Christmas tomorrow!

First of all MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Secondly, I'm glad to say my event at the Apple Store went very well, but unfortunately not long after I got rather atrociously ill, and have been ever since. So I've been taking some time off from everything (including posting!) to get some much needed rest and relaxation and slowly claw myself back to the realms of the living.

It's going slowly, but it is going, so hooray! I'm sure soon I shall be annoying the hell out of you with post after post.

And thirdly - I hope you enjoy my array of Christmassy imagery for you! Me and the Hurdy Gurdy group have not only designed a set of Christmas cards (mine's the boy with the presents), but also done an amazing Christmas Countdown, with an advent calendar full of lovely pictures.

You can see the whole countdown, along with our latest workshop at the Museum of London (making gladiator sandals) at hurdygurdygroup.blogspot.co.uk

Aaand if you want to see more about our Polish exploits then pop on over to iwilltellyouastory-project.blogspot.co.uk.

See you soon! And have fun eating more than your own bodyweight in extremely rich and wonderful foods!

H

Exciting upcoming event!

Well, as you've probably realised from the title of this post and the picture above I've got something very exciting coming up in the next week. 

I'm going to the Apple Store in Covent Garden and I'm spending about an hour going over my work and my art process with the general public! Get me and my bad self.

It's on Thursday 18th October, at 7pm, so hopefully I'll see you all there :)

H

p.s. Poland went INCREDIBLY WELL, so watch this space for info and pictures on Wroclaw/Hurdy Gurdy fun times.

Whatever next?! Hurdy Gurdy!

Hello all!

So the show went really well! And all of us passed our degrees so HOORAAAAAYYY! 

It's not really a shock as everyone was super-fantastic, but I always have the distinct (if a little unrealistic) worry that everyone else will pass with flying colours but my work will burst into flames before it can get marked and I will fail miserably. But I didn't! I passed with Merit. So that's extraordinarily pleasing :)

Naturally now I'm faced with a stream of questions from everyone I know, all boiling down to one thing... What are you going to do now??

It's okay people! I have a plan! In fact, I have several. 

Firstly, I'm going to try and get the 'Alphabet of (In)Humanity' published. I'm not sure which publishers would be a good match as yet but I'm going to get my research going and see what happens. If not, I can always go down the self-publishing route. Let me know if you're interested in getting your hands on one and I will keep you updated.

I also have a few commission deadlines lined up which is lovely, so fingers crossed they'll all go well. I'll also be able to take on new commissions now, which I couldn't before without risking physical exhaustion and severe mental trauma, so maybe I'll get some nice new projects as well as my nice current ones.

And finally! Introducing a new group running art events and illustration workshops that me and some of my fellow illustrators have created... Hurdy Gurdy!

We've just launched our website, and we're of to Poland at the beginning of October to hold an exhibition in Wroclaw and run a week of workshops in partnership with the Edith Stein Society! We're also going with a couple of ace illustrators from Camberwell as well. It's all very exciting. 

To find out more go to... www.hurdygurdygroup.com

Speak to you soon!

H

Finished book!!

After a few trials and tribulations, I finally have... A FINISHED ALPHABET BOOK!

Of course I keep seeing things I could change or improve but I think after nearly two years of working on this project, it's finally time to let it go, and give it in.
That's not how I was feeling this time last week when I received the printed books I had ordered and they were... just really bad.
The printing itself was fine, but the binding was just god awful, and after a panic and quite a few tears I decided to suck it up, and bind the book myself.
And... I'm actually pretty pleased with it. I'm sure there are actual bookbinders who will be like - what on earth was she thinking?? But, meh, if I had received this from my original printers then I would have been perfectly happy.
And in a way it could be seen as a good thing, as it gave me a chance to add/change a few things that I wouldn't have otherwise.

I'd just like to take this little chance (even though they're unlikely to see it) to mention a few people that kept me calm through the last couple of weeks of my printing/binding nightmare.
My London printers, Orange, over at Covent Garden, were absolutely incredible, giving me advice about papers and binders and laminations.
Plus the guys up at Shepherd's Faulkners gave me great materials and binding advice so I felt a little less like I was going to balls it up entirely.
And last, but most definitely not least, all the family and friends who made sure I didn't have a complete meltdown and end up rocking in a corner muttering about the merits of case binding over perfect binding.

Anyway, enough of the mush, our show is fast approaching and I'd love to see you all there!
The show is open to the public from the 6th September all the way until 8pm on the 13th! So there's plenty of time for you to nip down to Camberwell to see it. The hours are 10am-8pm on weekdays, 11am-5pm on the Saturday, and the show is closed on the Sunday.
For more details and a little look at some of the outrageous talent on display, head to camberwellillustration.co.uk

So here's a little sneaky peak at my brand-spanking new book, hand-bound by yours truly. I won't be giving you a look at the whole thing (not even on my website), because if you want to see it... well, you know where to go ;)

H

Nearly there (cover sneaky peak)

Well hello again!

I'm actually pretty amazed I've found the time to post anything because my workload has reached critical levels now. I'm really lucky I know so many great people that manage to keep me (reasonably) sane while I attempt to do my MA project, commission work, work part time and look for a house. And most importantly...
I'm nearly there! The MA's nearly done! The hand in is in a month and I'm just finishing the last spread and tweaking a few I'm not completely happy with.

On that note here is a look at the completed cover. I've tried to keep it relatively simple (in comparison the rather complicated and random book), but hopefully intriguing. Any feedback at this point is much appreciated, even though I'm pretty happy with it.

I'll doubtless have more details in the run up to the show, but just so you know, it'll be at Camberwell College of Arts from the 6th to the 12th of September, with the private view on the 5th. I'm both terrified and super excited. I've got a lot of interesting projects coming which should be fantastic, but mostly I'm just ready to sleep for a week!

Anyway! Speak to (and hopefully see) you soon!


H

Sneaky Peek: R is for Royalty

Hello again!

So here's a little look into one of the pieces I've been working on for my MA project: R is for Royalty. But instead of our Dear Old Queenie it's a rather intense look at a pearly king's jacket. With cockney rhyming slang hidden in some of the buttons. You really have to look for them, but that's my favourite part.
I actually already did one version of this piece using card and a etching needle to make a printable plate a little while back (experimentation on an MA = very important), but since I've decided the whole book is going to be done with my more usual pen-ink-and-digital mix it means I have to redo it. Not surprisingly I left it a while before tackling all those buttons again.

The whole book is starting to take shape now so hopefully I'll have more parts to show you soon. It won't be finished pieces though, or at least not whole ones. I'm saving that for the grand unveiling nearer my MA show in September :)

For those of you who don't already know, I've also updated my website now, so my portfolio is all up to date and you can browse to your hearts content.

See you soon!

H

Live Draw!

Evenin' all!

It's all been a bit horribly hectic with deadlines recently but I managed to get involved in a live drawing session over in south-west London not too long ago hosted by a friend of mine, Sam Baker, who asked for some illustrators to work during a video and sound installation he created.
The lovely Sara Taghdimi and I managed to created a fabric mural in just under 45 minutes to a mash up of Pink Floyd, 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Wizard of Oz.
As you can expect the result was a bit random, but it was really interesting to react to the music and accompanying visuals that immediately.

More posts to come soon (hopefully!)

See you!

H

Exhibitions and envelopes

Hey hey!

So I finally worked out what I'd like/what I had time/what I could afford to do for the exhibition in terms of promo material and I now have 99 of these littles beauties...

Teeny tiny envelopes! With greetings on them! And I'm not going to tell you exactly what's in them until after the private view. Because that's how I roll.

Anyway, just for info, it's the Blackall Studios we're showing in, down in Shoreditch The private view's on Thursday 12th April (6-9pm) and then the exhibition is on till the 17th and open everyday from 11am till 6pm.

Hopefully see you soon!

H

Exhibition Booklet Idea

Hello again!

Here's a little idea for a promotional booklet for the upcoming exhibition I'm in over at the Blackall Gallery in Shoreditch, using my favourite booklet/hidden poster format. I'm not sure whether it's going to be feasible, but if I had unlimited funds/time, then hand-folding a couple of hundred of these to give out would be lovely.

In any case, if you're around on the 12th - 17th April then come check it out! There'll be 63 illustrators showing! This is the place: http://www.blackallstudios.com/

Hopefully see you there. If not, speak to you soon!

H

How today could've ended.

Were my colleagues any less than they are...

Proper stuff to come soon.

H

A much needed Gallery Trip

Hello again!

I know it's only been a couple of days since my last post, but after giving myself a stern talking to I decided I needed to get back into the habit of going to galleries and museums to draw and I wanted to post the results asap. I'd kind of trailed off a bit since my drawing-buddy Shannon went back to the US of A and yesterday I made the effort to get back into it.

I also got my feedback from my assessment, and while I actually did pretty well, they did say I should be getting some more observational and figure drawing into my sketchbooks to support my other work.

I started off looking at evidence of the ageing process in the work there (for reasons that will become apparent when my final project is complete) and then I just started enjoying the light on the sculptures (always my favourite to draw from).

Used pencil, my trusty pentel styli refill (my ultimate fav pen) and some good ol poscas. 

Anyway! I'll see you soon. I can't promise it'll be this soon next time though!

H

Movember

Hello again!

Now, some of you may already have seen these illustrations, but for those of you that haven't, here's the story.
Last November I helped money to raise awareness for men's health through Movember. As I lacked the necessary hormones to grow a moustache I said that if someone gave £20 to support the cause I'd do them an illustration of their choice. Here are three of those commissions.
I raised £243 total. I'll see if I can top it next year :)

See you soon!

H

Mo' Commissions

Hello again!

So here's a few more of the backlog of pieces for a Children's text book over in Ireland. I've got some more pieces for kids text books lined up for a pretty big publisher here in Blighty that should be pretty exciting, but I won't give too much away on that score - not sure how much I can.

I also handed in all my work to be assessed for my MA today. It's the first of the two big assessments, and while I shouldn't worry about it, it's actually pretty nerve-racking. Partially because I've put everything I've done in the last 15 months in there, but mostly because I've had to leave all my lovely, lovely sketchbooks somewhere other than my room or my handbag. Weird.

I kept a new one back just for the occasion though. Couldn't face going cold turkey.

See you soon!

H

Commission backlog

Hello again!

For a while I've been doing commissions for various Children's text books. It's nice work; varied, fun and usually a bit of a challenge - as you can probably tell from the interesting mix of Christmas, Shakespeare scene and lederhosen.
I wasn't actually sure whether the publisher's would be ok with me putting stuff up here but I checked with my agency and apparently it's absolutely fine so here's a couple of pieces from the backlog!
I'll most likely put a few more up in a week or so (providing I remember lol) so...

See you soon!

H