Graphic Prop Maker for Film and TV
FLANDERS & SWANN “AT THE DROP OF A HAT” PROGRAMMES (1950s & 1960s) These are two vintage theatre programmes from the Flanders and Swann live shows, “At the drop of a hat” (1956 – 1961) and “At the drop of another hat” (1963 – 1967). …
DESIGN PROCESS OF: HENRY HIGGINS’ NEWSPAPER CLIPPING This is a newspaper clipping graphic prop I made as part of my “Eliza’s Ephemera” project in my final term of university last year. The clipping advertises speech lessons by Professor Henry Higgins and I thought it would …
THE HOBBIT DUST JACKET ARTWORK BY J.R.R. TOLKIEN This is the dust jacket of the classic children’s book, “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien. This is my pocket-sized, 75th anniversary edition which replicates the original first Edition Hobbit cover artwork. The wraparound painting was designed around …
THE R.O.T MATCHBOOK FROM NORTH BY NORTHWEST This matchbook was an instrumental graphic prop in the classic mystery / thriller from 1959, North by Northwest. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant as Roger Thornhill and Eva Marie Saint as Eve Kendall, this movie is …
THE GIRL WITH UMBRELLA OIL PAINTING I acquired this original oil painting called “Girl with Umbrella” in August last year and it’s lived lovingly on my wall since. It came from an online auction site based in the Netherlands which sells modern and vintage art, …
I WAS IN THE VODAFONE CHRISTMAS ADVERT WITH MARTIN FREEMAN This is Vodafone’s Christmas advert from 2018, starring Martin Freeman. Vodafone decided to shoot their film in my picturesque home village of Aldbourne, in Wiltshire from Thursday 4th to Saturday 6th October. This posed a wonderful …
HOW COCO CHANEL DESIGNED HER LOGO Fashion designer Coco Chanel is famous for her timeless designs and her iconic monogram logo that she designed herself. A huge influence on how the fashion of the roaring ‘20s looked, she became a much-revered style icon, known for …
GRAPHIC PROPS FROM DIE HARD I think Die Hard is a wonderful, feel-good, festive film, where only quite a few people die but everyone gets a good, personal story arch. Maybe unsurprisingly, there aren’t a lot of graphic props in the movie. There were only …
8-YEAR-OLD LOUISA’S LETTER (1885) This is a new year letter I acquired late last year, written by a little girl from Camello Massachusetts on January 18th 1885. I was initially intrigued by the ink, as I hadn’t seen a letter written in pink that was …
Design Process of: MY LIVE IN THE MOMENT POLAROID & VIDEO The above video depicts me physically making a phrase based on something I’ve learned in my life so far. In my second year of uni, over the Christmas holiday 2018 – 19, one of …
THE WORM & NASA’S LOGO DESIGN On the 1st October 1958, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was founded in the United States. An independent agency of the U.S. federal government, it was responsible for the aeronautics programme and space research. An initial logo …
Graphic Props From The Queen’s Gambit This is a selection of graphic props from the Netflix limited series The Queen’s Gambit (2020). All these props helped the storytelling and had an impact on me the first time I saw the show. Personally, The Queen’s Gambit …
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE CDV (1858) This is a carte de visite (CDV) of “The Lady With the Lamp”, Florence Nightingale. I was lucky enough to acquire this original photograph just a couple of weeks ago and am proud to own this little piece of history. Florence …
DESIGN PROCESS OF: ELIZA’S RECEIPT This 1914 receipt was made as part of a collection of ephemera that Eliza Einsford-Hill (née Doolittle) might have kept after the events of the play ‘Pygmalion’ (1913) and the film ‘My Fair Lady’ (1965). I started by researching examples …
This is a flipbook which was given out at the premiere of La La Land in 2016. If you play the video above you can see the flipbook in action! The premiere was held on 31st August 2016, on the opening night of the 73rd annual Venice International Film Festival. Only a few of these flipbooks were made but I was lucky enough to acquire one just a couple of weeks ago and I completely love it.
The Grand Guignol Theatre Signage This is a cast iron, stained glass, theatre front, from the gothic, horror TV show, Penny Dreadful (2014). This isn’t a stereotypical graphic prop, but it still falls very much under the graphic design department. The Grand Guignol Theatre signage …
VINTAGE PRICING LABLES (1930s) This is a collection of thirteen vintage pricing labels from the 1930s / 1940s. I bought them a few months ago and I think they’re really wonderful. I have about a dozen of each design and these images show just one …
DESIGN PROCESS OF: THE FLYING CHAIRS THEATRE COMPANY LOGO Over a year ago now, one of my university flatmates, who studied Drama, started up an Amateur Theatre group with 11 friends from his course. They wanted to start their professional careers before university had finished. They …
THE JURASSIC PARK LOGO Today we discuss the Jurassic Park logo, from the classic 1993 film, directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the book by Michael Crichton. The story behind the iconic T-Rex illustration is brilliant and it all began with a young, gay, book …
THE JURASSIC PARK BROCHURE This is one of the original brochures from Steven Spielberg’s brilliant, Oscar winning, action adventure, Jurassic Park (1993). Strangely, this isn’t a greatly iconic graphic prop, as they only featured in the background of scenes. They can be seen in the …
A REAL DUEL TOLD IN THE NEWSPAPER (1809) This is a newspaper from “Saturday, October 28, 1809” and still makes for a thrilling read today. This was a present from my Dad who found it on eBay late last year. This copy of “The Traveller” …
DESIGN PROCESS OF: DOCUMENTING MY TOKYO TRIP USING 1 SECOND CLIPS This is a video of my trip to Tokyo from March 2018. I filmed a few dozen 1 second clips throughout each day of my trip and edited them together as a personal reminder …
THE JAWS POSTER This piece of design doesn’t really need any introduction. The Jaws poster is one of the most iconic images in cinema history and I’m a huge fan of the artwork. The original 20” x 30” painting was made by Roger Kastel, …
THE 10″ ALBUM COVERS FROM HARRY POTTER The “Incantation Records, Music to Charm Your Ears” and “Spell-O-Fonix, Sparkling Sounds for the Discerning Wizard” are two graphic prop album covers that feature in the Harry Potter films. These are just a small part of the plethora …
The Maid OF THE MOUNTAINS PROGRAMME (1964) This is a programme from a theatrical production of “The Maid of the Mountains” which ran at the Bristol Hippodrome in 1964-1965. I bought this programme in a charity shop in Marlborough in 2017, near my home village. …
THE PROCESS OF: THE CONVERSATIONS POSTCARD This is a postcard about the importance of conversations that evolved from something I made at uni as part of an hour long brief in early December last year. This brief involved creating a poster in black and white, …
I HEART NY & MILTON GLASER This is the classic “I Heart NY” design by the great Milton Glaser. Born in 1929, Glaser was an American graphic designer, who’s creations include the I Heart New York logo, the psychedelic Bob Dylan poster and the logos …
Wonder Woman’s AMBROTYPE Photograph This is the photograph printed on glass, that was used in Wonder Woman (2017). Taken during a scene set in 1918, this style of photograph mimics the collodion or wet plate process, an early photographic method requiring glass to be coated, sensitized, exposed and developed …
MISS CATHERINE ELAINE STEWART’S PASSPORT (1933) This is my Great Grandmother’s passport (on my Mum’s side) from 1933. Miss Catherine Elaine Stewart, who proffered to be known by her middle name Elaine, was born on 27th June 1911. Sadly, I never knew her as she …
DESIGN PROCESS OF: THE HUB MAGAZINE LOGO HUB Magazine is the official University of the West of England (UWE) student magazine. I had already been Head Designer of HUB for 2 years before this rename and rebrand in 2019. Having now graduated my 3rd and …
AUTOMAT BY EDWARD HOPPER Painted by Edward Hopper in 1927, ‘Automat’ is my joint favourite painting of all time along with ‘Swinging’ by Wassily Kandinsky. Automat is a medium sized painting 28 x 36 inches (71.4cm x 91.4cm) and first displayed on Valentine’s Day …