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/