Monday 13th September w/Beards Club and Joe Feather

Another nights Live Art at Soyo. This time I had delved back into an old sketchbook I had and pulled out this nice piece i'd long forgotten about. It was a text typo...whoops! A nice thing was that a girl took a photo of it on her phone. I hope she used it as her phone background like Jim did with the "Be Free" piece from the Tramlines live art. That would be nice. Enjoy x

The Metabolic Bone Centre (Young Persons Waiting Room) - Northern General Hospital

Another commission with the Stars In Stripes to paint a mural on some walls. This time was for the new young persons waiting room at the metabolic bone centre at the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield. This was a really big job as we had a relatively small room but abnormally high ceilings. It was a pretty hardcore day, 10 - 5, continuously painting without any of us eating (except a small packet of Haribo). *Lesson learned - take a pack lunch!*

The theme we discussed for this project was to do "The Seven Hills of Sheffield" with each hill being a different style of illustration. It worked very well and we created a really fantastic piece which was thoroughly well received by the staff at the centre, which made the hunger worth the while

Ten foot of ceiling meant I was riding a ladder all day (good thing I don't have a fear of heights!) The clouds made an appearance again and framed the more important and focussed illustrations of the hills. I left the colour off these because i t would have detracted away from the hills, however i still wanted them to be a visual in their own right as the paper aeroplane had a colossal journey over to the other side of the room where it eventually landed in a hand drawn waste paper basket. It's main aim was to take your eye on a journey across the room and it was very effective.

My hill of sheffield consisted of tower blocks made from milk cartons. This was going along the obvious (or so i thought) idea of milk/calcium being good for the bones. Yet there were a couple of nurses that did question why I had drawn Milk cartons. I then began to think it wasn't so obvious, but they did laugh at themselves for not getting the idea straight away. So it was fine. I hope. I still really like the imagery i produced, but I enjoyed even more the real collaboration we had going on. It was a really good vibe that monday and everyone was eager to chip in with ideas or jump on a part that they felt needed something without worrying whether anyone had some preplanned or whatever, because we're all beginning to really trust each other and understand each others ideas. I'm really enjoying being a part of this drawing collective and I am hoping for big things to come along.

The participating artists were Sarah Abbott, Hailey Evenett, Jane Faram, George Law, Louise Wheeler and Myself. Enjoy! x

Illustration Rally and Ballad Of... FEATURES!

I'm having a very strange little time at the moment. Not only have I had an amazing summer, but I seem to be hitting a bit of a stride with my work. The Soyo Live Art stuff is going fantastically, I'm doing some designs for Kuji Shop on Ecccesall Road in Sheffield and I've been featured on two online design/fashion blogs! I'm so overwhelmed and ever so grateful!

Here are the Links to the Blogs! Enjoy x

Illustration Rally and Ballad Of...

The Wilderness Downtown

Ok. So. Viral Stuff on the internet generally does not excite me that much. Yes, the occasional video like "Chimp Rapes Frog" and "Worst Cat Jump Ever" video leaves me creasing in stitches of laughter, but really, I can mention nothing off the top of my head that has really blown my mind and left me speechless.

Until Now.

I can't begin to describe the brilliance of this piece of...well...art. Fantastic. You will Enjoy. x

The Wilderness Downtown - Arcade Fire Interactive Video/

Soyo Live Art - Monday 23rd August w/ Louise Wheeler, Hailey Evenett and Alix

Another successful evening live arting at Soyo, as the new residents! Another piece following in my current preferred style, clouds, paper planes and banners galore. Words in this piece borrowed from Yucantan Gold by Throw Me The Statue. Great song, Wonderful lyrics. Peace x

Harley - Wall Illustrations

As "The Stars In Stripes", we were asked to provide illustrations for the walls of the Harley at the top of West Street. It turned out to be a great day with some amazing drawings being created. Top stuff. Check out the photos of my work here, or pop along to the Harley itself, or look at the Stars In Stripes Blog in a couple of days when the work gets posted up there! Enjoy x

I provided some linking illustrations between the larger pieces by Hailey Evenett, George Law, Alix and Louise Wheeler. I used my cloud illustrations, which is becoming something of an old guard in my illustration arsenal, to link together some really fantastic drawings. The paper aeroplanes and token dashed lines really tied the whole thing together really well.

Here I chose to illustrate a Tiki Head, something I had not drawn since being in school. The idea came from Tiki heads being used to protect peoples homes/villages etc, and this being the Harley Hotel reception area, I thought it would be a nice idea to ward off any evil spirits/crackheads.

Rabbit Portal jumped on a piece of work i'd started off once I was comfortable with the amount i'd done. I was blown away by how he transformed the simple crest and eagle claw I did into the final image he created, and also that i got to work with him anyway. His work is absolutely brilliant and it was a really honour to finally meet him after following him on twitter for ages! Sound for now, i'm going off to work on bar at V festival this weekend. Peace x

Soyo Live Art - Monday 16th August w/ Louise Wheeler and Beards Club

Really nice vibe last night. First time at an evening event, meaning i had to work quicker, and produced a piece i am really really happy with! Enjoy, kids. x

The Totem

This is the final, three illustration page in completion. Little bit chuffed. Could be more chuffed. Mother Chuffers. x

Top of the Totem

Finished the last of the three drawings i began last night. Three 10 inch x 4 inch drawings. Chameleon eye was the last one. Would like to come back to chameleons, there is so much fun to be had! Enjoy x

Eagle Eye (cherry)

The second addition to the "totem" i've been drawing this evening (working title only). I'm struggling for animals to think of to draw really. Octopi have really rubbish eyes to draw. I hate reptiles. Maybe a fly?

I'll keep thinking. x

Hello, Wolfy.

Did this because a) I really like Wolves b) I like the eyes of wolves more c) I have been meaning to draw a page like this for ages (it is incomplete at the moment, but it's a start) I'll keep posting when i've updated the page. Enjoy x


Apologies for the crap picture...photobooth will have to suffice until i've got my slr repaired! x

Banner

Octopus Thief - gracing the banner for the tramlines live art review in From Dusk To Dawn.

From Dusk To Dawn - Tramlines Live Art Review by Raegan Oates

Here's a link to the review in Leicester's From Dusk To Dawn magazine, fantastic words from Raegan Oates. Keep checking for more information on up and coming live art events with the Stars and Stripes team, there's a chance we will be doing Oxjam in Leicester. NICE!

REVIEW HERE

BYWYD

"Bywyd" - Life, in Welsh, for my Welsh friend Andy. On a roll with the old illustrations at the moment. This piece is done on an old Vinyl Sleeve i sprayed white. Used permanent markers on these, pretty chuffed with this one. Hope he likes it. Peace x

Tramlines 2010 (Sunday @ Soyo)

The second day of two Live Art expos organised by George Law (of Hantu/Arcade). After the initial first time nerves on the saturday I was really relishing doing some more pieces and REALLY impressed myself with the two pieces I created on the Sunday.

And the Second...a last minute collaboration with Geo Law and Alex Godwin - my favourite piece of the weekend! Over and out from a massively chuffed T.G.P. Ball. Peace x

Tramlines 2010 (Saturday @ The Washington)

This weekend just passed was brilliant. Tramlines is the biggest free festival in Europe, and only in it's second year. It was a great honour to be able to partake in the Live Art days on saturday at the washington and sunday at Soyo. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and feel i really showed my versatility as an illustrator. This is the piece I created on the Saturday. A Marshmallow man, roasting a couple of humans. Sadistic...yes...but it's cool I think..?

DEP-TH

I've gotten into doing little Jeremy Fish style pieces, Oval shaped giving a nice border and limiting the amount of space to work in as well as having to think about the negative space around it. I'm still in my early stages of experimenting with this but I have had a complete surge of ideas so i'm pretty excited about what's to come over the next couple of weeks. Enjoy this for now.

Vintage British

This is a small piece I did for a Regent Sounds Studio (London) t-shirt design that I didn't finish because I got swamped with my Academy work. I thought it was a nice little design and something I will adapt a bit further hopefully along a similar themed "London" piece when I get a little more time. Enjoy.

Be Nice When You Play With My Heart

This is a little piece I knocked up this evening. Wanted to test out a new photoshop brush i made (squares) and thought this would be a bit nice. I don't really do much "soft" stuff. Thought i'd give the octopi and dead birds a week off. Enjoy.

Werewolf

This is a werewolf i've done for the o2 academy "halloween" themed night in November. I'm thinking of doing a small series of posters...probably 4 (werewolf, vampire, ghoul and headless horseman) and then a final poster (probably for the final outcome) incorporating all four on one poster. I think the arms need to be a tad longer on this though looking at the photo? I hope you like it because it's the first actual, non computer/photoshop/illustrator drawing i've done and i'm very impressed that i actually still know how to hold a pen. RELIEF.

BY THE WAY - The thing hanging in front of the pink silk screen print in the background is NOT a handback. It's my Olympus film SLR. OKAY?!