Rain

Oh no! I have totally lost track of the ol' blog this last week. Its been manic in the run up to the show opening. Nevertheless I shall endeavor to finish up my ECA posts in the next couple of days. In the meantime here is a wonderful new image for a print (that will appear in an upcoming exhibition alongside one of my own) by my own resident graphic designer and all around awesome manfriend Jez Burrows. Its a miserable giant. I think its a good 'un.

Illustration Graduates 2009. No. 7 & 8

Oops. So what with Results day and celebrations and running the meadows stall I've totally failed to keep up with my lllustration 09 posts. So time to get back on track with two more Edinburgh graduates....
First is Gillian Kirkland. Gill has been working on a project based around Alice in Wonderland this year and she's managed to create an enormous amount of illustrations whilst doing so. She focuses on the darker, more macabre elements of the text to create rich, surreal images in her strong, painterly style. By contrast she's also done a couple of nice kid's books including a really fun one called 'I like Birds'.


Second is Jaimie Lane. Jaimie takes a fairly traditional approach to illustration but applies it to fantastical subject matter which results in some really intriguing, involving images. Along with being a dab hand and character development Jaimie is also really good with creating believable lighting throughout her work. Whether its washing scenes with a sunny glow or creating tiny, magical sources of light I'm always amazed at how much life this brings to her drawings.

Meadows Festival

Its a bit short notice but if you're in Edinburgh over the weekend head to the Meadows where we'll be running a stall as part of the Meadows Festival. There'll be and array of illustrated goodness from students in all three years at ECA. Come and say hello. We're lovely folk.

Illustration Graduates 2009. No. 6

Lindsay Grime is the sixth of the eca illustrators I'm going to post about. Her illustrators are rich and imaginative, teeming with colour and life. She often merges the whimsical with the everyday to make images that are bound to get children's imaginations whirring. Her cardboard constructions are bewilderingly complex and intriguing and her children's pop-up book manages to be both educational and exciting, a rare achievement I think. Go and have a look at her work...

Illustration Graduates 2009. No. 4 & 5

Two more classmates for you. Firstly Andrew Denholm. Andrew is an illustration machine. He's completed a bewildering amount of drawings this year, which are collated into three different books. His work is really bold and striking with a strong emphasis on assertive lines and angular shapes, totally individual and loads of fun. Also he's pretty damn good at Monsters.


Second is Eileen Glass. Eileens has a really distinctive way of using pencil that fills her work with texture but also makes feel slightly surreal and other-wordly. I love her buildings but her creepy, familiar characters are also fascinating. Let it also be known that Eileens drawings are massive and all the more impressive for it.

Its Nice That

Design superblog It's Nice That has selected me as one of its 'Graduates 2009' series. Head to the site to read an interview and looks at some pictures.

Illustration Graduates 2009. No. 3

Oops. Totally failed to do this over the weekend. But in my defense the weather was glorious and the desire to sit outside reading in the sunshine was too much to resist! Anyway back on track now....



Kirsten Cowie is not only a rather amazing choclatier (she works at Edinburgh's BEST chocolate shop) but also a rather amazing illustrator. She draws beautifully quiet, dreamlike images in a range of sleepy colours with touches of magic. Her book 'the Ghost Bear' is incredible (see image above) and definitely my favourite thing she's done. I am always partial to bears.

Illustration Graduates 2009. No. 2

Next up on my series of posts about ECA illustrators is Mr Tobias Cook. You know how some people make work that you just can't get your head around? Well thats Toby. I am in awe of his skills on a wacom tablet; the way that he manages to get light to look like real like and the way his colours are so rich, far deeper than your average photoshop colour job. To me he should be illustrating Haruki Murukami novels, or something similarly strange and interestingly clinical.

Illustration Graduates 2009. No. 1

OK this is the first of my posts on my classmates graduating from ECA this year. Every day from now until the show I'll post one of the 09 graduates i've been sharing a studio with for the past three years for your persual. And first up is (alphabetical order).....


Ursula Cheng. Ta da! Ursula is queen of acid brights, collage and layered paintwork. Her work combines super cute with super sinister with hundreds of tiny details that mean you can look at her work for ages and always spot new details. Have a look at her site and be sure to check out her awesome hotdog project.

Drawings for sale

I've added some original drawings to my shop. There could be a few more for sale soon as well so if you fancy owning some one off illustrations be sure to have a look.

Molten Light

There are new images on my site from a zine I did based on Chad Vangaalen's amazing but utterly terrifying song 'Molten Light'.

Tea Break

Urgh. I had fully intended to be ridiculously relaxed during the gap between hand-in and the degree show opening but I have loads to do. Thus the blogging halt. Anyway I'm having a little break (and watching Gilmore Girls) so I thought I'd post some of the nice things I've been saving up for a while.


Sophie Blackall's missed connections project is a lovely idea executed perfectly. Her illustrations are really sweet, really really sweet.


A Picture With A Smile (And Perhaps A Tear) is a project by Anna Emilia Laitinen and Samuele Bastianello and its really beautiful. Every day they post an illustration inspired by a song; above is Dirty Three's Authentic Celestial Music.


Check out 100 abandoned houses. A project by Photographer Kevin Bauman. There are some real treats in there.

Story Motel

Thursday night was the opening of Story Motel at Owl & Lion here in Edinburgh. 50+ artists from pretty much everywhere made an edition of 25 zines which are for sale at the lovely wee gallery. Mine is in there, as is Jez's and host of other really awesome folk (michael kirkham, jaako pallasvuo, Scott Balmer and edward mcgowan to name but four). Anyway if you're not able to get to the gallery all the zines are for sale online here . So check them out. Please and thankyou.

(photos by Jez)

Degree Show! Done!

Sooo..the show is up! At last! Marking and so on happens very soon and it opens to the public on June 13th and runs till the 23rd. If you're in Scotland, NAY if you're in the UK, I strongly suggest you find your way to Edinburgh to check it out because it's really good. Everyone's stuff is wonderful..seriously...there's not a duff one in the bunch! In the run up to the show I'm going to do a post on all my classmates' work so you can see what a talented bunch I shared my studio with.

P.S Thanks for the kind words on my new site everyone. There's a bit more work to be added very soon so be sure to check back later.

NEW WEBSITE

Hello! My new website is now online. There's a fair bit of new work and shiny new layout for your perusal. Go and have a look!

Overhaul

My website is down for a few days for a complete overhaul. It will be back on Friday (i hope) with a healthy handful of brand new work and a bit of a general facelift. In the meantime I'm hanging my degree show as of wednesday and then on Friday I'm done with college (well sort of...actually not really at all to be honest)!

Have a good week everyone! I'll be back soon!

Zines and Fashion Show (uninspired title...fail)

Its been a bit quiet here recently what with preparation for degree show hang (next wednesday). Along with finishing up my projects and framing things and so on I've also just finished a tiny zine for Owl & Lion gallery's upcoming exhibition 'Story Motel'. Its linked to my Bury My Heart project (which you'll see more of very soon) and features more Native American drawings and so on. Some might be for sale soon.


I also got to see the ECA graduate fashion show today (albeit from the balcony with the rest of the students and not in the audience with everyone else) and it was great. Its always so inspiring to see the show and usually I leave wishing I could make clothes as beautiful as what I've just seen and this year was no exception.


More photos of both on flickr

Bye bye Studio

We had to move all our stuff out of the studio today so that the degree show structure could be put up. Its sort of sad that we won't all be working on one place anymore. Sigh. Above are some 'illustration studio best bits'.
Moving out of the studio also means its also officially two weeks until we are done! We start hanging our shows in a week and half and by friday it'll all be over. After that I'll be working on some new stuff for the degree show shop and tweaking my exhibition a bit before it opens to the world on June 12th. Eek! I'm pretty excited, it's going to be ace to see everyones work up and finished! In the meantime I have to start framing. Urgh.

Shiny Squirrel Interview

There's a wee interview with me over on Shiny Squirrel, can't promise that it'll be particularly interesting but there's some new work there if you want to look!

Edinburgh

Edinburgh has been spectactularly lovely this weekend. Good job Edinburgh! You truly are the best place to live!

'The heat can melt your brain'

Its a gloriously sunny, warm day in edinburgh. Not that this photo shows it! This view from Calton Hill was hazy in the sunshine. Anyway the heat has addled my brain so this is undoubtedly going to be a bit of a miscellaneous post!

The lovely lovely Seiko Kato is currently staying with us and she made me this beautiful wee hair clip! That ornate flower bit is from the inside of a clock! Anyway she has just opened her own Etsy shop which I suggest you investigate for more antiquated goodness.

How much do I love this image by Erin Harrison? I dont know. But its quite a lot.

Oh no. I am so flipping in love with pretty much everything in Dara Ettinger's etsy shop. All the money I have is currently being pumped into boring degree show things (like frames and paper and printing) but I can guarantee that if I was feeling flash this would be the first plave i'd go.

Carson Ellis & Unity Coombes

There's a great interview on The Morning News with one of my absolute favourites Carson Ellis.
Alongside the interview is a more than generous helping of new work by Ms Ellis including the breathtakingly beautiful (and slightly creepy) image above and this splendid reworking of one of my old favourites. Well worth a look I'd say.




Oh! and I've been meaning to mention illustrator/printmaker Unity Coombes' work for a while. She does lovely lovely drawings of birds and ladies and endearingly girly things that make me want to put flowers in my hair and sit in a field. (p.s she has a shop). Her flickr is the best place to view her work.

Prints!

There are only five of my Baker's Dozen prints left. Head over to the Baker's Dozen shop to get your hands on this super limited edition print and plenty of other lovely stuff curated by Amy.

Busy, busy week coming up but hopefully soon I'll have some exciting stuff to report. In the meantime hurray! I got a merit award in the 3X3 Student Illustration Awards so I'll be in their forthcoming annual and exhibition. Lovely stuff.

Nora And Bear

So it'll be a bit sporadic from me for a while. Work and whatnot. So for now here is a spread from Nora And Bear, a children's book I finished a while back. Nora and Bear are best friends but its a bit of a secret. So they have to do a lot of hiding! Its pretty groundbreaking stuff!

Folk Art and uh...twitter.

I've been pouring over this book over the last few days trying to take in all the beautiful textile designs and patterns. Above are a few of my favourites. I've also been drawing a few of them.


Oh dear. At the start of the year I swore I wouldn't join twitter but alas I've caved. Follow, what will undoubtedly be, some rather dull updates on what I'm up to here.

Boats & Bathing Beauties

Hello. I hope everyone had a lovely Easter weekend. I've been drawing and painting and scanning as usual, the degree show hangs in one month! No time for a break for me. Oh no! I've been trawling through Shorpy for nice things to draw (mainly 1920s ladies in wonderfully unattractive bathing suits). Whenever I'm stuck for things to doodle Shorpy is a surefire place to find something wonderful. Like this crazy boat. Or the lovely ladies above, drawn at the weekend.





There's some beautiful stuff on The Good Machinery's site. Nice collaborations with Caroline Gaedechens (one of my favourites) and lots of nice cold colours and inky blues.

We've been playing with THIS all weekend (needs flashplayer.)

OK now to work! Its going to be a pretty intense month i think!