Thank You Geniuses!

Ahoy-hoy!

Some of you may have missed me over recent weeks and been disappointed at my lamentable lack of posting. This was due to my laptop finally deciding to give up altogether and frying my hard-drive (hence deleting all recent work. Damn.) I took it to the Mac store in Covent Garden, expecting the worst, but came away jovial! Not only did the helpful chap replace my hard-drive with a new one twice the size, he gave me a brand new charger and a new casing as well! It was like a particularly gleeful episode of Animal Hospital. My 'little fella' had, indeed, made it.
Well, I'm back now and on track! Never fear! And I have some exciting things on the go which you no doubt can't wait to see...

On second thoughts, most of you probably didn't even notice I was gone.

Oh well, here is a piece I did a little while ago for Capture:Cure, a fundraising organisation who raise money for the fight against breast cancer. I entered this illustration into the 'Support' category - think it raised about £70 in the end!

'Phone a Friend'

Unfortunately, I did lose most of the make-up box design I had been working on, but I might put the linework up for you soon...

Now that's the cat's meow...

Today I've been designing some more make-up packaging, this time for a range of blushers. I've gone for a 1920's feel, and have had some great fun researching illustrators and fashions of the period. Looking at Marjorie Miller's work is like being fed melted chocolate:







Mmmmmmm, so delicious...

As I've also been reading some Agatha Christie recently (probably where the initial inspiration came from) I thought I'd also share with you these rather lovely book covers:





There are lots more lovely ones that I couldn't seem to find - I think this may be the illustration for another without the title/ author:

Jolly good stuff!

Mais Oui!

So, no blogging in a little while. This is because I have been swanning off again, as I am want to do - this time to the wonderful city of Paris... There was much coffee drinking, oohing and aahing at beautiful structures, and wistful humming of 'La Vie en Rose' to be had by all.

Attempts were made not to be a 'tourist', but walking around everywhere with your nose in a 'Time Out: Paris' guide book doesn't really give off the best impression. Yes, we did go up the Eiffel Tower (which is well worth the 7 euro fee) and after a probable 90 minute wait, some lovely man took this picture for us and it turned out quite well:



If anyone is planning to visit Paris in the near future, I would highly recommend the comic book store 'Album' which is located in the Latin Quarter on Boulevard Saint-Germain; there are 3 stores on the same junction, selling French graphic novels and art books, classic super-hero comics, figurines, posters and 'sketchbooks' full of character designs and roughs from famous graphic artists. I'd set aside a good amount of time to explore - there are plenty of other independent shops just like it in the same area and you'd be surprised how fast time can fly when you're in paradise!

www.album.fr

Check it out!

Also, note this scary face:

I Am Iron Man

Housewives favourite, Robert Downey Jr sketchdump. I like the bottom right one the best. How about you?

Who Hair? You Hair.

I woke up one morning and my hair looked like this. That is all.

Alright Darlin'?

Dizzee Rascal asks:

I know you're really busy and I know you've got plans,
But are you really too busy for a sun tan?

Thought I'd try my hand at portraiture - this is only my first one, so give me a chance tho' innit?

Why, Hello There!

So, you may not have seen me for a while. I would put this down to 'being very busy', which is in part true and in a more oh-lets-just-be-honest part, a bit of a fib!

Lots of news to report, as follows:

- I returned from a trip to The Big Apple inspired, informed and more than a little exhausted! (And plus one felted friend, pics to come...)

- I am now an official graduate of University College Falmouth

- My work is being exhibited right now at New Designers 2010 at the Business Design Centre in Islington. You can find out how to get tickets here:

http://www.newdesigners.com/page.cfm/Link=7/t=m/goSection=3

It really is worth going as there's some lovely work on show, both in Visual Communication and in the Product/ 3D Design fields. It's amazing, truly innovative stuff. If you get a chance, I would recommend you go and see this guy in the 'Multimedia' section :

http://gsinnott.kaen.org

Play around on the 'Idiron AV', a program that combines music and animation with an amazingly complex level of interaction. Both the PC program, and development as an ipod 'App', allow the user to manipulate different layers of the music which in turn cause the synced animation to 'react' appropriately. Watching Gilbert operate the Idiron AV at the private view last night was not dissimilar to watching the 'mad scientist' in a 1940s sci-fi film demonstrate his latest, unnecessarily complicated invention. I wondered whether your 'Average Joe' might spend more time working out how to use the damn thing than the creator spent developing the software in the first place! Still, the effect is both mesmerizing and also soul-destroying, as you soon realise you will never be this bloody clever.