Summary of updates and schtuff.

Aloha.

As promised a bit more of a visual-y one of recent shenanigans:

- First up, I was hired to do a commission for a wedding present. It was from a group of friends to the bride, who wanted to re-capture special moments they shared with her. Originally, it was going to be in the format of a book but the timescale would've proved to have been very tight to accomplish this. Instead we settled for a collage illustration of the different memories combined. This would be in the style of an old school, vintage-y pencil feel to help evoke the aesthetic of memories past. I was sent over a rough idea to work from and I developed it from there (Forget how much fun pencil is to use!). I also made a cheeky vine of some parts of it below:

- The Turpentine Ltd down Brixton way is a lovely new shop which has opened on Coldharbour lane. Such a great location and lots of nice bits and bobs. If you're ever in the area you'd be silly not to pop in and admire the treats that are on display. This includes a selection of my greeting cards, let's see how South London fares with them!

- Next up was a commission for a clients friends birthday, it's a illustration based on the original 'We can do it!' poster but re-appropriating it for their friend and with a few added accessories. Really enjoyed doing this. I've been doing more airbrushing over the past few months, it's so addictive building up blends of colour and shape.

 I'm starting to consider combining this method more into my own work. Below are a few screenshots of the work when it was in progress. I'm really drawn to the first screenshot, the rough unfinished look could be quite a nice aesthetic to play with, especially with the element of rogue negative space.

 I've also made a GIF of the process, just wanted to show much can change along the route of making an illustration like this (apologies for the quality of GIF, it really doesn't like computing lots of colours):

- As well as all this I'm in the middle of helping friend, actor and comedian Keir Carroll develop his own showcasing website. Now, I'm not much of web designer in general, I've built two websites from scratch and absolutely loathed it. What we're doing is similar to my own website, we'll build it up using cargo collective templates and then modify bits and bobs with an upgraded account if we wish to do so.
Bish, bosh, bash.
This will be completed in the next month or so, in time for Keir graduating from his MA in Acting at East 15 and taking a twirl in the acting world. Huzzah.

TTFN

Rob Hoey Comic.

From one fun project to another, shortly after our shoot with Pinch TV I got an email from Matt Bell asking if I'd be interested in an illustration job. I stroked my (lack of) beard and agreed enthusiastically.

The brief was to make an A2 sized comic, in the style of Beano/Beezer/Viz for Rob Hoey's birthday that was coming up, a surprise gift (quick note, Rob has received said illustration so this isn't some sort of spoiler post!). Matt wrote the script, and I went from there. It was a really fun project to do and something a bit different and (blowing my own trumpet) testing my versatility as an illustrator which is always welcomed.

I managed to get it printed off and dry mounted at the gallery I work at which was a huge convenient bonus. Some pictures:

Bit blurry this one - the illustration freshly printed.

The illustration after it's been dry mounted, it's basically a method of attaching prints and artworks to mounting surfaces by heating a shellac tissue between the mount and the print. Just so it's more durable and not as flimsy.

A closer look.

I attached a love letter for Rob a small note for Rob for any framing recommendations.

The bad boy wrapped in about a million layers of tissue paper.

Phew, been a very busy month. Very glad I had this week off work (beside the rain part). Next step I would like to do is to start to build an ACTUAL website, we'll see how that goes.

Tar Tar For Now.

Happy Scarday!

A year ago when I last celebrated my Birthday I managed to direct my forehead into a big Irish guy's tooth - accidentally that is, not intentionally. Ended up with this whooper (photo from the morning after it happened, no stitches):

25/09/2010

This is what it looked like yesterday (24/09/2011):

Still sligthly there, when I raise my eyebrows it appears. Would quite like to know if it bulks up if I get angry/cold or something. So if you fancy making me cold or angry, let me know what it looks like!

Here is the GIF form which I took over 2/3 months after it happened:

24 on Tuesday. Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan.

Happy Leo Vick Day

A GIF I made of the Birthday boy.