Inspiration - Karan Singh

I came across the work of Australian illustrator Karan Singh through the Computer Arts' magazine website and was instantly taken with his simple, clever and often very funny illustrations.  Singh uses a lot of optical art, which I am looking into at the moment as sideline research, but it was his "Daily Quickies" page that I thought was great.  He challenged himself to create one little illustration a day for the year-long project, and the results are simple but effective.  As the title suggests, Singh is a fan of wordplay - a common theme in his artwork that makes for some cracking visual puns as well as the occasional thought-provoking piece.

Some annotation free visual puns (below) 

Some with a slight serious tone (below).  This one made me go "Oh"; it's an interesting look at identities.

This one (above) is a favourite because at first glance it looks like a pretty, loopy drawing, then it becomes apparent it's a lot cruder.  This kind of visual play is really interesting and something I will explore a bit more.  Some of my previous work for pre-production touched on this and I am wondering if it is worth pursuing more.

Some geographical puns I found way too entertaining

Singh's work made me think about what kind of approach I could take to the subject matter of my honours project.  I have been considering quite heavy issues, as they are of course well suited to propaganda and persuasion.  However this work shows that a humorous, light-hearted approach can also charm and disarm well and consequently stays with people just as long.  

You can find more of Singh's work over at his website and tumblr page.

All work in this post by Karan Singh, 2010-2011