Common of Houses

So our new competition is online. We are looking for artsts, architects and designers to come up with creative solutions to the MP's two home fiasco. Top interesting prizes to be won.

For more information please visit - www.commonofhouses.co.uk

He turned his back upon me

Well sadly, I've found out that my Sherlock Holmes idea wasn't picked for this year's Four Corners Familiar.

In better news, I still think it would make a really cool book so I'm planning on making up a limited series of copies. Should be fun - if I can ever find the time to make them. Still not quite completed the Lighthouse keeper sequel yet. Doh.

Adapt

What's in an "L"?

Doh - Its not me honest guv.


We've all succumbed to the ego search. (Typing your own name into google to see what comes up) I'm pretty lucky, I seem to be the only person who spells their combined name the way that I do, so nearly all the results that come up are actually me.

Someone actually pointed this out to me the other day, its not something I've really thought about before - I've just always taken for granted that no one I have met spells even their first name the way I do, let along their full name. If I do one day meet someone with the exact same name, I think I'll feel like they are trying to assume my identity and I'm not sure I'll like it. Its the same when you meet someone born on the same day - you feel like saying "What do you mean its your birthday? That my birthday."

Anyway, once upon a time I noticed that there is someone out there whose name is close to mine, the MP Alistair Burt. Despite my extra "L" I did feel slightly uneasy, like I was looking into an alternate universe where I'd grown up to be a little Tory man. I quickly closed the site and tried to put it out my mind. I was reminded about it today though.

I am currently putting together the finishing touches to a new project due to be launched next week, which plays with the idea of MP's expenses and I was suddenly reminded of my Westminster Doppelganger and decided to google him again - just to make sure that he wasn't doing our shared name harm.

Imagine my horror when I found that he had made it to head line news in the Telegraph as yet another one of the MP's mixed up in the "all within the rules" mischief. I think I might have to write him a letter asking him to apologise for smearing the name Allistair Burt and I'm sure that Alastair Burt would agree.

Southside Festival

I've been asked to design the main festival poster, the map and all the internal navigation signage for the Southside Festival taking place in Queen Park in Glasgow at the end of the month. Should be good fun - but I'd better get my design skates on, the festival is on in only 12 days!!

Above is my colour mock up for the main poster - containing some of the symbols I've designed for the navigation signage.

Cube

Thanks for the messages in my absence - I've been away and also busy working on a few projects and have stayed away from the web and the lure of trawling pages of rubbish, ebay purchasing etc.

I will scan in some of the new projects I've been working on when I get a moment but today I caved and started looking through a few of my favourite sites. I discovered something interesting - by not looking at the sites for a few days, there is more to look at when you do return. Thats pretty obvious I know but it makes you take more notice of what you are looking at rather than a quick scan through each page to try and keep up to date with all that is good in the graphic arts and illustration worlds.

Today for instance I was checking out drawn.ca which is a brilliant blog of interesting things and I found the work of Louis Clichy whose animations are simply amazing. I remember at the last election seeing the BBC's little animations and wondering who had made them. They are brill and I think the Beeb should adopt Clichy's style for the whole of one of its stations. It would definertly get me watching. Maybe they could make BBC4 the home of great illustrations and use the work of Clichy, Tom Gauld and maybe Scott Campbell.

Anyways I try to always post things I've made or worked on but I so enjoyed the above animation I thought I would share.

"The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter."

This play stinks

Children can be the harshest of critics and also the most truthful. I said in my preivous post that I was going to be altering styles for a while but I just keep finding myself sketching out little scenes with these wee animal guys. Guess its because they are so quick and simple to draw. I reckon the one above took less that a minute. Maybe I should set myself the task one day of trying to see how many scenes I can draw in an hour.

Ok - this time I really am going to try and start doing proper work again instead of doodles of silly animals.

Currently waiting to hear if I've to complete all the posters, brochures, maps and other graphics for the Southside Festival. I made them five posters for free for various events over the last few weeks and they are currently going out to tender for all the other design work. Would be nice to help them out. As a local resident I really want the festival to be a big success and I think getting all the graphics right this year will be a big step in the right direction and give the Festival a big more validity.

The below are the posters I mocked up for some of the small local community events. The main festival posters will hopefully be out soon. Anyone in Glasgow should come along on the 23 and 24 May. For more info see the website that Ann has made for them.

http://www.southsidefestival.co.uk/

Theatre

Well good news since my last post Stereohype have been in touch and although I sadly came runner up in the badge design competition they have asked if instead I'd like to be one of their comissioned designers instead - so that should be fun.

Close but no cigar

Doh I'm afraid I have again come close but failed to win a cigar. But seeing as I don't smoke then that is probably for the best.

The winning badges for Stereohypes button badge competion has just been announed and they are, as usual, a big bag of colourful wonders. My designs were sadly not among the winners but I did make it to the short list see here.

Not quite sure what it means - think maybe I came runner up for the third prize which was won by Sarah Boris' very cool "You are here" badge. Ah well never mind - I think I might get the full set printed up on my own - anyone want one?

Pearsons DIY

Pig in a sweet machine

He turned his rounded back upon me

Another wee sample of the illustration project I'm thinking about for a Sherlock Holmes story - this idea combines parts of the original illustrations with overlaid elements redrawn in a surreal childlike style.

Happy Easter

[EDIT: I just didn't really like the colours of the previous attempt at this so have reprinted it. Think this simplified version is a lot easier to look at. Too much going on in the first one. Still don't think it really works though. The original is at the bottom of this post.]

I love when you overhear just fractions of a conversation as people wander past and you are left going - what on earth are they talking about. Like when I heard a couple of old men chatting about having been to the moon! I wanted to capture a sense of this fleeting audio and also something eastery and so was born the above.

Fleeting

I'll have to pass on this weeks theme to a friend of mine as it seems quite appropriate for some of her amazing work. I am currently developing a new site for the her, top New Zealand artist Alex Milsom http://www.alexandramilsom.com/ check out some of her brilliant images though the site is not quite finished yet.

EDIT - I've had quite a lot of people asking me about web designs and their blogs in the last few weeks so thought I should do a general call rather than answer everyones individual emails.

For the next while I have a bit of spare time, so anyone wanting to chat about getting their blog redesigned to function more like the one above then please drop me an email info@holeinmypocket.com and we can have a chat about what you are after and discuss a budget. First come first served - toasted cookies, get em while they're hot.

A Wee Tasty Experiment

In all the pigeon excitement of earlier on I forgot to mention that our books are for sale at Stereo in Glasgow tonight as part of A Wee Tasty's Experiment. Theres a write up about it in the Skinny here. We were asked to take part by the guys at Now Now who are trying to orginise all sorts of arty fun in Glasgow and have just recently had an art record breaking day.

We weren't able to make it - sadly - hence the reason I'm sitting at the computer and not enjoying all the fun but it sounded like it was going to be a lot of fun. Looking forward to the photos.

Pigeons

Stop the Pigeon

Caught the Pigeon

Ok just had two very odd experiences - read the above two posts on Southside Happenings

Birthday

Empire States meets the big apple. Isn't Lego great, the above is a gift I was sent for my birthday from my friends in New York. Its been along time since I built some Lego and is was lots of fun. Might go buy some more.

Rabbit's foot

Made it to number four on the list for Illustration Friday this week - one day I shall reach number one. I always try to draw a fresh image for each week - does everyone else do that too? Sometimes seems that people use old random images that have very little if anything to do with the specific subject - but that might just be my little brain not able to spot the links.

made me sad

Found this little guy in the road - so thats what happened to the ginerbread man when he tried to run away, he was run over by a steam roller.

Elementary

Started work on a new project about Sherlock Holmes - should be interesting. Only slightly related to that, here is a mock up sketch while I was figuring out how I'd like my version of the characters to look.

miss clown 2009

be werry, werry quiat . . .

Subtract

whale of a time

The annual picnic was legendary

[Might need to click on image to see it bigger. ]

Pleasent day so far - tended to the plants on the roof and watched some squirrels chasing each other in the park. Need to fly to London this afternoon but I think I'd like to get working on some new ice cream flavours and my ideas for the book design project.

Ah well, should find out on Monday if my badges have made it through to the next round - fingers crossed.

Southside Festival

The Southside festival is coming up again soon and Ann is again on the steering group helping orginise it. She is a very busy bee and has just finished making the festival a brand spanking new website. - www.southsidefestival.co.uk.

I have also tried to help out a bit by mocking up a couple of posters for two of the mini local events taking place during the festival - a silent film night and a tea dance taking place at the local church hall. My two posters are above - I am pretty please with them but they might require a redesign due to image rights.

but its a giant horse???

I've avoided posting anything about this so far - because I kept expecting someone to admit it was just a big joke. But apprently its not, they really are building a giant horse in the South of England - you could not make that up if you tried.

I'm not really sure what the point of it is, or what message it is trying to convey. They are going for a super realistic style which would suggest that it is meant as slightly Po-faced but all the infor I've read about it suggests that they are completly genunine about it and the giant horse is irony free. I enjoy that the media has dubbed it the angel of the south! I maybe wrong - but it is quite clearly a horse not an angel - unless they are going to stick wings on it and make it into Pegusus. Maybe there is a greek connection and the whole thing will be full of soldiers?

I think they should just accept that the whole notion is absurd and if they do decide to build it then they should stick an even more giant jockey on its back.

Or stick on hundreds of normal size jockeys - cause lets face it - jockeys are quite funny.

Badge of dis-honour

I decided to enter my "Keep calm and Spend more" design into the Sterohype's - button badge competition. Currently they are sitting in amongst 344 other entries awaiting the review of the judges. Fingers crossed they get on well and we get some good news next week.

Found art - notice 01

I was digging through some old sketch books the other day and came upon my collection of found objects, notices, playing cards, shopping lists and discarded photos. I realise that I've not really shown this rather nice collection before so have decided to put that right. Above is a notice found in a city centre lift - it is beautiful in its own simple way.

Somewhere I have another wonderful notice which I found stuck in the middle of an empty notice board in a pub. It read "Notice: Please do not remove this notice, there is a copy behind the bar."