Drawn in Bristol Calendar 2013

St Augustine's Reach

This is my image for the new Drawn in Bristol calendar, which comprises of 12 illustrative takes on different Bristol places - each by a different member of the Drawn in Bristol illustration collective.

The calendar uses a palette of 4 colours, with each illustrator being able to select 2 colours to use in their image - these have each been lovingly hand printed onto high quality paper stock, and collated to form a special calendar for 2013.

Printing progress pictures

Limited Edition signed prints

The complete calendar

If you like the look of these why not pop along to Paper Scissors Stone in Cabot Circus to grab yourself a calendar, priced at £35 each, or a signed print for £20.

Please note: Paper Stone Scissors will be closed 26th Sept - 3rd oct, re-opening on the evening of Oct 3rd... info here. Alternatively, email sales@drawninbristol.co.uk to order!

Olympic Mascot 2012 : Park Cycling

I was really excited to approached by Wild In Art back in February, and asked to submit some designs for a commission they had secured to produce around 80 life sized models of the Olympic and Paralympic Mascots for London 2012. The mascots are to be arranged in trails across a variety of locations in London, from mid July until the end of the Paralympics.

The process involved artists being allocated various themes to apply to a mascot template. Once artwork was submitted, the designs had to be approved by the Greater London Authority and London Olympics 2012 Organising Committee.

Above is the original design I submitted on a 'Park Cycling' theme. There were directives with regard to logo placement, the colours of the Olympic rings the mascot wears as wristbands, eye colour/highlight and the 'taxi light' on his head. These elements had to appear consistent across all the mascots, each being produced by different artists across the country.

My cycling design was approved, and in April a 'blank' fibreglass Wenlock model was delivered to my house. Below are a set of progress images, to show the process of how my design translated to the finished mascot.

Drawing on the design and a background coat of colour

The pose of the mascot that arrived with me was different to that in the original design, so I had to adjust the layout of my design and also create additional cyclists to go around all sides of the mascot.

Starting to paint in the cyclists one by one

I had set myself a limited colour palette for the design, and applied this to the painting of the bikes and riders as I went along.

Additional details were then added - the trees, leaves, flowers, a bandstand, a fountain, and bicycle wheels as iconic elements on the hands.

The line of the 2012 logo was applied as a black outline transfer over the top of a painted background colour - a nerve-racking 'one go at this' moment, which thankfully worked well. The taxi-light on the top of his head was a sticker that had been provided.

The mascot is finished with a gloss varnish.

The finished mascot

This mascot will be located in Grosvenor Square, for the duration of the Olympics and Paralympics, after which time I believe all the mascots will be auctioned off, with proceeds going to charity.

I have posted a little time-lapse movie of the painting of this mascot, start to finish condensed into around 2 mins..check it out here.

Paralympic Mascot 2012: Victorian Square

Having had my first design accepted - see above, Wenlock/Park Cycling - I was asked to produce another design for the Stroll: Discovery Trail. This time, it was to be the Paralympic mascot, Mandeville and with a 'Victorian Square' theme.

This was my approved design, pulling together my idea of Victorians at leisure, a sunday afternoon stroll complete with flying machines, an organ grinder with his monkey and the obligatory moustache.

Below are progress images taken as I painted the mascot...

First stage of drawing my design onto the blank white mascot,
then painting on the background colour

I used acrylic paint for both mascots, which looked pretty streaky to begin with - a good few coats were required!

Building up the design and adding in the characters one by one

The black line of the Paralympic logo was applied as a transfer over the painted background colour and then I had to mask it to paint in the surrounding colour.

The Finished Mascot

The Stroll:Discovery Trail takes place around London July 27 - September 9, this mascot will be located in Regent's Park for that time.

BUNT!

BUNT is an upcoming exhibition, organised by Drawn in Bristol to showcase the biodiversity of the South West in a totally unique way - over 60 local artists will depict endangered species on large triangular wooden 'Bunt' pieces, to be strung up at 4 venues across Bristol: Arnolfini, @Bristol, Colston Hall and M Shed, on June 9th - 17th.

Running in conjunction with Bristol Biennial and Big Green Week, each piece of BUNT will be auctioned online during the exhibition. To receive the latest updates on how to purchase artwork from the exhibition, join the event here.

The only directives for creating the artwork was that the species should be endangered and that colours should be generally green. My piece of BUNT features the Blue Ground Beetle Carabus intricatus.

Below are a series of process shots and the finished piece. (I missed taking a shot of the bare, unpainted wood, but I'm sure that can be imagined!)

Base colours and stencil cutting

Spray painted 3 small silhouetted beetles
and quite a bit of paint splattering

I painted on the main beetle and then decided
it didn't really stand out from the background enough

...So masked the main part of his body
and added some more white paint splats around the beetle.
Once the tape was removed, I re-painted in the detail

My finished BUNT: Blue Ground Beetle

Handling the Media - Print Copy

Following on from my previous post, here are some pictures of my illustrations all printed up! Handling the Media is a media training guide & thanks to Tina at Mentor Digital for sending me a copy.

The book is available from Amazon here

"I was happy to do anything
to increase Virgin's profile..."
- Richard  Branson

The Doorstep Interview

The Radio Interview

Add picture appeal to your story
( Wheel in the animals and children! )

The Press Conference

Handling The Media

Thought the bunny ears made for an apt Easter blog post...

A couple of weeks ago I was briefed to create a set of 6 black and white illustrations for Mentor Digital, to be used in a specialist training manual they are producing about 'Handling the Media'.

Here are 3 of the images: 'Doorstep Interview', 'When things get tough, bring on the animals and children...' and 'News Conference'

This was a fun, and interesting challenge for me, as my work doesn't normally feature people quite so prominently. I look forward to seeing the publication printed up.