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.

The Bottle

This is an illustration for Guitarist magazine, Art Directed by Phil Millard who came up with the brilliant idea of an elixir in an old apothecary jar, called 'vintage vibe' that would give the player an instant 'mojo' in the same way that reproductions of classic guitars claim to.
It was a great idea, and needed doing properly to justify it.
So I travelled up the motorway to a place called Bygone times in Chorley in Lancashire.
This is an old mill crammed full with loads of 'old stuff' for want of a better word, not really antiques, but really interesting.
They had loads of old bottles and I found just the one, and it was really cheap.
Next I bought some brown sugar and poured it in the bottle, to make it appear like the alixir.
I came home and designed the label, looking at old packaging, and making it look as authentic as I could, distressing the edges.
The next part, was actually photographing it with my trusty Nikon D50 camera.
I took 35 shots in the shoot, and of course the first one was the best!
But I did bring in parts of another photo which I like elements of (the shine and lighting, and the label was clearer.)
Opening the RAW file (essentially like a digital dark room) then cleaning it up in Photoshop was the final piece of the jigsaw.
Phil absolutely loved it, I've found that 99 times of 100, if I love it the client will, and is unlikely to change a lot.

For a magazine article showing growing your own veg, organic food labels, animal welfare, air-miles food travels, and supporting fair-trade schemes etc.
As there were quite a few parts to the illustration, and the client was not exactly sure about the size, I decided to arrange it in blocks, making it easy to change format if need be.
Also they can use parts of it as spot illustrations throughout the article. I was really pleased with the colour combinations and the contrast with the two somewhat disparate parts of my work - the cutesy, and the more serious montage. The client liked the bright colours, the use of the old lettering, and the hand made look in my work. And the craft paper suited this organic theme brilliantly.

This is for an article for Prevention Magazine on receiving computer mailed reminders for annual health screenings. A simple, bright and light hearted illustration was needed by the client. This is the initial piece I have just sent to them. If there are any changes, I shall post those as well, so you can get an idea of some of the amends required by a professional illustrator.

Vintage illustrations

The Encyclopaedia of Illustration compiled by Gerard Quinn has over 5000 illustrations, mainly from the 19th century. It is now out of print, but can be found on second hand book websites. I love it (especially the dog smoking on the cover) and have used it and other Victorian engraving books in my illustrations.
The Dover book shop in London is a brilliant resource for finding these drawings.
For this illustration, the client wanted that vintage look, so it was perfect a perfect job for me, and with the addition of the old distressed paper, the illustration was quickly and easily completed.

Dreams of an English Summer

I've not done any photographs for ages, I thought it was about time. As the summer approaches (thank god!) I created a collage of some pics I took last year in Brighton. I wanted to make the colours over saturated, echoing the picture postcards from the 70's, when the mass printing process always exaggerated the colours, especially the cyan blue skies.
I love the seaside, and all the paraphernalia in the beach shops, the day-glo buckets, spades and little flags. On this piece I've included the quintissential english deckchairs, the fish and chip shop, the pier and the english rose.
Alan Bennett our greatest living writer said that the Union flag always had the best colours in comparison with other countries. I have to agree with him. If you take the obvious connotations out of it, it is aesthetically beautiful.
Also of influence, is the brilliant Magnum photographer Martin Parr, and his book 'Think of England"
I love the over saturated colours and the use of the flag, gaudy exaggerrated pattern and flowers. It is comic, opinionated, and savagely satirical.
http://www.martinparr.com
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Think-England-Martin-Parr/dp/0714844543

Keep it simple stupid

An article for Prevention magazine, on the health benefits of part time meat eating, and 'flipping' wheatena cereal into your breakfast for the benefit of your heart. I was especially pleased with the way the colours really sing on the buff background colour. That simple colour contrast can really lift an illustration. I learnt to mix colours properly in cmyk mode several years ago when I first started working for UK greetings. Before then, colour for me was an afterthought. When designing a card range, I often start off with the colour pallette. This book, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Index-Jim-Krause/dp/0715313975/ref=sr_1_1/277-0755917-8532431?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238492197&sr=8-1 The Colour Index is an invaluable source for colour combinations. I tend to mix onscreen in photoshop as well.

I was again inspired by vintage Penguin book covers for this article about Plectrums. I started off with lots of Plectrums, but it didn't work, and was over fussy. It takes experience to say to yourself - this isn't working - start again.
I was really pleased with this simple design - and added the dog eared book cover bends to make it look authentic.

Stress!

This illustrates me perfectly recently (without the hair and glasses) - I've been juggling a few different jobs - both in North America though - so there's been the time difference - which can work to the illustrators advantage regarding deadlines, but it can mean that you're waiting all day for a response for roughs that you've emailed. This illustration is one of a series for the Indianapolis monthly magazine on "How to get rid of stuff" - this particular one deals with: "I am going to read/fix/organize all of that when I have some free time.” All good intentions, of course. But, let’s face it, that ever-rising stack of New Yorkers on your night stand is probably more of a stress trigger"
This is a subject close to my heart - I just love to throw stuff out/give to charity - and my work space has to be fairly tide for me to start work - sad I know! Clearly inspired by Edvard Munch's 'The Scream', I was really pleased with the simplicity of the composition, the balance of colours that really sing - and the addition of the New York Times text - on top.
As usual with the best of my stuff - it came to me quickly and fluidly - after an hour or so - it was almost done.
A few suggestions from the client (add hair and make less baby like) and it was complete.

Turn on, tune in.....

...Play out!
The article was about encouraging people to get out of their bedrooms and playing their guitars in public. I managed to find a fantastic photo from Image bank Corbis.
The style that was needed was 50's advertising. At first the client wanted me to reproduce a similar illustration to 'Lets Rock' (http://scottrhodesillustrator.blogspot.com/2008/12/lets-rock.html) I was happy to do that, but felt like I didn't want to repeat myself - and I could just visualise the illustration more or less as is. This is always a good sign - the most successful illustrations come with a clear idea of what you want at the very beginning. If you don't then messing around for hours with no clear idea is a real bind - and often results in a less strong images (though sometimes happy accidents happen.) Also my best illustrations are executed very quickly because of this.
There is so much inspiration on the Internet, no illustrator has any excuse to be uninspired (though it happens to us all.)
Here's some vintage cigarette ads that were an influence on this project:
http://flickr.com/groups/13876518@N00/pool/

It was a real thrill to do a piece illustrating Motown's unsung musical hero's of mine The Funk Brothers, the studio band who played on all of those tracks I love so much.
I incorporated parts of their signature style - the stars and text and graphics from those wonderful vinyl records, and melded them together using my signature style - old paper and a vintage feel that really suited the subject matter celebrating 50 years of Motown.

The simple (still) Life

And now for something completely different:
I 've long loved still life paintings, since I used to be a painter myself. I'm a much better digital artist though. I love the speed which I can create on the mac, I went back to painting a while ago, and couldn't believe how long it took! It was quite theraputic though.
I've created these works, using my own photography, but with the feeling of those old masters works. I went to a wonderful exhibition of these in 1995 'Spanish Still Life from Velazquez to Goya', at the National Gallery London (book available here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spanish-Still-Life-Velazquez-Goya/dp/0300063563 )
I was especially taken with the work of Francisco de Zurbarán (1598 – 1664) less well known than his contemporary the great Velazquez.
The book cover above has an element of a still life by Juan Sánchez Cotán who was an major influence on Zuberan's work.
This painting created in 1600 has such beauty in its visual impact and the compostition is thought to have been created under strict guidelines of mathematics and geometry.
The natural order, simplicity and balance appeals to me and is something I always try to achieve in my own work.
I try to not put too much in that over complicates, and spoils the composition.
I love a lot of modern digital illustration (Vault 49 et al) This stuff is amazing and beautiful.
But it is not me - I like really simple composition and work.
What is not put in is as important as what is put in.

I ate all the Pies!

I consider myself a bit of Pie connoisseur - the inspiration behind todays illustration.
http://www.pieminister.co.uk/ make excellent ones, available at many summer festivals, but the best Pie I ever ate was at the Windmill Pub in Mayfair London, they call their Steak & Kidney variety an "Institute of Pie Excellence" http://www.windmillmayfair.co.uk/

Owls

Part of my on going Hi Cutie range - it's great to do a card range that is none Birthday/Christmas related. Key elements - simple, cute, minimal colour, screen print look, and 'hand painted'.
Even though it's created digitally - I work hard to make it look hand done. I start off with simple clean lines then paint over them for that rough edge. There has been a move away from that 'perfect' finish recently - it just looks to clinical and soul-less.

The rules

Here' a new piece.
When you create an illustration style, you have to make rules that apply to that look. These are often more instinctive than planned - but here they are as I see them:
1. Keep it simple stupid!
In my opinion simple ideas are the best.
I cannot bear it when a client tries to add absolutely everything that is in the article.
It's a joy when you get an art director (as in this case) who says - we like your work, do what you want (within reason) they will always get a better job than those trying to meddle. That is not to say I am not averse to changes - the client is always right (even when they are wrong!)
But I think that adding loads of bits that may be found in the article is unnecessary, fussy and in my opinion inferior to a simple cleaner idea that represents the article (or may even add to it) in one bold design.
2. Limited colour palette
In this case and in a lot of my work, I am using a 50's inspired 2 tone colour palette.
In the past they would use just 2 colours, when that is all they were allowed in the printing process. But as in many cases having to kick against a limitation can allow creativity to roam.
3. Old style Typography.
These letter were printed using old fashioned printing blocks.
It's hard to believe, but at Manchester Polytechnic in the early 90's they still had sets of old lettering blocks - with the actual leading (gaps in between.) There were barely any computers then, and we certainly didn't use any for illustration. The computer though is just another tool - the idea is most important. The computer just lets you create it easier and quicker (though this is not always a good thing.)
4. Brown Paper.
All my work begins with a sheet of old brown or yellowing paper. The edge are uneven and look torn.
5. Distressed image.
A distressed screen print look that matches the typography.

Recycling

As part of my regular column I was asked to create an illustration on how the credit crunch effects sales of guitars. As I'd already done a personal piece on this theme, (seen further down in this blog) I decided to adjust it to suit this subject. I was really pleased with the new version. It has the simplicity and balance I want to achieve in my work. It also has that feeling of a vintage poster that I like. As usual with my best illustrations, it was relatively quick to put together - it is the ones that I struggle with for days that often are least successful.

Vintage Rock!

Some friends of mine make electronic music, I did this piece for them. Inspired by Monty Python's Flying Circus and using my collection of vintage illustrations.

The Eligible Bachelor

Flicking around the TV channels yesterday I came across 'The Eligible Bachelor' a film made by Granada in 1992. It was the first job I had after leaving Manchester Metropolitan University. I had to draw the images Sherlock Holmes saw in a dream and had scribbled down. (They had to be purposively 'scruffy'.) It was very exciting going to see the actors rehearse and take photos of the late Jeremy Brett, I remember him saying "the eyes need to be black darling like yours, very black." It was all very 'actor' like. Brett was widely considered to be the definitive Holmes of his era. I didn't know it at the time but he had been hospitalized for much of the last decade of his life suffering from bipolar disorder .This film was sadly the last they made before his death in 1995.
I remember the joy of clearing my student overdraft with that first and in some ways most exciting of jobs.