Horse Portrait- "Midnight"

A final post of the year- here's a horse portrait commission I recently completed.

Hope everyone's having a great Christmas (or just a great December), and very best wishes for the new year!

Illustration for SCHOTT Glass Manufacturers

An advertising illustration I did a while back for SCHOTT North America.  The illustration formed an advertisement for the company's industry-leading green tech home glass appliances. The client had a pretty clear idea of how they wanted the image to look. Ad agency Doe Anderson shot the photography, and I painted in the rest of the image.

I was told that the animals must not look too 'Disney', as the advertisement was going to be used at an event held at Disneyland.

Cats

Had to pull some cat sketches together for a client. Thought I'd deposit them here too.

Illustrations for 'Silentnight'

I'm finally now able to show some illustrations I've been doing on-and-off throughout the year for Silentnight beds. I was asked to produce some new images of their familiar hippo and duck mascots in various scenarios, for use in brochures and print material. I'm not sure whether there are more of these to do or not.

'The Republican Party Isn't Dead' Illustration for the Boston Globe

This illustration appeared in the Opinion section of Sunday's Boston Globe. There was a very short deadline for this one- I received the job at 5.30 in the evening and (partly due to other commitments) had to have it finished by 8.30 the next morning.

The editorial piece discusses how the Republican party will move on after Mitt Romney's defeat, their need to attract a broader demographic base, and how the 2016 election will likely see a Republican presidential candidate far younger than the Democrat.

The art director was keen to use some kind of deconstruction of the Republican's famous elephant icon. I came up with a few ideas, and we settled on this, an elephant being rebuilt from lego-style building blocks- alluding to this more youthful future.

At the time it hadn't been decided whether the illustration would run in colour or B&W, so I had to make sure it worked well in both.

A tough night, but very pleased with the outcome of this one.

The complete piece can be read (alongside the illustration) online here

'Secret London'- Serco Prize for Illustration 2012

The 2012 Association of Illustrators Serco Prize exhibition is currently on at the London Transport Museum. This year's theme was Secret London, with entries tasked with exploring hidden and lesser-known aspects of the capital's history, culture and geography. My illustration, London's Ancient Trees, can be seen there along with the other selected entries until December 10th.

Many thanks to the AOI, Serco and the LTM for putting a great show together, and a brilliant opening night. Congratulations to the winners, and look out for Finn Clark's winning design on posters throughout the tube network.

Images 36: Best of British Illustration 2012

A couple of snaps of my picture 'Aquacat' in Images 36: Best of British Illustration 2012. This is the book produced to showcase selected entries to the Association of Illustrators' annual competition.

A great evening was had at the book launch & opening night of the accompanying exhibition, at Somerset House, the impressive new home of the AOI. 

The book, complete with stylishly minimal slipcase, is available to buy now, and the exhibition is enjoying its last couple of days. (I'm not in the exhibition, by the way, but it's well worth a visit this weekend.)

Fantastic to see my work printed in here! 

Next year's edition of the competition is being revamped in as-yet unannounced way- it'll be very interesting to see where they take it.

Many congratulations to all of this year's winners