New Baby

Happy New Year,

Some people aren't only celebrating a new year - they might also be celebrating a new baby. If they happen to work for Starbucks then they will hopefully receive a congratulations card with my design on the front.

It has been interesting to try to create a design which has all the qualities and sense of tradition sought after by the company, yet retaining a sense that it is my work. And the battle hasn't been won yet. The stork design is the leading candidate, while the dummy design is now aptly named!

Merry Christmas!

I always intend to send Christmas cards, but never get around to it.

This year I did, although on behalf of someone else.

It is a Christmas card for my family's property maintenance company, a little homage to their history in painting and decorating. There is nothing lovelier than colourful swatches painted on a wall.

After graduating...

...things seem to slooow down. 

Some people are impressively conscientious, and hopefully great things happen quickly. Others are slow burners -  I think i'm one of those. However, some of the projects i've been working on for various people and budgets have kept me happy and productive.

This logo is my favourite rough from a set of four. Hopefully it will be chosen to represent the lovely Rosie Nash's business.

The above image is a cropped version of a double page illustration for an article about The Flaming Lips.  It will be published in Stutter magazine, a collective project by us graduates and brainchild of Dominic Mckenzie and Ben Mellows.

I procured a commission at New Designers Fair back in July, for Hallmark cards UK, a company with Christmas 2012 on their agenda. You can see the results above!

A last minute conquest!

For the last week i've been struggling with an editorial illustration for an article about the selection of rules for creative writing.
However, it seemed whatever I tried it looked terrible. So I accepted defeat. But looking through my portfolio this morning, I couldn't deny the gap where that Illustration SHOULD BE! It would have annoyed me for at least the next year. I poured a coffee, and sat down to show Photoshop who's boss - literally hours before the hand-in.

It's always good to know you can do something if you really try!

This Illustration will change your life(!)

It's the Easter holiday for us undergraduates, though I can't let that fool me into thinking I don't have any work to do. Because there is plenty of it.

In two weeks I will have handed in my work for the last time. Crikey. Anyway, this week I've been doing an editorial illustration for the Guardian's 'This column will change your life'. It's about how in order to learn a new behaviour, the desired action must be rewarded at random when it is performed. This illustration might not change your life - but it won't make it any worse!

The finished article.

The puffin competition entry gave me a few grey hairs this afternoon, when things took a Roald Dahl- esque turn.  Quite scary. 

Well, really all that happened is that the website crashed. But it's back up now and I've sent off my entry!

It being the last day of Uni, it's time to go to the pub.

James and the.... giant Puffin competition.

If you search for the paperback cover of Roald Dahl's James and The Giant Peach in google, you'll be seeing lots of competition entries from people who can't wait to put them onto their blogs! 

I'm not one of those - mostly just because it isn't finished.

Here is a link to the less than beautiful version of the cover I have in my possession (yes, it is too ugly to put on my blog.)

Not that i'm complaining about Mr Blake, because, come on he didn't put all of those elements together on the page did he? Here's hoping mine has something of a more selective palette, shall we say? 

YCN competition - Open University

I got my effort for the Open University YCN brief in on Friday, as you can see above. It was a most glorious day in Cambridge, so we illustrators went to the pub by the river. Days like that make up for all the grey days when your work isn't going so well....

Ottoman Tiles

I'm not one to turn down an offer of cash...  So, i've been painting tiles (a square metres worth) with patterns inspired by the ottoman empire. It's great because I can have the TV on too - I spent Tuesday evening painting and watching Fargo.

 These two patterns are slightly more subdued than some of the other patterns I have been doing, which are very bold! More to come soon.