Billboard No Mates

Latest illo for Design Week's Private View column looking at over-eager brand advertising that just wants to be your bestest chum.

Start Spreading The News

Here are a few snapettes from a fantastic couple of weeks spent in New York recently. It was hot, hot, hot in the city for the first five days as we checked out the sights and sounds from our base at Hotel Chelsea. We strolled the Highline and Brooklyn Bridge, the boardwalk from Brighton Beach to Coney Island, cycled Central Park and took in the Big Bambú sculpture and view from the roof of the Met. For the weekend we drove up-state to Monticello in the Catskills for the All Tomorrow's Parties festival at Kutsher's Country Club, a fading seventies style venue with insane carpets and a charming lake to sit beside inbetween gigs. And what gigs, highlights for me were Iggy And The Stooges, Mudhoney, Breeders and the dry-ice drenched quasi-religous metal experience Altar. For the second week we continued driving north staying at the amazing Pollywogg Holler eco-lodge, a cluster of beautiful log cabins in the middle of the woods, for an enjoyable night with the wonderful hosts that kept any Blair Witch flashes well at bay. We passed through NY's take on the Grand Canyon, Letchworth State Park en route to Niagara Falls. The awesome spectacle of the falls was offset by the sheer naffness of the tourist trap town above it, one night was more than enough. On to the lovely Seneca Falls before settling in to our very own Airstream at Kate's Lazy Meadow, a fifties styled trailer park with a picture postcard setting next to a creek in the Catskills. Bliss. Back to the Big Apple for one last 9/11 memorial illuminated night before hopping the Atlantic home. Click the pics to big 'em up.

As Seen On DVD

Hush Your Mouth, the British independent film I designed and animated the titles for, has finally been released on DVD and has a spanking new website to promote it. It's an interesting South East London urban tale, well directed by Tom Trywhitt and produced by Liza Brown. It features some great performances from a solid cast and is well worth a butcher's hook, er, look.

Images 34 Awards

It was the Association Of Illustrators Images 34 Award night last week and I was fortunate enough to pick up a Bronze award in the Design category for my Pyramid Breweries Audacious Apricot Ale illustration. Action Stations also picked up a Silver award in the New Media category for last year's Dallas Guild animated 'Burn' promo, a collaboration between myself and Mark Taplin. I'd like to thank ... (ohh shutuppp!)

Steve Thorogood 1949-2010

While away I was very saddened to hear that my UK agent Steve Thorogood had passed away after a brave fight against cancer for well over a year. Steve was a very decent man with a great passion for illustration and I respected him a great deal. He was the first person to give me a break in the industry by representing me and I'll never forget that. He has had amazing support from his family Doreen, Kate and Tom and they are continuing his amazing legacy with Good Illustration. RIP Steve.

Oh My Grammar!

Greetings all. I've been off the grid for a couple of weeks in the good ol' US and A, more of which I will post about shortly. In the meantime here's a recent illustration for Design Week's Private View slot looking at how the increasing digital transmission of the written word is killing off the artistry of crafting a letter...with propa gramma n spellin n stuff.