Thursday 2 December 2010

Arts Budget Cuts Illustration for AU Mag

This illustration is to accompany an article by Jason Mills in the next issue of AU Magazine about governmental budget cuts in the arts sector in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland devotes less public money to the arts than any other country in the U.K. and Ireland already. This, as we say, is no bueno. Click to see a larger version.

Thursday 18 November 2010

New York Times Article/Video & AU Magazine

The New York Times made a video and wrote an article about the Quarterly Art Soiree at Webster Hall, where I exhibited art a few days ago. My paintings made their way into the video!


Many thanks to those who attended the show!

Also, HERE is a link to AU Magazine's online version of their publication, showing several pages of illustrations I did for Kiran Acharya's article on creationism. This link will take you to the first 2 pages of illustrations, and the going on to the next page will show you the third.

Tuesday 9 November 2010

Terri Hooley for AU Magazine

I just finished an illustration of Terri Hooley, known as 'the godfather of Northern Irish punk.' As he holds this unofficial title, I chose to depict Hooley like the 'actual' Godfather (Brando-style), with a few twists. Hooley began the Good Vibrations record label, and was responsible for breaking bands such as the Undertones.. He continues to be an active member of Northern Ireland's musical community. This illustration is to accompany a review of Hooley's new book in AU Magazine's upcoming issue.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

I did some paintings a while back that I never posted of characters from Carson McCuller's beautiful novel, 'The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.' Here is one the young protagonist, Mick. The first image is the full view, and the second is a zoomed view. Click to see larger versions.

Friday 5 November 2010

Exhibiting Art at Webster Hall in New York City

I'm exhibiting some art -- paintings, drawings, and prints -- in New York City on November 14, as part of the Quarterly Art Soiree. The event runs from noon til 2am, at Webster Hall, roundabouts Manhattan's East Village, on 11th Street between Third and Fourth Avenues. Many things of goodness will happen there. There will be lots of arts of lots of kinds: painting and drawing, photography, installation, performance, fashion, dance, film, theatre, music...
My art will be up in the ArtBar.
Please come! Click the invitation below to see details.


Saturday 9 October 2010

New Era 59fifty Hat Design

New Era asked graduates from some of the most prestigious design schools around Europe to create hat designs for their 90th anniversary. We were sent hats and were free to go at them with whatever designs we pleased. The top 90 hats were then chosen to tour around Europe in a traveling exhibition. I'm happy to say my hat was one of the 90 chosen!
NEW ERA XC

'The exhibition, will display the 90 works of art. The showcase will also play launch to the corresponding limited edition New Era XC collector’s book, highlighting images of the 90 works of art along with biographies of the gifted graduates, and a snapshot of the brand’s nine decades in fash
ion, design and sport.'
There are 5 exhibitions across Europe:

4-7 November - London
11-13 November - Berlin
18-20 November - Milan
25-27 November - Barcelona
2-4 December - Paris

Here's the cap. It's a ginger...

Wednesday 22 September 2010

MTV - How My Drawing Was Used

Awhile back, I drew some images of Mark Ronson for MTV Presents for their on/off air campaign. Here's how one was incorporated into the final design (I didn't do the design in this one, I only drew his body).
Check it out on MTV's website.

Tuesday 21 September 2010

Creationism for AU

I just completed some illustrations for AU Magazine. The following illustrations will accompany a very interesting article by Kiran Acharya in the upcoming issue. The article considers Creationism from the viewpoint of a skeptic trying to understand, and even give Creationism a chance. This comes after Northern Irish Culture Minister Nelson McCausland caused a stir recently by defending the idea that the Ulstern Museum in Northern Ireland should display material supporting Creationism alongside that supporting evolution. The UK is a secular country which does not, as a whole, support the ideas of Creationism, or any religious belief system. Kiran, playing a sort of Devil's Advocate, tries to understand Creationism, and takes his experiments in belief to Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park, London. In the end, however, he rejects Creationism. The main illustration is meant to depict the man-made nature of ideas and beliefs, by showing them spilling out of the mind of man. The characters on the following pages are mostly people encountered in the article. The first image is the double-page-spread layouts with the illustrations (it's a 4-page article; the blank spaces are for text), and the following 4 images are close-ups on the detail. Read the article when the magazine comes out-- it really is pretty awesome one! Click the images to see larger versions.

Monday 6 September 2010

Citadels Single Art

London band Citadels have put some of my art to use for their new single, "House Spider Scene."
Check out a YouTube video featuring the song HERE. (That's my art at the beginning of the video there.)

Wednesday 4 August 2010

Tuesday 3 August 2010

Ballad Of Blogtasticness

Ballad Of used me for their artist feature today, hooray.
Click the link, yes? They are cool and lovely and such.
BALLAD OF BLOG

Sunday 1 August 2010

UK Property Magazine Illustration

An illustration about the government and regulations and companies and environmental friendliness and all that jazz for a magazine about commercial property in the UK.

Friday 23 July 2010

More Drawing for MTV Things.

Another drawing for possible use for part of design for MTV Presents: Mark Ronson in Belfast. Just Ronson chest this time.

Friday 16 July 2010

Mark Ronson for MTV

MTV will soon be doing an on air/off air campaign to promote MTV Presents. The design company they've hired to do the campaign is having me do some drawings to incorporate into their designs for possible use as part of it. Here is one, of Mark Ronson. Click to see a larger image.

Monday 31 May 2010

Poster/Flyer Design for Uberwang!

Uberwang! is a clubnight in Manchester, UK. A pretty wicked one, too. I've just done the poster/flyer for their next event. If you happen to be in Manchester, watch out on Oxford Road for some biiiiig versions of the seal image up and down the street this month! That image will also be used for the the smaller flyer. The image with the boat/bottle will be the back of flyer, and will contain all those important information and detail types of things. The seal's hat says "RUN DMSEA." Yep. Click the pictures to see larger versions.

Tuesday 25 May 2010

The Accidental Creation, Images 5-7

I just finished a series of seven acrylic paintings entitled, "The Accidental Creation," which depicts the seven days of creation from the bible as if each were due only to some cosmic clumsiness on God's part. The God in my series is a usually half-clothed, bearded, crowned, clumsy ginger who shops at Tesco and gets impatient during chess games, and thus, creates the universe. Of course. Here are the final three pieces in the series. Click each to see a larger version. The first four can be found not too far below in previous postings!


Friday 30 April 2010

Malcolm McLaren Illustration for AU, Live Painting at St. Pancras

I just finished this illustration of the late Malcolm McLaren for the next issue of the Irish music, lifestyle, and culture publication, AU Magazine. 'Twas good fun. Click to see a larger version.
I also did a live painting session in front of about a trillion paparazzi cameras this morning at St. Pancras station in London for a Eurostar event welcoming Jarvis Cocker as their new cultural ambassador. That was interesting! Will hopefully be able to post some photos and links to coverage of that soon.

Sunday 25 April 2010

Wednesday 21 April 2010

Economic Recovery Illustration

An illustration I completed today to be featured in an upcoming issue of The Guardian in the Lysondown Health and Safety supplement for an article about the slippery slope up to economic recovery. Thanks to lovely Alex Trimble, as ever, for being a patient posing boyfriend and pretending to climb a chair for a rather long time for my reference benefit. Sorry I didn't keep the graphman ginger. Click to see a larger version.

Sunday 18 April 2010

Endangered Species Drawings

I'm working on a project at the moment about endangered species. Here are some drawings I did that will be used in it. Click to see larger images.

Thursday 8 April 2010

Illustrations in the Guardian

I did some illustrations for Lyonsdown, to be published next week in the Guardian in their supplement about information security. Here is one in context. I also have three other illustrations in the supplement. Click the image to see a larger version.

The Politician's Progress, Images 7-8

Here are the final two illustrations from my eight-piece series about political corruption, "The Politician's Progress." The top one is the seventh image, and the bottom one is the eighth, and final image in the series. To see the first six, scroll down about five seconds and when you see six similar-looking pictures to these two, you will have gone to the right place! Click to see larger versions.

The Accidental Creation, Images 1-4

What if the creation of the universe was all a big accident? Taking some biblical inspiration for this one, I have been working on a series of seven images depicting the creation story... but rather than some great, omniscient, powerful god, the god in my story falls more on the clumsy, daft end of the spectrum. This series shows creation as if it was all due to a set of mishaps onset by god's mistakes. Here are images one through four, portraying the first four days. On the first day, god accidentally falls asleep with his cigarette, causing a fire which becomes the sun. On the second day, god sits atop his new sun and has a good old jolly time with his wine, when he accidentally spills it, thus creating the seas. On the third day, god attempts to cook a stir-fry, which results in him spilling it everywhere, which creates the trees, shrubs, and plant life. On the fourth day, he gets a cold of epic proportions, and accidentally sneezes out the cosmos, creating the stars and planets. Click the images to see larger versions.

Tuesday 16 March 2010

Exhibitions in London

I should also take this opportunity to plug a couple of art exhibitions in which I am taking part in London this month!
My art can currently be seen here:

XHIBIT 2010
The Gallery at LCC
Elephant & Castle
London SE1 6SB
Monday 8 - 25 March, weekdays 10.00am - 6.00pm
Website: http://www.suarts.org/xhibit

And here:

Central Saint Martins WIP Show
The Colomb Gallery
52A George Street
London W1U 7EA
16-19 March, 10:30am-6:00pm
Website: http://www.csm-illustration.com/2010/

Illustrations in The Guardian and The Telegraph

I've just completed a series of illustrations, again for Lyonsdown. They will be featured in the 16 April 2010 issue of The Guardian, in the Information Security supplement. The worm illustration was a sort of strange artistic endeavor for me, as Lyonsdown asked me to create a piece that would be layered over a pre-existing background, something I haven't done before. Below is the piece I created standing alone, as well as with the background included.






Sunday 31 January 2010

A Painted Piano

This week, I also created a piece to submit to the Lloyds TSB 2010 Art of Nurture competition. I had a dip into the experimentation pool, fusing handmade and digital processes more than I usually do, and here is the result:

Lyonsdown Illustrations from the Guardian!

I was a happy illustrator this past Wednesday, as my illustrations were published in the January 27th issue of the Guardian, in the Lyonsdown "Behind the Voice" supplement. I walked my happy illustrating self away from my studio (aka: bedroom... which vaguely resembles a gypsy caravan of art and art supplies and, you know, other life stuff...) out to the Tesco and picked up a copy (or three. ish.) Here is what the final pages look like:


Thursday 28 January 2010