Thinking about it, I’m assuming I’m included for my work and the ‘Feature’ bit isn’t about my impressive chin. I’ll have to check  Zeb and Pauls profile pictures before I am too flattered.

Click the image to visit the show.

Halloween is almost upon us and I’m assuming that everyone has taken the usual garlic-based precautions to ward off the creatures of the netherworld?

I thought not.

While it has long been known that garlic has a special affinity with the supernatural, it is little known fact that that is true of other members of the allium family. Pickled onions, especially old ones, can be especially tricky during Halloween and can often end up working for the opposition. Be warned. Stay safe!

Note: Pickled Eggs are thought to have similar properties. This is not strictly true. They are evil at any time of the year.

Just finished updating the Illustration section of my portfolio site. This is a background detail from a piece that didn’t make the cut.  I really liked how the light on the icebergs turned out and every loves Penguins right?

Check out the updated site here.

Goldfish ready for his holiday

I’m currently trying to update my portfolio site. It is curious how much work won’t make the cut. Not because they are bad Illustrations. Quite the reverse. They fill their briefs very well I think but that often doesn’t make for an appealing Illustration out of context. This fish is a tiny detail from one such illustration. I hope he is off to a bigger bowl in the sun with slightly warmer water.

Salt of the earth

If all the oceans evaporated the remaining salt could form a layer more than 120m deep. Or so I was told. This is an Illustration for a DK See for yourself  – Water book.  All Done in Xara Xtreme with the help of bitmap textures.

The Guys enjoying their new gadget - a portable sawmill

I did this one years ago and just stumbeld upon it while rummaging around in my drives. I was given a few photos and a small brochure picture and asked to come up with a scene. It took the best part of a week to do and the client was pretty happy…Well they did ask if I could rotate the scene because they thought it was done in 3D  (it was artworked in Xara Xtreme and probably roughed in either Painter or TV paint. I can’t actually remember which.)

The client was VERY specific about the Orange colour.

Elephant roller skating rough

I photographed the doodle on my phone and loaded it into  Xara Xtreme. Once there things got quite a bit more colourful.

The final coloured Elephant on roller skates

Moody

Ah Autumn. The leaves fall from the trees, the nights draw in, and young ladies in halloween costume stand too close to electric radiators.

A bold use of colour and more importantly darkness, two things that paying clients seem to be adverse to.

A table light in 7 shapes

Things are quiet here at the Squeaky Voice at the moment as I am working my bits off during waking hours. Pretty much seven days a week. I’m glad to have the work but maybe a little time off would be nice too

The light illustration got to final artwork before the editor realised it should have been a theatre light (despite brief and approved roughs) Oh well. stuff happens. It’s a shame because the illustration was probably the most cost effective thing I’ve done in years. It is only made up of 7 shapes.
As it is rejected I can post it here. Usually I am contractually not allowed to show any work I produce until after the books are published which in this case is next year sometime.

Right. I’m off to artwork a ‘planter made of car tyres to show ‘ Barry and John stuck some car tyres together to make a plant holder’ – Oh joy.