Leonard Cohen For Mojo Magazine

The illustration I did for Mojo magazine of Leonard Cohen came out today. I was really pleased to be able to do something for them again as it is my favourite magazine (I’m a subscriber) and I hadn’t done anything for them in a while. The painting turned out great and I am very happy with it. A print of the illustration has just been put up in my shop for any Cohen fans.

A Fool Such As I

Only a (ahem) Fool Such As I would drag out yet another painting that had been lying under the bed for 10 years but yes I have. Well I say painting, it’s probably more of an object. It’s actually quite fragile and I fully expected it to be trashed when I unearthed it but it has survived well and all it needs now is (cough) A Big Hunk Of Love (last of the puns I swear). There is probably quite a bit of work to be done on it still but hopefully I will get it finished before the enthusiasm for the project wanes again. I reckon I can make an image up in 2D for this also which will be good.

Scott Walker

As part of my little drive to get some of my own work done lately I pulled out a painting that had been left, languishing under my bed for the past ten years.

Humphrey Bogarde Was Framed

The other day I found a lovely new frame. I had no idea what I would use it for but got it anyway. Looking through my bits of artwork I found this illustration of Humphrey Bogarde I had done for the Quarterly Magazine. I think the frame compliments it perfectly. So there we are, another painting framed and stored under the bed to gather dust. I really should sort myself aout another exhibition but at the moment the costs are just too prohibitive.

Work For Arcapta

I was approached by Mitch Tepper at Link 9 through my American agents for this job. The work was for Arcapta who work in Pharmaceuticals.

Sexy Paint

I recently made a promise to myself to work on a little more of my own personal work and to that end I start work on a couple of small images cheekily commenting on the disappointment I often feel when looking at digitally created images compared to work that is painted. The two paintings are quick saucy (which I always enjoy) and very small (A5) so I went out and found some frames to compliment them before I started work.

Pause Play - The Soundtrack To Our Lives

Last Thursday I attended Cultivate Creative’s “Pause Play - The Soundtrack Of Our Lives” private view. I had a few pieces of work in there and with St. Helens having a proper art gallery in the area for God knows how long, I felt I should make the effort to support the venue in its endeavours.

Le Mans 24 Hour Race

Last weekend was a real treat for me

The Rain Of Terror

I have just finished work on a book jacket. I don’t get asked to do too many which Is a shame. The idea of the cover was to portray the main protagonist in the story and for the treatment of the cover I needed to have a look at a lot of pulp fiction and trashy novels (not that this is trashy of course!). Below is a short synopsis of the story.

Fore Play

One more image for my promotions this year. This time for CIA who are producing another very nice calendar. The theme for this one was the "Alternative Games" for which we could produce whatever we liked.

Get Out There And Meet People

It's getting time to start submitting artwork for both my agents promotions. To that end, I started working on a painting six months ago (slotting it into work I was already doing). B+A are producing a book called "The Best Piece Of Advice Ever" and I was given the phrase "Get Out There And Meet People". With this being a one off book and my only bit of work being promoted in the states for at least a year I wanted to make this a good painting.

Bill Bryson for Project Magazine

A painting of Bill Bryson for Project Magazine that I have just completed. I am quite happy with it, turned out pretty good.

Kallo Rice Cakes Ad

I was asked just recently by Work Club to work on a project for Kallo Rice Cakes. They had seen my work for Old Elpaso (http://www.chriskasch.co.uk/work/collection-2?pic=502) and wanted a similar thing from me for this job.

Taschens Illustration Now

I took delivery of my Taschen book of Portraits (Illustration Now) the other day. I had no idea why I was receiving this book until I opened it up to find a load of my work in it. I must have supplied the artwork for them but I have no idea when so it was a nice surprise. I must say it’s really well printed and designed and lots of very good work in there(unusual for me to say that as I’m not usually a fan of these sort of books).

Advertising Age Top 50 Creatives Cover

Ann Christine Diaz contacted me through my U.S. Agents with the view to working on a front cover for their Advertising Age Magazine. The cover was for their annual Top 50 Creative's listings which is a pretty prestigious job to get, with the magazine going out to many potential commissioning editors and influential people.

Jock High Feature For ESPN Magazine

It has been a pretty difficult year so far with jobs few and far between. Discussions with other illustrators has shown a similar pattern.

Students Questions

I just recently got asked a series of questions from a design student at Salford University so I have posted up the questions and replies. You never know, they may be of help to someone else.

Motorsport and Racing

A while ago I wrote a short piece about the motor sport artwork I had created which was published on both my American and English agents websites. The gist of it was about why I created a series of motor sport paintings, what racing means to me and why I race karts. So here it is below.

Much Ado With Doctor Who

I was contacted by Matthew at AKA to work on a poster for the Much Ado About Nothing production featuring David Tennant and Catherine Tate who are well known for working together on the new Doctor Who series.

Animation project for 12 Foot 6

Just a quick update. I am currently working on a "walking" animation for 12 Foot 6 in conjunction with CIA.I have had to repaint objects that are hidden like part of the face,the left arm and left leg which hasn't been too difficult as the original image was a pose of myself.Yes i get everywhere! I'll hopefully post the animation up here when it is completed

John Surtees

Here is the last in the series of Historic cars for a while, a picture of John Surtees at Monaco. Now it’s time to get them all together and send some work off and look for some commissions.

Andrew Rees-Reynolds

Private commission for Andrew Rees-Reynolds racing at Rye House last year

How To Be An Alien Exhibition

With my “how To Be an alien” piece completed and entered(see post below) I was asked a few questions to contribute to the exhibitions own site which is to be found here http://www.howtobeanalien.com

Telegraph Illustration of Tamsin Day Lewis

I was asked by Jason Morris at the Telegraph to do a last minute job for their magazine. The deadline would have normally been a little bit too tight for me to have taken it on, fortunately Jason had got all the necessary reference together and made up a rough he thought would work for me.

Prints Exhibited at Mash Gallery

A really nice gallery called Mash has just opened up in my home town of St. Helens. The place seems to have really struck a chord with creative's of all kinds around that area and offers places to show films, for bands to play and a nice café out the front.

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.

Young Kimi Raikkonen

Commissioned by Red Bulletin. With a (Formula 1) track only distribution, this magazine has new editions on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday and post race.

Madonna personal piece

Little bit of something different from me here and probably the first personal piece of work I've done in around two years!

Advertising campaign for Centenario Tequila

My first task was to get myself a nice bottle of this expensive brand (sold in the American market) sent over and have a thorough tasting session!

A portrait of Bryan Ferry for The Quarterly magazine

I always enjoy working with Ian at Showmedia. Whenever he wants me to do one of the Quarterly front covers he will always have a fantastic bit of reference for me to use.

Mario Batali

I recently finished a portrait of Mario Batali for GQ magazine in America.

Four Radio Times cover illustrations

The idea was to create four front page covers (all to work independently of one another) that when placed side by side would make one large picture. The subject matter of the covers is 'rock stars' and is to coincide with the launch of the new BBC 2 series called The Seven Ages of Rock.

Illustrations for Royal Mail

I had to come up with a series of (initially) three illustrations to be used as a special edition collection. The subject was "Working Dogs".

The Streets logo painting

Apparently Mike Skinner is a fan of my work!

Got me a blog

Using my blog facility ill keep any interested parties up to date with everything that's going on right here in my living room!