Adam Celeban's Gallery - Artist • Designer • Illustrator

Welcome to Adam's Blog-Portfolio-Gallery Thing!Adam Celeban is a well respected Artist, Designer and Illustrator, based in Sydney. Get in touch to have something unique created just for you!

Nanna at the Mall 10

12th August 2010 - Digital Painting (Photoshop).

I was invited to exhibit my work at Brunswick Street Gallery in a group show called "Digital Dreams", that exhibits nine digital painters from all over Australia.

This work originated from an image that popped into my mind, while sitting in the mall, just watching people. This little ancient lady sitting down devouring an icecream one morning before I went to work. Her weathered face and beak-like mouth made me think of a snapping turtle.

I completed this work over a few evenings, and got it done just in time to get it printed, framed and shipped to Melbourne for the show.

Aussie Santa 10

10th December 2009 - Digital Painting (Photoshop). Duration: 3 hours.

Merry Christmas Everyone!
Created for a Christmas card, this speed-painting is a new re-invention of Santa Claus in the land Down Under.

It's quite apparent to anyone who gives it any thought, that a reindeer-drawn sleigh is a most impractical form of transport for anyone intending to travel in Australia.

Santa rides an "obviously magical" quad bike drawn by six red kangaroos. He is adorned with black gumboots and gloves, tight little red shorts, and a cookie and beer-stained singlet. His red akubra, edged with cotton wool protects his dusty face from the hot Australian sun.

It's a tough ride, made all the tougher by the need to make a quick change into his red robes, in the dark, whilst flying over the Pacific Ocean, island-hopping his way to America. I really hope Santa finds a moment to take a break and have a shower!

Wall•E Painting Made Easy 10

Product Design 2008, Adam Celeban - Design & Product Development for Licensed Product, Brandcorp

This range of products created for Brandcorp (and Disney) are a set that I'm particularly proud of, because I managed to drive it from idea to completion myself.

Early on, I recognised the opportunity that the release of Wall•E presented to crafting. I consulted with product management staff about what kinds of products would suit the Disney licence available to us, as well as the demographics that may be interested in the products we could create.

Wall•E Painting Made Easy was the result! They are a set of four designs, each including a pre-printed pre-mounted artist's canvas, brush, paint tubes, and instructions.

Wall•E is absolutely excellent. I had the opportunity to watch it a week back. Very impressive, so it’s great to know that we’ve backed it with an excellent product such as yours.Ed Wright, Disney Consumer Products

Responsibilities

✓ Product Concept
✓ Product Design
✓ Package Design

Disappearing Act 10

29th October - 1st November 2009 - Chalk Art. Duration: 3 1/2 days.

This latest chalk art piece is quite different from my work in previous years, such as The Blue Dodo (2008) and Harry DeFaux (2007).

While I seem to have perpetuated a theme of animal characters for my work, the difference in this year's work is in the circumstance. This year the Chalk Urban Art Festival has quite a few changes. The first of these changes is that this year there's an environmental cause. To be honest, at first this stumped me for ideas but eventually, with the help of my clever and loving girlfriend, we came up with the idea (as presented) for the new theme of "climate change".

Another change that was made this year was the stipulation that everybody works on canvas. At first I thought this went completely against the whole idea of the thing... the impermanence... the elements... but quite quickly I realised it wasn't such a bad idea because we always get rained out, and especially because as a canvas, at the end, I can sell it!

This piece is available for purchase (original artwork on canvas, a little larger than 2x3m). Please contact me if you are interested.

All Aboard the Clandestine Express!+

Created for the CGSociety Challenge XXIV, titled "Secret Agent" (11 June 2009 - 10 September 2009) - Digital Painting (Photoshop).

Originally published through CG Society, this work is my entry for their "Secret Agent" CG Challenge of 2009.

This digital painting is a tribute to cartoon spies, as we remember them; short in stature, green skin, moustaches, trench coats pulled tight, hats pulled down low, shady shifty eyes. My inspiration for this piece was drawn from 40s - 60s cartoons.
I immersed myself in cartoons such as TV Ads of the time, Hannah Barbera, The Pink Panther, The Dover Boys, Dudley Do-Right (particularly the villain Snidely Whiplash), Inspector Gadget and many more...

Wolfman 10

5 March 2009 - Digital Painting (Photoshop). Duration: 9 hours.

This "Werewolf" is the beginning of a mythical creatures series. The intent of the series is to inject a little more reality, as I see it, into the way these creatures are seen.

I've always been interested in mythology, but aside from that, I am often dissatisfied with the creature designs I see in many movies and TV shows.

This painting closely followed the viewing of the newest of the Underworld movies. I enjoyed the experience because I spent most of it imagining what more could be done with Vampires and Werewolves.

In this instance, the werewolf is clearly more wolf (Grey Wolf specifically), but retains the pink skin of a man underneath, and the shirt stretched to extreme above.

The Blue Bird +

7-9 September 2008 - Impermanent Chalk Art, 2x3m

In this work, the Blue Dodo character popped into my head singing (or wailing or whining), with a banjo on his lap. He appeared just in time - a day of two before I had to submit my entry to the competition.

The dodo character came into creation whilst, once again, listening to a song, this time by C.W. Stoneking at the Darling Harbour Jazz and Blues Festival about a month beforehand. Funnily enough, the song was called "The Dodo Blues".

Office Pandamonium +

14 March 2007 - Digital Painting (Photoshop). Duration: Approx. 2 days.

I realised that after a year at my last job, I hadn’t been drawing. Well, almost not at all. I think I remember an occasion during that year when I just had to draw something to tell myself I could still do it and the talent hadn’t begun to deteriorate. Thankfully I’ve still got it… but I was rusty, and definitely out of practice.

When I described my job at to at least 3 friends, ones I hadn’t seen in a while, they were all surprised that it didn’t include any drawing. They all imagined me doing something where I was drawing. And to be completely honest with myself, so did I.

It seems the video games industry has had a remarkably draining effect on many other artists as well. At the surface it sounds like a dream job to "geek-out" over, but I’m not sure if it's so good when other people are more excited about your job than you are.

Anyway, I got inspired watching one of Bobby Chiu’s video casts, and made a start on some digital illustration challenges with my friend, Mr Marques, where we each do a drawing concept. This, the first one is under the theme of “Panda with office supplies”. This painting has been strongly influenced by the movie Office Space.

The Monster Maintenance Manual +

Illustration Competition - Adobe Illustrator, May 2009.

These three illustrations were created for an illustration competition, run by Murdoch Books. The Winner will have the opportunity to do 70 illustrations for Peter Macinnis' new book, The Monster Maintenance Manual, due for release in late 2010. The creatures illustrated are a Nose Ghoul, a Quarking Duck and a long-legged under-bed pig.

A quick look around the internet reveals some other entrants' cute little illustrations. My favourites (other than my own, of course) are the ones by Miss Leo, Pseudo Rhys, and especially Fiona Lee.

Harry DeFaux +

7-9 September 2007 - Impermanent Chalk Art, 2x3m

On my first exhibition for the Chalk Urban Art Festival of 2007 I produced "Harry De Faux", a character that had been playing around in my head for a little while, mostly in a vibrant snappy imagined dance to Danny Kaye's Outfox the Fox, whenever I listened to it.

Harry even made an appearance in a dream as a con-artist of sorts, trying to get into some place... the details of dreams always get sketchy, but it had excellent comic value! In that dream, there also appeared a little French tortoise, who is yet to take the journey across the void between my head and paper.

For inspiration I took a little of Fred Astaire and a little of Harry Fox, the inventor of the Foxtrot and Harry DeFaux's semi-namesake.