Illustrating an article about a "guitar that supposedly once belonged X, was stolen, found it’s way in to Y’s possession and was then purchased from Y by Z. Now X has recognised it and thinks it could well be his guitar and has decided to sue Z."
I did the guitar in question as a homeless tramp, using minimum colours and simple two tone design which I thought made a striking and successful illustration.

It's all about me!

Here's an illustration of what happens when you don't have a clear idea of how you want your illustration from the beginning. The brief was for "a guitar shape/silhouette which is entirely made up of lots of repetitions of the word “ME”. As in “It’s all about ME!”. Mixing lots of different typefaces and/or hand-drawn type."
I started the first one and was not happy with it, so from then on continued with various versions - none of which I was totally satisfied with. In the end I sent them all to the client for some art direction - he liked them all, and was a fan of the Saul Bass inspired ones. But in the end chose the bottom middle one as that seemed to fit the magazine and readership best of all.
Sometimes the simplest of jobs can be the most tricky, with all the elements not working exactly as they should. This is the nature of creative work, it's that ingredient x, that you're searching for, that moment when you just know it's complete.
Incidentally the font I used in the Saul Bass inspired ones is called Hitchcock by Matt Terich and can be found here

Various Characters

I've been doing more and more character work, especially in the US. Perhaps this happy, cute, sweet style acts as light relief against the glum recession news etc.
I guess my two slightly different styles reflect the two parts of my personality as well.