Proms Me Thrice

And now for a London Summer event illustration I am proud to have out there. For the third year running I've been lucky enough to create the BBC Proms main brand illustration and, if I do say so myself, this is probably the best one yet. The Guide book has just been released and features some lovely silver typography on the cover courtesy of the designers at Premm. I've been told today that it's already racking up the sales and is making it's way up the non-fiction bestseller list...woop. Here's a shot of a window display at Daunt Books, Marylebone. Click on the wide shot at the top to embiggenify.

A Cow's Ear

I was really chuffed to be asked to create the main illustration for this year's upcoming E4 Udderbelly comedy and music festival on London's Southbank. After a bit of a bumpy start trying to navigate a brief that demanded the look and feel of the BBC Proms illustrations without actually looking like them I was really pleased with the result (top) which I felt had it's own vibe going on. The client seemed to be happy also. So I was pretty dismayed to see the London tube poster design (bottom) which features a heavily altered hack job of my final layered photoshop document. Without consulting me the whole crowd scene has been crudely rearranged and retouched in a way I wouldn't personally have done. I'm not one for sour grapes and I realise it might not look like much of a difference to the casual observer but it just ain't my work and I just had to put that out there. Beware of handing out your layered files.

Heads Up

Here are this week's sketchbook offerings, assorted moody heads for your delectation. I like the coffee flavoured ones.

Rise Of The Canary

Went back to the West Midlands last weekend to witness the unveiling of my cousin's new clothing store in Stourbridge, Scary Canary Clothing. They champion exclusive and unique clothing from independent designers and artists and it's a very welcome injection of glamour for the area so check it out if you're around that neck o' the woods. Onwards and upwards Stace n Steve.

Back Off Warchild, Seriously

Afternoon nonsense time.

Saturday Night At The Neurocinema

Here's an editorial illo for Canada's Globe And Mail newspaper about the phenomenon of Neurocinema. To replace the tired formula of test screenings with generic feedback Hollywood will soon be using readings of the brain's responses to particular films and craft movies that deliver exactly what the audience desires. Transformers 32: Assignment Miami Beach then.

One Of Those Days?

The Invisible Designer

Here's the latest editorial illo for Design Week. It's for an article on the anonymity of designers and the definition of 'design' in general, you dig.

Dorset Daze

Spent a long weekend in Lyme Regis, Dorset over Easter for some well needed R&R. It's a picturesque seaside town with a historic harbour known as The Cobb - as seen on TV sporting a fetchingly cloaked Merly Streep in The French Lieutenant's Woman. We also visited the nearby market town of Bridport which has an amazing old cinema The Electric Palace. It's been lovingly restored and decked out with elaborate artworks including a great mural by fellow AGM artist Paul Blow. We braved the mud on Sunday for a 7 mile hike along the Undercliff Nature Reserve which straddles the coast between Seaton and Lyme Regis. It's a stunning sub tropical landscape that emerged from the geographical fallout of landslides that occurred in Victorian Times. Jurassic Parrrk!