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Andrew Davidson
belongs to a long distinguished line of British artists, illustrators
and designers, whose work once enriched almost everything that was
printed. He keeps alive a tradition which owes nothing to transitory
fashions or the latest gadgetry, but which is based on the irreplaceable
disciplines of objective drawing, a strong sense of design and the
tactile pleasures of craftsmanship. Even as a young student at Norwich
School of Art, Andrew's work and those of his contemporaries
gained strength from a solid academic base which underpinned innovation
and experimentation. It showed a highly developed vision and the
emergence of the necessary skills to develop it, as well as the
element of magic and poetry which fills his work today. |
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On leaving Norwich he became a student
in the graphic design department at the Royal College of Art
where one of his tutors was Brian Tattersfield, then
one of the partners of the highly successful Minale Tattersfield
Design Group and one of Andrew's earliest mentors.
In the summer prior to arriving in London, he had been a crew member
of a sailing ship, at sea around the Scottish coast. It was obviously
a stirring and unforgettable experience, which fuelled him with
enough material to fire his inspiration for almost the next three
years. He was stubbornly and admirably single-minded in the approach
to his subject. Others might have taken the easy route and developed
the skills they already had. Instead Andrew discovered the wood
block, whose uncompromising qualities he tackled, crudely at first,
but gaining skill and confidence with each successive attempt.
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| Andrew engraves endgrain
blocks of English boxwood using small chisels, spitstickers and scorpers,
and only the untouched surface prints black. Because no two sheets
of handmade paper are the same, each print is unique. Under a magnifying
glass, all the individual qualities can be seen. |
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By the time
he graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1982 he was a highly
developed artist and designer and quickly gained commissions from
a great variety of sources. For Minale Tattersfield he illustrated
packaging for a large range of natural food products for Boots,
which have since been endlessly imitated. The finely tuned sense of
design and integrity of approach make Andrew particularly adept at
creating imagery for packaging and he has a long list of clients in
this field. |
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Perhaps Andrew's
most important early commission was from John McConnell of
Pentagram who asked him to illustrate The Iron Man by
Ted Hughes, for Faber and Faber. His work on this book brought
together all of his skills, the most dominant being his dramatic sense
of design which more than anything else gives so much life to his
work. It is in the early stages of an artists's career that the importance
of a single commission can change or enhance that career. The combination
of absolute suitability of assignment, together with a client who
is confident of their own ability to commission the right artist,
and then allow the artist to perform to the best of their ability
may seem to be stating the obvious, but it is an unfortunately rare
occurrence. |
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Whilst the early
work was mostly engraving, with occasional hand-tinting, it was a
full colour commission from David Stuart of The Partners
which really established his now signature colour style. A series
of pub signs to be reproduced as one-offs in vitreous enamel and hung
outside the individual pubs as part of a major chain. The illustrations
were awarded a D&AD Silver award
for illustration in 1987 and have been very influential in the establishment
of his reputation for illustration that is very finely tuned with
a real graphic design skill. They sprang out of the very best tradition
of British Poster Design, from an age when the restrictions of colour
printing brought about a language that made the most of the the resources
available and which had rather been superceded by full colour process
printing.
Andrew is absolutely at his best when there is a thought process involved
and where he is involved in problem solving. He is an artist that
enjoys intensely the satisfaction that is gained from collaborating
with an Art Director and is very content to be acknowledged as a team
player. It is this aspect of his work that has led to what has become
possibly his most prolific vein of work. That of corporate imagery.
He is regularly commissioned on a day-rate basis for the initial development
which then leads to full implementation after an image is developed.
But through all of this an obvious "heart" shines out of
his work. |
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Whether it is a whole series of illustrations
required for a corporate annual report, or a single image to be used
in a corporate logo, the attention to detail that Andrew brings to
the table remains the same. He acknowledges that it is far harder
to commission illustration than photography and that there needs to
be a subtler communication of intent. Clients who might never have
commissioned illustration before, find that working with this consummate
professional is a completely pleasurable experience as can be evidenced
by the large numbers of regular clients that he has acquired over
the years.
An understanding of the thought processes involved in design by an
illustrator brings obvious benefits and that particular talent is
not one that can be taken for granted. |
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| A particularly enjoyable
recent commission has been that by Paul Buckley of
Penguin USA for the re-jacketing of the entire
John Steinbeck series. A restrained and tasteful design beautifully
offsets the considered and exquisitely rendered engravings. |
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Since then he
has been involved in many important projects for publishing, advertising
and most significantly for the Royal Mail, illustrating
several ranges of stamps. A commission to produce stamp designs is
one of the most coveted amongst designers and illustrators, as they
are well aware of the wide usage and attendant publicity that the
commission brings. Andrew's ability to distil the essence of a subject
and make it work at the reduced size of a postage stamp have ensured
that he has remained constantly on that particular design roster. |
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Andrew Davidson
lives with is wife Julia, a trained midwife and therapist (according
to Andrew, she needs to be) and two young sons deep in the Cotswold
countryside, in a charming house right at the bottom of a not very
accessible track. At the very foot of its garden a custom built studio,
part tree-house, designed by Andrew and constructed of English Oak
is where Andrew can be found working long hours, in his own words
"in his imagination." |
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A
Partial list of Clients |
| Design |
Advertising |
| Stromme
& Throndsen |
J
Walter Thompson |
| Siegel
Gale Alison Gault |
WCRS |
| Royal
Mail Elmwood |
Faulds |
| Ark
Design |
Delaney
Fletcher Delaney |
| Redpath |
Doremus |
| The
Partners Interbrand |
Ogilvy
Mather |
| CDT |
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| Minale
Tattersfield |
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| Pentagram |
Publishing |
| Design
House |
The
Observer |
| Agenda |
Sunday
Times Magazine |
| Anisdahl |
Faber
& Faber |
| Waitrose |
Penguin
Books |
| Harrods |
Kingfisher |
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Random
House |
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Martha
Stewart |
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