Peculiar Bliss - Issue five

Big smiles before I jet off tomorrow! My illustration features in issue five of Peculiar Bliss magazine, the theme of which is 'Process'. Take a peek at the the magazine to see a great collection of work : )

Florida holiday!

I'm off to Florida in the morning! I'm very excited for the sun, fun and rollercoasters. I'll be back in 10 days, so no posts until then. Enjoy the bank holidays!

A drawing while...

 

This is my submission for a great collaborative project Blanket magazine are running at the moment called 'A drawing while...', as part of the launch of their new look website and first printed edition of the magazine.My piece is 'A drawing while lost in a secret garden', filled with hand inked florals bursting out from the wrought iron gate that leads you into the lush wonderland. Let's hope the lovely people at Blanket magazine like my illustration and decide to feature it. Fingers crossed!

'Getting there' illustration

A little preview of the latest piece I'm working on 'Getting there'...all about the frenetic London underground. Above and below it's a busy, bustling place, which lends itself to my mix of energising pattern. The finished piece will follow, however due to a laptop meltdown (I'm typing this on my Dad's computer) it may take a little longer than usual. Even a pen lover and hand drawn geek like myself sorely misses my technology when it's gone!

Commission Quest - Stylist magazine - Part 3

5.) Compose a friendly and gently persuasive letter to the art editor championing your work and suggesting that it would be a wonderful idea for them to commission you. Decide to take the magazine format one step further and make the letter into the pages of the magazine. Take into Photoshop to add borders, page numbers etc to give a suitably professional finish.

 

6.) Think of a way of telling the art editor a little more about yourself and conveying your personality in a fun and dynamic way. Decide to echo Stylists last page format of a Q&A interview, make yourself the interviewee and relax because of the guarantee that there will be no difficult questions because you're also the interviewer! 

 

7.) Send your files to the friendly local printers and have your piece trimmed, folded and stapled into your very own magazine! Face a minor setback, when you proudly show your bespoke illustrated Stylist to a family member who finds a single typo on the last page! Immediately know you can't possibly send a flawed piece of work after all the graft you have put into it and send it back to the printers mistake free. Remind yourself to always get someone else to proof read your work in the future!

 

8.) Carefully put the magazine into a white padded envelope and neatly display the address on the front. Take to the post office and send it on its first class recorded journey to the Stylist offices and hope that it arrives safe and sound. Feel satisified that you have done as much as possible to get yourself noticed and simply wait and see what happens.

Of course I will keep you posted on any news. Until then keep your fingers crossed for me! 

Peculiar Bliss submission - Process

This is my submission for the lovely online magazine Peculiar Bliss. The theme of their fifth issue is 'Process', which was an interesting brief to work to. I found it a challenge to illustrate my chosen subject of the 'creative process', but with the help of a scientific experiment and a few handy symbols I think I managed it!

Totummy - The Publishers Club zine launch

I'm really pleased to say that my submission for The Publishers Club first collaborative zine, Totummy, was selected! I went to the launch on Saturday at Cord Bar in the Northern Quarter and picked myself up a copy, the front cover of which was live screen printed in gorgeous gold by one69a with Simon Wild's cover illustration. Simon was one of four illustrators' (the others being Daren Newman, Lesley Barnes &  Stephen Chan) invited to design covers for the zine and they all looked great. The launch of the zine ran alongside the Inkygoodness Live Draw Tour, which saw illustrators and artists invited to design their own 6ft wooden totem poles! To find out more about Totummy check out this interview on Design Week and for photos of the zine and event check out Ammo magazine's photostream. Thanks to Bec Brown, Julian James, Dave Hughes and Gordon Reid of The Publishers Club for making it happen. I'm really proud to be a part of it.