each show provides unique challenges and it usually ends up being more about finding solutions than having answers.
In that experience plays a key role, but so does flexibility.
Being a graphic deisgner in tv production necessitates a degree of chameleon.
Within any given show you can be tasked with any number of time periods and styles to create or reproduce.
My background in History has helped me tremendously with assessing what questions to ask in order to get the best technical and creative result.
IAN TURNER is a Graphic Artist based in Hamilton, Ontario.
He primarily works in TV and Film as a member of the Art Department (DGC since 2015).
He is also an award-winning Children’s Illustrator and likes to muck around with scraps in the woodshop.
I find inspiration from the design world, but also from the __ ephemera that litters the mundane.
INDEX
Gallery by subject
• PROPS
• FLOORS & WALLS
• MURALS & ART
• BACKDROPS
• LAYOUT
Case Studies & Progress
• SOMETHING VERY BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN (Coming Soon)
• WAYWARD
• CHUCKY
• Obsidian Hotel
•
Props
Products
Layout
Magazines & Newspapers
MAPS
documents
posters
floors & Walls
walls and floors & Windows
Murals & Paintings
Storefronts
Backdrops
I’ll be honest, backdrops are one of my least favourite parts of the job, but I understand that they are important. It is important to work with set designers, Production designers and D.O.P.’s to get them just right.
For the Graphic designer they are expensive, take a lot of trust and rarely come with much of a creative payoff.
That being said - I have experience with backdrops, understand them and understand their incredible importance to the overall look of the show.
Here are a few that I am particularly proud of and the reasons for that:
If you work around film long enough you inevitably do a White House.
What made the white house in Chucky different was Production Designer John Dondertman’s insistance that the White House IS a haunted house - Not in a cartoony way, but in a way that feels ominous and eerie.
Tall Pines police department
CHUCKY - School of the Incarnate Lord
NBC UNIVERSAL/SYFY | Production Design: John Dondertman
INTENT
The intent was
APPROACH
The approach was
EXECUTION
For the execution
WAYWARD - TALL PINES ACADEMY AND TOWN
NETFLIX | Production Design: Emmanuelle Frechette
INTENT
The intent was
APPROACH
The approach was
EXECUTION
For the execution
ABOUT IAN
Ian works primarily as a 1st asst Art Director - Graphic Designer for film and television production where his job revolves around research, ingenuity, speed, and creative understanding to create props and set pieces for film and television productions. Ian has been an Art Department member of the Director’s Guild of Canada since 2016 and has worked consistently since then on projects including Chucky, The Umbrella Academy, Kim’s Convenience. A full list of credits and more pertinent information can be found on his DGC profile.
He also maintains his practice as an Illustrator - primarily working for a children’s audience. Ian has illustrated numerous spots and covers as well as the award-winning kids’ books Biometrics (Maria Birmingham) and Mad for Ads (Erica Fyvie).
Ian’s approach to illustration tiptoes along lines of goofiness/thoughtfulness, irreverence/kindness, research/instinct.
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Ian has been creating graphic art for television shows for the past decade as a member of the Director’s Guild of Canada. It is a discipline that suits him well for a variety of reasons.
I love the collaborative aspect of the job. Making art or designs is often a lonely job, but Art Departments are always interesting, if not fun places to be providing ___ to work with a wide variety of skilled trades and artists and I appreciate the Accountability that comes with working in such an environment.
Perhaps my most important skillset is my research, which I honed studying History at the University of Guelph. I believe this gave me a strong base of knowledge and context that is important in an age of facts cherry-picked by ai and algorithms.
as he’s able to use the research skills he learned while studying history at the university of guelph
-research
-teamwork/collboratiion
-accountability
-problem-solving
FILM & TV
I love working the in art department because it provides a constant challenge.
I get to play different roles as I design and there is nowhere else to really get that opportunity.
this discipline of design suits me well for a variety of reasons.
teamwork & Collaboration - most art is a fairly solitary task, but
