Kevin McCloud Book Jacket

It’s not often that I get asked to do a book jacket but I was delighted to be commissioned for Kevin McCloud’s 43 Principles Of Home (published by Collins).

CIA Book Launch

The launch of my agencies book is iminent.I have a full page in it and I am looking forward to see how this publication looks and is received. Below is the agencies press release.

Jose Castaneda Interview

I was recently contacted by Jose Castaneda who is a student at West Wood College doing a Web Design and Multimedia Program. He had to do an interview with a professional as part of the graduation process. I was happy to answer his questions (below).

Lorenzo Bandini

Third in the series of Motorsport artwork, this one of Lorenzo Bandini (1965) in a Ferrari taking the Carousel at the Nurburgring. I probably have another two in this series then I will have to decide exactly what it is I am going to do with them.

Sir Stirling Moss

Second In the series of motor sport paintings. This one of Sir Stirling Moss in a Cooper.

If I Were - CIA Calendar Image

My latest image for the agencies promotional calendar.

How to Be An Alien

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to contribute to an exhibition celebrating the Penguin book “How To Be An Alien” by George Mikes. For those that don‘t know the book, it was first published in 1946 and has sold over three hundred thousand copies to date. The book is a humorous look at the English way of life, their customs and quirks viewed from an outsiders point of view and whilst it is very much of it‘s time, it is still relevant.

Fangio In A Maserati 250F

Here is the first in what I hope to be a small series of motorsport paintings.

Private Commision For Matt Bell

I raced karts against Matt Bell in the televised Motors TV Karting Challenge of 2006 (links to 2 programmes below) and got to know him and his dad quite well. Matt went on to race single seaters last year and is currently looking for sponsorship to compete in this years Formula Palmer Audi Championship.

Cultivate Image Framed And Photographed

Here is the Cultivate Creative image in its frame ,it has just been photographed properly and I’m very happy with it. I will probably put this image in for the Creative Review Awards.

Royal Mail/2012 Olympics

I will admit right now, this job didn’t fill me with enthusiasm at first. I have worked for the Royal Mail three times previously and each time my work has not been used in favour of photography. My initial reaction was just not to do the job as it’s not much fun working up and image through the rough stage and paint, only for it never to see the light of day. That’s not a criticism of the Royal Mail, it’s just the way these things go sometimes.

Cultivate Creative

I was asked by my good mate Gary to create an illustration for his new company called Cultivate Creative. After years of working for others he had decided to take the plunge and set up his own design agency with his colleague Paul.

Communications of the ACM Magazine

I was contacted by the American Communications of the ACM Magazine to do a front cover image, I had never worked for them before and any cover mage is good news.

Haufe Ad Campaign

I was asked to do a test illustration recently by Anna at Reinclassen in Germany for a specialist advisor to tax, law and human resources experts called Haufe. I have never been asked to do a test before as most people know exactly what I produce and know there are no unwanted surprises. The job was to be for another five illustrations so if this one was approved then I would be allowed to produce the others.

!!All Prints Reduced In Price!!

Just a quick post to mention that I have reduced the price of all of my prints from £45 to £25. I would like to introduce a few different images as prints but first, stocks of existing prints must go , hence the sale.

Moretti Beer Ad Campaign

I actually finished this job a while ago but had to hold off putting it on the blog until the campaign got under way. The commission for Moretti Beer ( trade, consumer press and digital) came through the Space design agency in London who I had previously never worked with. A meeting was arranged and I came in to discuss what the job required and he timings.

Radison Hotals 20 Illustrations

Here’s a job I finished way back in May. For various reasons I had to hold off putting it up here but I decided to put it up now before the job became completely irrelevant.

Sandwell Council Short Story

I was approached to do 4 images for a short “teen” story to be included in a magazine for Sandwell Council.

Sunday Times Magazine Short Story

It was with great pleasure that I took on a Sunday Times magazine short story by Hilary Mantel. I don’t often get the opportunity to create small scale illustrations and I enjoy the discipline.

CIA Calendar image 2009

It’s that time of year again and my agents at CIA were looking for another image to include in their calendar.

Another Invite for Neiman Marcus

Another invite for a Neiman Marcus event in the same style as the Bangle project.

Interview and article with bg design magazine

I have just finished an interview with a lovely design magazine in Ecuador called bg magazine. The publication are in the process of doing a Rock edition and wanted to take the opportunity do an article on my work, featuring 10 of my illustrations and a portrait of the artist (and i'm always on rocky (get it?) ground where those are concerned!).

I can see clearly now!

I have found myself struggling a little of late where detail is concerned and so resolved today to get an eye test. It turns out I did need glasses. I’m not promising more detailed artwork though!

Neiman Marcus Invite

Very quick commission for Neiman Marcus in the form of an invite.

Business Week (U.S.A)

A very straightforward portrait for Business week (U.S.A.) with great reference provided and a decent amount of time the job was always going to go well and I’m pretty happy with the results

Portrait for Spread Magazine

Portrait for Spread Magazine

Radison Hotels

It had been reasonably quite after the Christmas break which was quite welcome after being so busy during the lead up to the holidays. Never the less, you never like to have too much of a lull!

Ad Campaign

Digobrands approached B+A (my U.S. agents) with an ad campaign for a start-up American insurance company. It was a pretty big job with a lot of work involved in it’s creation. Three illustrations, some banners and illustrations needed for animation.

Working For Nice Idea

I was commissioned by Nice Idea to create portraits of 10 leading Australian business people for a Caliburn Annual Review.

Interview with Vortex (online) Magazine

A short article and interview conducted by my old tutor, published in the schools online magazine. The link to the actual page is here.

Mary Poppins As Alter Ego

Christophe Gowans at Stella magazine contacted me about a job painting Mary Poppins, or more accurately P.L. Travers, the creator

CIA Calendar Image

I needed an image for a CIA promotional calendar. There wasn’t much time and I wasn’t going to be able to come up with something new. The theme was “Super Hero” which could be taken in any direction we wished.

Helping Hands(Leo Burnett)

The idea was pretty straight forward. I was to work with the good people at Leo Burnett Ltd. on a campaign for the government called helping hands. The image was four people interlocking hands/ arms.

Arena Magazine

Here we have a very simple painting to go at the top of the heading for each contributor. This is possibly a series that will run, not sure as yet though.

Radar Magazine Commemerative Plates

The idea for this job I thought could have gone a little awry if it wasn’t approached in the right way. John Sheppard at Radar Magazine wanted me to paint four scenes based on the kitsch montage style of commemorative plates. The four scenes were a round-up of various political scandals during the Bush administration. I was to paint the scenes and they were to photoshop them onto plates.

Best Life Magazine

Another quarter page illustration, this time for Best Life Magazine.

Tech Review Magazine

It’s been a little while since I’ve had anything of interest to post but here are two illustrations with pretty interesting, simplified backgrounds.

George Clooney for Das Magazin

A phone call from Alexander Bartels at the Swiss based Das Magazin secured a full page illustration of George Clooney.

Security Management magazine

It’s always great to do the front cover of a magazine as they are great for exposure and the more illustration that is seen the better.

Bored By Fashion

A quick call from my agency in the U.S. (Bernstein and Andriulli) and the lovely Pamela Esposito confirmed that I was to start work with New York magazine who I hadn’t previously worked with.

Online shop now live!

After several requests for prints and some disappointed people who wanted to buy original artwork but couldn’t afford it, I decided an online shop would be ideal.

Charles Schwab Annual Report

I was contacted by the Unboundary design studio as early as November 2007 with regards to the Charles Schwab job. With work to begin at the start of December a conference call was organised to work out the best way to proceed.

Q and A's for a major project

I've had one or two people using my work in their university major projects and a few little interviews, which I'm always happy to do. I thought these Q and A's might be of use to others and so now that I have this blog its perfect to post here. Thanks to Andy Golpys for allowing me to use the interview.

Five Images With Nothing To Do!

I have just recently been sorting out an image for some promotional material for my agencies calendar

Kasch Merchandise And Prints

I'm currently looking into creating an area on the site where prints can be purchased and possibly some merchandise.

Dita Von Tease

Another nice job with Elke Hanspach and GQ magazine. This time I was more than happy to put loads of time into my research as you might imagine!

GQ Magazine

It's always nice to work with new people and this was my first time working with Elke Hanspach at GQ Magazine.

The Artist's Studio

I’ve had a few people ask me what my studio is like and how I work

Business Week (U.S.A.)

A very simple job for Business Week but not much time to do it in.

Old El Paso Ad Campaign with Saachi and Saachi

A long meeting at the Saachi and Saachi offices confirmed that the agency wanted something slightly different from me on this project.