Call It

I went all analogue on Friday and took a screen printing workshop at Printclub London which I enjoyed the heck out of. I took along my latest film head drawing to put the ink squeegee to. It's the preternaturally bad-assed Anton Chigurh, from the Coen brother's masterpiece No Country For Old Men, played brilliantly by a medievally mop-topped Javier Bardem. More screen printing to come methinks, can't wait to get my hands dirty again.

Small Audio Dynamite

Here's an editorial illo for Canada's Globe & Mail for an article on how tiny ear buds crunch massive audio.

Sonatine

You can't 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano I reckon so here's a scene from my favourite film of his, Sonatine, a gorgeous, blackly comic slice of existential yakuza action with oodles of seaside gunplay. Knockout.

Folly For A Flyover

I went to a pop-up cinema, dubbed the Folly For A Flyover, nestling under the A12 flyover in Hackney Wick at the weekend to catch a screening of fifties rebel classic The Wild One. The folly was built from reclaimed and donated materials next to the Lea Navigation Canal and was a great space to soak up a bit of campy Brando on a warm summer evening.

Tim & Eric In The Flesh

Last Friday I went along to see comedy mentalists Tim & Eric's  Awesome European Tour, Great Job! 2011 Just Islands show at Camden's Electric Ballroom in Lindin with that f*cking bridge (watch the trailer to see what I'm talking about). It was diarrheatically funny and they were ably supported 'In The Mix' by DJ Dougg Pound. Loving this poster artwork too by Duke Aber.

Carrie On

Some Friday sketchbook action before I call it a day. For some reason the crazed death stare of Sissy Spacek from the pig's blood drenched finale of Brian De Palma's classic Carrie popped into my brain this afternoon so had to put pen to paper. Right, get me out of herrreee.

Piggy Bank Riding

All a bit quiet on the blogging front recently but here's a little something from the last few weeks, a series of three finance themed illustrations for a weekly Aviva sponsored supplement in the Telegraph. I well and truly ram-raided the piggy bank of ideas for this one and I'm happy with the loot. 

Beeks!

As it's my birthday today I thought I'd treat myself to a lil' portrait. It's the amazing Paul Gleason, deadpan stalwart of classics such as Die Hard and The Breakfast Club (again), seen here in his crowning comedy role as the insanely abrupt Clarence Beeks in the brilliant Trading Places. Nobody delivers a line like this guy.

Comeback Kid

I've had my head down working away on various projects over the last couple of weeks without so much as a digital murmur but here's a cheeky little editorial in the meantime. It's for Denver's 5280 Magazine and an article about the comeback of 50 year old American 1984 Olympic gold cycling legend Alexi Grewal.

Birthday Club

It's my wife Liz's birthday today and I've drawn one of her celluloid heroes to mark the occasion. It's the mascara-caked 'goth chick' Ally Sheedy from John Hughes' classic The Breakfast Club trying (and failing) to resist an unwanted and horrendous make-over offer. Happy birthday hon!

Optimised

Latest Design Week illo for a Private View piece on creative optimism in troubled times, taking in WW2, the sixties and the present day with Paul Smith's new scent Optimistic cited as an example of designers willing to experiment outside their comfort zone.

Barrier Grief

Here's a recent editorial piece for National Mortgage News about the legal barriers being introduced in the US on foreclosures and defaults. Red tape huh?

Spanish Castle Magic

Been back from Barcelona and Catalonia for well over a week but still there in my mind, chomping on padron peppers and slurping the gin *sigh*. Anyway here are a few snaps from the trip which started with four nocturnal days at the Primavera Sound music festival held at the concrete-tastic Parc Del Forum overlooking the Med. Musical highlights for me included Interpol, Deerhunter, PIL, Grinderman, Factory Floor, Battles and the brash Odd Future. We spent a couple of days re-adjusting our post-festival body clocks taking in beautiful Barcelona and enjoyed a memorable trip to Ferran Adrià's new cocktail joint, 41 Degrees, sampling the great drinks and bizarro snack delights such as Parmesan Ice Cream sandwiches and the mysterious Fake Pistachios, all topped by the chance appearance of the amiable elBulli celeb-chef himself at the table next to us...whoop! After the city break we drove up the coast to the lovely Dali-centric Cadaqués, where we were based for the last three days, squeezing in a daytrip to nearby medieval Besalú and crag-perching Castellfollit de la Rocha. On the final day we strolled the lovely seafront at Sitges before shooting off to the airport and home, tired but inspired.

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.

The Tingler

Back in rainy London town after an excelente break in Barcelona and Catalonia, of which I'll post more about soon. While I was away though I was chuffed to find out I'd won a competition run by the Aubin Cinema to design a poster for a special 'Vincentenary' screening of a classic Vincent Price schlock horror The Tingler, originally shown with a new screen gimmick called Percepto! (which I suspect involved having a rubber worm-thing thrown at your head). I missed the film screening, unfortunately, but here's the design for the poster which was on display at the cinema.

Uptown Car

New illustration for Automobile Magazine charting the rise and fall of the Lincoln Town Car from it's heyday as New York's glamorous upscale transport service to the imminent closure of the assembly line.

Deep Benching

So I metaphorically stepped up to the plate, gave it a 110%, and attempted to knock it out of the park with this baseball themed cover illustration for CIO Magazine, which is actually about building a stronger IT department of course.

Secret Cinema Goes To War

I went along to Secret Cinema again recently over Easter, this time staged at the Old Vic Tunnels under Waterloo station. On arrival at The Embassy we presented our pre-prepared French identity cards at the military style checkpoint and avoided the steely gazes of the guards who were detaining people at their leisure. We made it passed the checkpoint into a dark and atmospheric recreation of North African backstreets, mosques, food markets, cafe's and embassies all populated by arabic speaking folk and policed by temperamental French military, who could also be found dishing out a bit of torture in one of the antechambers. I got the impression it wasn't going to be a showing of Raiders Of The Lost Ark, as one punter suggested, and soon twigged it was the classic sixties insurgent film The Battle Of Algiers. For the screening itself we were bundled through hidden passages into a makeshift cinema to watch the powerful film which is still as relevant as ever in it's brutal depiction of the Algerian struggle for independence from French colonial rule. It was more of an appropriately solemn affair for such a challenging film but great to see this classic transformed into an inspired experience.

Pucka Brand

Latest Design Week illo for a Private View column looking at the successful branding of TV's foodmeister Jamie Oliver.

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!