Last commission of 2012

Just finished my last commission of 2012 for a French business magazine.This one responding to the the concept of business barometers, tools that help businesses evaluate the relationship between good management of employees and the resultant effect on customer relations and profits. It's not rocket science:  Happy Staff = Happy Customers.  Who would have thought!

So good I drew it once.

Latest piece for Norwegian Fashion magazine. Men's street fashion in NYC, bit of a 70s  feel. Below: final piece, details and background textures and under painting.

'Big Dog' apparently

Thrilled to have work included in 'Vs', a publication produced by a talented group of fellow scribblers Foursight. Big thanks to Chris, Dom, Jord and Matt for putting together the  publication and setting up such a great launch night at Cord bar. Spot 'Big Dog Murray' in the mugshots below.

Three Times a Lady

In the studio today working on a rough for an article on mens fashion in NYC. A soundtrack of The O'Jays, Stretch, The Temptations and The Commodores providing a suitably late seventies early eighties funk/soul backdrop.

Nice surprise in the post today

Nice surprise in the post today, some proofs of a few images I've been producing for a Danish Men's Fashion magazine. Their arrival wouldn't have been note worthy 10 or 15 years ago (and maybe it still isn't !) but these days it's quite rare to receive printed copies of your work (unless you buy them or hound the designer thus making yourself very unpopular)  

Best Medicine

A preview of a recent commission from Aviva for an article on laughter and health, I'll post the whole image once it's published.

Inequality Catalogue

Today received a catalogue from a recent exhibition at Duke University in American that I took part in. Have a look at earlier posts on the Inequality and Dan Ariely to see details of the project and related work. Below are a few pages from the catalogue.  

 

 

Milan Street Fashion

Ok, so this month I was asked by a Danish men's fashion magazine to respond to an article on street fashion in Milan Italy. I wanted to capture that weird combination of dandification and machismo that Italian guys often manage to achieve. So took the Ferrari 'dancing horse' logo as a starting point and dressed the strutting stallion up with a little bling. Final image, detail and some early drawings below.

Napoleon

 

A new image in response to an article on Parisian fashion for men. Trying to avoid using the cliches of Eiffel Tower, onion sellers and croissants led me to using imagery which combines Napoleon's silhouette, a tailors dummy and a coat hanger.

Below are some images showing roughs, work in progress, and a detail of the final image.

V's image for Foursight collaborative project

In between stocking up on some holiday reading and packing my swimming trunks, I've been busy finishing off my image for the 'Versus' collaborative project with Foursight (some of this years graduates) from the glorious Stockport College. Here is a triumvirate of cheeky, flirtatious glimpses to keep your appetite whetted until the launch of the publication.

Tiresias

Flattered to be asked to contribute to a project by foursight (a group of graduates I had the pleasure to teach at Stockport College this year). Can't say too much about the theme of the project at the moment as I'm sworn to secrecy. I can say though that I've been delving into a bit of Greek mythology, looking at Tiresias the blind prophet of Thebes, a clairvoyant who was transformed into a woman for seven years. A combination of Alain De Botton, Russell Grant and Grayson Perry.

Pull the plug

The first of a series of images I'm producing on the theme of productivity, this sketch is in response to the idea of preventing the distractions of electronic communications, mobiles, email and the internet in order to get more done.

Glovezilla

Another image for Copenhagen based mens fashion magazine. This time the image deals with mens street fashion in Tokyo. I wanted to include a nod towards the Godzilla movies  (that I use to watch in the 1970s) combined with the quintessential signature piece of gents clothing the leather glove. Below are roughs, prep work and the final image, including a glimpse of my fathers day present an electronic eraser (thanks Vita) which despite it perfunctory appearance is actually really useful.

 

Venice street fashion

New image commissioned by Danish men's life style magazine EM. To accompany an article about men's street fashion in Venice. Thankfully I had prepared well by watching all episodes of The Bridge and Borgen. Love those Scandinavian dramas!

Wacom Pen Geek News

If you use a Wacom tablet I'd recommend these replacement felt nibs, I recently fitted some on my Cintiq pen and they make a big difference, they make the pen feel a lot more natural and responsive, similar to a soft pencil or marker pen. Only down side is that they ware out much fast then the original plastic ones.

 http://uk.shop.wacom.eu/Accessory/index/sCategory/70194

Doubt I'll be sporting one of these babies though, bit to much like a cyborg golf glove !

Less is a possibility

 

Second Image for Dan Ariely project completed. Responding to the issues and concepts raised at the forum on inequality I produced an image based on the neologism 'Less is a possibility' which first appeared in Douglas Coupland’s 1996 book ‘Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture’. It is the personal rather than global nature of the issues raised which fascinate me, I wanted to focus on repercussions of our unequal society but also in my practice as an artist/illustrator to reduce visually, referencing Mies Van Der Rohes statement ‘Less is More’. I am endeavoring to create series of personal visual mantras to encourage me and hopefully others who see them to reflect on our insatiable desire for ‘more’.

In the west we are always encouraged to do more, make more and have more, so the logic follows the more we have the happier we are, despite the fact that research has shown that as a society our happiness has not increased in proportion to our wealth. Although it’s easy to romanticise or fetishise rural simplicity when you live a relatively privileged life. I wanted to use the image ‘Less is a Possiblity’ to remind me that a bigger car, a bigger house or that new gadget won’t make me any happier (in fact it’s often the converse) also in striving for these things it often makes others around us unease, envious and upset. Henry David Thoreau (1817- 1862) purported ‘A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can let alone’ I concur with this and was inspired by extracts from his work ‘Walden (or A life in the Woods)’ chronicling two years, two months, and two days he had spent living in a log cabin at Walden Pond. The book compresses that time into a single calendar year, using the passage of four seasons to symbolize human development. Part memoir, part spiritual quest, it explores natural simplicity, harmony, and beauty as models for just social and cultural conditions.

Ariely Image No 1

First finished image for the Dan Ariely Project I'm working on. This image attempts to convey how disparity in wealth makes those at the top end happy and those at the bottom uniformly unhappy, this is true even if the differential is only slight.