merry christmas 2015

christmas bears

On sale at Fairy Tale Fair at Brighton Open Market on Sunday 15th November, and in my online shop .

christmas markets #1

Now that Halloween is over (just!) and bonfire night is nearly upon us it's just about acceptable to start thinking about Christmas, especially with festive markets starting to take place this month. I'll be at my first one on 15th November - The Fairy Tale Fair at Brighton Open Market - selling greetings cards, prints, tea towels, Christmas decorations, mugs and more, all featuring my illustrated quirky characters.

halloween

new prints

New prints available in my Etsy Shop

copenhagen

I’m back from a long weekend in Copenhagen after a few days of indulging in Danish pastries and Danish design! Since this is a blog about illustration and design I’ll refrain from going on about the pastries and the food in general (fantastic!) and stick to the usual fare of creative finds.

Meyer-Lavigne
First up, these ‘Flower Me Happy Pots’ by design duo Kristine Meyer and Sabine Lavigne caught my eye in the first shop I went to. They look so good with a cactus or a succulent sticking out of the top and would look excellent in my house too!

Mie Frey Damgaard
I came across Mie Frey’s pregnancy journal in a small shop on Laedergade. The illustrations beautifully reflect the passing weeks of pregnancy with delicate images of a mother-to-be and her growing bump while reflecting the physical changes week-by-week. It’s a lovely book that almost made me wish I a journal-keeping type!

YapYap
A case of ‘should have bought it when I saw it’, this mini print was just 40DK (a bargain at not much over £4). YapYap, otherwise known as Copenhagen-based graphic designer and illustrator Kristina Gordon, draws inspiration from old Scandinavian folklore. I found this creature on my first day, and was reluctant to commit to a purchase right away. Needless to say, I didn’t get a chance to go back for it!

Studio Arhoj
I really wanted this postcard pack from Studio Arhoj, found in the Design Museum shop. I buy too many though and my postcard count for the weekend was already high.

Vertigo Lamp by Constance Guisset
This impressive light was in Beau Marche on Ny Ostergade. This was my favourite of the design and interiors shops that we came across. Part cafe, part wine bar, part boutique, it was was an eclectic mix of unique finds. Since 'Scandi' style has become very hip, much of the stuff I saw in Copenhagen was similar to what we have here in the UK. Beau Marche though was a little more original, while still giving off a distinct whiff of 'cool'. This light was the stand out item, and something that I would love to own ...if I had a few hundred pounds to spare!

Mikkeller
Finally, this craft ale brewery was recommended to us by a Swedish friend and just so happened to have a cosy little bar right around the corner from our hotel. Their beer bottle labels are striking and colourful (the beer is also great!) and designed by Keith Shore, who has illustrated the walls of the bar and the Mikkeller van parked outside the front door of our hotel. He's done a whole bunch of other stuff for them too. I was getting excited about bringing back a few bottles until I remembered we only had hand luggage allowance.

becca stadtlander

Not so long ago I came across Becca Stadtlander on Etsy and loved her delicate and magical paintings. Then just last week I was in the children's picture books aisle in Foyle's and came across her beautifully illustrated Pride and Prejudice concertina fold out book for publisher Frances Lincoln. Here's the cover and a couple of her other paintings that stood out for me.

barbara dziadosz

When I see work that I like I often make a note of the illustrator's name in a notebook, on my phone or on little scraps of paper. Weeks or months later I come across the names again with no idea where I first discovered them and often have a lovely surprise when I look them up online. Polish illustrator Barbara Dziadosz is one of those names. Her characters are playful and her illustrations have a real sense of happiness and fun. Her colour palette is beautifully consistent throughout her work, and I love the rich textures resulting from the printing process and the patterns that she uses. She's incredibly prolific and there are tons of images to peruse on her tumblr, which I would encourage you to do.

affirmators

Finally, I am able to write about a big project I worked on at the end of last year! US gift and book publishers Knock Knock asked me to illustrate a pack of affirmation cards, now available to buy from their online store. I illustrated 40 images for cards covering themes from authenticity to vitality. The cards are a humorous take on traditional affirmation cards featuring characters including crocodiles, typewriters and popcorn! I'll be uploading some more more pics to my website soon! In the meantime here are a few...

wombwell's menagerie mini comic

I finally got round to turning my submission to last year's Jonathan Cape/ Observer/ Comica graphic story competition into a mini concertina comic. It's based on real-life Victorian menagerist George Wombwell's attempt to outdo his rival at Batholomew's Fair. Pop over to Etsy to buy it!

etsy

I've given my shop a spring clean and added some new products including greetings cards and pocket mirrors. Check it out on etsy

viva brighton

I designed the front cover of this month's issue of Viva Brighton - the outdoors issue.

brighton graduate show

I made it to the Brighton graduate show at the weekend and, as usual, my interest was mainly focused on the graphic design and illustration work. This year there seemed to be a lot of very conceptual stuff, which isn't really my thing, but one or two pieces of work jumped out at me...

Sasha George imagines the world after the extinction of humans in a series of prints.

Colourful pattern designs by Roo Hasan.

Guy Brook's project focused on film making and set design, inspired by film noir. See his short film here.

holiday

I went to Italy. I drew some pictures...

graham carter at ink-d

I've been an admirer of Brighton-based Graham Carter's work for quite some time now (I have two Carter's on my wall at home) and I was delighted when I found out Ink-d was hosting a show of his latest work as part of Brighton Fringe Festival. Carter's All Creatures show features some stunning 3D framed wooden scupltures, original sketches and Alphamals A-Z.

the weasel and the 'irriot'

A private commission I did last month.

pick me up 2015

Pick Me Up at Somerset House is an excellent opportunity to keep up with the current trends in illustration. I've been every year since it started and there's always fresh and interesting work to see - this year I picked up on quite a bit of an 80s vibe! From the 2015 show, here are my favourites:

Plates from Lazy Oaf

April by Lizzy Stewart

Jack Cunningham's 3D printed dinosaurs:

Fashion models from Nomoco

A happy house by Elliot Kruszynski

And finally, these Russian dolls are fab - sadly I don't know who made them: