Ian Perriman

Ian Perriman - Digital Visualiser

Ian Perriman is part illustrator, part artist, part software expert but all digital visualiser.

I caught him after (his generally long) hours in Mortlake, London, fresh back from visualising in Australia for a range of prestigious brands, the most exciting for me being the 7 deadly sins range of Magnum ice cream flavours.

I saw skills and a portfolio to impress the sternest of critics. I saw Nestle Kit Kat visualisations, Britvic Tango fruit flavours, Molton Brown skin care products and many other famous brands that I recognised, as well as some inspiring Thai style illustrations that I fell in love with.

Ian has an eye for the finest detail in colour and form and showed me static illustrations of flowing milk and fresh chocolate that made my mouth water. I was intrigued to know more about how he created these masterpieces.

It seems that the process starts with a client request for say a packaging requirement - maybe photography just doesn't cut it, or maybe it needs a particular look and feel that they can't get any other way.

A call to Ian's agency is relayed to him and he motorbikes off or flies abroad to an invariably hassled and worried client. The jobs seem always to be high pressure with promotions needing top quality artwork and are always under deadline.

Ian takes his Macintosh laptop filled with the latest software - the most worn out and virtual page-turned being Adobe Photoshop - his digital camera and pencils and paper. Yes - it all still starts out on paper!

His initial sketches and discussions determine the final brief and he's left alone to perform his magic. "I spend just about all my days drawing pictures" he confirms.

I asked about some of the tricks of the trade and was introduced to the realities of the commercial artist. The final objective is what counts and the visualiser will do whatever he/she can to achieve that brief - even it it's not all about drawing pictures.

Ian admitted to an Archimedes "Eureka" moment one time in his bath when he spotted a Kit Kat biscuit texture staring out at him from his bath sponge. Moments later, still dripping wet, his digital camera at hand, that sponge was beamed into Photoshop and it's image later formed the central biscuit layer of his Kit Kat visualisation.

Ian Perriman is also part magician!

Ian Perriman's website can be found at: IanPerriman.co.uk