Nobrow comic work in progress

For the last week ive been working on a 7 page comic for the forthcoming release 'The Graphic Cosmogony' by Nobrow - a book feature a whole host of talent dealing with the theme of creation. The whole task has been exciting but daunting.

Here are the rough books i made just to get a balance to my story and work out the structure of each page, making sure the story reads.

at the same time i was tested methods that meant i could create the artwork that would maintain my interest by being able to shift enough away from the planned roughs.

making the leap to a much larger scale meant the artwork could come to the fore front for a while as the structure of the story was already in place

Nobrow use a four colour pantone print process. i tried a few ways of colouring the image but again, planning ahead meant the images where becoming more like what i expect to see in a comic rather than how i wanted to see my work in the format

These final drawings are getting somewhere. There is enough flexibility to allow me to hopefully tell the story whilst looking accidently the final comic will (hopefully)be finished next week

recent work

New York Times.

a very quick turn around of 5 hours for this piece about the oil slick ability of people in Louisiana to carry on through a disaster

FT. Book review.

this top piece is work in progress. its a version that didn't get approved at the rough stage. i want to work it up anyway as its taking my work forward and away from a more straight forward construction of a narrative.

This version has less of a relation to the landscape description in the piece but is visually more interesting with the moon cut out dominating

Final piece to go for print. i was quite pleased with the final piece but it felt to like something i have seen time and time again in my work, which can be a symptom of commissioned work,referencing of past projects. hopefully the other version will offer something new and bit a bit more surprising

New Scientist

really interesting piece about the use of medication with autistic children.

i have quite strong ( but probably misguided ) views on this which become apparent in my first couple of roughs. the final piece became more about the different options/ dilemmas of treatments and that the visually shape of the children didnt fit it to what we , as society , expect as normal behaviour. the parents want what is best but it is a confusing puzzle, maze of theories.

Hand

im very excited to announce my new book 'Hand' is now out. Published and beautiful hand screen printed by NoBrow. They have set about making a fantastic platform to showcase illustrators own authored work . Producing a variety of formats with the print process clearly thought about for each job. Visit their site to see work by a strong variety of worldwide artists

thanks to everyone involved in the printing etc at NoBrow

click here to buy 'Hand'

new commissions

couple of new editorial pieces for business magazines in the US

new t-shirts

I Had two packages arrive in the studio this week containing t shirts.

The boy t shirt is now on sale at Lazy Oaf in both boys and girls sizes. The Death one at Collective edition in either grey or white

very pleased with the results and excellent print quality so big thank you to both Lazy Oaf and Collective edition

woodcuts

'Together & Apart'-A pair of reduction woodcuts now on show and for sale at the Pick Me Up show at somerset house until may 3rd

the images can be arranged to reflect the state of a relationship within a domestic setting. back to back united against the outside world and face to face in confrontation

i originally tried these images out as stencil screen prints but wasnt happy with the results. i thought it would fit naturally with the way i cut paper but it was too controlled, flat and i didnt allow the act of drawing to come through. the results where predictable with no real play in the medium. The lack of enjoyment in the process showed. At the same time i had been working on a reduction woodcut - a new process for me that was more rewarding , surprising and seemed to have more steam in invention. i learnt a lot reworking the images as woodcuts and look forward to producing more in the future

A2 litho poster created for workshop by 'its nice that' taking place this thursday as part of the Ron Arad exhibition at the Barbican. click here for more info

cushions

recently finished these two cushions as a gift. The front, a more narrative picture construct of a whale hunt, and the back shows two sides of the war in graphic symbols. The influence that has always been is in my paper work of asfaro flags comes even more to the forefront in these cushions. Being limited by skill and the physicality of the materials stops them having too much unnecessary detail and depth , which too often creeps into my paper work.

been recently looking into ceramics and will hopefully find a suitable course soon. in the meantime ive been trying some ideas out with cheap clay. looking to make a series of vessels with plant bottle tops of the whole solar system. although i have an interest in space i can never remember the order of the planets so physical being able to place them in relative distance and space will have a learning value as well as hopefully being visually pleasing

penguin

towards the end of last year i worked on two book jackets for books by Valdimir Nabokov, Pnin and Collected stories. They have just come out and are part of a larger series of covers designed by Pentagram. they provided the grid and a base pattern. the illustration is a response to both the writing and the pattern

screen print work in progress

the stencil screen print i have been working on for somerset house is just needing the lack to finish. its been a good learning curve and the edition becomes smaller and smaller with every colour added due to mistakes. The image registration is perhaps too important on this image, not really embracing the technique and with 4 colours there is little chance for each stencil to match. the frisk film holds up a lot better than paper but with large areas can be tricky to apply without any small air bubbles that can trap ink. the aim was an edition of 20 but it could end up being between 5-10

somerset house 'pick me up' work in progress

reduction woodcut after the first three layers. just black to print later this week

nobrow issue 3

issue 3 of nobrow will be out soon an dive been lucky enough to be included in what is bound to be another beautifully produced publication full of talented illustrators. its printed with 4 colours so hopefully my separation will work out ok and the image will look something like the drawing below. ill say more about this image when its out in print

somerset house 'pick me up'

peepshow are soon to be involved in the graphic arts fair 'pick me up' at somerset house.

ive started to play with some print ideas that i can simply do at the studio. hopefully there will be some worthwhile results.

working out stencil screen prints. two mocked up 4 colour prints that can be arranged have the notion of being together or apart. the basic stencil technique will mean the registration will probably be quite far off so it will be interesting to see if this adds or takes away from the image

we will be doing a workshop with some pre-made wood blocks. heres some of my quick tests. not working to well at present but just trying to find a way for my line to translate, maybe looking to predictable at the moment, not quite enough of a surprise.

models of display design for the show made and designed by the talented chrissie macdonald

LA Times

recent job for the book review for the LA Times which is always a nice commission.

RSA magazine

double page for RSA magazine. An article about the way information spreads, touching on social networking.

collective edition

t shirt now on sale at collective edition. the colours have been surprisingly changed from the original artwork (green,black yellow) as seen on my original post about this project- probably in order to make it a two colour print.

commercial illustration

heres some commercial jobs iv e been working on over the last two weeks

from top to bottom

1.therapy today magazine

2.therapy today magazine

3.therapy today magazine

4.LA Times

5.KPM records