Retouching and Illustration | The Radio Times Christmas Quiz 2020

The Big Picture Quiz from the legendary Radio Times Christmas Issue. There are clues to the top 50 shows of 2020. There’s a post about how the Quiz is made here.

I hope you have as much fun solving them as I did setting them. Over 200 hundred photos, 3D renders and illustrations. Yes, it does takes ages. There are prizes to be won, so I can’t answer any questions or offer hints until the competition is closed!

Radio Times, Call the Doctor, The Daleks are back!

Out today: Dalek photograph by Ben Blackall, my retouching & background photography (shot on a ski trip to France). I particularly enjoyed putting the snow on the logo.

Strictly Come Dancing | Radio Times

Out this week. My mum’s favourite programme.

Sir Terence Conran

Terence Conran sadly passed on today. Years ago I had the pleasure of spending the day with him to photograph an environmental portrait for the Observer magazine’s ‘Room of my Own’ series. Shot on large format film in his flat above the Design Museum by the Thames.

Creative Retouching | The Radio Times Big Picture Sitcom Quiz 2020

Out this week in the Radio Times. There are clues to the titles of 50 British sitcoms in this picture to puzzle over. There are prizes to be won - so please don’t ask me any questions!

Movie Quiz | Complex Compositing

We all need distractions from the news & the visual quizzes that I’ve created over the years are very popular at the moment. I’ve just finished a new one that will be published in the Radio Times shortly.

In the meantime, here’s a previous one for your puzzlement. There are clues to 50 famous movie films here. Can you solve all of them?

Trafalgar Square. Deserted.

I live in central London and go running most days. It feels very different now.

Creative Retouching | Radio Times Christmas Quiz 2019

A complex composite of over 100 images from many sources, photography, illustration, cgi, with added snow.

There are clues to the titles of 50 TV programmes in this picture. How many can you find? There’s a big prize to be won - the rules are in the ‘Legendary’ Christmas issue of the Radio Times.

I’ve been creating this quiz for many years: it’s one of my favourite projects, even though it takes ages. It’s become an institution and I know it has a very enthusiastic following. I occasionally look at the online forums as people try to solve all 50 clues, which is fascinating. BUT I never post anything there. AND please don’t ask me anything until the competition has closed!

Christmas Typography

I have a thing about Christmas lettering…

Alamy.com Image ID: 2AE706B

Golf vs. Baseball

Great use of colour by the art director of Golf Magazine. Those stitches were challenging.

One week, 4 Radio Times Covers: Rugby World Cup

Out this week. Four different covers for the same issue, one for each region. A big dilemma for the Radio Times - the rugby was the the same week that Strictly Come Dancing starts. Which to go for?

This was the outer cover, the one you could see in the shops. But - take this cover off to fill in the results wall chart on the other side and voila! - like Russian dolls, inside this cover is another, Strictly cover.

Stellar Plate Snowflake v1

I’m experimenting with showing 3d models on the web. Most embedded players use lots of individual images - slow and limiting, but this is uses a real 3d model and can be seen from any angle at any scale.

Translucency is brilliant. Take a look at it from the back. Click on the stack of papers icon & you can play with the textures yourself.

Stellar Plate Snowflake by Ian_McKinnell on Sketchfab

Sir David Attenborough

This weeks Radio Times. There’s a lot more work on this than you might imagine. The image of Sir David is a composite of a number of photographs by Ray Burmiston

Safe as Houses

I finally got around to finishing this image for a picture library. You can find it at Alamy.com The Christmas picture quizzes are brilliant for spinning off ideas.

Radio Times Christmas Quiz 2018. Creative Retouching

By popular demand…

This years Big Picture Quiz for the special Christmas issue, created with Jacob Howard from an original idea by Paul Smith. There are visual clues here to 50 popular TV shows on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Netflix and Sky.

3d printed snowflake 2018

I was delighted when Don Komarechka, the Canadian photographer asked me to model another snowflake this year, building on what we learnt last year and taking it further. Don’s having them printed in silver (contact him if you’d like one) - and I’ve produced a few in plastic, available now: IanMcKinnell.com/store

Radio 2 in Meltdown

Radio 2 are having a few problems illustrated by this commission for the Radio Times. Modelled entirely from scratch, but closely based on the iconic Roberts Radio. I really enjoyed creating the badge & working out how to create the grille in full 3d with maximum detail but with minimum polygons.

Logitech Tattoo

This has to be the weirdest use of one of my images ever…

On the right is an image I created for Logitech a couple of years ago. It’s an individual key from a gaming keyboard. Gamers like big old fashioned mechanical keys.

On the left is an image my son found on Reddit. I struggle to believe it!