Geisha

Over the Christmas holiday period I always find that relaxing gives me more time for thought and ideas. It's normally the best time for me to get onto creative stuff and my head has been buzzing.

This little illustration has been brewing for some months now and I'd started drawing her a while back, just couldn't figure out how to finish it off. Finally before New Years Eve, I've managed to add the finishing touches to what will be a new Hantu T-shirt design.

Here's to a happy new year!

Window Dressing In Rotherham

For the past month I've been working with the Stars in Stripes group to decorate a space in the center of Rotherham. It's been a bit of a hectic month with the baltic weather and adverse snowy conditions, that coupled with hassle on the train line, other than that we've worked hard and covered many windows in a space that spans 6000 square meters.

The project has come from ROAR (Rotherham Open Arts Renaissance) who initially asked us to decorate on the windows with our illustration work. Peter Martin who has been our correspondent in turn has also given us the opportunity to curate our first group show in January for a duration of a couple of weeks, something which is a huge task but surely achieveable.

Drawing on the window spaces has required the use of acrylic paints, emulsion and Posca pens which have helped out a lot. If you want to see the full report, click here.

Ninja Cat

I've recently repainted a smaller mural in the Hantu Workshop this month and chanced upon an inspiring idea. I want to draw ninjas and samurais again just like when I was back in college and university. I've managed to create my first character, who I will simply name Ninja Cat for now.

Here's another attempt at my new feline character during live art at Kool Beans, a night that was held at the Bowery. I've been looking for new approaches to work on for the new year as I have a solo show in the Forum around February time. Ideas have now popped into my head and I guess I'll keep them to myself until I get to work on them...

2X Elliot Illustration

An old coursemate of mine, James Horwitz has been running his own Graphic Design company in the heart of London for the past year and a bit, 2X Elliot is building up a decent client list and they're moving to a swanky new studio space situated in Notting Hill, not too shabby me thinks.

James asked me to knock something up quickly to display on their website, an illustration that had to reflect 2X Elliot, I admittedly copped out and just doodled away as time restraint was against me but I'm pleased with this.

www.2xelliott.co.uk

Gaslight Club: Christmas Flyer

I've designed a new Christmas themed poster for the nice lads from Dead Young Records for their Gaslight Club event based in Leeds. This year they're holding an evening of live bands and carol singing at Holy Trinity Church, which I can imagine will feel very festive.

Fright Night: Halloween At The Crucible

For Halloween, Sheffield city centre was engulfed in Fright Night, an event organised byYellowbus Events and has grown in stature over the past few years to turn Sheffield into a Halloween themed carnival. Scott Barton of Yellowbus Events asked me to organise the live art side of things to set some artistic ambience in the Crucible Theatre, naturally I gathered the Stars In Stripes to take on some Halloween themed artwork.

This was a very pleasant event to work on even if there were hired zombies stumbling around trying to scare you every 5 minutes, on many occasions making kids cry. It was pretty cool and we were looked after by the staff which we were all thankful for especially as our collective hangovers were kicking in from a weekend of Halloween partying.

We all drew various monsters on our 6ft boards, I'd chosen to take on a werewolf as it's been the one thing I've enjoyed drawing over the past month. I think I'll start to work with more colour with my live art work from now on as I've noticed it adds a lot more to the piece as a whole.

For more images click here to see the gallery...

TOMS Blog

I've been put up on the TOMS blog as follow up for the Style Your Sole event which was held in The Office store in Meadowhall.

This involved me doodling on brand new pairs of TOMS shoes for customers who purchased in store for that day. It was a pretty lively event with Kopperberg cider being handed out to shoppers whilst browsing for footwear. TOMS are pretty unique as they have a good stance on an ethical business model that gives pairs of shoes to children who are in need of them, from what I can tell they're quite popular in the U.S where they originate from, I hope that in the U.K people will latch onto this as a popular brand.

http://www.toms.com/blog/

Snapped Up

Yesterday I was snapped by photographer Sam Wright, for an article with S1 Magazine, they'd interviewed me and filmed it a couple a months ago. For their article they lacked a decent photograph of me so they decided to shoot some pics in the Hantu Workshop.

I'm very impressed with Sam's use of lighting and his understanding of his rig. I think I'll print one of these out, frame it and give it to my mum for Christmas, maybe she'll be proud of me... I hope :)

Bright Project Video

Here's a promo video shot for Sheffield City Council to document our workings for the new clothing collection in league with the Bright Project. Big thanks goes out to Charlie and James from Ogle Productions, Thomas, Aaran and Jack.

A Busy Week And It's Not Over Yet...

So this week I've been involved with the temporary Hantu Collective Pop Up stall in Meadowhall, which means trekking there and back (although I've only had to do this just the once) and having to sell to a different client base. It's always fun setting up stall and making the place look pretty but the selling aspect I always leave to Angga and Thomas.

Today I've been holed up in the Leadmill, watching over the Hantu stall where we were displaying a limited edition collection we've collaborated on with the council. The new shirts were officially unveiled today but you can have a sneak peek on the Hantu Collective website.

The design ideas were based around poking fun at the whole road safety aspect, as sometimes a serious message doesn't really work when it comes to selling clothes. Our younger designer, Aaran came up trumps and managed to design the staff event t-shirts for the day which I'm happy with him for.

Meanwhile I was also involved with curating the live art for the event alongside the Stars In Stripes our mural idea being recognisable birds associated with road crossings. It was pleasing to see people walk by and clicking with the idea, I suppose that's the beauty of illustration, it's all about being playful with the subject matter.

My New Favourite Music Video: Massive Attack - Atlas Air

I've been hooked on this new track from the recent Massive Attack album but the video is equally as impressive, the animation and the way it's executed it simply amazing. The rabbit is the main protaganist running through what seems to be a ravaged world with a lot of dark dystopian imagery and the monotony of airline travel. The video was directed by video and animation artist, Edouard Salier.

Another video for their track, Splitting The Atom uses the same guy for this video, following a frozen world pretty much the same one from Atlas Air but a panning camera captures everything in its frozen state. Bloody brilliant I say.

New Hantu Wolf Design

It's seems these days I have to find time to keep up with designs for Hantu Collective. Luckily when I do feel inspired and I get a day or two to myself I can throw something like this together, a design that crashes and bites. The mood I'm feeling for this month is quite frantic, so I'm taking inspiration from that and will create a little collection of fighting animals. The final version of the print will be on charcoal coloured t-shirts, I might have to save the white t-shirt colour way for something special.

Weston Park Museum

On Thursday 21st October Weston Park Museum hosted a special event in tribute to apples. I was asked alongside Lord Bunn to do some live art alongside cider tasting, apple juice pressing and a live skittle band. It was pretty neat walking around the museum before drawing, it brought back loads of memories from when I was a kid.

My own drawing comprised of apple related characters from stories such as Adam & Eve, Sir Issac Newton and William Tell.

Lord Bunn's piece took a more traditional approach with washes of paint and some nice brush calligraphy, naming all the types of apples.

Live Drawing For This Week...

This will be a busy week for me, especially as I have t-shirts to finish off for the new Hantu Collective range but also the two live drawing events ahead of me.

This Wednesday 20th October I have been asked by TOMS shoes to doodle at their Style Your Sole event for the relaunch of Office in Meadowhall. TOMS run on an ethical business model where they donate shoes to under priviledged children for every sale made, something quite unique and pleasing to see. The event will hold stalls where there's free Kopperberg cider, Krispy Kreems Donuts, Toni & Guy hair fixing and many other freebies as well as a DJ to keep the atmosphere lively. Starts at 5pm and finishes at 9pm, if you happen to pass by then pop in and wave hello!

This Thursday 21st October I will be drawing at Weston Park Museum for their Apple Day

event, to celebrate the International Day of The Apple. I will be drawing a big piece on canvas for a couple of hours, hopefully I should be able to finish in time. I'll be drawing alongside, good buddy, Lord Bunn who's also a dab hand with a brush as well as pen, it should be interesting to see what we both come up with. The event will host activities such as apple tasting, apple cider pressing amongst other things and it's free entry, this should be a fun night at the museum.

Rollerpalooza!

This little blog post is a bit out of the ordinary, I normally love to write about art and design related stuff but I just had to write about Rollerpalooza. On Friday 8th October, Sheffeld Roller Disco played host to a night of music, beers and roller skating, boasting a line up of some brilliant noise, punk and indie bands, namely No Age, Male Bonding, Pulled Apart By Horses and The Hey Sholay.

Sheffield needs more nights like these but seen as they don't come so often, it's a great treat. There was a pre bar at the Queens Road Social Club, where Drowned in Sound put the Dum Dum Girl's gig on and it's also a great quirky little joint thats like a flashback into the 70's. After that it was the Roller rink itself, the turn out was huge and there were many familiar faces there rolling around the rink, at one point it was chaos on the floor, people smashing into each other and dodging flailing limbs, even my housemates kept skating past me and nicking my beer. Oh before I forget to mention I did chicken out and leave behind the skates as I didn't want to risk breaking a wrist or just falling over like a complete ass, something that was bound to happen. My personal highlight of the night was watching the Hey Sholay and Male Bonding shock it out on stage whilst watching people decking it on their skates in and outside the rink, it sounded like pure chaos but to everyone else, just looked like sheer fun.

Certainly can't wait until the next one comes around and the line up itself will be one to watch out for.

Pecha Kucha 03

Pecha Kucha is an idea that came from Japan and has become a global organised event. It's origins lie in revolutionary format for presentations as two architects from Japan devised a way to lessen the boredom during lectures, they developed the 20x 20 format, 20 slides and an allocated time of 20 seconds each.

I was invited by Pecha Kucha in Sheffield to speak alongside other designers, entrepreneurs and even council member Paul Scriven.

Here's my presentation on the way Sheffield has grown around me and how I've come to adapt to it's vibrant art and music scene.

To follow the Sheffield Pecha Kucha twitter updates click here

Interview with S1 Magazine

I recently was asked out for a coffee by S1 Magazine, a new publication thats due to be out by the end of October, to sit and just talk about myself. Obviously I now realise I can waffle on about the things around me and viewing yourself is always a bit weird...

Live Decorating at the Wick At Both Ends

The Wick at Both Ends is a nice humble bar on Sheffield's busy West Street. The main guy, Frankie asked me to bring some art into the place by doodling on the walls, I brought in the Stars In Stripes to chip in some ink on the walls and after 4 hours of drawing the results looked brilliant. I've developed a penchant for drawing birds and wild life as of late, something I never used to draw as a kid, but drawing animals is pretty fun.

The more I draw with this group the more proud I become, everyone's work and style is growing and you can sense that we're all influencing the encouraging each other too.

We aim to push more work through the Stars In Stripes and hopefully get more wall mural work around the city, bars and clubs aren't too a start but eventually, who knows? Maybe an exhibition would be great and there's talk of working on bigger walls. Only time can tell with what our group can and will do but I'm always looking forward to seeing what happens.

Live Art For The Book Club: SOYO LIVE 2010

Last night, there was a buzz in Sheffield and in particular at Bar SOYO, a long time collaborator with me and Hantu Collective. They played host to an eclectic local line up of Sheffield's most up and coming bands, The Book Club, The Wet Nuns and the Pirouettes, all bands which were to attract a big crowd, a crowd so big they even opened up the room next door just to fit us live artists in there.

The Stars In Stripes were present at SOYO doodling away, which topped off the vibe of the night, it was one of music and art and the two have always gone hand in hand. The Book Club's drummer, Ant has been a friend of mine for a few years and we keep knocking into eachother out and about, he asked me to draw a banner for them to take away on their tour, I happily obliged. I went into SOYO 3 hours earlier and drew out the banner during sound check, probably one of my favourite times before the night gets mad. Finished the banner in 1hour and 30 mins, a personal best for me when the pressure's on.

Live Art In Sheffield

Live art in Sheffield has become a vibrant regular fixture in the city with loads of artists coming out of their work spaces and doodling in front of people in bars, gigs and clubs. I'm proud to be seeing something like this take off in Sheffield, especially as I feel that it has certainly come leaps and bounds from when I first started it at the Hantu Collective Sweet Dreams Fashion show in February 2009, after that, SOYO Live decided to use the Live drawing aspect on a

weekly basis as background visual noise for their night. Unquiet Desperations also took on the live art aspect for their folksy evening of art and music, allowing artists, illustrators and etc another outlet for their creativity. Then came the introduction of the Tramlines Festival, a festival for music held in the centre of Sheffield, this also allowed live art to be seen in venues such as The Bowery, The Washington Pub and SOYO yet again, with crowds milling around in between

the live bands and acts, live art was happening around them, and they would gather and watch and ask questions. Sometimes I used to ask questions, what was point in doodling in front of people, what would I get out of it, and was it worth doing, only over time have I realised that all the times I've done live drawing I have met many people and possibly encouraged others to get involved.

Live art has become a great means for artists to promote their work, although it's never a gurantee that an art director or someone of importance will happen to pass by, there's still a beneficial advantage of being an artist who is always in the public eye for their work. Styles become more noticable and concrete which lead the audiences and passers by to sub consciencely keep tabs on certain artists who are seen to be drawing often. I'd never go so f

ar to stake a claim that I'd been a catalyst for live art in Sheffield, but the timing with the atmosphere around me and the people who I worked with on Hantu, SOYO Live and other such things, live art has grown in Sheffield with our involvement and association, something that I'm pretty proud of, especially as I see the impact it has had on budding new artists.

As I noticed more artists were taking part in live art, I came up with an idea, that those artists could be gathered together to work under one name or as a team. There fore it would become a collective of artists that could throw work eachother's way. I came up with the Stars In Stripes, a group who do live art and commissioned work and the only rule was that each member had to wear stripes as they were drawing. This group are compiled of who I think are the most enthusiastic and creative illustrators I've met in Sheffield and their appetite to put ink to board

and wall has only boosted my own enthusiasm.

I hope the Stars In Stripes is something that can grow, with more members and more commisions under it's belt. We've already amassed quite a lot of work in and around Sheffield, from the Harley Pub and Northern General Hospital but a little more couldn't hurt. Watch this space.

STARS IN STRIPES BLOG

Road Safey Project

For the past 2 weeks I've been working on a t-shirt design for Sheffield Council's Road Safety Campaign in collaboration with the Hantu Collective. The brief was simple as they wanted the designs to not have a hard line message but to look interesting and have more of an underlying message and poke a bit of fun at the theme. We decided that we would use reflective vinyls on the t-shirts so they would have functional use as well as a statement behind them.

This is what I've got so far...