ESPN

It's been an absolute age since I last posted any new work on here, a crazy busy schedule while also trying to squeeze in some time for personal work, a bit of teaching and trying to make time for a life outside of work are some of the excuses that I'd make, I've probably just been lazy though.
These are some of the images I've created for ESPN Magazine in the meantime.

Communication Arts Annual 53

As if being in New York for the Society of Illustrators exhibition wasn't cool enough already I also found out while I was there that this image made it into the Communication Arts 53 annual. The image was for a Penguin book cover 'The Collected Stories of Rumpole', a dream client for me, so it's particularly pleasing to have it recognised by Commarts. Best weekend ever? My wife won't thank me for saying so but it definitely rates pretty high!

Nature Journal

This was a recent job for Nature, it's a high end scientific journal that I was made aware of through a friend who works as a Research Fellow at the local University. We attended (and at times bunked off from) the same high school together. He went on to do something intelligent, I ended up drawing pictures, but at least I can now (constantly) remind him that he hasn't yet been published in Nature! Who'd have thought you could reach the pinnacle of scientific publications by drawing pictures of Mary Poppins?
Story was titled 'The real truth about sugar', not a sweet tale.

SILA 50

So, about a year or so after setting up my new google email account, I'm still regretting my mistake of not linking it to this blogger account. So fed up with having to sign out, then back in again to access this blog! I'll grow a brain soon and find out how to shift everything over to my google account, until then this is my excuse for being so quiet on the blog front.

Also, the two images above have just been selected for the LA Society's Illustration West 50 comp, well pleased!

Penguin Modern Classics

Just enough time to squeeze in one last blog post before Christmas, and what better job to write about than a job from Penguin. I love illustrating for book covers but getting one from Penguin was extra special. Raffaella sent through a blank cover with copy and a reference photo of Leo McKern (Rumpole) that I could choose to copy from, or not, whatever I felt most comfortable with. I chose not to use the photo they sent, Leo McKern's face is so characterful it was a dream to draw so I wanted to start from scratch. Those baggy cheeks and half moon specs gave me all sorts of opportunities with the pose whilst ensuring the image remained recognisably Rumpole. Although Horace Rumpole couldn't ever be anyone other than Leo McKern it was an honour and a pleasure to be able to put my (albeit very small) imprint on this character. Thanks Raffaella!

The book is published in July and is available here - http://www.penguinclassics.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780141198828,00.html

Society of Illustrators 54th Annual

Last night I found out that my image of Herbert Warren Wind has made it into the New York Society of Illustrators 54th award annual. It's a huge honour for me to be included in the annual, and the first time I've been selected in the editorial category which makes the accolade all the more sweet to receive. Many thanks to the judges and everyone else involved in the annual.

Guardian Weekend

Ever felt like things just aren't going your way? And you've done nothing to deserve your bad luck? Well it turns out life isn't as fair as we'd like to think it is. This is for Oliver Burkemans column in the Guardian Weekend mag today 'Do we really get what we deserve?'. It seems like Oliver is also a fan of 'Western' films, his sign off for this article is a quote from one of my favourite characters in this genre (in recent times at least), "Deserve's got nothing to do with it", courtesy of William Munny in Unforgiven. If Clint says it is so, then I'm happy to believe him.

Hachette

This one isn't published until Jan 2012 but the image is all over Amazon etc now so I guess it's ok to post about. Pretty quick turnaround on this one (for a book cover) but some great art direction from Ciara Doorley made this completely pain free. She gave me a rough explanation of what she was looking for but she left plenty of room for my own input, which (as any illustrator would say) is what this job is all about. The cover image and title took no longer than a week, revisions included (there weren't many thanks to Ciara's art direction). I'm really looking forward to seeing it on the shelves in January.

Real Deals

The concept for this cover was given to me by the art director so no big brainstorming session for this one. As much as I like to illustrate my own ideas it is fun now and again to work out someone else's, and it gives me more time to enjoy the drawing stage. The cover story was about a particular type of customer moving back into the buyers markets, and how to deal with them from a city traders point of view.

The Guardian

Where Oliver Burkeman gets his ideas for his Guardian columns I'll never know but they're always great to illustrate. This was about 'cognitive contaminants'. The majority of people will refuse to drink recycled wastewater no matter how clean it now is. How often do you get the chance to draw a man who looks like he's got a tap for a penis? Not often.