Illostribute - Jim Flora

Here's my contribution to the excellent Illostribute blog (curated by the equally excellent Toby Thane Neighbors). The subject this time was Jim Flora. A real challenge. As soon as you start to reference his work it immediately tends to take over. Such a strong, distinctive style. Below is the Flora original that mine is based on. Once again, really great work from everyone involved.

Illostribute - Albert Dorne

As I've probably said on this blog before, I love Illostribute. This month's subject was Albert Dorne. An incredible (and incredibly prolific) illustrator working mostly in the '40s and '50s. This was a great subject for me as it's a style almost completely different to my own. Previous subjects have been an influence on my work (especially Hirschfeld and Mary Blair) so it felt harder to make my mark whereas Dorne's work, despite the fact that I love it, has only ever been an influence in the sense that he made me want to be a better illustrator.

The process for this one was a bit more convoluted. I only had a day spare to do the entire thing so I spent the morning sketching the individual characters over and over again until I could make them my own. Once I had drawings I liked I scanned them into Photoshop and recreated the composition on screen and then printed the entire thing out ready to lightbox (image below). I think you can still see the sellotape that I used to stick the two pages together (very high tech!). The finished result is at the top of the page along with Dorne's wonderful original. Have a look at the Illostribute blog to see some incredible reinterpretations including (the consistently brilliant) Steffi Schütze's take on the same illustration. Roll on the next one and long live Illostribute!

Illostribute - Mary Blair

Here's my piece for the latest Illostribute blog. This time the subject was the fantastic Mary Blair. Below is the original illustration that I've reinterpreted. As always it was a pleasure to contribute.

Latest Illostribute post - Cabral

My contribution to the latest Illostribute - Ernesto Garcia Cabral. This time an artist I'd never encountered before (but I'm glad I have now). This was done in a bit of rush during our time in Japan but was still a great deal of fun to do. Always a joy to take part in. Below is the original Cabral illustration.

Illostribute - David Klein

The new Illostribute is up. The subject this time is the sublime poster artist David Klein. Above is my version of one of his beautiful Spain posters for TWA and below is the original. Have a look at the blog itself to see work from a brilliant array of illustrators.

Hirschfeld Tribute

I was recently asked to take part in Toby Thane Neighbors' excellent "Illostribute" blog. Toby chooses a classic illustrator and then contemporary illustrators are asked to reinterpret a piece of their choosing by that particular artist. This month's subject was Al Hirschfeld. I LOVE Hirschfeld's work so in a way this was both a blessing and a curse. My line and my approach to drawing is already influenced greatly by his work so it was a tricky one to put my stamp on. The clash of styles will be a lot more interesting when it's someone like Norman Rockwell for instance. I chose Hirschfeld's portrait of Arthur Miller. I've posted the original below for comparison. It was great fun. Most enjoyable bit of drawing I've done so far this year. Have a look at the blog, there's some great interpretations from a host of brilliant illustrators including Steffi Schutze, Aurore Damant, Art Grootfontein, Victor Melamed, Jon Boam, Julien Bizat, Toby himself and many more. (For those wondering, mine contains 3 Ninas!)