#light illustration

[florindigo]

I've made this installation for @mescla.viseu festival. I enjoyed so much to make it and play with lights. Thank you so much for visiting our space! You are incredibly kind and cool! ❤

[inkpapermemory]

[eightypence]

[interviewtion]

Darren Pearson Interviewtion

You may know Darren Pearson better by his online monicker Darius Twin. He has been creating intricate illustrations with light since 2007. The images he takes hold a dreamlike quality where fanciful skeletons, dinosaurs, and aliens exist in beautifully lighted real-world locations. In this interviewtion he talks about what it has been like bringing these dreamscapes into everyday life for the past seven years. 

Q: What is your process for creating one of your light illustrations?

A: It’s usually one of two things - 1) An intently well thought out concept, pre-sketched with a notion of the specific area I would like to illustrate… Or 2) I just travel somewhere interesting I’ve heard about or seen on the internet and think up ideas on the spot. 

Q: What tools do you use to create your illustrations (camera, light, etc.)?

A: I use a Canon 6D and Manfrotto tripod, with a small LED pen-light (for illustrations) and large Dorcy spotlight with gels (for background colors). 

Q: How did you first discover light painting and what made you want to try it out?

A: I picked up this book my roommate had on the coffee table back in 2007 and was flipping through it while waiting for a friend when I came across an image of Pablo Picasso drawing with light. It grabbed my attention because the glowing line was just floating in mid-air. Not very 1949 if you ask me, so I asked my friend who was a professional photographer at the time how this was done. He explained long exposure photography to me and I immediately requested a few experiments. After a few shots, I really wanted to start doing my own light paintings…so I did, for the past seven years.

Q: What is the most challenging aspect of creating light illustrations?

A: To have the illustration I do in light, match the illustration I have in mind. 

Q: It seems from your daily light-leak feed that you recently went on a trip to Europe. Has this inspired your more recent light illustrations in any way?

A: It was refreshing to change my surroundings and shake things up a bit. I feel like it enabled me to be very passionate about what I created in each location I visited because I wasn’t sure if I would ever visit the same location again. The people I met also helped me see different perspectives on photography.

Q: You recently helped create a music video for the song Somnambulator by Deadphones. What was the process of creating that music video like?

A: Deadphones was a band I’ve listed to for many years (Formerly ‘Cuckoo Chaos’) who I was always interested in shooting a music video for. Their sound is psychedelic and kind of nocturnal, so I felt like our styles matched well. The process was trying to give their instruments a visual range, they all had personality to them and I wanted to express that through a live performance. 

Q: How are your stop-motion videos created? Is there a trick for keeping track spatially in the air for where you are drawing in each frame?

A: I do the stop-motion stuff one frame at a time, and the trick is to get the illustrations to move as naturally as possible. Easier said than done of course! For me, I like to shoot each photo one after another and not stop until the very end because if you try to look at each shot after you illustrate, you’ll surely lose your spot - the star-trails will move, lighting won’t be the same, etc. It helps to have someone attentive helping you out…that, or a super long-range shutter remote. 

Q: What aspects of your life influence your illustrations?

A: Virtually every part of my life influences my illustrations from where I live to where I travel, the crowd I hang out with etc. But I really like skateboarding, animals, aliens and dinosaurs and I think all of those subjects are infinitely interesting, so I try to share those if they come out well. 

Q: How do you come up with the characters that recur in your illustrations?

A: They evolve toward themselves in a sense.. At first I drew stick-figures, followed by line drawings, and then came the skeletons. 

Q: One of the most stunning things looking through your portfolio is the diversity in both characters and location. Where are some of the most memorable places that you have created light illustrations?

A: Racetrack Playa in Death Valley is the most Zen I’ve ever been. Yosemite - camping out at the base of Half-Dome was incredible, had a visit by a bear that night. Recently, on the north coast of Spain we went to Barro, there was a natural bridge that went over the ocean - very treacherous (but amazing)!

Q: It seems like a major part of creating these pieces is the experience of going out, finding the perfect spot, and taking the time to illustrate. What are some of your favorite stories attached to your illustrations?

A: Another bear story in Yosemite: While shooting the animation ‘Light Goes On' a bear followed me on the way from shooting a meadow back to our campsite. It trailed off after a few hundred yards but certainly got my heart racing. 

In Paris we shot a historic park late at night then they locked us in the gates. I was with my girlfriend and we were about to hop this very sketchy spiked fence when a stranger on a bike asks ‘would you like me to let you out instead?’ He proceeded to take out a skeleton key and unlock the gate for us at 3am. Weird and wonderful.  

At a graveyard a man in a white truck pulls up a few hundred yards in the distance; I assume it’s security so I quickly finish my illustration, pack-up and head toward the truck (and my car behind it). The man looks at me and gasps, he says ‘who are you?!’ in an accusatory tone. I say, ‘I’m out here shooting photos, I do light-paintings - they’re like illustrations with LED lights’. He says, ‘oh, you’re ok, you’re ok…I thought you were a ghost!’

Q: What are some of your personal favorite illustrations you have created?

A: 

San Diego - It’s home, and the writing came out great.

Holy Spirit - Shot on medium format film. It’s of interest to me because I can clearly see a face in the illustration - that kind of detail is just so difficult to achieve. 

Attraction to Light - A 13 minute illustration, I like the reflections and details.

Downtown Sabre-tooth - Downtown LA rooftop.

Happy Campers - Camping with friends after a long hike at the base of Half Dome in Yosemite.

Q: Do you do any other illustration work besides your light illustrations?

A: I co-own a clothing company called ‘Danger' - I do all the illustrations for various products there. 

Q: What big projects are on the horizon for you?

A: Much more work for Danger, but also working on a new light-painted animation that will feature a more 3D light-sculpture style than the skateboarding skeleton in ‘Light Goes On’.

Darren is diligent about trying to post a “Daily Light Leak” over at his website. He also has high-quality prints of his work available at his online store. To keep up to date on his work make sure to follow him on Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and/or Facebook.