I just turned 36 in early October and we (Jules, Melissa & I) had a great day. Crazy Golf with my Mum, a nice lunch followed by a tranquil seaside walk in Helen's Bay. All very relaxing. As you can see from above, I managed to get some great gifts too. A limited edition House Industries Print, new Puma Suedes and a Tokidoki Vinyl Toy. What a lucky boy I am!
Okay, I'm just wrapping up on this, but I have to share it with everyone as it's the biggest Illustration brief I've ever worked on. A few weeks ago I was called by Money Magazine in New York and asked if I'd like to contribute on their "Making Money in 2010" feature for their upcoming issue. Whenever you're a Illustrator in Belfast and you get a call from the Rockefeller Center Hmm… let me think about that – okay, I've thought about it, yes OF COURSE I'll do it!
Money Magazine is a major U.S. publication with a huge readership throughout the USA, Canada and beyond. In fact, this is just the kind of editorial work I've been aiming towards, but have been a little shy to chase without the support of a recognised Illustration agent. But hey – these guys called me, so I'm really chuffed. What's more important is they're even more chuffed with my work! Here's why… (you might want to click on this for a better view)
So if you're reading in America (or anywhere else for that matter) keep an eye on the newsstands and by all means drop me a line and let me know if you like it. I've added a few excerpts here as a taster. The brief called for as much detail as I could fit in and I think I've obliged. A big thank you again to Scott Weiss for Art Direction throughout – this has definitely turned out to be one of my all time favourite briefs.
Exploded View of 3rd Panel:
Supporting Strip Illustration:
Hi gang, sorry it's been a little while – I've had plenty keeping me busy over the last month. There was the Chillifest at Custom House Square – an awesome day's trading, where HDC made record sales of prints, postcards and badges, along with meeting some of Belfast's most laid back & generous clientele. There must be something about good Chilli and cold beer – it just seems to loosen the old pursestrings.
I've also been continuing character design work for one of my clients, expanding on a group of 5 existing characters into a whole family of animal characters. I'm going to hold off for a little while and reveal the whole bunch once I've finished up. It's shaping up well at the minute and is a great opportunity to explore the world of childrens' illustration. I've also added a recently finished piece here, which I've been working on over the last week for sirkusonfoot.
Pigeon & Plums is an occasional Vaudeville & circus show that's taken place in various Belfast venues since 2005. I was brought on board to tackle the design of this year's Christmas Show in the Black Box, and as you can see, I've heavily on the Edwardian Vaudeville concept, using a wealth of typefaces I usually never get to look at these days. The overall design is dsfiniley a busy affair boasting a great line-up of brilliantly named acts (Diana Bolical?!) It should definitely be quite a night.
Here's another lovely new vector image I've rustled up in my spare time. I have plans for this one too. I'll keep you all up to speed very soon.
Here's a great illustration brief I've just completed for the good people at front 9 technologies in Buffalo NY.They're currently designing a new American Football app for the iphone and naturally enlisted yours truly for character illustration duties. Here's the finished result. My wife likes this one a lot (not sure why though). I'll post links to the finished app as soon as it's up on itunes.
In case you missed my emailer & tweets on Friday morning, I have a handful of new prints available on my Etsy store. Business has been rather brisk, so I'll be replacing depleted stock very soon. Well what are you waiting for… go and have good look around.
Hey there guys, if you live in Northern Ireland or the UK in general, you must have noticed how crappy the summer weather has been this summer. Bad for playing frisbee – good for flexing some creative muscle! The appalling Bank Holiday weather has given me plenty of time indoors to fiddle with my brand image. As well as tweaking the old header up at the top, I've taken a leaf out Illustrator Scott Jackson's book and drawn up my own Web Mascot. Whaddaya think?
I've worked in design & advertising offices for years and have created hundreds of clean, corporate logos using razor sharp sans serif typefaces in Pantone 280 blue They always looked cool, collected & most importantly very, very serious & businesslike. I guess that's why I love working with my own HDC brand so much – it's the polar OPPOSITE of all those logos. I hope it portrays everything Hand Drawn Creative stands for; irreverence, good fun, a love of great design & illustration… and NOT TAKING IT SO SERIOUSLY!
I love doodling at the weekend. Some of my sofabound sketches make it to the Mac. This one is a work in progress which I thought I'd share with you. I may be using this illlustration in future projects.
As you may already know, I recently completed a series of illustrations for Sheffield's GB Eye. I believe the poster is doing brisk business and you should be able to find copies in most major high street music stores like HMV or FOPP. And that, should be that really, just sit back and wait for the odd royalty cheque to come in. Imagine my surprise then, when GB Eye contacted me last week to ask for clearance for the poster to be used in a movie!
Yup, my illustrations will be appearing as part of the set decoration in Mike Leigh's latest film which is currently in production in London. So maybe I'm not quite walking down the red carpet, but it'll be fun seeing my work in a movie by an internationally renowned Director. If you're not familiar with the name; Mike Leigh is responsible for films such as Vera Drake, Life is Sweet, Naked and Secret & Lies. He made his name in the 1970s, writing memorable television plays like Nuts in May and Abigail's Party.
The folks on set were kind enough to mail a pic of the poster on set. So remember to keep 'em peeled when you go to see the film in cinemas.
…so where has Neal been you ask? Well, I've been working hard on a lot of projects for existing and new clients. Word has been spreading it appears, and the phone has been ringing with news of some great illustration jobs. I'm still working hard now, so time is tight. Until I can get down to some proper regular blogging, I'm posting a few illustrations I've completed over the summer months.
