Skyliner

Here's my entry for a Transport For London competition to produce a modern take on London's skyline. I went for a relatively simple but dynamic collage approach featuring a cross section of London's iconic buildings. I always enjoy working the capital's architecture into my illustrations. Click to zoomify.

Chic Ahoy!

Here's a recent editorial for Continental Magazine looking at the rising interest in floating loft homes. I'd swab that deck for a dollar ... it's quite a small deck.

Kent Dash

Rented a car for a Sunday drive around Kent, the Garden Of England TM. We stopped for some oysters in the lovely Whitstable then made for the south coast to stroll around the strange and out-of-time Dungeness. It's an invitingly lonely shingle landscape punctuated with converted shacks, and the odd designer home, that buzzes to the low hum of the vast fifties power station that looms over the whole area. It feels like a simulacra of a western frontier town beamed to the English coast from Alpha Centauri. Here are a few snaps taken by my wife Liz and I that give a little taste of this curio of a place. We reacclimatised to reality with a quick zip to Camber Sands then headed back to the Smoke.

Bio-Kewversity

Excuse the seriously unsuccessful pun of a title for a moment and just have a look at this 'Biodiversity' spread illustration for the latest issue of Kew Gardens Magazine. I should get out amongst the biodiversity of Landan Town myself as it's scorching hot here right now.

User Of Macs

The latest issue of MacUser arrived in the post today featuring a showcase spread on Yours Truly. I got thoroughly bored of the Yours Truly article and skipped to the bit all about MEEee. Click for a large version that's legible if you're willing to except some retinal strain damage.

The Future Of Smarties

Here's the latest illo for Design Week looking at the current state of oversized products available on the market, Smarties included.

Aberdovey Antics

Took a stress-bustin break to Aberdovey, Wales over the weekend and very relaxing it was too. It's a lovely low-key seaside town with breathtaking views over Cardigan Bay and gorgeous hilly landscapes to ramble across. There was much driving, walking, beach lounging, drinking, munching and even steam train trips on the local Talyllyn Railway. Magic!

Scribble Me This

My pencils went mano-a-mano and Tacheon was born.

Where In The World?

PC World Magazine of course. Here's a little editorial piece for their Security Alert section about mobile botnets allowing attackers the ability to tap the eyes and ears of mobile devices. It's good to talk.

Something For The Weekend

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!