AOI Competition

Hello my fellow bloggers!

Over the past few weeks I have been creating a piece of work to submit for the AOI Prize
for Illustration competition. This year the theme is 'Sounds of the City -an illustrated interpretation of urban sound'. The brief invited entrants to visually capture sounds heard in our UK cities in a single illustration.

My illustration was inspired by my walks in the Yorkshire countryside where I became interested between the relationship of rural and city life. It became apparent that urban life seemed nearby, whether that was a car driving by the roadside or the tall, shiny buildings on the horizon. I find it interesting how spaces interlink and change over a short distance. My piece therefore emphasises the entwining relationship between nature and the city by illustrating the layering of sounds, objects and atmosphere.

While creating the artwork for this brief I took the opportunity to document the process, as working digitally is something that I am experimenting with. People that know me well will know how frustrated I've been having not created that much of my own work lately, so this piece was a good excuse to experiment and get producing something in my own style.

All I have to do now is wait till November to hear who has been selected to exhibit at London Transport Museum, read more about it here

Enjoy the images below and as always let me know your thoughts :)
Thanks for your time.

Bye for now. 

Initial sketches and ideas

Final A3 sketch

Development work- Digitally colouring on photoshop 

Development work- Finalising colours and composition

Final image

Millyard Gallery Exhibition

Hello my fellow bloggers! 

I have some lovely news, I have been invited to exhibit some of my illustration prints at a lovely gallery in Oldham called Millyard Gallery, check them out here.

The exhibition is on till 15th November so still have time to check it out if you're around there, I would strongly recommend having a wonder around the town and checking out some of the quaint cafes. I feel so privileged to be exhibiting alongside such talented artists shown below.

En Plein Air studies from Angelsey by M Whyatt 

John Hewitt Ancestral Figure Graphite 

Lush Design

Sarah Battle Water Colour Collage 

Woodcuts by Anthony Ratcliffe

My animal print framed and ready to go

MA Design Exhibition

Hello Everyone

Well the Private View for the MA Design Exhibition was a success! It was full of new friendly faces- all drinking wine and talking about Design.

I met lots of new and interesting people and got some lovely comments about my work. A big thank you to those who bought my work- I hope you all enjoy your new prints.

Here's some photos I took just before the show opened;

Here's how I displayed my work.
I'm so pleased with the frames, which were all done by Speed Frames in Lincoln. They are all white washed box frames, which I think act as a subtle backdrop against the busyness of the prints and gives the work a contemporary feel. The three pieces are priced individually at £70 unframed and £180 framed; they make a great bold statement in any space.

This little guy is called 'Horsey' and got lots of attention on the opening night, he's made out of MDF and is currently priced at £40.
I think he needs some friends to accompany him though so watch this space for more wooden creatures!

This paper pop up piece is titled 'Have you got any Polos?' and is inspired from the walks I used to go on as a child with my Nannan and Grandad in the countryside. We would always carry around a packet of polos with us and feed the horses with them, they used to love it when we walked by!
Safe to say that all the horses that lived near us had every minty breath!

Here's a photo of the gallery just before it was buzzing with people and got very warm indeed!
My work is on the far left; there's a great range of work displayed in the Show including illustration, stop motion animation, type design, pattern cutting, collaborative printmaking, graphic design and silversmithery.

The show is open Monday - Saturday, from 10am - 4pm and ends Saturday 27th September (my birthday) if your around then stop by and take a look.

Thanks for looking
Bye for now

Sheffield Print Fair @ The Millennium Galleries on 10th May 2014

Hello Everyone

Exciting news! I am pleased to announce that I will be exhibiting in the Sheffield Print Fair at the Millennium Galleries on Saturday 10th May.
I looks like it going to be a great day full of talented artists and printmakers.
Here's a link to the website below where you can find more information about the day and a list of the exhibiting stallholders

http://sheffieldprintfair.blogspot.co.uk/






If your around in Sheffield on 10th May then why not pop by and say hello, hopefully you'll find lots of inky goodies there!

Now to get planning some more prints for it :)