sam chivers - Pensions 40

Here's six recent projects that I've worked on that I'd like to share with you all. It's been a busy start to the year to say the least. Plus I recently bacame a Dad so i'm learning the manic juggling act of work and family...

The first two illustrations here were made for GQ France. The article was about Transhumanism that explores ideas of how science and technology can advance the human body and mind beyond it's current limitations.

It's a devisive subject that raises questions at the very core of who we think we are as human beings.

The main thrust of this first Illustration was the idea of a Thousand Year old man, like I said; it's a devisive subject.

Here's the pencil rough - at first it was just going to be the head, but it was agreed that we should give it some context so added the cityscape later.

This second illustration revolves around the growing industry of DNA screening to identify potential threats to an individual's health. I was directed towards the The film Gattica as a potential inspiration, I was definitely drawn towards the 1930s Futurist aesthetic in that film.

The second project here was produced for New Republic Magazine, The article was titled The Last Utopian: Kim Stanley Robinson and was about the current trend of dystopian visions in science fiction and popular culture, and how very few authors write towards a more Utopian outlook. Kim Stanley Robison's fiction explores solutions to humanity's problems through science, in this case 'Science in the Capital'.
As it's set in Washington DC, Capitol Hill was the starting point, but looking a bit redundent surrounded by hill type buildings partially inspired by HG Well's The Shape of Things to Come.

From New Republic to New Humanist magazine. This was a cover I made that accompanies a feature about Robotics, and how Robots and Humans will potentially relate to each in the future, with people on one side striving for perfect human replicants and those on the other side who believe we should be building not android or gendered robots but more practical non-human formed robots (like TARS from Interstellar)
The artcile talked about how robots tend to reflect us as humans so I took the idea of a mirror as a starting point.

Here's some progress images. On the left there is my initial idea, it felt a bit too overt and obvious so I decided to make the character a little more nonchalant, performing an everyday human task blissfully unaware he's a robot.

This next pair of Illustrations were for Institutional Investor magazine! And were for an annual ranking they do called Pensions 40. Which i'm guessing is like top of the pops for pensions.

The idea was to have a figure traversing a tricky landscape whilst carrying their nest-egg (pension).

Here's some of the roughs. The first thumbnail sketch is an idea that didn't make the cut, often i'll get asked to come up with several ideas for one illustration, which then get whittled down to one idea to be developed.

Next up is an illustration for Bright about the future of the classroom. In addition to making the illustration i was also asked to write a few paragraphs (which has never happened before) about how I envisioned the future classroom, You can read what I wrote here

Finally it's Pi-Day on March 14th. This is the second poster I've made for this Marseille based mini festival (now in it's 3rd year) celebrating the mysterious number Pi. It seems to be getting bigger every year.

Here's the rough version. Yes I know I got all the accents on the wrong 'E's, luckily there were some highly educated mathematicians on hand to help with the punctuation.

So there you are, that's six recent projects. If you've got this far I want to say thanks for having a look and (maybe) reading my ramblings.