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Inspired by the Ridicule of Film
BY
THE RED DRESS
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TAXI Hi Olivia and Ollie, I understand that both of you are a husband and wife team. Could you share with our readers the story of how both of you met?
Olivia and Ollie Hi, thanks for having us on The Front Seat! We met in the first week of studying Graphic Design BA at Central St Martins College of Art in 1996.
Ollie had just moved up to London from Dorset and we became part of the same group of friends. We finally got married 2 years ago.
TAXI How did the moniker, 'The Red Dress' come about?
Olivia and Ollie We wanted a name for our collaboration, and The Red Dress seemed appropriate as we wanted it to be about having fun and standing out in the crowd.
TAXI What are the tools that you work with, in order to create your illustrations?
Olivia and Ollie Our illustrations always start out as a pencil sketch on paper. Sometimes we need to take photographs to work from and this is usually the best part of the job, dressing up in daft clothes and taking hilarious pictures of each other!
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Then we paint with acrylics on art board and scan the image to refine it on a Mac using a Wacom Cintiq with Photoshop, Painter and a bit of Illustrator.
Occasionally we miss out the acrylics and start working digitally straight away depending on time limitations.
TAXI Being inspired by vintage posters from B-grade films, what are your favorite films of all time, and why?
Olivia and Ollie Any of the Hammer Horror films from the 1960s such as Dracula Prince of Darkness or The Plague of the Zombies.
They are incredibly entertaining, mainly because they are so dreadful, the scenery looks as if it will fall down at any moment and there are no special effects.
You can even spot the same props and scenery from one film in another! One day we would love to make our own Hammer Horror Film. Don't say we didn't warn you!
TAXI What is it about B-grade films and vintage movie posters that both of you love so much?
Olivia and Ollie The ridiculousness of them! The posters are similar to the films in the way that they are always over acted, the lighting is overly dramatic, the type can be really badly drawn and it doesn't matter, They are a lot of fun and totally cool.
Occasionally we miss out the acrylics and start working digitally straight away depending on time limitations.
TAXI Being inspired by vintage posters from B-grade films, what are your favorite films of all time, and why?
Olivia and Ollie Any of the Hammer Horror films from the 1960s such as Dracula Prince of Darkness or The Plague of the Zombies.
They are incredibly entertaining, mainly because they are so dreadful, the scenery looks as if it will fall down at any moment and there are no special effects.
You can even spot the same props and scenery from one film in another! One day we would love to make our own Hammer Horror Film. Don't say we didn't warn you!
TAXI What is it about B-grade films and vintage movie posters that both of you love so much?
Olivia and Ollie The ridiculousness of them! The posters are similar to the films in the way that they are always over acted, the lighting is overly dramatic, the type can be really badly drawn and it doesn't matter, They are a lot of fun and totally cool.
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TAXI What is The Red Dress currently working on now?
Olivia and Ollie This week we are working on several interesting jobs including an illustration for GQ Magazine Australia, posters for a new Club night called Love Strike in London, and working again with the wonderful fashion designer Ashish.
TAXI One of your artworks, titled 'The Hoodies' has sinister undertones, yet the image looks very compelling. Could you share with us how the inspiration for that piece came about?
Olivia and Ollie At the time there was a lot in the papers about Teenage stabbings and gangs in the UK.
Teenagers generally were getting a lot of bad press and had seemed to become a faceless mass of everything that was bad about our society. We wanted to produce an image of the monster that the media was portraying.
TAXI Share with us the experience of the most memorable project that both of you have worked on.
Working with Planks Ski Clothing was definitely one of the most enjoyable projects.
Not only were they really laid back, friendly people, but they let us get away withskeweringsnowboarders on a giant robots ski pole!!
Actually there is more work with them in the pipeline so we are looking forward to that. Also working with Ashish is great as you get to glimpse inside the glamourous, sparkly world of fashion and go to the shows at London Fashion week!
Olivia and Ollie This week we are working on several interesting jobs including an illustration for GQ Magazine Australia, posters for a new Club night called Love Strike in London, and working again with the wonderful fashion designer Ashish.
TAXI One of your artworks, titled 'The Hoodies' has sinister undertones, yet the image looks very compelling. Could you share with us how the inspiration for that piece came about?
Olivia and Ollie At the time there was a lot in the papers about Teenage stabbings and gangs in the UK.
Teenagers generally were getting a lot of bad press and had seemed to become a faceless mass of everything that was bad about our society. We wanted to produce an image of the monster that the media was portraying.
TAXI Share with us the experience of the most memorable project that both of you have worked on.
Working with Planks Ski Clothing was definitely one of the most enjoyable projects.
Not only were they really laid back, friendly people, but they let us get away withskeweringsnowboarders on a giant robots ski pole!!
Actually there is more work with them in the pipeline so we are looking forward to that. Also working with Ashish is great as you get to glimpse inside the glamourous, sparkly world of fashion and go to the shows at London Fashion week!
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TAXI Could you show us a picture of your workspace/describe it to us?
Olivia and Ollie We work in a studio at the end of our garden, we refer to it as 'The Shed'. It's a lovely place to work as not only is there acandelabraand a chez longe but you get to look out at all the wild life that inhabits our overgrown garden. Rabbits, squirrels, hedgehogs, frogs, woodpeckers to name a few.
TAXI Before we end, where would you like a TAXI to take you to now?
We would like to go to Hong Kong Please. I was born in Hong Kong but haven't been back for many years. I'd love to show Ollie and Jake (13 year old son) around and eat lots of yummy food!
Olivia and Ollie We work in a studio at the end of our garden, we refer to it as 'The Shed'. It's a lovely place to work as not only is there acandelabraand a chez longe but you get to look out at all the wild life that inhabits our overgrown garden. Rabbits, squirrels, hedgehogs, frogs, woodpeckers to name a few.
TAXI Before we end, where would you like a TAXI to take you to now?
We would like to go to Hong Kong Please. I was born in Hong Kong but haven't been back for many years. I'd love to show Ollie and Jake (13 year old son) around and eat lots of yummy food!