A little drawing for some Robert Burn's inspired work

#Bookdesign

Following my little illustration exercise of Alice in wonderland last week, I'm in the mood for working on some more books but which book should I choose?

That is where I need some feedback.

There are just far too many brilliant books for me to choose from and I need a hand to narrow down what I should tackle next.

Tweet your book suggestions to me @himp with the hashtag #bookdesign or post a suggestion in the comments of the HIMPdesign Facebook page. If possible it would be great to know why you've chosen it, is it the great story, is it because of a particular character or do you just think it will make for some cool drawings.

Everyone that suggests an idea will be put into a big sorting hat and at the end of the month one randomly selected winner will win a bespoke print of their choosing.

Alice in Wonderland Product Development

Poster of characters

Two colour apron hand screen printed

Two colour tea towel hand screen printed

25mm badges
(Set of four in packet or selection box of 200 badges over 7 designs)

25mm badges
(Set of four in packet or selection box of 200 badges over 7 designs)

25mm badges
(Set of four in packet or selection box of 200 badges over 7 designs)

25mm badges
(Set of four in packet or selection box of 200 badges over 7 designs)

25mm badges
(Set of four in packet or selection box of 200 badges over 7 designs)

25mm badges
(Set of four in packet or selection box of 200 badges over 7 designs)

25mm badges
(Set of four in packet or selection box of 200 badges over 7 designs)

25mm badges
(Exemplar of set of four in packet)

25mm badges
(Exemplar of box of 200 badges over 7 designs)

Greetings card and recycled envelope

Greetings card and recycled envelope

Greetings card and recycled envelope

Greetings card and recycled envelope

Greetings card and recycled envelope

Greetings card and recycled envelope

Greetings card and recycled envelope

Greetings card and recycled envelope

Greetings card and recycled envelope

Greetings card and recycled envelope

A6 Notebooks/ or Set of three A5 jotters

A6 Notebooks/ or Set of three A5 jotters

Print

Print

Print

Print

Print

December Commissons

Just completed these two design commissions for a short film and a theatre show taking place in London. The film is an exploration of how image, and the idea of the self matter.

The theatre show is about an old man Arthur struggling with the loss of his son, set in a future dystopian tower block. Where people escape the bleak reality of their existence to a virtual world of a computer game set in a medieval sword swinging time but things might be so clear as Arthur's mind might be slightly more confused than we think.

New shop now online

 Very pleased that our new shop is up and running. You can find it here www.holeinmypocket.com/shop

Bungo in the Back Lanes 21 June

Rod hull and Emu on the back of an Envelope

Art on the Hill

Art on the Hill is a group showcase of Glasgow’s fine artistic talent. Running for the month of May upstairs in the amazing empty upper floor of the Church On The Hill, the exhibit will cover a diverse range of practices from painting, sculpture, photography and audio visual works.

"Art On The Hill will be taking place in the ‘Church On The Hill’ Battlefield Queens Park, as part of the Southside Fringe Festival in May 2014. We aim to be something of a new Glasgow Art Fair showcasing the work of around 100 artists. Bringing together select fresh faces just starting out, recent graduates from the Glasgow School Of Art, seasoned professionals and even some artists from Edinburgh!

The aim of this exhibition is to act as an artist run platform, where by the artists can show in a professional large group show without the prohibiting costs of mainstream art fairs and also allow the public access to the diverse breadth of artistic talent that is rampant in Glasgow.

Some of our artists are well established, some just starting out. But we welcome them all equally and hope you enjoy the art on show. Come an introduce yourself to some work by the artists who choose to call Glasgow home."

Artists featured include; Libby Walker, Hole in my Pocket, Martin Grubb and Michelle Cohen.

Website for Art on the Hill

Preview 2nd May 6-10pm

Dates/Times: Fri & Sat 12pm – 10pm / Sun – Thurs 12pm – 8pm (2nd-31st May)Entry: Free

Easter Feaster

Happy Easter to all. Hope you eat your own body weight in chocolate like this little chap is planning to do.

Humpty

Pretty sleepy today

Spring Fair @ Birmingham

Prize Winner

The range of Scottish Character products we designed for EatHaggis.com has won a highly commended award at the recent Scottish Trade Fair for Best Product.

HIMP @ Pulse 2013

In May I set up stall at The Pulse trade show in London town and a fine time we did have there. The show itself was great, we met loads of amazing designers at the other stands and we made contact with some really interesting little shops many of whom I am pleased to say are now going to be our stockists.

We had loads of new products to launch along with our new catalogue and it was great to get feedback from people and find out which new ideas were the most popular.

The trip started rather hectically as as few orders were very late in arriving requiring a little bit of last minute replanning before running for the sleeper train. I'd never travelled via the sleeper before but really enjoyed it. We got a great deal to travel first class for roughly what a normal train to London would cost. For this we got two wee adjoining rooms and a nice, though a little tired looking, lounge car to sit in and drink g+t's with our fellow passengers. (There were no murders to solve which I was a little disappointed about but then we were probably a bit too tired to really get involved in sleuthing.)

The next time I travel this way though I'll make sure to turn the heating down early and have plenty to drink as I woke up roasting in the middle of the night. The room itself is pretty comfortable especially if travelling on a deal and you get the whole space to yourself. Its a bit off lying perpendicular to the direction of travel as you find yourself rolling about a little bit as the train trundles along. The beds are a bit narrow too but we slept well enough and it was great to wake up first thing in the morning in London and not have wasted any time in getting down.

Our accommodation in London was booked through Air B&B and again it was the first time we'd done this and again it worked out really well. On the website you basically go through a list of flats that people have space in. Either a spare room or they are away on holiday and want to make a bit of cash from their house while they are gone. You then rent the space and effectively get a home away from home, which is much more personal and relaxing than staying in a hotel or traditional B&B. It does feel a bit odd though as all the belongings of your host are still there including their clothes hanging up in the bedroom and their shampoo etc in the bathroom. As a host you'd have to be quite trusting. Our place was in Chelsea just a short couple  of stops ride from Earls Court and it was really lovely, spotlessly clean and modern with a massive tv, playstation and Sky. (Better than we've got at home.) There was also a large pile of DVDs which turned out to be all the latest cinema releases in chinese boxes.

Our first morning we arrived in London, headed to the house to get the keys and dump our bags then straight to Earls Court for the hard work. About 9hours later, just as we were putting the last finishing touches to it all, we were offered and took a further 2m space elsewhere in the show and spent another couple of hours making it look good to. (I though Ann would kill me when she found out how much extra we had to so.) We managed it though (thanks to head foreman Ann) and I'm really pleased with how it all turned out.

We got lots of nice comments from people too, infact The Confessions of a Design Geek chose us as one of their picks of the show and we got a really cool prize tag to hang on the site. (Its now on the wall of the studio) You can read their thoughts here.

Now all we've got to do is pull together all the products people have ordered and get them packaged up ready for delivery. They will be travelling all over the place this time from the most Northerly isles to the Southern tip of England and heading over the channel to a new stockist in Germany too.

We really liked out neighbours work too, including Seven Gauge Studios and Jess Hogarth.