Ciara & Theo's work

Horse Mask (photocopy)

Glitter and glue.

Rubber stamps

Hand & sponge painting

And more hand & sponge painting.

I have two kids, one age five and one two, and they both love playing with materials in Dad's studio. Above are a couple of examples. I REALLY like the scary horse mask made out of a piece of blackened photocopy paper!

I also had a spare large 3' X 4' canvas knocking about the studio, gathering dust and waiting for a bit of attention. So on a particularly grim rainy summer day in the school holidays, Ciara and I set up a work area just at the right height for her to be able to reach all parts of the canvas. I usually paint on a large drawing but no matter what we tried we could not get it low in enough for her to reach the top. After some juggling, we set up on an old wooden box and then set to by using up some of our old emulsion tester pots and some old acrylic paint. We mixed up some water with the base paint to make it slightly runnier, then added a bit of glaze medium to help the paint become a bit more transparent. Then let rip, painting with hands brushes first and then pouring paint from one end of the canvas to the other. The 'finished' painting is now hung on the kitchen wall. Great fun! The nice thing about working like this is that it makes me loosen up a bit with the paint and lets Ciara really throw paint around - which she did with great enthusiasm. We also agreed that on the next rainy school holiday, we'd re-work the same canvas, so it has the potential to develop and change with every session - a work in progress for us both!

Origami Pound Notes!

A three quarter page image used inside the magazine.

This is how the cover was printed, with the background details reduced - I REALLY like the printed result, not something I often say about a printed illustration, and the sign of really good Art Dept working well with their contributors (photography or illustration).

The finished image ready for print as originally supplied.

The line pencil sketch after client approval

A recent project that proved quite challenging in that it required a much more visually economic approach than my usual working method. After a discussion with the Deputy Art Director, it was decided that it would be interesting just to focus on the central object, minimising the background's importance. I really enjoyed having to keep things simple and just concentrating on the main theme and not being distracted by background. This is completely alien to me as I usually like to envelope a figure or object in an environment of its own to make the scenario or concept more convincing to the viewer. I REALLY enjoyed this approach overall - a working method I'll certainly be exploring further.

Images 33 Exhibition.

Last night was the Private View for the Association of Illustrators launch of Images 33: The Best of British Illustration. Link. Unfortunately I was unable to attend, but I hope to be able to get to show before its run ends - fingers crossed on that! I was delighted to get two pieces excepted into the exhibition itself and also a third in the annual as well: Scorpion attacks which is all about bullying in the workplace. Poker Robot which explores a robot designed specifically to always win at Poker. Factory Relocation, an image about relocation of manufacturing for cheaper labour costs. If I get to the show itself, I'll post photo's of them in situ and also my fav artwork from the show.

A couple of the 741 Illustration crowd (Sarah Coleman, Jacquie O Neil, Jill Calder Ali Pellatt and Myles Talbot) are in the show was well. Sarah, Jill, Jacquie, Ali, Myles and I were the founding members of 741 illustration collective a few years ago. We are still very much in touch and support each other through the ups and downs of freelance life :-) Here are Sarah's (I challenge you to find a more gifted type artist!) pieces from the Images show...

Influences - Dan Dare

Anyone with a passion for sci-fi will know about Dan Dare! These playing cards were found in a friends attic and they kindly lent me them to scan in, there must be about thirty or so in good enough condition to repro. I have a few of the original Dan Dare annuals bought from junk shops when I was a kid. Prized studio posessions now!

Play!

When I left my teaching role at UCLAN last year, it was clearly obvious that a 'sense of play' had somehow disappeared from my illustration work. Probably as a result of trying to keep too many things going on at the same time. Play? Work just for fun? The what if approach? Material experimentation? Call it what you will, but I had just a couple of weeks where I raided my paints, collage drawer and some of the throw always the kids had been drawing and scribbling on and just let loose, scanned the results in and just played :-) No brief or theme to any of the images, just a reaction to the materials in their own right and then a tiny bit of computer manipulation. A couple of the images went on to become a finished images - usually semi abstract backgrounds with a central figurative theme. Just a few favs of the many that were done...