Foe To Friend

Here's a commission for the National Army Museum that I started work on over a year ago now at the start of Lockdown. It's a poster illustration for an exhibition, that has finally re-opened to the public until July, on the relationship between the British and German armies since 1945. The brief was to create a photo realistic scene of British soldiers in 80's Germany enjoying chips and bratwurst from the legendary Wolfgang's takeaway van that fed troops during training exercises in the Cold War. The people and woodland were tackled with some strategic photo-collaging techniques and the vehicles were sourced 3d models of a Chieftain tank and a Mercedes van. The 3d models were lit and rendered in Cinema 4d then texturally enhanced in Photoshop for added realism. An enjoyable technical challenge this one.

Poster Prize For Illustration 2019

Happy New Year to all! Just about kick-started my brain into gear for January so I'll open the 2019 blog chapter with some good news. Very pleased to have been accepted into this year's AOI Poster Prize for Illustration exhibition at the London Transport Museum opening on 8th February. The theme is 'London Stories' and, after racking my brains for an existing narrative to illustrate, I decided to go with one of my own personal experiences. This illustration, entitled 11/10/08, is a celebration of my wedding day on the London Eye to the woman I love in the city I love. Simples. You can see it on the site with previous Prize For Illustration entries here.

Secret 7" 2018

I was really pleased to have one of my submissions chosen again for this year's Secret 7" exhibition and auction in aid of Mind charity. All the artists involved remain anonymous until sale day and I can now reveal I created this illustration for Jeff Buckley's 'Lover, You Should've Come Over' based on some of the song's lyrics 'She is the tear that hangs inside my soul forever'. The show was held at The Jetty in North Greenwich and the sale has now moved online here where mine is still available to buy until Sunday 8th July. I also submitted the illustration above for Jimi Hendrix's 'Castles Made Of Sand' that didn't make it into the show but could do with a little blog love. You can see this and related work on the site here.

Secret 7"

It was a pleasure and privilege to be part of the Secret 7" exhibition this year at Sonos Studios, London in aid of Amnesty International UK. My 7" record sleeve design was on show throughout April alongside some fantastic entries and was sold in a buying frenzy for charity yesterday. So, now that the secret's out here's my Superman flavoured illustration for Tame Impala's The Less I Know The Better. I've also posted here  my other two submissions that didn't make the show for Max Richter's Dream 3 and John Lennon's Imagine. See the work on the site here.

Showcase 100

I currently have an illustration up in the Showcase 100 Exhibition at the Framers Gallery in central London. It's a juried exhibition and publication set up by the good folk at Little Chimp Society and Hire An Illustrator. There's some great work in the show so it's well worth a look...if you can get down there by tomorrow when it finishes that is! If not, you can always get the book.

Skullduggery

Here's a re-imagined film poster design for the 1965 Peter Cushing horror The Skull. It will be exhibited in the 'Art Of Horror' show, part of a of a Cushing centenary celebration at The Horsebridge Arts & Community Centre, Whitstable. Prints are available from the brand new online shop here.

Tingle On: Images 36 and 3 x 3 Proshow

The Tingler poster was selected to exhibit in this year's AOI Images 36 show at Somerset House and will continue on the exhibition tour around the UK. It also appears in the accompanying Images 36 Best Of British Illustration 2012 book in the Self Promotion category along with my Urban Utopia (New Scientist) and Creative Outsider (Design Week) illustrations both in the Editorial category. The Tingler pops up again in this year's 3x3 Proshow, selected for the Poster category.

Post View

After the success of last year's Post Nude show the folks at Horsebridge Arts Centre in Whitstable are at it again with a second exhibition of postcard artwork Post View. There was much painstaking consideration over which view to depict before I lifted my head up from the monitor to the studio window and grabbed the felt tips. Total voila!

Illustrator Exhibition

Spent last Saturday hanging an exhibition of recent self-initiated illustration work in Gallery 3 at Whitstable's Horsebridge Centre. The show is simply called Illustrator and features myself, my old mucker and former studio bud Mark Taplin and Sam Blown. If you find yourself in sunny Whitstable between the 1st and 29th April then check it out.

Who You Gonna Call?

Here's another illustration in response to a story, this time for Whitstable's Horsebridge Arts And Community Centre's 'Ghosts' exhibition. I chose a number and landed an extract from Fritz Leiber's tale Smoke Ghost to illuminate with a spectral image. It will be haunting the gallery from tomorrow until 23rd December.

Images 35

Bit of a delayed post this but what the hey? I popped along to the AOI Images 35 Exhibition a couple of weeks ago at Bankside Gallery London for this year's awards night. Had a top evening catching up with friends and colleauges and checked out some of the great work on show. My BBC Proms 2010 illustration was hanging in the Advertising category and goes on tour with the exhibition across the country. Also picked up the new Images 35 book and here's a spread with a few of my bits and pieces that passed muster with the judges.

V&A Illustration Awards 2011 Shortlist

I was proper chuffed to find my name on the shortlist in the editorial category for the V&A Illustration Awards this year. My Urban Utopia illustration for New Scientist was doing the rounds for me again and faced some tough competition at the award ceremony last night where the excellent Oliver Kugler took the honours. I couldn't attend the prize giving unfortunately but I'll be popping along to see the exhibition at some point where I think my piece can be found on a screen with shortlisted winner's work until 17th December.

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!

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.

Nudelings

Here are a couple of clothless original artwork postcards that are making their way down to Whitstable in the post as we virtually speak. First up is Nudo followed by The Burning Bush (...ooooh matron). They're for an upcoming open invite exhibition at the Horsebridge Arts & Community Centre entitled Post Nude which opens on 1st May. Disrobe your mind.

London Flow

Here's my entry for this year's Serco Prize for Illustration run by the AOI and London Transport Museum. The theme was the River and the brief was to depict the Thames as a central feature of London life and transport. The swirly composition was loosely based on wake patterns in the water and it was fun working iconic city elements into the shapes. So this week I was pleased as punch to hear I've been selected amongst the Top 50 entries for the exhibition on May 9th at the London Transport Museum where the winners will be announced. Splosh!

A Beautiful Machine

Here's my monstrous contribution to an upcoming exhibition in Bristol entitled A Beautiful Machine. The two week bicycle-centric show is curated by John Mcfaul/Mcfaul Studio and Howies and will be at the Howies Bristol store from Friday 26th March til Friday April 9th. Check out some of the cool entries so far on the blog, should be a great show. Saddle up!

You BETT

More exhibition based work for the Futurelab crew and their stand at the BETT 2010 education and technology event in Earls Court, London. The exhibition, which also featured the Spark illustrations I recently finished for them, needed an overall banner design to tie everything together under the header 'Bringing Learning To Life'. A photo shoot of local school kids in Bristol was arranged by Futurelab and lovingly shot by Tom Bunning for the final illustration.

Spark me up

Here's one of the bigger projects I've been working on recently for the good folk of Futurelab in Bristol. Multiple illustrations to cover various pieces of a mobile exhibition called Spark: Igniting Innovation In Education. It's to showcase new technologies that support innovative practice in education. Should keep em' off the streeets at the very least.