Repackaged and Represented

Recently, I realised that my portfolio needed a little refreshing. Instead of producing lots of new work, I started to look through all the old illustrations I had discarded or fallen out of love with. Some just didn't seem like my work any more, some had colours I had grown to dislike, were composed badly, were at poor resolution or I just simply didn't like. So I decided to make some changes.

The work I selected for recycling was by and large work where I thought the idea was pretty solid but had a crummy manifestation, like the piece above to do with the expense of 3D movies or below of a newly discovered Shakespeare play.

To see more work visit my website here. If you go to the about section you will notice that I am now represented by BRAND NEW agency Rare Bird, which is pretty pukka! They currently represent a whole handful of talented folks and are well worth a look if you are after some mid evening inspiration.

Otherwise, there are other parts of the internet that are fun too, like Dogs in Top Hats. That's well worth a look.

Flamingo Magazine

Yesterday I received a copy of Issue #3 of the beautiful Flamingo magazine. If you haven't heard about Flamingo (which if you haven't, why not?!), it is a London-based culture and illustration magazine that celebrates doing-it-yourself.


Issue 3 focuses on homes and habitats, and includes features on the likes of Mark Corrigan's favourite podcaster Alain de Botton, global traveller Steven Newman and Nick Weston, a man who lived in a tree house for 6 months.
It features throughout it's pages a wonderful array of talented illustrators and photographers, including Oona Brown, James Boast, Holly Stoves and Ruby Taylor and boasts a lovely cover created by Robert Hanson.

I was asked to create this illustration for the article about Nick Weston, the 'Wild Man of Ashdown Forest'. The images above shows my pincer-like crab hands holding up a copy of the magazine in typical internet magazine-preview fashion and below a closer look at the illustration itself with a neat white border.

Flamingo is available online here and costs only £7. Or you can buy it at one of the many stockists up and down the country including Magma books, Tate Modern and multiple other newsagents around London and specialist art stores across the UK.

A few editorials

Here are two pieces of recent work, the first commissioned by Wired UK and the second by CSMA Club magazine.
The Wired illustration (above) was to accompany an Ideas Bank essay to do with the idea of rewards. It explains that a study was carried out where two people were asked to complete tasks and rewarded when completed, both subjects were given a reward, but one was bigger than the other. They were both winners, but the person who received the smaller reward felt that more aggrieved at the size of the reward in comparison to the other subject than he did pleased to have been given one himself.

Or something.

The other illustration is a map of Belfast created for motoring and leisure magazine CSMA Club (below).

Secret London

Over the past few days, I have been working on a piece for the Serco Prize for Illustration. The theme this year was 'Secret London' and my entry focusses on the little known fact that Buckingham Palace was built upon the site of a notorious 17th Century brothel.

I wanted to play with ideas of class, adultery and sexuality, but have kept the imagery suggestive so as not to be too lewd. After all, the queen wouldn't like that would she?!

You still have time to enter the competition and can do so by following this link.

Domestic Etch

I've been fairly quiet for a while, but that is not to say I haven't been busy. There are a few things I'm getting on with that aren't finished yet and a few I'm not allowed to release until publication, so watch out for those.

One thing that I can show, is something I put on my site just before Christmas from the latest edition of New York based illustration and design magazine Domestic Etch: 'Growth and Decay'. I implore you to buy it, as it contains some great work from some very fine fellows and fellettes, including a cover by the fantastic Danny Brito, interviews with Sam McKenzie and Pat Perry as well as illustration contributions from the likes of Lilly Piri, Daniel Mackie and Will Long.

You can buy Domestic Etch from Magcloud here.

Spirit

I've just finished an illustration for the Don't Panic Design the Poster competition. This time the theme is 'Spirit' so I thought I'd do something about Whiskey. I hate Whiskey. If I was to ever get drunk on Whiskey, I would blame the drink, not myself. You can vote for my entry here

Computer Arts

Last month was a very busy month, what with Christmas and everything so please excuse my lack of updates.
I was excited to be commissioned by Computer Arts magazine to produce a small illustration about the convicting sides of being a freelancer- the creativity and the business. I was asked to show the importance of both aspects in gaining success in the creative industries.

I have lots more to show but can't yet due to publishing dates. Hopefully I'll have something else soon :)