A new twist
While Fernandez and Harrington’s design-led illustration has found favour with big name clients, animators are also soaking up the psychedelic influences of Glaser, Aldridge and Barney Bubbles, and adding new twists to the genre.
Steve Scott is an animator and illustrator based in London whose playful , experimental work for the likes of Volvo and Nokia, and stage graphics for Led Zeppelin, mix psychedelic characters and shapes with cutting edge transitions and effects.
Scott has a list of broad influences that span and eclectic mix from Herge’s The Adventures of Tintin to 2000AD, though the narrative of Yellow Submarine at a tender age shaped his of narrative and animation, while Terry Gilliam’s slapstick pop surrealism and Edward Gorey’s sinister Victorian gentlemen are influences as well.
Scott is not a fan of everything, but on first viewing Martin Sharp’s work, he was blown away. Sharp was the art director of Oz magazine as well as designing album covers and a series of fantastic prints on foil. Psych art should feel like tumbling down the rabbit hole whilst riding an elephant that is playing a 20-minute Moog solo through his trunk.
It is only through the freedom of expression within psychedelic-styled art which, twinned with more open briefs from clients, has caused this resurgence in the style. You don’t have to look far to see contemporary marketing campaigns from some of the world’s most famous brands drawing on the likes of Huford, Scarfe and Aldridge who, more than 40 years later, may have finally come mainstream.
