Cyclorama Part Deux

Speaking of cycling around the city here's a design I created recently with that theme in mind.

Shard Times

It's snowing in Londonshire today but on a clearer morn last week, on one of my regular cycle rides around the capital, I stopped to take in the latest skyscraper reaching for the smoggy heavens. Renzo Piano's The Shard is going up pretty quickly and will be the largest 'pointy thing' in London Bridge, and the European Union apparently. Let's see if they can build higher than the enormous lampost next to it.

Now That's What I Call A Plug

Studio bud and talented 'crazyman' Ian Stevenson has just released an excellent little book of drawings that opens a big can of comedic whup ass on art in all it's modern guises. Now That's What I Call Art is well worth a looksy.

Noir Heads

Here are a couple of choice characters I've been meaning to draw for a while. They're plucked from two classic film noirs I've only just recently got around to seeing. First up is Johnny Clay, played brilliantly by Sterling Hayden, in mid-heist iconic clown getup from Stanley Kubrick's fantastic The Killing. A riveting and highly influential (Reservoir who?) horse racing robbery caper with cracking dialogue by Jim Thompson and stunning black and white photography. Get on it!

Back in August I went along to a petrol station cum pop-up cinema in London called Cineroleum to watch classic noir D.O.A. A rollicking, slightly laughable, murder mystery with the killer hook of having the hero, Frank Bigelow, investigating his own demise to some absurdly slow-acting luminous green poison. Everything is cranked up to fever pitch including a stand-out oddball performance by Neville Brand as Chester, a simple wild-eyed thug eager to kill Frank in the most painful ways possible - 'Think I'll give it to you in the belly!'

Ah Juicy Fruit

It was Secret Cinema again recently and this time the secret was pretty well shrouded. Wellbeing and Ladbroke Grove tube station were the only obvious clues and directions, two things that don't normally end up in the same sentence. At the station we were shepherded by whitecoats about a mile away towards a derelict building that turned out to be a former hospital, originally The Princess Louise Hospital for Children that opened in 1928. Everyone was handed inpatients overalls before shambling into a crazy maze of overcrowded dank corridors with flickering strip lighting which created an all too convincing asylum atmosphere. It soon became clear that One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest was the film as orderlies patrolled the corridors keeping MacMurphy, The Chief and other recognisable loons in check. Booze was handed out at medicine stations to prescription card holders and patients were lobotomised while activities were laid on in the various wards that also screened the film later on to smallish groups providing a more intimate setting than usual. I've seen this classic a number of times but seeing it again here was like watching it afresh with all it's comedy highs, such as the inebriated party in the ward (for which the audience were handed out medicinal vodka shots), to the crushing but redemptive finale. Go Chief Juicy Fruit!

Bibelot Bashing

Here's the latest illo for Design Week's Private View column. It's all about trinkets and knick knacks (or bibelot apparently, you learn something every day) and why we tend to fill mantelpieces with tat. If only I had a mantelpiece to start with.

I Am The Law

The last month or two have seen me brushing up on my law illustration for an all new rebranded website from UK law firm Cripps Harries Hall in Tunbridge Wells. The site went live this week so I can post a few choice samples here for you to deliver your verdict on. Guiltyyy!!!

Release The Liz

Liz and I popped along to ATP's Release The Bats Halloween party at Kentish Town Forum a couple of weeks ago which, apart from having some great bands playing, also held a fancy dress competition. While I made ziltch effort with my garb, Liz cranked it up to 11,000 and ran with the theme of 'Factory Floor' who were playing on the night. The theme then ran over her and reversed for good measure. Liz ended up winning Best Costume Of The Night and may even win Best Overall Costume if she gets enough votes...hint, hint. Greeaaat jaarrrb.

Urbtopia

I recently illustrated the cover and feature story for the current issue of New Scientist which looks at the concept of Urban Utopia and why it's greener to live in the big city than the country. Flip those preconceptions right out the highrise window!

Poker Faced

More editorial illustration shenanigi for French company Groupe W's magazine, simply titled, 'W'. There are six illos in total for a large feature looking at the increasingly popular world of Online Poker. Snap! I cannot play poker.