Friday 19 December 2008

and finally

For my last post in this update binge, here's a papercut I made for my grandma two weeks ago. My mum called to say she'd had a fall and was in hospital, but not expected to last long. She booked us a train down for the next day and I got to packing, which left a long quiet evening wishing I was already with her. So I sat down and made her this. It's not perfect at all - I've worked out a 300% better way to stick down papercuts since then, and the artwork is pretty much straight copied from an illustration in a book - but I found the devotional aspect of relatively mindless activity focussed me and calmed me. My grandma taught me to knit and sewed countless quilts for her large family by hand, hence the image.

We drove 3 hours from the train station to get to the hospital at 2am - she actually held on until after I'd come back up north and died on the Sunday morning. I put the card next to her bed - I don't think she saw it, but it was good to be with her.

some papercuts

Super into making papercuts at the moment. I'll have more to post after Xmas when the recipients have seen them.

First one I made, and the only thing I could think of to do with it.


First page of my new sketchbook, a quickie but like it.

detail of my favourite yet - unfortunately a rather private present for someone so this is all you're getting.

Just got a surgically sharp scalpel from Fred Aldous when I was in Manchester a few days ago, so everything is going to get more intricate from now on.

More flyers

Some old posters I dug out. Sorry they're photographed, not scanned.


Summer 2005 - I had this bike in front of me to draw, first time I used any kind of reference in a drawing and it felt like cheating.


Summer 2005 - beginning of my thing for drawing hands.


Drawn with a biro in Barcelona, late 2006. Someone else did the lettering. Drawing with the wrong pens is so painful, and I blame this shonky effort on that.

oldest school

Found some stuff I made when I was a nipper at my folks' a few weeks ago:

My grasp of perspective stalled around this time.

Sewn in my bedroom when bored I imagine. That tasteful fabric was used for my morris dancing skirt at the village fete when I was 7, fact fans.

Sketchbook secrets

Here are some little bits from the sketchbook that I've just finished. I started it when I was living in Barcelona at the end of 2006, pleased to actually fill it. When I was in BCN I pretty much just drew what around me - squats, crust punks and skips. When I was in Israel/Palestine I drew the same because I missed it all. Now I'm attempting to branch out...

If your mind is blank, draw skulls.


From a comic idea I had, optimistically written in terrible Spanish.


A kind of anti-DIY guide.


This is much more recent, when I'd just bought an ink pen and all I could draw was MOUSTACHES.

Monday 15 December 2008

Nazdrove again

Saw this on the Nazdrove Facebook, I'm taking it as evidence of their success rather than one person's comment on my integrity. Went to the Xmas Nazdrove last Saturday that I drew the Russian doll poster for, all the posters put up around the venue got nicked which was rather nice. Awesome night too.

Old old old!

Just dug this up, a poster I made for a film screening in 2006. Still like it, although the text is horribly done.



Drawn at Helene & Nick's kitchen table with felt tip and fountain pen, April 2006

Tuesday 2 December 2008

Nazdrove poster #2



Pen and ink and cut and pasted text, and a little bit of collage.


Drew this over the weekend, and printed it with alot of help from Footprint in my cellar on Monday. Pleased with how it turned out but a little bit intimidated by the quantum leap of using two colours rather than one, after years of drawing flyers for photocopying.

The internet is sometimes surprising


Wasting time online took me to Flickr, where I was momentarily astonished to find photos of alot of the stencils I did around Sheffield a few years ago - most of them have been buffed off and I presumed that was it. But strangers have been uploading pictures and even more weirdly people have been commenting on them. All a bit odd. On the whole though, they weren't very good, so I'll just post a photo I found of a sticker I put up in Reyjavik, Iceland in the summer of 2006.

wedding tattoos



I designed this for my friend Tom, who got it tattooed for when he married my other friend Kat. They met and lived together in Sheffield for years, hence the cutlery. I chickened out of their wedding, but I hope it went down well - he kept it hidden until the day...

Nazdrove poster #1


Pen and ink and cut and pasted computer text (dafont.com I love you). 11/08




-These were the original ideas that Nick emailed me... I apologised for adding in an androgynous punk hottie, but I think he's used to it by now.