Uptown Car

New illustration for Automobile Magazine charting the rise and fall of the Lincoln Town Car from it's heyday as New York's glamorous upscale transport service to the imminent closure of the assembly line.

Deep Benching

So I metaphorically stepped up to the plate, gave it a 110%, and attempted to knock it out of the park with this baseball themed cover illustration for CIO Magazine, which is actually about building a stronger IT department of course.

Secret Cinema Goes To War

I went along to Secret Cinema again recently over Easter, this time staged at the Old Vic Tunnels under Waterloo station. On arrival at The Embassy we presented our pre-prepared French identity cards at the military style checkpoint and avoided the steely gazes of the guards who were detaining people at their leisure. We made it passed the checkpoint into a dark and atmospheric recreation of North African backstreets, mosques, food markets, cafe's and embassies all populated by arabic speaking folk and policed by temperamental French military, who could also be found dishing out a bit of torture in one of the antechambers. I got the impression it wasn't going to be a showing of Raiders Of The Lost Ark, as one punter suggested, and soon twigged it was the classic sixties insurgent film The Battle Of Algiers. For the screening itself we were bundled through hidden passages into a makeshift cinema to watch the powerful film which is still as relevant as ever in it's brutal depiction of the Algerian struggle for independence from French colonial rule. It was more of an appropriately solemn affair for such a challenging film but great to see this classic transformed into an inspired experience.

Pucka Brand

Latest Design Week illo for a Private View column looking at the successful branding of TV's foodmeister Jamie Oliver.

On The Buses

I went along to the Serco Prize for Illustration 2011 awards on Monday at the London Transport Museum where my London Flow illustration is exhibiting amongst the 50 shortlisted entries. It was a great venue for the ceremony, surrounded by historical London buses of all shapes and sizes, and the exhibition featured some excellent work, particularly from the worthy winners. I didn't go home with anything on the night but it's great to be part of the exhibition and I certainly wasn't anywhere near as grumpy as this waxwork goon behind the wheel!

Know Your Limits

Here's some brand spanking cover and spot illustrations for the current issue of New Scientist. They're for a feature about the limits of human knowledge and how there are things that will simply always be beyond our ken. Know what I mean? No, oh, ok.

Studio With A View

The Action Stations crew moved into a new studio space over the weekend just around the corner from our previous digs in Shoreditch. We've got more space to play with and panoramic views over the back of Liverpool Street to ogle at all day. Mmmniccce. Place is a mess right now but will post better pics when we've straightened the joint out, toot sweet.

Kent Dash 2: Naked Boogaloo

Had a lovely ol' time in Whitstable again over the bank holiday weekend. We attended the Post Nude exhibition opening night which was a hit, lots of folks queueing up to see hundreds of naked postcards arranged in the smallish gallery space. My two contributions made it through the postal service intact and were up amongst some really good stuff. I though it best to keep my clobber on during the show to the relief of everyone in sight. For the rest of the sunny weekend we visited the new Turner Contemporary Gallery, a welcome addition to the Margate coast, lounged on (and under) the sandy beach and took a return shuttle to Planet Dungeness to explore the solitary wind-blasted terrain once more.

East London Mornings

I was recently invited to contribute an illustration of a local(ish) cafe to the East London Mornings project, set up to celebrate the diversity of independent coffee shops in the area. I chose the charms of The Counter tucked away in deepest Hackney Wick and well worth a visit if you're roaming nearby. There's an upcoming exhibition of work from all the artists involved in the project at Mouse & De Lotz Cafe in Dalston on May 17th from 7pm. Thanks to Katya for getting me onboard.

Balkan Bash

Next up is a rousing cover illustration for Songlines magazine which explores the music (and seeming brutality) of the Balkan brass scene. Who knew?

Consumer Bundle

Hold on a min while I brush the tumbleweed from the blog. Ok, back in business. I've been away and busy in equal measure recently so I'll be catching up with a few posts over the next few days. First up is an editorial illustration for Consumer Reports in the US for an article rating the best value telecom bundle packages available to mankind.