Monday 29 June 2015

You Will Be Rare: The Book


Last month saw me team up with economy-slaying-madman-artist Jamie Moakes and magical-word-wizard-editor Kelli Savill to DO A THING. We made a book together, guys! In a really tiny amount of time!

I've worked with both Jamie and Kelli before (although they're my close friends before co-workers) and working with them is an absolute bundle of joy and energy and late night pizza and seven-hour meetings (this happened twice in one week). I was lucky enough to be part of the design team that helped Jamie's show You Will Be Rare travel to Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2011 and he brought me back to help create a book of the show for the next installment of the You Will Be Rare adventure - a gallery show in Seattle. I was responsible for the design and illustration throughout, the result being a full-colour A5 paperback and posters for the gallery room, as well as promotional flyers. Once I have a copy of the book I'll be sure to update with photos but for now here's a little preview from Jamie's Instagram page (which will give you a good idea of what the project is like):

Assumptions Card Game


Assumptions is probably one of my favourite projects I've ever had the pleasure of working on. It barely even felt like work. Tyler approached me with an idea so brilliant and so fun that I knew it was going to be a hoot. I'll allow the official website to explain exactly what Assumptions is, but my role in the project was to create and illustrate 100 vastly different, individual and funny characters. A hugely successful Kickstarter campaign was run to help make the game a reality, and it's currently in it's production stages. I'll be sure to update again once I have an actual copy of the game! I am tremendously excited to receive it and I'm so happy to have been a part of the project.

Green Bottle Press


This is the final logo created for startup poetry publisher Green Bottle Press. I was commissioned by my faves Bookswarm, who I've worked with multiple times in the past. They were responsible for the overall brand design and web development, so I worked closely with them to create a logo that exactly suited the needs of our client.

DBZ


I've spent the last month or so working on two new illustrated children's books and although I tend to listen to music whilst I work, I've recently started rewatching Dragon Ball Z in the background. Cue all the childhood feels. This isn't anything other than a bit of art I had to get off my chest, but I liked it enough as a character piece to show you nice folks of the internet.

Women Inherits the Earth


So much has happened since I last updated! I'll keep it short as I try to keep this blog as a space where my work can (hopefully) speak for itself.

So in January of this year I quit my full time job (I was a garment printer by day, illustrator by night, and working every hour under the sun because of it) to become completely self-employed and focus on forwarding my career as a designer and illustrator.

At the same time, my partner and I decided to embrace a different sort of change and made the decision to move from Essex to London.

Because of these two huge upheavals in my life, the first half of 2015 has been terrifying, stress-inducing, sleep-depriving, jolly good fun. At times I didn't think I was going to pull any of it off but I got there and here I am, living frugally but comfortably in our little flat in E16. I pay my bills by drawing pictures and I feel like 10-year old me would be pretty happy about this.

One of the first things I did when I became A Proper Freelance Person was open a little Etsy store. I only put a few prints up for sale but I've made over 50 sales in 6 months so I'm pleased as punch. My Jurassic Park inspired "Dinosaurs Eat Man, Woman Inherits The Earth" illustration has by far been the most popular, so I also opened a Society6 store to widen the range of merch it's available on.

So to wrap up, I guess this post is a thank you for everyone who's been so supportive of me the last few months, anyone who's bought a print or shirt, and anyone who enjoys looking at my drawings. Thanks for allowing me to do my dream job.