A slight return…

So much to update in nearly a year of non posting that Im just going to cut my losses and start afresh with the 2 newest projects. Perhaps if you would like a clearer update of what I have been doing then check out my Flickr stream and have a browse through….there is a fair bit of personal iPhone photography on there as well. 

First up is a new venture into mainstream book cover design with this cover for Rosalie Ash’s “Melting Ice”. Heres a larger cover as well…

Currently its only an eBook but it will be available as a print on demand paperback at some point in the near future. In a similar fashion to my other work it was constructed from out of copyright images from flickr and gimp savvy (gallery to follow).

It was a great little project and Im really looking forward to doing more of these as it was such a straightforward change from more conceptually complex and challenging work

The other job I have been undertaking was some work for local experimental music promotors SOUNDKitchen. The brief was very much the sort of thing I was interested in and I was delighted when they chose my image to promote all their events for 2013. Heres the current version of the poster and flyer (i did the text layout as well but this might still be subject to change)…

I didn’t do the wonderful fork logo but I wish I did.

And thats the update. I really need to make a New Years resolution to get this blog up to date more…

Premier Pli issue 2

Issue 2 of Firstfold’s Premier Pli is now in production and Ive been given the honor of the cover(s) this time out. The theme – decided upon by this issues editors Pierre & Karlheinz – is Nostalgia. With that in mind Ive come up with a fake libary book insert that is liberally decorated with sets of Top Trumps…

Those Horror Top trumps now go for £40 a pack on eBay if you got them kicking around somewhere. Sadly I dont (I did find those two on the pavement on my  street a few years back though which was very odd) but if you should want a look at the rest of them – and they are very weird indeed you can see the full scans here. The Pointless Museum also has the Spaceship ones but sadly no Western Gunfighters.

Ive also done a set of 4 illustrations that will be adapted by Alex Bermingham to fit his super layout and cover typography. These will be the front and back covers at some point and Ive left it up to Alex to see which ones fit – look forward very much to seeing the results. they are based on seaside holidays, days at National Trust properties, Witley Court and Lego instructions – a sort of rebuilding the past theme I think…

B.O.Y.D (bring out your dead) 5 & 6

FirstFolds live event back in Sepetember has now become a regular monthly night at The Bulls Head in Moseley, Birmimgham. Ive ecently picked up the design work for the posters starting with the 5th one in February  and the 6th in March. This will be a regular thing from now on so you can see all the posters (and alternative versions) in this Flickr set. Or see below for the newest editions…

2 New Illustrations

Here is two new illustrations for a new music zine (online only at present I think…) that will be out at some point this year – I really dont have any more information than that. Heres the first – an Illustration for an article on forgotten instruments (the theramin in this case):

And the second – this time for an article on “The retro-futurism music movement in Birmingham in the 90s”…

Will print these out at soem point to see how they look and depending on that may well sell a few.

Narrative and Planning

Ive been dabbling lately with ideas of narrative and storytelling in images and one thing I kept on coming back to was a collection of books I used to have as a a 9yr old child. They were quite odd really – a collection of 3 (although I only had 2 at the time) of books on the Supernatural that had those wonderful gouache  illustrations that only Usbourne books of the 1970`s could produce. My original ones were long gone so thanks to the magic of the internet Ive managed to source them again – all 3 this time too…

I had no real idea why these had stuck in my head so much when so many other books had been lost. The thing I kept coming back to was the little “comic strip” type boxes they had about each story – but also after seeing them again it was a real look and feel that they had – not at all like a “strip” but much more like a story/incident in one frame. This page illustrating the story of Borley Rectory particularly stuck in my mind and shows that perfectly…

I’m unsure how this will effect what I’m going to produce over the next year or so but I certainly want it in somewhere. After I produce the next round of First Fold covers in the next week or so I’m working on a mock up of a new music magazine which will be completed in the new year.

By then it will be time for Premier Pli issue 2 – hopefully this is where it might come to fruition. In any case here is a rare glimpse into a creative process – a illustration I did while working right at the start of the process for the new work – untitled 2…

New Work

Ive had a few months off making new work but have got back in the photoshop saddle somewhat over the last week or two and had a go at creating some new work based upon the box of slides I purchased back in March. Although the scanning and posting of these came to a halt almost as soon as they started (soon to be rectified as I have just moved all my work over to a Mac and purchased a new scanner…) I had about 70 that I began to hack up. As mentioned when I bought them I wanted to make something quicker, cleaner and with a clearer narrative – not sure if thats been achieved but Im certainly happy with them. Ive done 7 so far and these are my hard chosen faves…

 

Supersonic Zine

Local promoters Capsule recently put out an open call for illustrators to work on the online Supersonic zine (it might be in print too but I have yet to see one…) and I submitted the 3 you can see below…

Style wise its a continuation on from the work I have been doing over the past year but I really enjoyed the limitation of working purely in monochrome and the small A5 size. Also for various reasons they needed to be done fast so these we turned round in about 2 hours one evening. I was very pleased with the results – if you are too you can buy limited prints at Capsules Supersonic Festival (I will be on the First Fold stall) priced at £10 each (A5 prints on A4 paper ltd to 20). And for the sake of completeness here is the online zine  (and if I find a printed copy I will post a photo).