Geoff Grandfield

Sources:

Website http://geoffgrandfield.co.uk . (see particularly Narrative)

Geoff Grandfield is a British illustrator now living in London. He has worked with major newspapers and publishers since 1987.

Influenced by the cinematography of film noir and the reductivism of modernist graphic art, his work is characterised by carefully composed minimalist silhouettes and limited palette, exaggerated perspective and scale contrasts. The bold shapes and perspective have a very strong immediate impact. Other meanings and shapes are often hidden and it is only by following the lines that the meaning of images become revealed.

Grandfield draws with chalk pastel, usually the German make Schminke, and sometimes Talens. “When I work for black and white reproduction I use tones of grey. The tones have some ‘colour’ in them, but mostly I’m going by the weight and contrast between areas. Colour is another thing and I try to prioritise a particular set of colours for a result.” Since 2001 he has been using Photoshop to scan and prepare for reproduction, which in turn has changed the visual look of my work. He scans his originals at A4.