Little Red Riding Hood

"She didn’t know what a wicked animal he was, so she wasn’t afraid of him"

(Excerpt from Philip Pullman’s version of “Little Red Riding Hood”, from FAIRY TALES FROM THE BROTHERS GRIMM ,Viking, 2012) 

London Stories

The London Stories - serco prize for illustration 2014 exhibition is now open at London Transport Museum.
http://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/exhibitions#serco
Here is the winning poster entry by Gill Bradley, Monkey Band at Large in Notting Hill 1927 - I saw this colourful and intriguing poster was up in the London underground last week. 

More information at http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2014/february/serco-prize-for-illustration
Here's Bradley's explanation for the piece: "In 1927 an escaped monkey jazz band embarked on days of high-jinks and mayhem at Latimer Road Metropolitan station. Jumping aboard trains one reached as far as Rugby before capture."

This was my entry to the competition based around Dick Whittington's cat.

Promotional Mailer Challenge

Just found out I won the scbwi promo mailer competition challenge (at the scbwi Winchester Conference last weekend) and I'm thrilled to bits! Here it is, a never-ending fold! Great fun to make, too - apart from lining up the printer to double-side print in exactly the right place. With thanks to Trish Phillips who showed me this template a while ago at her workshop - I've been itching to put it to use ever since.
More about scbwi conference illustration winners here
Words & Pictures - Online Magazine of SCBWI British Isles

scbwi conference

Thrilled that my hedgehog/mouse image was one of the winning entries into the scbwi (society children's book writers and illustrators) showcase exhibition this weekend at Winchester.

I also designed some scbwi badges for the conference, using a slogan from writer Jo Franklin, Books are scbwi snacks, and another slogan from writer Nicki Schmidt, Every picture tells a story. 

Really chuffed that Books are scbwi snacks was a runner up and have been on sale at the conference.

Streetview exhibition 2022NQ Dale St, Manchester

I am thrilled to have one of my streetviews selected to be on show at an upcoming exhibition curated by skyliner www.theskyliner.org

Launch party with Dots and Loops Fri Jan 25th 

See https://www.facebook.com/events/113331338813815/

"A new exhibition for city lovers, map makers, and fans of the architecture of Greater Manchester. A series of prints and models based on Google’s Streetview, with over 30 works including pieces by Stanley Chow, Mark O’Brien, and Clare Allan.

The back room will feature a spin off exhibition bringing together the works of Secret Cities photographer Andrew Brooks and illustrator Michael Morrell. Both artists have documented the BBC Oxford Road demolition, Brooks through his unique style of photography and Mo

rrell through a series of illustrations that will come together to form a comic/social history newspaper."

Badges competition British SCBWI 2012

I was runner-up in badges competition at British SCBWI conference again last November. Here they are. The crow is my favourite.

Poster

Can you read the words on this poster? Answer is upside down below.

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories

Here is my (alas, unsuccessful) submission for House of Illustration's recent competition, with The Folio Society. The competition was to illustrate The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter, a collection of ten short stories, closely based on fairytales.

The Bloody Chamber is a dark, gothic tale, based on Bluebeard, with blood, corpses, keys, pornography, lots of lilies and a mother who rescues her daughter in the nick of time.

"You never saw such a wild thing as my mother...her hair was her white mane, her black lisle legs exposed to the thigh, her skirts tucked around her waist, one hand on the reins of the rearing horse while the other clasped my father's service revolver..."

The Company of Wolves is an adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood.

"The forest closed upon her like a pair of jaws"

Puss in Boots is a romp with the cat as a con-man.

"I went about my ablutions, tonging my arsehole...one leg stuck in the air like a ham bone...Love? I withdrew my head from my privates and fixed him with my most satiric smile..."

scbwi conference badges

I was runner up in a badges competition and was pleased to see them being bought and worn by loads of delegates last weekend. Here they are!
The conference was great, with inspirational speakers including Chris Riddell and Karin Littlewood. Will post some notes up when I get the chance.

Manchester & Salford Illustrated

I'm really chuffed that my work has been selected to be part of an exhibition in Manchester starting this week.
This is the first Manchester and Salford Illustrated exhibition (#MASI)  at 52 Princess Street, Manchester 27th October – 10th November 
 http://www.manchesterandsalfordillustrated.co.uk/
30 local illustrators will be showing their work under the banner of "What Manchester means to Me." Prints will be available for sale to raise money for the Manchester-based charity, the Wood Street Mission.
Here's a peek of my submission! 

This is the thinking behind it:-

What Does Manchester Mean to Me?

I am awestruck by Castlefield's viaducts and bridges. Castlefield was the heart of Manchester's industrial revolution and remains an iconic symbol of the making of Manchester to me. Here we have the terminus of the world's first industrial canal and also the world's first passenger railway. The Bridgewater and Rochdale canals join at this canal basin, which is crossed by four enormous Victorian viaducts and an elegant modern footbridge, Merchants Bridge. Two of the viaducts are still used by trains and metrolink uses another.

Castlefield is also the site of the Roman fort, Mamucium. This is the origin of the name of Manchester. The fort appears to have inspired some of the amazing castellations and towers on one of the viaducts, too. I often wonder what the soldiers based at Mamucium would make of this area today. 

My image illustrates this part of Castlefield with the viaducts, canal basin, leisure boats, trains and metrolink. The soldiers at the fort, Mamucium, look over the scene.

Featured illustrator British SCBWI

I am thrilled to be the featured illustrator for Society Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, June-Aug. This is because I won the illustrator's competition at SCBWI in Winchester last November. here is the link:
http://britishscbwi.jimdo.com/featured-artist/

The Outsider by Camus

 "For a while nobody moved; it was all sunlight and silence, except for the tinkle of the stream and those three little lonely sounds."

"...he was staring hard at me, as if he had been waiting for me to wake..."

"What these people were looking for in me wasn't anything to laugh at, but signs of criminality..."

SCBWI winner

I won the scbwi (Society Childrens Book Writers & Illustrators) Undiscovered Voices Tribute Competition at the annual conference in Winchester last weekend, and I'm chuffed to bits! Tim Truong (Stripes Publishing) said it had the most competent sense of design, use of colour and understanding of the role of a cover. Wow!

John Shelley, from scbwi, has also set up an on-line gallery for the illustrator's exhibition set up at the conference. You can view this on http://www.wix.com/scbwibi/winchester

SCBWI Illustration Competition

Here are a couple of images I have produced for SCBWI (Society Children's Book Writers and Illustrators)
Illustration Competition: Undiscovered Voices Tribute Challenge.
The first illustration is a cover for Adele (by Anne M Leone). This is about a young teenager who spends a summer holiday in Michigan with her aunt. When a ghostly face appears in the window, the girl discovers the house hides a dark history of slavery.

The other illustration is a cover for The Truth About Celia Frost (by Paula Rawsthorne). The main character has a disorder that leaves her in constant fear of bleeding to death. Then she is the victim of a knife attack...

AOI Images 34 show

AOI Images 34 show last week in London last week.

My fox is now in the AOI Images 34 annual, so I'm 

really chuffed.

Nobrow competition

People I have never met and conversations I have never had.

AOI Images34 book

I was thrilled to find my fox image has been accepted for publication in the AOI Images 34 book next year. Here is the image.

Penguin Book competition