As I write, it’s raining. Plus ça change. But that doesn’t stop there being a fabulous new issue of CIO Connect magazine out! Hooray!
I designed it from front to back, and this issue, like the last one, I was asked to create some illustrations. Here are some of the purty pages for your eyes’ happiness!
My man is a very talented singer and guitarist and he performs with a Hereford-based band called First Season. They asked me to illustrate/design the cover for their EP and I thought I’d share it with y’all. You can listen to a couple of tracks off the EP on soundcloud here. They’re working on their first album and from what I’ve heard it’s even better.
Meanwhile, here’s the cover what I did. Tom and Dave gave me a brief about a man drunkenly putting up his fists to a wind-blown tree, so that’s what they got. The image was indian inked with a brush, scanned into Photoshop, given the cardboard background and a sort of wood-cut texture. The typeface is Adobe Caslon Antiqua.
Cover of First Season’s “Break my boughs burn my leaves”
is it really three sweet months since I have blogged? *slaps wrists* See the thing is that I know one should blog like maybe twice a week but sometimes life gets in the way a bit and I’m easily distracted and OOH LOOK KITTENS ON THE INTERNET
So, I’m going to try and update you with some of the work I’ve been doing lately. For starters, here’s the most recent issue of CIO Connect magazine. Lovely editor Mark Samuels has asked me to do a bit more illustration for the publication. You can see sections of illustrations for the up-and-coming Autumn issue on my Facebook page now (just to tease you). I’ve been able to take a bit more time with those ones; I had very little time to do the illustrations below – I like them, but I think the ones for next issue are a bit better developed!
Click on any image for a bigger view.
CIO Connect cover. Awesome photography as ever by Martin Burton
CIO Connect has been a loyal client since 2003 and I’ve been designing the branding for their annual conference for top IT types for, hmm, three or four years now. Looking back on the way we came to this year’s final image, I thought it might be a great illustration of how I work together with my clients to create an image that works.
This October’s conference theme is “Embracing the Unexpected”; so late last year (they are organised types at CIO C) they asked me to come up with some ideas around the theme.
I came up with the following rough ideas:
CIO Connect said that they liked the Jackalope (being a ferocious antlered version of a rabbit) coming out of the magician’s hat, but they thought it might not be obvious enough. Perhaps something more overtly ferocious might work? So I created some rough inkings of crocodiles (text was to go across the black arm of the magician). At first I struggled with the idea of what the magician was to grasp, & so gave the croc some bunny ears. Then the jaw-holding idea came to me. I sent both ideas to the client, despite thinking the latter a lot stronger. Normally I wouldn’t do this (David Carson said once never to show the client something you don’t like as that’s what they’ll choose) but I trusted the people at CIO C to pick the better one – and also, sometimes great ideas are born from humble beginnings. Thus:
We like the second one, they said. Can you develop it?
Well, I redrew and I inked and I scanned and I coloured and dear reader, I made this, the final design, with lettering and brand colours:
The response: “I love it!! …thank you so much it’s fab and so different from our usual!”
warning: contains naked people!
Hello! Just a quick post to put up some quick sketches I did at the life drawing sessions I’ve been attending at Rodney Parade in Newport for the past couple of weeks. I really recommend life drawing as a fantastic way to improve your drawing skills – if you go regularly you’ll notice an improvement very quickly. If you’re interested in attending these sessions, which are run in Newport on Wednesday mornings and Garth Olwg in Trefforest in the evenings, join this here Facebook group. My friend, awesome painter Carl Chapple, also hosts taught life drawing sessions in Barry on occasional Sundays. He has a Facebook group here which you may “like” to find out more.
Happy scribblings!
Hello. I made some doodles. Thinking of developing their style into a new way of illustrating. I especially like the owl and the leaf.
