Art Moves Billboard Festival 2011

Here's a few images I put together for the Art Moves Billboard Festival for this years open competition on the theme of 'Reality or Fiction: Let's pretend it's not there'

The top image reminds me of or was inspired by, (I'm not sure which way round it was) some lyrics in a Brett Dennen song 'Nothing lasts forever, not even the mountains, someday they will be swept away and swallowed by the sea, we all shall be blessedly released' and it's about that uncertainty that even mountains can be upside down. Then I thought about how people wear masks and want to hide their reality under a fiction. I like the last image of a persons face hidden by a dark cloud and how people can just wander through life without ever truly seeing what's right in front of them.

Anyways the choosen billboards will be on display in Torun, Poland this September/October.

Right to Education

Poster for Tomorrow has a poster contest going on to highlight the fact every child's right to an education.

'Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world' -Nelson Mandela.

I found this brief quite difficult and the more time passes and more ideas I come up with the less they seem to work, so I focused on typography. The first one is large letters spelling education in different colours on top of each other, the second is education spelt out of different stationery you need for school and the third is mixing together capital and lowercase letters. The closing date has just been extended by a couple of days so if you're quick you can enter see here for more details.

Bon Iver:Calgary for Spook Magazine

Spook Magazine recently ran a competition to design a single cover for Bon Iver's single Calgary and I won! Here it is on their website where you can also hear the single and see the cool video for the song.

Croquet anyone?

Recently creaturemag had a call out for croquet images here's mine, it wasn't deemed colourful or characterful enough for the croquet east publication, but I'm happy with it; I like experimenting and trying out different things otherwise it gets boring. I like the black and white against the background, the different poses and it's also a game: how many different hats can you see? Anyways I've also just updated my website, which I hadn't done in an age, so lots more to see there now.

Cerealbox & T-shirt Designs

Here's a few designs I did a while back, a cerealbox for an open submission for Uppercase magazine and a t-shirt logo for a contest run by SDS Snowboards. Check out this amazing footage of an avalanche on their blog.

Poem Illustration for Creaturemag

Here's an illustration I did for Ju Shardlow's poem 'People having sex after a heated motorbike accident' which was organised and published by Creaturemag on their website. There's 5 more great poems all illustrated there too, go check them out. Here's part 1 and I'm in part 2!

The Lake Poets on CreatureMag

Here's the illustration I did for an article on The Lake Poets over on CreatureMag. The Lake Poets is Martin Longstaff-a singer/songwriter from Newcastle, go check out his myspace page to hear some beautiful folky goodness and an amazing cover of Bob Dylan's 'It ain't me babe'.

Chemistry submission for Compound Mag

Here's my submission for Compound Mag on the theme of Chemistry. Every issue will be based around a theme and everyone picks a song to interpret thus creating a visual mixtape. I choose 'Contagious Chemistry' by You Me at Six who are fast becoming a favorite. Go here for more details on how to submit, you've only got till 6th December for this issue though so hurry!

Positive Posters

Here's my idea for the Positive Posters Project, this year's theme is the 'A glass half full' I thought I'd keep it simple and use the negative and positive symbols. Just by turning a negative around, looking at things from a different angle, by thinking half full, you can change them into positives! Submissions close on the 10th September and the winner will have there poster put up all around Melbourne, Australia.

Art Moves Billboard Festival: Together or Apart?

Here's my entry into the Art Moves Billboard Festival which takes place in Torun, Poland. The theme is: Together or Apart? and I thought that there will always be the need for both. You can build something amazing together but it all comes from your strength and your existence which is fundamentally seperate and apart from anyone else.

twEATs: Greek Kolokythokeftedes

Here's my recipe for 'Greek Kolokythokeftedes' for the twEATS opportunity on Central Station.

I tried them out the other night with homemade tzatziki and they were yummy. I'm really into Greek food of late, going to try me hand at making moussaka and souvlaki and pitta breads next.

Doodlezine 4: Imaginary Worlds

Here's my newly discovered planet for Doodlezine 4, the theme was Imaginary worlds. I thought I'd keep it simple and just discover a new planet, it's name is Zegbadon 4 and is populated by the Zegbays! You can buy the zine here.

Death is not Justice poster

'Capital punishment breaches the universal declaration of human rights. it's that simple.'
There's a call for poster entries over at Poster for Tomorrow for posters raising awareness about the death penalty is a violation of human rights, has no place in modern society and that death is not justice, NEVER! This is one of my ideas, you're allowed up to 10 and the best 100 designs will be exhibited in 10 locations around the world on 10/10/10 (the world day against the death penalty) and then collected into a book.

News & Updates!

Here's the 1 o'clock news (where I am) or whatever o'clock wherever you are!: The Cut-Click mail art exhibition I was involved in in January has had another outing, this time it was in Dundee at the Big Top Jamboree and my colour envelope was there! 2nd piece of news is that the Scribble Project colouring zine of carriages which has my one full of sushi in it, is now up on Etsy for pre-sale and going fast! exciting :)

Berlin Type

Berlin is on my list of places to go, art, museums, history, nightlife, german beer etc... and when I found out that the next city in the online magazine show us your type was Berlin, well here's what I came up with! Have a go yourself deadlines until 23 May, heres the details.

Cocoons for Illustration Friday

A pile of cocoons with butterflies just ready to burst out, for Illustration Friday (my first one!). Hello caterpillars it's time to wake up into butterflies! On that note must revisit Eric Carle's amazing collage illustrations in The Very Hungry Caterpillar, love love love that book!

Bikes & Cycling in London Competition

Bikes are great aren't they, as long as you don't fall off which I always seem to do- I have a lot of stories where I fall into a heap and there's a lot of swearing involved, but other than that they're a fab way to get around! I recently watched Mark Beaumont's amazing journey where he Cycled the Americas from Alaska down to Argentina, climbing Mt Mckinley and Aconcagua along the way, a-m-a-z-i-n-g, so inspiring! So anyways here's my entry into the Cycling in London Competition which is organised by the London Transport Museum & the Association of Illustrators, there's still time to enter with the deadline for entries being 17th May.

Outline maps of my life

I just found out about the Hand Drawn Map Association, how cool! You can send in maps you find or create. So here's mine, its the outlines of all the countries I've ever been to all on top of one another, how many can you spot?

Follow the Leader

Here are my drawings for the Follow the Leader project where you take your lead from your pick of 6 mini images and see where it goes, I choose the jar which I filled with carrots and then more veg and the mirror which became a fishing net. The people behind it also run the Working Proof which bring out limited edition prints with a percentage of the profits going to different charities, there's some fab work my faves are The Jewel of the Mind by Justin Richel and Forest Lady by Karolin Schnoor. Go check it out.

Repeat-x Repeat-y & I AM V

Here's a couple of recent submissions I've done. The grey flower pattern is for the awesome repeat-x repeat-y pattern project, where anyone and everyone can submit a pattern and then download other patterns to use as wallpaper. My faves are the cable car and the multicoloured grids. Another recent submission that I just managed to find and complete on the deadline date was an album cover for Loud and Quiet Magazine's fifth anniversary which has the shadows of whales/dolphins lined up and repeated, I like that people will see it differently, an abstract pattern, shadows of whales, something yet not something at the same time.