Play Nice

Also working on some illustrations around the phrase "Play Nice".. possibly some sort of kid's tshirts soon??

Happy Cemetery

I've started work recently on a project to do with 'The Happy Cemetery' in Romania.. I came across it by chance whilst working at a school under a pile of papers. It's origin is thanks to Stan Petras back in the 1930s and has been taken on by the Pop family to this day. It has over 800 'gravestones', most depicting two sides to the deceased's life. Side A would show a nice image of how they lived most days and Side B would show how they died or how they were best known in the village. I thought I'd share with you this point of reference and show you some work inspired by this.

Timberland

Also recently I did a tshirt with Timberland.. it's all sold out now though sadly! but you could get it in a lovely blue and the classic white! .. It was based around all my work based on woods and folk tales from last year. I have another tee with a friends company which I shall show once I get my copy in t'post!

iPhone backgrounds

I made some little iPhone backgrounds.. you can just click and save them and use them at your own free will. Just a casual affair really.

hey sport

Some sports illustrations I have been working on! I do believe this is the first time I have ever drawn anything to do with sports! It's been a fun little project which has helped me focus on how can the normal day-to-day scenarios be played out by an exaggerated figure. Also I'm quite a fan of how bloating the figures seem to be.

Trains

Yesterday I visited Holly Wales for some Sunday drawing at her tip-top studio OPEN. Whilst talking to Holly about some recent research I've been up to, it was suggested to have a sift through the great collection of reference books that they have in the studio! So, I nabbed a couple of photos and spent the afternoon drawing trains. lovely.

Drawing

Recently I have been thinking about the term and act of 'Drawing'. It by definition is based around the act of marks onto a surface in which to create form and shape. Last week I asked a student to 'draw with scissors instead of the same 2b pencil', a phrase coined from the Matisse exhibition I had seen some time ago.

Matisse said "the paper cut-out allows me to draw in the colour... Instead of drawing the outline and putting the colour inside it... I draw straight into the colour".


Henri Matisse - Blue Nudes

I imagined using the scissors to construct out a negative shape with which to draw or subtract form from, which would leave the student with a broken boundary away from the paper. Instead, when I returned the student had chosen to carve and scratch into the paper much like using the scissors as a pen or pencil. Now by my own fault of not explaining fully what I meant, I found something which I would like to inform a future workshop.

If a pen is used to make a mark.. why not use pencils and pens to cut? or rulers to create wonky lines?

..maybe helping us to "draw upon the definition of drawing"?

Scalpels and Shapes

The lovely Georgia Mason asked me to help her create some paper shapes for an upcoming photoshoot. Georgia has just signed to Kid Gloves/Univeral Records and I've had the great chance to work with her on some projects and there are plans to work on some more in the future!

The idea for this photo shoot was to make naturalistic forms which would grow and form around her. Georgia still wanted to keep things simplistic and I think the overall result looks beautiful! It's a nice simple addition to the photography which was captured very well by Mindy Coe!

Cold & Warm

This is an idea I have been working on for the past few days, I want to screen print up some two-sided totes! That way, whatever the weather, you can wear on the outside exactly how you're feeling on the inside!! I may need to simplify for the pulling of the screen so it's not SO many colours..but I shall share with you once they are done! It will be a small run of about 6-7 totes I think.

Hand lettering

I always tended to not use type in a lot of my work at University. I didn't see the advantages of testing it out and experimenting by making my own fonts and getting it wrong! It's only over the past year that I have worked on it more and more and I still feel like it will always be a test for me.

I've collected a lot of sign painting, hand lettering and hap-hazard typography photos over the past year or so.. here's a little collection of some of my favourites. I'll also update with some of my typography work later on this week.

Measuring beauty

Is this the queen? also why is her smile being measured?.. Well it's actually to do with how we 'measure' someone's looks. Broken down by how much of the teeth is shown. Very strange...

Fresh

So it's been some time since I've really had the time to sit down and re-work EVERYTHING! This is the beginning to that process and the start of the up-keep from now on. I want this blog to house not just my work but also to document thought and technical processes that I learn and also work with. Teaching 2 days a week will hopefully mean that every now and then I get to comment and write on art education itself. Right enough yacking.