Stewart Michael Bruce

Stewart Michael Bruce: Illustrator, Photomontage

“I first started off in the traditional art mediums—drawing and painting. I wanted to incorporate this history into my current artwork. I want my work have a fine art feel and not just straight digital look. As I came from a traditional background, I wanted to bring that element into my photomontage. I used to do oil paintings and printmaking, some batik. I wanted to bring all those elements into my art.
I attended Great Yarmouth College on an Art and Design course, passing my BTEC Diploma in Art and Design and Graphic Design. From there, I studied at Norwich School of Art and Design where I graduated with a BA (Hons) in Illustration and Graphic Design. While at university, I was honored to receive the Noel Spencer Award for Illustration.
Then, in the mid-nineties, I came across a magazine called Computer Arts. This particular issue featured an artist named Hannah Gal. She had several of her art pieces in there. I had seen photomontage before but this was the first time I had seen digital photomontage and it inspired me to find out how she created the images. I went on a quest to find out as much information as I could on the software that she used to create her images, something called Adobe Photoshop. Back then it was version 3.1 (now it’s in version CS3). That was the first step of my thousand-step journey.
Now, I try for a different look than what’s out there. Most of the digital artwork you see in magazines is very mechanical looking, sharp-edged and crisp. Like all artists, I want to create something that looks different, something that people would see and hopefully remember. I try to maintain an organic look by using drawings, painted backgrounds, handmade text, and any other object that I can find to put into my work.
I also really enjoy photography and incorporate my photography into my art whenever possible. When I got a hold of Photoshop, I found that its versatility allowed me to experiment with my photos to create completely new images. This was so exciting! Also, it made my job a lot less time consuming because theprocess of using traditional photography (film) takes so much more time—from taking the picture to development to scanning to starting work on my image. Now all I have to do is take the photograph and the images are as good or better than the standard film process.
I come home, plug in my lead into my computer, and download my pictures into Adobe Lightroom, which is a digital darkroom that offers more control over my images and allows me to start the creative process almost immediately. Once I get an idea, I can go out and take the images I need, come home, plug in the connection into my computer and I’m there. I can start working on the piece that day instead of a couple days later.
I find that my emotions and passions, things that I care about and want to share, find life in my art. For example, Life in Full Colour my response to the demonstrations in London about the Iraq war. Life Is Sweet is about how sweets take you back to your childhood—going to the shops with your mum, looking through the glass, choosing the best way to spend your ten-pence worth of pocket money. Going down your childhood memory lane and how happy you were having your penny-chews—those kinds of happy memories that sweets invoke, that’s what I wanted to express.
Another one of my pieces, I’m Still Waiting, is about my nephew, Wesley. His dad died when he was only nine months old. He’s always asking his mum where his dad was and why other children have daddies and he didn’t. For a long time he couldn’t work that out.
One day we went to the beach and I was taking photographs of him. When I developed the film, this one image stood out. He had his arms outstretched and there was this shadowy figure in the background. It reminded me of him asking for his dad, as if he was reaching out for a father who wasn’t—who couldn’t—be there. He just wanted to be hugged, to be loved just like all the other children. That heart-wrenching moment somehow found its way into my work.
At the moment I work from home. This works quite well for me at this time, I feel comfortable in the knowledge that all I have to do in the morning to go straight to work is get out of bed. When the ideas are not flowing, I have my books and the TV at hand, to find inspiration or just to relax. I am always working on new projects and techniques. As an artist, I constantly have to challenge myself and my art form. The next level that I would like to explore is video installation art which I feel would push my current technique into something even more creative and challenging. After that, who knows?”