Illustrator Andrew Archer’s Sci-Fi Vision

Self-taught illustrator and art director New Zealander Andrew Archer was commissioned by London-based publisher The Folio Society to create the cover illustration and a series of internal artworks exploring the drug-infused, psychotic scenes and passages from Philip K. Dick’s 1977 cult sci-fi novel, A Scanner Darkly.

Archer’s vision for one half of the project, under the art direction of Raquel Leis Allion, earnt his spot in this year’s World Illustration Awards shortlist.

Archer hadn’t read or seen the 2006 film (directed by Richard Linklater) before the project. While reading the book for the first time he knew the style he wanted to put forward to The Folio Society.

“It was a fresh look for me. I liked that I would read and watch it with the project in mind and find interesting parts of the writing which I wouldn’t normally notice if I was involved in a brief,” Archer says.

Archer’s style is normally a mix of art of Asia (after living there), pop culture and comic books.

“It’s almost always fluid in the line work and offbeat in colour palette,” he says.

Now living in Melbourne, Archer works on visual branding, album covers, animated television commercials, film and sports posters, editorial illustrations and even a pizza-inspired typeface.

He’s currently working with Chinese pop star Chris Lee on an on-going collaboration for her tour, creating artwork for the NBA players awards, “which is naturally the best since I love basketball,” he says, and working on a campaign for Audi incorporating photo and illustration.

Original article by Miriam Harris, Digital Arts Online, May 9, 2018.

Illustration by Andrew Archer.