Sarfend

Spent a typically blustery Bank Holiday Monday in Essex's seaside gem Southend-on-Sea. Wolfed down the fish 'n' chips in the rain and ran the gamut of gaudy, decrepit neon and massively obtrusive roadworks. You can also find an impossibly long 'pleasure pier' that stretches into infinity, or 1.3 miles if you want to get technical. The sun eventually turned up and sprinkled on the charm before we made haste.

Proms Me Thrice

And now for a London Summer event illustration I am proud to have out there. For the third year running I've been lucky enough to create the BBC Proms main brand illustration and, if I do say so myself, this is probably the best one yet. The Guide book has just been released and features some lovely silver typography on the cover courtesy of the designers at Premm. I've been told today that it's already racking up the sales and is making it's way up the non-fiction bestseller list...woop. Here's a shot of a window display at Daunt Books, Marylebone. Click on the wide shot at the top to embiggenify.

A Cow's Ear

I was really chuffed to be asked to create the main illustration for this year's upcoming E4 Udderbelly comedy and music festival on London's Southbank. After a bit of a bumpy start trying to navigate a brief that demanded the look and feel of the BBC Proms illustrations without actually looking like them I was really pleased with the result (top) which I felt had it's own vibe going on. The client seemed to be happy also. So I was pretty dismayed to see the London tube poster design (bottom) which features a heavily altered hack job of my final layered photoshop document. Without consulting me the whole crowd scene has been crudely rearranged and retouched in a way I wouldn't personally have done. I'm not one for sour grapes and I realise it might not look like much of a difference to the casual observer but it just ain't my work and I just had to put that out there. Beware of handing out your layered files.

Heads Up

Here are this week's sketchbook offerings, assorted moody heads for your delectation. I like the coffee flavoured ones.

Rise Of The Canary

Went back to the West Midlands last weekend to witness the unveiling of my cousin's new clothing store in Stourbridge, Scary Canary Clothing. They champion exclusive and unique clothing from independent designers and artists and it's a very welcome injection of glamour for the area so check it out if you're around that neck o' the woods. Onwards and upwards Stace n Steve.

Back Off Warchild, Seriously

Afternoon nonsense time.

Saturday Night At The Neurocinema

Here's an editorial illo for Canada's Globe And Mail newspaper about the phenomenon of Neurocinema. To replace the tired formula of test screenings with generic feedback Hollywood will soon be using readings of the brain's responses to particular films and craft movies that deliver exactly what the audience desires. Transformers 32: Assignment Miami Beach then.

One Of Those Days?

The Invisible Designer

Here's the latest editorial illo for Design Week. It's for an article on the anonymity of designers and the definition of 'design' in general, you dig.

Dorset Daze

Spent a long weekend in Lyme Regis, Dorset over Easter for some well needed R&R. It's a picturesque seaside town with a historic harbour known as The Cobb - as seen on TV sporting a fetchingly cloaked Merly Streep in The French Lieutenant's Woman. We also visited the nearby market town of Bridport which has an amazing old cinema The Electric Palace. It's been lovingly restored and decked out with elaborate artworks including a great mural by fellow AGM artist Paul Blow. We braved the mud on Sunday for a 7 mile hike along the Undercliff Nature Reserve which straddles the coast between Seaton and Lyme Regis. It's a stunning sub tropical landscape that emerged from the geographical fallout of landslides that occurred in Victorian Times. Jurassic Parrrk!

Diiiiive!

While we're on the ornithological tip, here's a little sketch of the wonderful Brian Blessed as Vultan from Flash Gordon. 'Oh well, who wantsch to live forevahhhh!'

Duck Wars

Ever wanted to tour London on a yellow aquatic vehicle during the mayhem of the Blitz, now you can. Here's a recent OTT poster design for a World War 2 themed London Duck Tour which was fun to do, in an insane kind of way. Focke-Duck you might say.

Spring Loaded

I've been working a lot with the RHS recently on various projects which will begin to blossom as the year unfolds (see what I did there). After successfully promoting the Butterflies In The Glasshouse event at RHS Garden Wisley I've been commissioned, in tandem with the excellent folk at Premm Design, to work on a number of illustrations for campaigns throughout the year including this Spring design. Keep 'em pruned.

Security!

Here's a recent editorial piece for Security Management magazine in the US. The article is a pretty unfrothy look at tackling domestic terrorism, such as the recent shootings at Fort Hood in Texas, and the rise of self-radicalised lone operators. Uh huh, I need to lie down.

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!

Memories Submission

I mentioned the Memories Project a few posts back, an artistic response to the personal stories and experiences of cancer survivors. Here's my submission for the project which was based on the story of Wendy Nichols, who embraced a lifestyle change of health and well-being, particularly ashtanga yoga, over radio/chemotherapy and lived to tell the tale. The illustration will feature in an upcoming book so more news on that as and when.

Excite-o-tron

Ok, my inner fanboy has collapsed with excitement and is currently recovering in hospital, chomping on grapes. Caught the exciting new trailer for Tron Legacy, the long gestating sequel to the 1982 Tron original, a childhood favourite and major source of early inspiration. Not sure how much of a hand original designer and personal hero Syd Mead had in updating the designs but looks like they've simultaneously retained and supercharged all the original qualities. New Daft Punk soundtrack taster sounds spot on too.

Tweet This

Here's an illustration featured in the current issue of the newly rebranded Design Week. It's for a column by design guru Adrian Shaughnessy looking at his newly acquired taste for Twitter and it's usefulness to the creative community. Looks like I'll be contributing illustrations on a fairly regular basis to the new DW which is pretty 'tweet (ouch).

I'm Talking Here!

Thought I'd point you all in the direction of a few recent online interviews. First up is a quick Q+A for the recent Heavy Pencil event, which inspired this Daniel Plainview drawing. There's also a featured artist interview on my agent's site at Anna Goodson Managment and a recent profile on Adobe Creative News .

Potsdamer Platz Nights

Went to another Secret Cinema event over the weekend. This one had a teutonic flavour and was housed in an amazing derelict cinema on Shepherd's Bush Green with it's exterior dressed to resemble the Potsdamer Platz U-Bahn station in Berlin. The screening turned out to be the classic Wim Wenders movie Wings Of Desire and the venue was decked out like the film's Metropol club with live music acts and scenes enacted all around. The cinema itself was impressive and doubled up as a circus space with live trapeze artists mimicking the moves of the Marion character as she performs in the Circus Alekan on screen. This gorgeous art-house film was a brave choice for the organisers and I think they really pulled it off. I first saw this film about twenty years ago and I've always remembered the impact it had on me which I'm glad to say hasn't diminished in the least.