Plisken

Just call me Snake

Redhead

It's a doodly kind of day...

Heavy Pencil

I will be sporting a particularly heavy pencil, and maybe a brush pen or two, at the ICA's regular live drawing/drinking event on Thursday February 4th. Good friend and fellow illustrator John Slade was invited to the event and asked me to partner up with him for some vaguely cinematic musical doodlings for a couple of hours. The event is free so come along if you can.

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.

Buffalo Driver

Been thinking about some of my favourite cinematic basketcases recently and thought I'd treat myself to a Buffalo Bill from Silence Of The Lambs followed by a Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver. Delicious.

Them's the breaks

Here's one of those jobs that got away. A couple of pitch illustrations for a Heineken ad campaign that seemed to go down well until said campaign strategy was nuked. Oh well, I'll just have to sup on Pabst Blue Ribbon from now on.

Dope Agent!

My agent Anna Goodson Management have revamped their website and it's looking pretty sweet. Lots of new features and work from fantastic illustrators such as Paul Blow, Michelle Thompson, Mario Wagner, Phil Wheeler and Daniel Stolle to name a few. Get some.

Open All Hours

The store is finally open on my website if you need to spruce up your walls with signed, limited edition prints. I can tell you do...I can just tell. Snap 'em up right here

Cornish Chrimbo

Had a lovely time in Cornwall over the holiday with the lady wife. We spent Chrimbo week in gorgeous St.Ives and visited regular haunts Sennen, Godrevy Point and the ultra-cosy Xmas light show at Mousehole. The natural light down there is something else. Ok, enough whimsy, work starts in earnest tomorrow after I get shot of this cold. Keep em peeled.

Non Gherkin

Happy New Year peeps, 2010 and still no flying cars...what the hell?! The builders are aiming for the sky in London again though (nice segue) after a bout of crane stalling during the recession. I'm stuck in the flat with a bunged up head lamenting the loss of my own little view of the 'Gherkin' from the upstairs window. The Heron Tower is going up in front of it like some blocking-view-son-of-a-bitch thing!

Xmash!

It's that time of year again so sit up and be Merry will you!!!
Happy Christmas to one and all from Pottsville.

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.

Hush Hush Cinema

This post is a little overdue but during the last few months I've been along to a couple of London's Secret Cinema events. They showcase classic films in unusual venues and the twist is you don't know where or what you'll be watching until the last moment. There are clues aplenty though and the venues are decked out to capture the spirit of the film with numerous costumed actors playing out scenes and generally trying to whip up the crowd into a frenzy of anticipation.

The most recent screening was of Bugsy Malone, I have to say not my favourite film of all time, but I was won over by the art deco venue, The Troxy club near Limehouse, and the effort that went into creating the Great Depression era vibe - particularly everyone having to enter via the back entrance like regular hoodlums. There were live acts playing out songs from the film but the highlight had to be the live custard pie fight during the film's climax. A good splattering was had by all.

The previous Secret Cinema to that was a Halloween screening of Alien which just happened to be in a cavernous warehouse space directly behind my studio in Shoreditch. On entering there were live recreations of the chest-burster dining scene and an encounter with a caged alien on a metal catwalk drenched in steam and sirens. The space was really impressive with lots of great recreations and details, such as the beheaded Ash android corner, and the film was as amazing as ever.

Mmmmm...What to post?

Criminal negligence on the blog front folks, I hang my head in shame. Busy couple of weeks but the posts...they be comin.

Feeling Minnesota

Found out that a cover I illustrated last year for the Minneapolis Saint Paul visitor's guide picked up a silver award in the Best Single Cover category (general interest over 60,000 circulation of course) at the Minnesota Publishing Awards. Neat.

Get Your Ass To Mars

While we're on the sci-fi tip, here's a recent US editorial job illustrating a short story concerning a Martian cable car. Really enjoyed indulging my inner geek on this one...and in no way was I inspired by the nutty eye-pop climax of Total Recall.

Moon Cat

Finally got to see the British sc-fi flick Moon this week followed by an entertaining and inspiring Q+A with director Duncan James and producer Stuart Fenegan thrown in for good measure. The film is a fantastic psychological portrait of a lone blue-collar lunar base operator and features a really solid and moving central performance by Sam Rockwell who, for me, has never been better. There are echoes of classic sci-fi films such as Outland, Silent Running and Alien in the script, visual effects and production design and the film, made on a paltry budget, is a real achievement for the first time director. The soundtrack by Clint Mansell is also outstanding. It was exciting to see a really enthusiastic director/producer team making good on the kind of influences that used to fire me up as a 'yoof'.

Spaghetti Graphica

The good people at Bunker in Milan alerted me to this upcoming exhibition at the Trienalle Design Museum showcasing the cream of Italian Graphics. The Carraro Annual Report 2007 I illustrated will be amongst the work featured. Mille Grazie!

On Guard,....Sir!

Recently found myself watching Ridley Scott's first film The Duellists on a particularly lazy Sunday morning and was really taken by it. The film charts the increasingly absurd duels fought by two Napoleonic generals over the decades, as played by the honour-fanatic Harvey Keitel and the more reasonable Keith Carradine (a classic underrated actor). Every frame is beautifully lit and composed, with some amazing use of 'magic-hour' sunlight, and the direction is unusually subtle compared to late Scott fare. The final lingering money shot above is a real corker, etches itself on the mind.

More Freaks

Another rogue for the gallery...bit of a meat-head this one