Monday 18 October 2010

Mermaid and the Sailors.


Here is my contribution to the Scottish Poetry Library Book Fair last month. It is a carousel book illustration the poem 'The Mermaid and the Sailors' by Claire Askew.


I seem to draw them to me.
They come swirling towards me
like tugboats
in the dusk – every tread unsteady.
They set their course
across the bar-room floor.

Some have life stories they need
to share. One recalled a fatal night
in the Navy: falling off the back
of a warship headed for Shanghai.He said he stood for three days
on a reef, and prayed – and afterwards,
he clung to me
like a drowning man.

Often they're older, and the more
drunk they get, the taller
their tales. I've been told
of ten-year sentences
in Brazilian jails – of smuggling
and supplying – and so many times,of the hundreds of starry rivets
soldered by scarred hands
into Her Majesty's hulls.

They're hooked by my red hair,
swarming like fish
to a bright fly. Half-scared,
they slide over with a Scotch
and a story, maybe a sharp line
they thought up outsidein the streetlit cigarette haze.
They dive right in, as if through ice,
and they come up sparkling,
wheezing, waiting to be saved.



WonderKammer

City of the Future

Monday 26 April 2010

Vend-A-Velo



Here is my latest project for an AOI and London transport competition to 'demonstrate the environmental, health and/or recreational benefits of cycling. It is the task of entrants to create an illustration that shows cycling as a fun and efficient way to get around the city..' I started doing these folks on bikes ages ago and when I saw this competition I thought it would be good for it. I thought of the slogan "See the sites from the saddle" but apparently the saddle makes people think of horses. Its not quite finished yet, still messing around with the shadows and order of the people so they stand out from the background.

Spitfire!!

Here is something I did a while ago for a friend. Not the usual subject matter I like to do but he liked it and I was happy enough with the result.

Wednesday 24 March 2010

Urban Buzz

At work every month we have a newsletter called the Urban Buzz which goes round all the stores and introduces the staff and the city to the the rest of the company. As we are the newest store we felt we had something to prove to the rest of them, and went out of our way to do something different. I was given the task of creating the cover and foot note illustrations. Not bad for one days work?
David Hume, a philosopher.
Old Town
Castle.

Monday 26 October 2009

Typography


I just came across this old project I did while in Saint Etienne, we had to design a font that was unique to the town. I started looking at street maps (mainly because I always had one with me), I was able to find shapes in the roads and junctions that looked very similar to letters.