New Website Banner

Heres my new website display banner, which I'm quite smitten with. I've been meaning to update my website for a while and it seems I'm never too happy with my layouts and such but this time Ithink this will stick around for a while. Check it out at getaloadageo.co.uk

The Stars in Stripes Take Over Rotherham

Since the beginning of December 2010 I and the other illustrators of the Stars In Stripes have been busy drawing onto the windows a giant indoor space owned by the Open Minds Theatre group. Armed with paint rollers, emulsion and posca pens we've scrawled on all of the windows and gathered an extensive back catalogue of our live art work from the past 2 years ranging from Tramlines to the SOYO live art events.

We base ourselves as a Sheffield collective and we're very honoured to have been invited to Rotherham to show the city what we can do, our current Rotherham resident, Sarah Abbott has taken the lead and put her signature floral style to good use, linking all the work together with her linear and bold patterns.

We're curating our first group show under the Stars In Stripes banner in the centre of Rotherham for 2 weeks only and we're going to kick start it with an opening evening on Thursday 27th January where we'll be drawing on t-shirts, putting DJs on to spin some tracks and selling cupcakes, cakes and raffle tickets. I'm sure if I mention that there will be beverages and hot drinks it might perk some attention too.

Some Recent Work

Heres a showcase of some work I've been commissioned for this month.

Dead Young Records - Allo Darlin'

The boys from Leeds at Dead Young Records asked me to quickly knock up a gig poster for Allo Darlin' an intricate indie pop band from the US. I'm pleased with this design as photoshop is becoming more of a presence in my work for neat little effects.

PLUG - Jump Around Valentines Tattoos

For the Valentines Night at Plug, they've asked me to design some temporary tattoos for their traffic light party. The premise is that people put these tattoos on themselves to indicate if they're available, taken or a bit curious.

Covert Sound System

As some of you may know I've been working on the Covert Soundsystem promotion material over the past year. Covert is an electronic music night held at Plug night club every Friday night here in Sheffield, as the popularity has grown so has the artwork, the owners wanted the artwork to evolve and become collectible. Heres the design for the front of the new February flyer run.

Berlin, Baby!

Just got back from a trip to Berlin, I'd managed to wrangle my way into the international fashion tradeshow, Bread and Butter to have a gander at the new autumn and winter collection of clothing from brands such as Supreme Being, Lacoste, Fred Perry, Penfield, Your Eyes Lie, you name them they were all there. I went along to Germany with my buddies, urban culture blogger Thomas Pham and modern day couture artiste, Ceri who also enjoyed a trip of sight seeing and boutique hunting.

I was well impressed with amount of free goodies on offer from the Threadless stall, namely some nice badges and their own brand of notebook! I sadly missed out on meeting the artist Simone Legno who works on the Italian Tokidoki range as he was also present at the trade show but with so many stalls to see and so many people to talk to, the 2 days we were at the show just became a big blur, a tiring one at that.

Getting out of the country does something good for the soul and feeds into the imagination, whilst away I was doodling a lot and preparing myself for some big work I will be conducting for a new venue in Sheffield and some London offices in Kings Cross. These projects I will elaborate later in some future blog posts. Heres a little sketch to show you what will be coming up.

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...