Are We Special?

New work for BBC Science Focus' current issue on the theme of 'Are We Special?' and the origins of Earth and life itself. The brief was to create a cover that could be adapted for a spread illustration featuring Professor Brian Cox. I've done quite a few space-themed illustrations for Focus by now and wanted to try something a little different so had some fun with an eye-popping colour treatment that could be applied to the supplied Cox photography. The main elements of the cover illustration were created in Cinema 4d such as the planets and explosive line design with the stylistic work achieved in Photoshop. Thanks again to long-time collaborator Joe Eden at Focus for the commission. See more work for Focus here.

Stellar Competition

Here's a commission for Al Majalla on the international race to conquer space and whether it could become the next major conflict zone. I love a cosmic illustration so really enjoyed modelling the various rockets in Cinema 4d and experimenting with dynamic camera angles and compositions. For the spot illustrations I designed a key-shaped space station, opening the door to militaristic opportunities, and an unusual shaped composition looking at the importance of satellite control in the potential war zone. The illustrations were also beautifully animated by Ayoub Hadir for Al Majalla. Thanks again to Sara Loane for the commission. See more work for Al Majalla on the site here.

Smash And Grab

Here's a recent cover and feature illustration for The Journalist magazine on the theme of the 'Smash and Grab' tactics of picture agency copyright enforcers. An interesting subject matter to be sure and one that I found challenging to conceptualise. The brief called for me to visually represent the receiving of unexpected and hefty fee demands many years after posting a copyrighted stock photo, often unawarely. I tried out a few initial visuals, some playing with the theme of the all-seeing AI bots that scour the internet for image usage, which I've included here. The fist holding a demand seemed to convey the intimidating nature of the copyright enforcement and was chosen to develop further for the final. I'm pleased with how it turned out. You can see more work for The Journalist on my site here.

AI Goodies And Baddies

Here's a fun commission for Scholastic Action magazine, aimed at young teens, on the theme of AI and how it might change the world for good or ill. The brief called for a central robot figure to present the ideas so I turned to Cinema 4d to build a friendly-looking android character that could turn nasty on a dime - mostly achieved with lighting, palette and turning the semicircular mouth upside down. I've included my first Redshift render tests here that looked slick but not quite the right fit stylistically for the illustrations. I created a cover and two inside illustrations with a digital collage style around the central robot and cloned an intimidating army of them for the 'dark' side of AI piece. You can see the work on the main site here also.

Attack Of The Robo-Bugs

After really enjoying the process of illustrating Game On, Zhuri! Book 1: How To Defeat A Blob Monster I was delighted to be asked to work on D. Zollicoffer's sequel Attack Of The Robo-Bugs! The follow-up similarly followed Zhuri and her friend's exciting adventures in a video game environment and was more ambitious in scale than the first book. This expansion also applied to the creative demands of envisaging bustling city scenes and interiors, mechanical spiders and the titular robo-bugs themselves. For these elements I turned to Cinema 4d to design and build the various robots and sets and transformed an off-the-shelf model into the video game's Hero City. Having these 3d elements really helped with the workflow, especially when presented with depicting armies of robo-bugs.

New character designs were also called for and I made some subtle suit upgrades for the central trio to keep it fresh. Once again, it was great to work with the team at Reycraft Publishing on the cover and 20 interior illustrations over a six month period with three months apiece for roughs and finalising. I also relished the slightly darker tone and techy sci-fi edge of this instalment and got a real kick out of building the robo-bugs. Roll on Book 3! You can see more of this project on the main site here and the book is available to buy now.

Dance Me Up, Scotty

Here's a new illustrated poster design for Dance Dance Dance's latest night at Margate Arts Club. Continuing the psychedelic tinged sci-fi stylistic odyssey, this one focuses on a winged city gal just looking for a place to let loose after sunset. Have included the process from monochrome composition 'sketch' through to colour tryout and developed rough before final refinements are made to the image and illustrated typography. See the full set of posters on the main site here.

Hiii Illustration 23 Finalists

Happy to report that two of my projects have been chosen as Finalists at the Hiii Illustration Awards 2023. First up is The Dark Universe illustrated and animated cover for BBC Science Focus in the Publishing category. You can vote on that by clicking 'Like' on its page on the Hiiibrand site here if you're inclined. Secondly, my personal project Lidoverse is selected in the Uncommissioned category and can be 'Liked' here. 

The Future Of Everything

Here's a commission I greatly enjoyed for the Wall Street Journal and their The Future Of Everything supplement on the theme of AI weather prediction. The brief was to create an illustration and animation representing data in the form of a weather front of some sort so I went to work on a few initial visuals. With the animation requirement in mind I experimented with some MoGraph techniques in Cinema 4d to simulate cyclones and rainfall then took some frames to help create the works-in-progress seen above. A direction was chosen for the cover illustration with notes to push back the cyclone in favour of a digital rain effect and give the clouds more depth. For the final I had fun adding intricate digital detail and designing the image for an unusual vertical cover format. The animation was needed for the online edition so I created a short loop from a 3d camera move into the clouds and digital rainfall. You can see that on the WSJ site here. I was also asked to provide a further editorial illustration with a similar theme and developed an AI weather vane rooster concept. Thanks to Caitlin Choi for a really satisfying commission overall. See more work for the Wall Street Journal on the blog here.

'Tinkering' The Ivories

Here's my latest cover illustration for ABRSM's new Piano Exam Pieces syllabus for 25/26. The process started with a selection of photographed pianist references sent over to have a play with and come up with a number of visual routes to get the ball rolling. I've included some initial concepts here that experiment with textures, shapes and lighting that are cherry picked by the ABRSM team at each stage to arrive at a final design. I'm happy with the atmospheric results on this one and enjoyed working with Darren Ellsmore and the ABRSM crew as always. You can see this and further work on the site here.

MVCDO Summit

Here's a recent illustration I enjoyed working on for the Martha's Vineyard Chief Diversity Officer Summit 2024. The brief was to create an inspiring image of diverse business leaders centred around a lighthouse to symbolically represent the summit's hopeful aims and the iconic landmark at Martha's Vineyard island, Massachusetts. Initially the proposal was to have a futuristic look and feel to match the 'Future Is Now' tagline and I modelled a concept lighthouse in Cinema 4d based on some supplied reference then worked up some ideas shown above. It was decided the lighthouse should look more like the existing one so I recreated that with a modern spin and combined elements from both ideas for the final. A satisfying commission and a lovely client to work with. You can see it on the main site here also.