I’ve designed more than 25 covers for IDW Publishing’s The Transformers comic books.
My first series was All Hail Megatron where I worked closely with writer Shane McCarthy. The concept was to produce a series of covers that were eye-catching and different to the usual range of covers seen on the shelves at comic book stores.
I started the project by visiting local comic book stores and taking note of what drew the eye. The main thing I noticed was that many of the covers were quite ‘busy’; lots of action, and lots of different colours. The ones I noticed most had large areas of flat colour or subtle restraint of the colour palette, and I felt this was something I wanted to incorporate. If everything is yelling at you, the thing that stands out is the quiet thing in the corner.
With this in mind I would discuss the theme of each issue with Shane and then try to capture that theme visually in a simple, symbolic and stylistic way.
One of the main themes of All Hail Megatron was “leadership”: The different ways of leading, how the characters dealt with no leadership and their choices when they disagree with the direction of their leaders. To capture this, the designs often used elements of vintage propaganda art, particularly when dealing with the idea of a dictator leader.
The covers were well received and keenly sought-after by fans.
IDW released a stand-alone compilation book of my All Hail Megatron covers in late 2009 called The Art of Trevor Hutchison.
My cover for All Hail Megatron #9 was included in Comic Book Resources (CBR’s) 50 best covers of 2009
Bold Park Community School is an independent school in Wembley, Western Australia with innovative approaches to education.
I was fortunate to meet with the teachers and students at the school to get a sense of their philosophy before designing a website that would work well for both current and prospective parents, as well as the students, staff and researchers interested in pedagogy.
I used a hexagon motif derived from the shape of the classrooms along with a variety of colours, textures and photo elements to emphasise fun, diversity and nature - all things important to their educational philosophy.
With Clever Starfish
Recognition
2015 WA Web Award winner (Education)
Adam Hall & The Velvet Playboys are a 6-piece Rhythm & Blues band based in Perth, Western Australia. They specialise in playing music from the 40s – 60s and in particular the jazz music from New Orleans to Las Vegas.
For the last few years I have designed a wide range of vintage-inspired materials that aimed to communicate the band's old-school fun and energy. This has included a website, video projections, posters, flyers and the artwork for all their albums.
The Fly by Night Musicians Club is an iconic music venue located in the heart of Fremantle, Western Australia. It’s seen as a bit run down, but full of character and the destination for a great night out.
The old website was well-known but also quite outdated. I sought to refresh the design by keeping the gig listing prominent on the home page, whilst injecting more of the character of the old venue and updating it to a responsive web design.
We were fortunate to tour the venue and delve into The Fly’s archives, and the trip proved highly influential. Early gig design materials, venue decorations, signage and architectural elements of the building were incorporated into the final web design.
Note: Unfortunately shortly after the website launch the long-running club was evicted from the old venue and has since relocated. The current website has been reskinned to reflect the new venue.
With Clever Starfish
DC Comics had seen my propaganda-style work on IDW’s “All Hail Megatron” Transformers series and got in touch with me about the possibility of similar propaganda-inspired covers for a new Omega Men series. They were looking for something a bit different and the idea of defaced propaganda posters provided opportunity for visual interest whilst reinforcing the theme of the series.
Sugar Blue Burlesque is a performance troupe and a burlesque academy.
I have designed the identity, website and various promotional print media to evoke the imagery of early 20th century burlesque.
Website with Clever Starfish
Last Pixel is a leading 3D Animation studio in Perth, Australia specialising in 3D animation, 3D visualisation, 3D flythroughs, VFX, interactive 3D and post-production.
For their website redesign I chose a dark, neutral background and large images to allow their 3D visual work to be the focus.
With Clever Starfish
I designed the website and a series of Facebook promotional graphics for Tutti Fruitti Frozen Yogurt’s Western Australian stores.
with Clever Starfish
Cover designs for IDW Publishing’s V-Wars series: A sweeping threaded narrative of the global phenomenon known as the Vampire Wars.
V-Wars is now a Netflix TV series and they have adapted my original branding treatment for the titles.
I was commissioned to design a series of covers for San Deigo-based IDW Publishing’s GI Joe comic book.
I designed the covers to tile lengthways, which hopefully would provide an incentive for collectors to seek out the whole series.
Hullabaloo is an annual swing dance festival that brings together jazz music and dancers from across Australia. For many years I’ve worked on the the event branding, each trying to capture a blend of excitement, jazz dancing and nostalgia.
Various brand and print materials for Perth retro soul band Stratosfunk
Decmil delivers large scale, complex projects in construction, engineering and accommodation services.
Working with the team at Marketforce, I helped bring their new brand identity to an all new, responsive website.
with Marketforce
Interchange provides planning and services for Western Australians with disability.
I designed their new website with a strong focus on accessibility and usability whilst extending their friendly brand.
With Clever Starfish
Crime Stoppers WA needed to present itself as a not-for-profit organisation that serves the community and ensures the information about crimes and suspicious behaviour provided by the community was delivered securely to the appropriate people.
We freshened and updated the look, feel, content and structure with the result for the client has been a huge lift in engagement, reports and positive recognition.
with Clever Starfish, Tinderbox, The Write Words, & Fasthit
Recognition
2015 WA Web Award winner (Not-for-profit)
Retro Music Box is an entertainment agency that specialises in booking bands, singers and DJs with a retro and vintage inspired theme.
I designed a logo that aimed to show in a fun way the idea of a full-package entertainment solution. The box motif was continued as the main visual concept for the design of the website.
Website with Clever Starfish
