague, Czech Republic, 118 00 Praha. It’s open from 19:00 – 03:00 every day or phone +420 774 530 689) for private consultations.
Courtesy of Twisted Sticker in Toronto, BRUTE! are proud to unleash our latest monster onto the marketplace.
At a pugilistic 52 inches across, this empowering emblem will stun the neighbours into oblivion when they see it emblazoned across your SUV or dirtbike.
Made from weather-resistant vinyl and delivered in custom BRUTE! packing tubes, the FIST sticker is going to smack the living daylights out of your, er… day.
Please check the products shop for details on how to order.
I was recently asked by bar owner and entrepreneur, Glenn Spicker, to come up with a series of posters for his new bar/cafe. Situated in central Prague, Glenn’s bar boasts a museums-worth of cultural gems and artefacts culled from decades tracking down propaganda from the era of Communism. Called Propaganda, the new bar is the home of my new World Leaders series. Featuring the movers and shakers behind the political and cultural revolutions of the 80’s, the posters took me just over ten days to produce and will be showcased on the walls of the main room.
Keep posted for details of the bar’s opening.
Canvas posters will be available from the club/bar shop or from the online BRUTE! Products page.
For a recent commission, I found myself with a background problem to solve: how to render a psychedelic background in a couple of hours.
After various experiments with fractal vector failed to get the desired results, I gave up and began to search the web for some old-skool hippy patterns and/or trippy posters etc. until I came upon one packed with all manner of day-glo, spiral eye-candy. As anyone will tell you, I cannot stand this sort of thing so after an hour, I decided to turn the background into vectors with Live Trace and, as an afterthought, de-grouped the lot and applied a gradient. I then expanded the gradients again into steps.
Although it’s still not what the client wants, I found the random architectural shapes quite astonishing.
Over the last few months, I have been able to amass dozens of rare original ink illustrations dating from the early 90s to the present day and I am pleased to announce their sale here on the blog.
Included in the sale are rare and unseen KMFDM concept art, original draft illustrations, animation storyboards and frames plus original BRUTE! pulp covers and vintage advertising artworks. Ranging in price from 50 to 500 euros, each one is a collector’s item, signed by Aidan Hughes.
To explore the current collection, please refer to the ‘Inks’ section of our Products page.
