Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Lucky


This is a portrait of a gypsy woman that I met three years back, she has had a profound influence on my life since that day and continues to bring comfort to my soul daily. She has the most amazing eyes that trap passer by's and a voice that lures your soul from your body. Her name is Lucky.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

FOUL!


If the Underwater Basketball League existed this would be it's star player and that umpire spitting a FOUL! in his face would be one of the most despised manfish in the whole entire sea. The inspiration for this illustration surprisingly came from a pickle I put on my sandwich, I was fascinated by the texture and colour of these tiny delicious sandwich companions.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Un-Wise Counsel


I clearly remember the counselor at the High School I attended, when he spoke it was like he was analyzing every move and peering deep into the soul of his subjects with a word of advice for every question. His knowledge seemed to surpass his human sized mind and I'm pretty sure he had laser vision, or so the stories go. This curiosity led me to create this shady character, I imagine if you were to pull the human disguise from that same counselor he may look a little like this.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Skater Ink

Skating took up a big chunk of my time in my younger years, not that I really got too good at it but just the feeling of being on a board was enough and still is, which is why I got excited when I was approached by a local skater who was looking to get a tattoo embracing his love of skating. I immediately got on the job and came up with a few concepts. These are just two of the many ideas I've put onto paper.



Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Chasers & Stealers



I was recently approached by a local Netball team and asked to design a logo for their club. Being called The Chasers & Stealer's they wanted two separate logos that worked together and fit with their theme colours of blue and orange, and the theme of cops and robbers. The logos needed to be bold lined and solid coloured vector based illustrations which isn't my usual style, but one that I was familiar enough with to get a promising result. I am really happy with the way the logos turned out and the cops and robbers at the club thought so as well.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Animation for Restless Colour



This is a production stamp that I recently animated for Restless Colour, who promote local artist and illustrators in Adelaide. I used a combination of Flash and Photoshop to create the animation which involved a whole bunch of scanning and piecing together. I recorded an original score for the clip using my keyboard and the free sound editing program, Audacity. I am very happy with how it turned out and can't wait to see it in context.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Smooth Grooves

This is the first piece in a series of Jazz inspired illustrations that are going to be sold as framed prints. The smooth sounds of the sax that jazz produces, flow through this in tune player, who is caught up in the moment of music.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

The Teacher

I was looking at old records the other day and came across a couple of Jazz covers that really leaped out at me. The smooth style and dress of the musicians
coupled with their brass instruments captivated my imagination. I combined a few of the musicians to come up with this illustration of a fictional character who I thought looked like a Jazz Teacher.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

CHECK!

Nothing compares to the feeling of picking up a mic and emptying the thoughts you've congested over the weeks through what is commonly called, band practice. The intensity of what I feel when playing a live set can't be described in words so I used the art of illustration in the hope of communicating the pure rush that runs throughout my body when I approach the mic.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Tigermoth

I was recently approached by Adelaide Biplanes, who gave me a brief outlining a poster design for one of their classic planes, the Tigermoth. I wanted to create a professional looking illustration while keeping my single line, loose style. My plan was to create a poster that would appeal to both aviation enthusiasts and the general curious eye. I used classic colours and a brown paper background to reflect the themes presented on the Adelaide Biplanes website. This is just one of the concepts and still needs text but I wanted to present the poster in it's true illustrative form.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Peace Of Mind (Watershed Art Prize)

This is an illustration I recently finished for the Watershed Art Prize. The brief was to create an artwork depicting wetlands, biodiversity and water sustainability. I approached this brief with an idea that would appeal to kids and promote thought in adults. The title of the artwork, Peace Of Mind, embraces the concept of being conciouse of the environmental impact you make during day to day life and the incredible sence of peace that can be found in nature's wonders.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Beyond

I recently watched a documentary about chameleons which explored the lives and diversity of these fascinating creatures. I immediately pulled out my sketch book after the documentary and created this illustration. I'll be the first to admit that it doesn't look heaps like a chameleon but I guess imagination triumphed over reality.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Street Corner

I have always been fascinated by watercolour images and the amazing texture and life it gives to illustrations. This fascination has led to recent experimentation, trying to harness this unpredictable medium resulting in the illustration above titled "Street Corner". After many failures and muddy coloured faces I was incredibly happy just to get one success. I still have a far way to go but I have started the journey.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Day and Night

Images from jazz and blues clubs have captured my imagination for as long as I can remember. The atmosphere and lighting in the clubs make it such a interesting subject matter to draw and the people who hang out inside fascinate me. In this illustration I have tried to capture the expressive movements of blues and jazz pianists playing day and night.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

To The Cliffs


As a frequent rock climber, the mere sight of a cliff face excites me as I analyze every crack and jagged edge that could act as a potential hold. But half the excitement for me is getting all the equipment ready and throwing the 30m dynamic rope over my shoulder and trekking to the cliffs. I feel like some sort of mountaineering mastermind or member of the special op's. This is definitely one of my more personal illustrations, I guess you could call it some sort of self portrait.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Broadway


I recently found a book on the history of Charlie Chaplin and was fascinated with the 1920's style of dressing which was so well complimented with the rich texture and sepia quality of the photographs from that era. This illustration is an attempt at recreating that same vintage feeling of soft light, worn texture and sepia colours.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Spacesurf



I have always dreamed what it would be like to surf in outer space. This image is probably the closest I'll ever get to realizing that dream. I love the different forms and colours that nebulae produce, I created my own sort of nebula by incorporating some photos of clouds that I took and overlaying different colours and gradients. If space surfing doesn't occur in my lifetime I'd just be happy with thought of the next generation looking back at this illustration and laughing at how wrong I got it.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

In The Mist

My recent fascination with gorillas led me to study some photos of these incredible creatures. It's easy to relate to an animal that has such human expressions, which I tried to capture in this illustration. I was tempted to colour the illustration but I found the ink wash created a furry texture and the black and white nature of the illustration brought out the intensity of these powerful animals.

Friday, February 11, 2011

BanjoMan

Every Sunday I tune into the local radio station and crank the Bluegrass, there is something about the energy and insane tempo that the banjo brings to Bluegrass that makes me want to run around in a circle kicking my legs like crazy. I triet to capture that insanity in this illustration.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Final Frontier


This image was inspired by a documentary I watched on the moon landing, I loved the retro style spacesuits and the classic colours which I tried to capture.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Mermaid




Many folklore tales tell of Mermaids singing to people and enchant them into the depths of the ocean with their beauty. I tried to capture that element of attraction in this illustration with the use of vivid colours and interesting textures that run throughout her body.