A To Z Of World Music

You wait forever for a music related cover illustration designed around a front mounted CD then two come along at once. After the recent BBC Music cover illustration I was also very happy to jump on board this commission for the current issue of Songlines magazine for a feature on the A to Z of World Music. You can see more work for Songlines on the site here.

Double Ali

Here's a double dose of the great Muhammad Ali in illustrated form. These two were drawn with the brush pen and coloured with Photoshop for a birthday commission for a friend. They're also up on the site in a little more detail here.

Natural Editorials

Bit of a blog catch-up day today. Firstly, here are a couple of recent editorials for Nature Journal on the truth about how we process pain and the fight for equality in African scientific research. You can see more work for Nature on the site here.

Proms Reprise

It's Proms season again and I was recently commissioned to create the cover for the current issue of BBC Music to celebrate it. The design had to feature the Royal Albert Hall, of course, with this year's stars and highlights composed around a tricky CD fronted cover layout. It was great to have another crack at a Proms themed illustration after working on the main event branding imagery three years in a row from 2008-10. You can see that previous Proms work here.

Space Hostages

Hot on the heels of Sophia Mcdougall's Mars Evacuees last year comes the follow-up book Space Hostages with a new illustration from yours truly gracing the cover. The brief for this one required a little more dynamic flying action, in place of the cucumber-cool stances of the original, and the Martian red has become a more earthy, yet alien, green. Hugely enjoyable to work on again. You can read some book extracts on Sophia's interesting blog here and see more of the work on my site here.

Illustration Show Hitters

Very pleased to discover a couple of my entries in this year's 3 x 3 Professional Show were successful. My Post-Invasion Cards series received a Merit in the Sci-Fi category and The Life Of Maria Callas gained an Honourable Mention in the Animation category. The second Post-Invasion card, The Wreck Of Puigcerda, was also a chosen winner in American Illustration 34 this year and will appear in the online archive.

Jurassical

Here's another chunky commission for a BBC Focus cover and feature on how we could build a Jurassic World to tie-in with the impending release of the latest dino movie. I had to create a number of realistic looking environments and scenes using some very useful 3d dinosaur and people stock imagery. The cover features a baby Rex illustration based on a supplied clay model photo that I spruced up with some reptile skin, egg shells and lashings of gloop. For the iPad edition I animated some life into the freshly born critter. The whole project was  great fun to work on. You can also see the work on my site here.

Slippery Sledgehammer

Here are a couple of personal pieces I produced for the recent Secret 7" open submission to design 7" vinyl covers for a good cause. Didn't get selected for exhibition unfortunately but enjoyed the sweet heck out of the experiment. Out of the given tracks I chose Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer (top) and Underworld's Born Slippy (bottom). See more personal work on the site here.

Of Free Will And Volcanoes

Alongside the regular Into The Future column illustrations for BBC Focus Magazine I've also been producing cover art and animations for a number of recent issues, having been drafted in to provide a consistent look and feel for the magazine and iPad edition. Here are two cover illustrations and iPad animations, one on the possible illusion of free will and the other on massive volcano mega eruptions, for which I had the aid of a stock image to work some lava drama into. You can see more work for BBC Focus on the site here.

Rise Of The Machines

Here are some recent illustrations for The Economist for an article entitled Rise Of The Machines on the state of AI and how intelligent software can serve humanity rather than destroy it (as usually seen in popular sci-fi). A second feature illustration looks at how software can recognise cat videos on youtube and work out the rules of vintage arcade games in order to play them. See more Economist work on the site here.

Jules Verne Tech, Cyber Religion and Alien Worlds

I've been doing quite a bit of regular work for BBC Focus magazine recently, amongst other commissions, so here's a bit of a catch up on the Baxter's Into the Future illustrations from the last three months. Firstly, a look at how Jules Verne is inspiring the technology of tomorrow such as an electricity generating Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion plant. Secondly, the future of religion in an increasingly secular world and thirdly a piece on habitable worlds in the universe featuring a quizzical alien being looking to the stars. See all the Into the Future illustrations on the site here.

Ancient DNA

Here's a recent editorial for the Wall Street Journal on how studies in ancient DNA are telling a new human story about our ancestors. See more work for the Wall Street Journal here.

Neuromancer

Here's my entry for a competition run by the BFI and Harper Collins  to create a film poster for a yet-to-be filmed sci-fi novel. One of my all-time favourite novels, William Gibson's Neuromancer, has yet to make it to the big screen, despite having a huge influence on sci-fi cinema, so it was a no-brainer for me to take on the cyberpunk classic. Last I heard director Vincenzo Natali was on the Case (protagonist pun intended) so the film version might yet happen. See the poster and related work on the site here.

Showcase 100

I currently have an illustration up in the Showcase 100 Exhibition at the Framers Gallery in central London. It's a juried exhibition and publication set up by the good folk at Little Chimp Society and Hire An Illustrator. There's some great work in the show so it's well worth a look...if you can get down there by tomorrow when it finishes that is! If not, you can always get the book.

BSFA Award Nom

Very pleased to find myself nominated in the Best Artwork category at this year's British Science Fiction Association Awards for Sophia Mcdougall's Mars Evacuees cover. The awards are held at the Dysprosium Eastercon convention this coming Easter weekend and I'm up against some stiff competition so my fingers will be crossed at all times until then. Looking back at the history of the awards it's a real privilege for me to be nominated amongst some of the hugely influential names on there, Jim Burns in particular, was a big inspiration for me as a sci-fi art obsessed youth.

Giffery From Brussels

I've been sitting on a bunch of photos from various trips over the last six months that I wanted to blast into the blog-o-sphere somehow so I'm going cutting edge, circa 1987, with the latest in gif - with a hard G - technology. Firstly, here are a few scenes that stole my eye on a lovely trip to Brussels late last August. You can find more photography over on my Instagram account if you fancy a gander.

The Universe Next Door

Here's a new cover illustration for the latest issue of BBC Focus on the mind-bending concept of a twin universe 'next door' to ours where time runs backwards. The illustration also needed to be animated for the iPad edition of the mag which you can see below. More work for BBC Focus can be found on the site here.

H-R-Oscope

Here's a recent cover illustration for HR Magazine that required a simpler graphic approach to get across the idea of Human Resources under examination. I've posted the original and a different colour-way for the actual cover. See more work for HR Magazine on the site here.

Life Of Brian

Here's an editorial for American Airlines luxury mag Celebrated Living for an article on 'high-energy' chef Brian Malarkey and the opening of his new venture in Las Vegas. See it in more detail and with related work on the site here.

Ice Age London And Hologram Heat

Here are a couple of recent editorials for my regular slot in BBC Focus' Into The Future column. First up is a depiction of an Ice Age London, not hard to imagine that one, and a Valentine's themed take on technology and relationships. You can see more work from the series on the site here.