Searle in America auction piece

I love Ronald Searle's work. He's one of my favourite illustrators of all time so I was delighted when Matt Jones asked me to contribute to his "Searle in America" auction to raise funds for a Searle exhibition in California. I could reinterpret any Searle character or image I wanted. I went for St Trinian's. Looking back on the old Trinian's cartoons I was surprised just how dark they were (drowning, poisoning, beheadings!). Hopefully I've retained the spirit of St Trinian's in my piece. I've also posted some progress shots because I usually find them more interesting than the finished piece.

Bartsquiat

Just popped into my head after seeing someone in a Basquiat crown t-shirt closely followed by someone in a Simpsons t-shirt.

“POP! A Complete History Vol 1”

“POP! A Complete History Vol 1”, collecting my Pop strips from the NME, is now available in my shop.

Quadrophenia - the painted version

As I mentioned in the previous post my piece for the Movie Show exhibition had to be an original piece of artwork produced traditionally without the aid of a computer. Here it is. Watercolours and ink. I enjoyed doing this a lot. I can't remember the last time I produced a finished piece without the aid of Photoshop! You can see everyone else's contribution on the blog. The show opens June 27 at the Galerie Daniel Maghen, Paris.

Quadrophenia

I was asked to contribute to a movie themed show in Paris by the brilliant Seb Mesnard. I could choose any film I wanted. I struggled for a while. That's a pretty open brief and there were just too many choices - The Apartment, Annie Hall, Dirty Harry, Westworld, Rollerball, Chungking Express, The Royal Tenenbaums, A Clockwork Orange, Beyond The Valley of the Dolls - then I noticed the DVD of Quadrophenia on my shelf. I can't count how many times I've seen this film. If I ever catch it on TV I have to watch it to the end. It's one of those films. The piece I'll send to Paris will be an original ink drawing with no computer involved at all but I've also produced a digitally coloured version to be made available as print . Below are the earlier stages of the illustration - pencil sketch and the finished line work. I always enjoy seeing other illlustators process so I thought I'd share.

It ain't over until...

A Valkyrie style opera singer. A recent commission for a Scottish tourism magazine.