The Work That Made Me: Stuart Frost
Stuart Frost, senior retouching artist at Curious Productions, works with many renowned photographers and produces both editorial and advertising work. His impressive retouching skills have resulted in working with an envious roster of household name clients.
When not in the retouching studio, Stuart loves photography, hacking around the golf course, and hanging out with his family and dog.
But what got him into this business? And what pieces of work annoy him on a daily basis? Which classic album cover still revs his engine? Find out below.
The ad from my childhood that stays with me…
I really loved the advert for scotch video tapes using the skeleton and bird - which goes on and on and on. Because it's funny, original and has great character (especially the bird in the cage). It still sticks in my mind after all these years.
The album cover that made me want to get into the industry…
That has to be The Oasis front cover for their 'Be here now' album. I liked the way the band were comped in - I actually thought the car had been retouched in! However they wanted it to truly reflect their rock and roll lifestyle by submerging an actual Rolls into the pool of a former playboy mansion.
The ads that I keep revisiting…
The Harvey Nichols campaign by Dimitri Daniloff. Pinhead and Balloon, Moth and Bulb Heads and Fire and Ice. It was absolutely genius!
My first professional project…
The launch of the new Mercedes M Class model whilst I was at Springer & Jacoby.
The piece of work that made me so angry that I vowed to never make anything like *that*…
I know from experience that the end result is not always what is intended by the artist, often many factors including bad decision making by any of the number of people involved in a production can change an image in a way that we as artists might not agree with, but that is the nature of the beast, and we’re here to provide a service at the end of the day - so I tend to have some sympathy if I see something that perhaps could have looked better on a poster or in a magazine. Never is the phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” more true than when it comes to a retouching brief! One person’s vision can be wildly different from another’s.
The piece of work that still makes me jealous…
I can honestly say that I don’t feel jealousy when I see a nice piece of work, and that will come across as possibly a bit pompous!? But it's more about respect, I respect all forms of art and design and I enjoy seeing how that all manifests itself in all walks of life. Sometimes some envy slips in if I see a job that I like and wonder how I would have approached it, or what my take on a subject would have been, but never jealousy.
The creative project that changed my career…
The first job I did with the talented Alice Tonge at 4Creative and Channel 4 for the launch campaign of 'Ugly Betty' in 2007 - it started a great relationship and journey with them which I am still on.
The work that I’m proudest of…
Channel 4’s campaign to promote 'The Circle' with Emma Willis. I created five hybrid identities for Emma including one of her as a man which was a mixture of her features and body with my own.
I was involved in this and it makes me cringe…
I've been lucky enough not to have made anything that makes me hate myself too much!
The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most…
That would have to be 'Derry Girls'. There was so much involved in the process from start to finish thanks to the great art direction by James Chambers. The initial photography of the cast was shot by the fantastic 'Dan Burn Forti' in a London studio. I then had to comp the cast together to make the perfect group shot. This was then turned into a stand out piece of street art by a pair of artists called UV Arts. Then the photographer Dan returned to shoot the street art which was then retouched and graded by me to be made into an ad for the return of the show. The mural has become a huge tourist attraction in Northern Ireland.
