The First Stars

Here's my latest cover illustration for BBC Science Focus on the theme of the hunt for the First Stars and how they are Lost in Space. The brief was to depict these mysterious first stars based on descriptions from the article so I worked through various interpretations, posted here, to send over and get the process started. As can often be the case the first 'first star' visualisation was chosen to develop as it conveyed more of a sense of a consuming gas ball rather than an emitter. I refined the digital illustration, made with Cinema 4d/Redshift and lots of Photoshop texture compositing, and ended up with the chosen final plus a more wispy alternate version, also above. Thanks to Joe Eden for another great commission. See further Focus work on the site here.

Galaxy Glitch

Here's a new, and always very welcome, commission from BBC Science Focus and art director Joe Eden. This one was a cover and spread on the theme of The Galaxies That Shouldn't Exist and strange signals from deep space that reveal flaws in our understanding. The brief was to depict a galaxy with some sort of distortion so I had fun going to town on glitch-in-the-matrix visuals. Joe asked me to try out some type treatments to accompany the illustrations and I worked up some pixel-warped ghosted headers. You can also see these on the site here and other Focus work here.

Are We Special?

New work for BBC Science Focus' current issue on the theme of 'Are We Special?' and the origins of Earth and life itself. The brief was to create a cover that could be adapted for a spread illustration featuring Professor Brian Cox. I've done quite a few space-themed illustrations for Focus by now and wanted to try something a little different so had some fun with an eye-popping colour treatment that could be applied to the supplied Cox photography. The main elements of the cover illustration were created in Cinema 4d such as the planets and explosive line design with the stylistic work achieved in Photoshop. Thanks again to long-time collaborator Joe Eden at Focus for the commission. See more work for Focus here.

Stellar Competition

Here's a commission for Al Majalla on the international race to conquer space and whether it could become the next major conflict zone. I love a cosmic illustration so really enjoyed modelling the various rockets in Cinema 4d and experimenting with dynamic camera angles and compositions. For the spot illustrations I designed a key-shaped space station, opening the door to militaristic opportunities, and an unusual shaped composition looking at the importance of satellite control in the potential war zone. The illustrations were also beautifully animated by Ayoub Hadir for Al Majalla. Thanks again to Sara Loane for the commission. See more work for Al Majalla on the site here.

Where Next?

Here's a novel cover commission for BBC Science Focus that needed to work for the usual illustrated print version and also as an expanded animated version specifically for the Apple News Plus service. I'd worked on animated versions of their covers in the past but usually as a supplement to the illustration. This time the animation took precedence with storyboards being created first and the illustration evolving out of the animation direction. The theme was exploration and the creative brief required a traveller character surveying a cinematic scene composed of the earthbound and interplanetary destinations covered in the issue, from pyramids to asteroids. I thought the most dynamic and exciting approach would be to build the scene in Cinema 4d and fly a camera through it for the allotted 15 seconds before looping back to the start. The central figure, pyramids, mountains and astral bodies were created and rendered in Cinema before being composited into cloud, sky and space scenery in After Effects. Really enjoyed creating this one and I'm pleased with how it all came together in the end. You can check out more Focus work on the blog here. 

Dark Stars

Here's a new cover illustration for BBC Science Focus on the mysterious possibility of Dark Stars. The theory is that these transparent celestial bodies give off no light and cannot be seen by the human eye. So, for something effectively invisible I decided to make the illustration as bright and in your face as possible! The image plays with the idea of the cosmos and dark matter being warped around the transparent star, and the magazine's title for a fun touch. You can see previous work for Focus on this blog here.

WIA2020 And AI39 News

Really pleased to get some of my work recognised this awards season, the good news came as a lovely lockdown pick-me-up. Firstly, my Hadassah magazine cover for the #Metoo and the Jewish World issue was long listed in the World Illustration Awards. Secondly, my Jason advisory group illustration for Science and Space 2069 cover for BBC Science Focus were chosen winners in American Illustration 39 and will appear amongst the online archive.

Moon Mined

Here's a series of illustrations for a feature in the current issue of BBC Science Focus called 'What If...' looking at what could happen if we started mining the Moon for its resources. I figured the most versatile way to depict a moon base and mining facility would be to try and model them in 3D, giving me the ability to alter the virtual camera angle for different compositions. Once satisfied with the models, shots and lighting, I rendered out the scenes and sprinkled on a little moon-dust in Photoshop. You can see them on the site here with other related work.

Race To Venus

Here's my latest illustrated cover and spread for BBC Science Focus on the race to reach Venus and what we'll discover. A toxic hellhole apparently! Book me up. For this one I created the landing probe in 3d to get a few angles to play with and composited it into the Photoshopped planetary scene. You can see this and previous work for BBC Science Focus on the site here.

Space 2069

Here's a brand new cover illustration for the latest BBC Science Focus magazine celebrating past achievements in space exploration and looking at what to expect in the next 50 years. This was a fun illustration to work on with its combination of 3d elements, the astronaut's helmet and spaceships, and good old 2d digital collage. You can see this with all my previous BBC Focus work on the site here.

Black Holes and Ancient Life

Some new cover illustrations for the rebranded BBC Science Focus Magazine and Collection Vol. 13. The Supermassive Black Hole illustration was a quick turnaround commission to coincide with the recent first ever image of the cosmic phenomenon from the Event Horizon telescope. That image was understandably a touch blurry so I took visual guidance from the Event Horizon simulations gallery. I also created an animation in After Effects for the iPad cover edition using the 3d model I'd created for the illustration. The second illustration shows a cross-section of the development of Ancient Life on Earth up to early man traipsing up a 3d spiral. See further BBC Focus work here.

Healthy Systems

Catch up time on the latest cover illustrations for BBC Focus Collection Volumes 11 and 12 with guides to a Healthy Body & Brain and the Solar System, respectively. These were both mostly created with 3d software then finessed with some Photoshoppery. I've included some of the initial cover ideas for both that were almost finished pieces themselves. Lots more illustration and animation work to see for BBC Focus up at the main site here and on this blog of course.

Wormholes A Go Go

All new work for BBC Focus' current 'Through The Wormhole' themed issue. The commission included a cover, double-page spread and iPad edition animated illustrations. Had lots of fun envisaging and animating these, yet to be discovered, tunnels between galaxies. You can also see them on the site with further Focus work here.