Illustration Friday w/e 3/2/2012 - Forward

Been busy screenprinting so I haven't managed to produce an illustration for IF for the past couple of weeks, but here's this week's illustration of the word/theme "Forward" - Don Quixote galloping forward across the plains of La Mancha astride a slightly tubby Rocinante. (Sancho Panza's running along behind just outside the frame...)

Screenprint - Visit Alexandra Palace by motor-bus service no W3

Screen print - Visit Alexandra Palace by motor-bus service no. W3. No Underground. Get over it.

Another new screenprint in my ongoing series of screen prints in the style of London Transport's glorious posters of years past, featuring a few of London's off-underground and oft-overlooked neighbourhoods.

An open edition, hand printed on white Fabriano 5 "Liscia" paper. Paper size 300x400mm, image size approx. 250x360mm

CLICK HERE TO BUY FROM THE BEYOND THRILLED ONLINE SHOP

Screenprint - Visit Crystal Palace

Screen print - Visit Crystal Palace by regular railway and motor-bus services. No Underground. Get over it.

Another new hand pulled screenprint in my ongoing series of screen prints in the style of London Transport's glorious posters of years past, featuring a few of London's off-underground and oft-overlooked neighbourhoods.

An open edition, hand printed on white Fabriano 5 "Liscia" paper. Paper size 300x400mm, image size approx. 250x360mm

CLICK HERE TO BUY FROM THE BEYOND THRILLED ONLINE SHOP

Illustration Friday w/e 13/1/2012 - Grounded

Okay, another submission for Illustration Friday, this week on the theme of "Grounded". Definitely something 1950's about this one with the blocks and slabs of pure colour. I'm also working on a couple of new screenprints so that's probably influenced the colour overlaps. Anyway, for once I've managed to create something that approaches the original image I had in mind. As always, any feedback and comments appreciated, thanks.

Illustration Friday w/e 6/1/2012 - Highlight

So, here's my first Illustration Friday of 2012. I'm planning to produce something pretty much every week this year in an attempt to build up a decent illustration portfolio - with a view to perhaps getting some freelance illustration work.

The given word/theme this week was "Highlight", a word which conjures up images of bad 80's hair or Stabilo highlighter pens, neither of which I really fancied illustrating. So I approached it by a slightly oblique route in the picture above - using the word highlight in the sense of pointing something out. Any feedback appreciated as ever, thanks!

 *** UPDATED ***
I wasn't totally happy with the colouring of the version above, so have been tinkering around and thought I'd also upload these two alternative versions which I think I prefer, as they have more muted colours and a slightly '50s feel. Let me know which you prefer, thanks!

Ronald Searle - 3 March 1920 – 30 December 2011

Ronald Searle died a few days ago on 30th December 2011. I saw the 2010 exhibition of his work at the Cartoon Museum - which marked his 90th birthday, and the exhibition catalogue is already well-thumbed on my studio bookshelf. The exhibition did justice to the vast range of his work, from very early drawings through the drawings he produced while a POW working on the infamous Thai-Burma railway, to his best known work as the creator of St Trinians and the Molesworth/Down with Skool books he produced with Geoffrey Willans. His drawings were genuinely inspiring - I particularly loved the pen-and-ink reportage work he produced in the 50s in his "People Worth Meeting" and "Looking at London" series, as well as the more obviously humorous drawings he produced during his visits to the US, and he was clearly a man who loved to draw. The exhibition was justly titled "Ronald Searle - Graphic Master" - I'm not sure anyone else has ever imbued such beautiful line drawings with so much humanity and humour - and his influence on many great illustrators is undeniable. RIP.