The Hand Drawn Creative Blog

New HDC Mascot (or, How I learned to stop worrying & love my job!)

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!

Sunday Sketch Sessions

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.

A Perfect Fit…

Here's fun… I've always been a bit of a trainer obsessive. I've got loads of pairs in my wardrobe (I consider it my final vice, now that I now longer smoke). So whenever the UK's premier sneaker store size? opened a store in Belfast I was VERY excited. In fact, strolling through their new store gave me the idea to team up with size? on a promotional poster for their store, so I've been working on and off with their Head Office bods (Matt & Marc) on illustrating some of size's coolest offerings. You can see the results below…

Pretty cool huh? As you can see from the pic; below the chaps in Belfast seem to like it. If you do too, keep an eye on the size? site… another print will be given away as a prize in an online competition very soon. Can't wait? Drop me a line – I'll be printing a short run of A1 & A3 prints for anyone interested.

Classic Kicks…

Following on from my Old Skool Vans illustration last week, I can now exclusively reveal my latest footwear related masterpiece. I told you I LOVE sneakers, I think this shows everyone just how much! 

Global Domination…

It's been pretty crazy lately in HDC Towers. I've been promoting, marketing & cross-pollenating all over the shop. So you can now find trace elements of Hand Drawn Creative all over the internet. I'm now trading as a contributing Illustrator on istockphoto, selling limited release prints & postcards on my new online store at Etsy and creating virtual goods at Viximo (still not sure what virtual goods actually are. Apparently you can trade them on Facebook, Bebo etc.) I've also moved my portfolio over to carbonmade, have a little peek, it's awfully swish! Right, next up – Tee shirt designs for Threadless!

Cool Pete Fowler Toys!

Found this in a dusty corner of Forbidden Planet today and couldn't pass it up – Pete Fowler collectible vinyl figures for under a tenner? Get in!

Look at the detail in the packaging as well as the typography – marvellous! I'd have bought this, even if I didn't like the band (which I do). If you're not familiar with his prodigious talent, check out Pete Fowler's work here. I've been a fan since the early nineties, you might notice his work from Super Furry Animals' album artwork. Great piece of branding on the band's part, and although it isn't breaking news, I just thought I'd share a great find with you.

Petrolhead?

This post is about as close as I'll ever come to being a petrolhead I'm afraid. I'm not renowned for my skills under the bonnet, but I've always had a keen eye for smart automotive design and well buffed bodywork. So here is a selection of recent illustrations I've been crafting with the discerning motorist in mind.

Chelsea Girl

In keeping with my preffered niche market for illustration (weekend & womens' glossies) I've been keeping my hand in with lifestyle illustration. It's starting to become a nice little distraction in the evenings when there is little to watch on television and it's dark outside. Jules will read out selected pearls of wisdom from the Pregnancy Bible whilst I scribble away at an illustration that will hopefully be 'portfolio-worthy'. So here is this week's offering; she's probably called Jocasta or something and daddy owns half of Kensington!

Who would live in a House like this…

I had a nice comment on the blog a few days ago from someone down the road – a fellow vintage poster devotee. I had a look at some of her vintage pictures collection on the old facebook and thought it might be an idea to show off some of the pictures that adorn my walls and give me inspiration.

This is my wall based moodboard featuring the work of some of my favourite Illustrators

My customised Unity print. I always loved this design and wanted to buy the enormous framed print that Habitat were selling. I just never seemed to have the £150 to spend on it, so I redrew it myself and framed it a smaller size.

My Dad gave me this when we bought the place. It belonged to my grandfather first, then Dad had it, now it's moved on down the line. A proper, graphic family heirloom!

Jules bought me this for my birthday a few years ago – without a doubt, my favourite print in the house!

I scanned and printed this one from book cover – it once had pride of place in my old lounge at Muswell Hill and always brings back great memories.

This print is hung by the front door (what a surprise)

These are FANTASTIC illustrations by Tadahiro Uesugi. This hangs where the laundry gets done

Here's a lovely (quite rare) photo of personal hero – Nick Drake

Putting Glamour Back on the Slopes…

I was just driving through Belfast this morning and noticed Ski McNeill's new year ski holiday campaign has stretched to a 48 sheet campaign. I provided the illustrations myself some months ago, working on a glamourous 1930's vintage travel poster concept that went down a storm with the client, who just so happens to collect original artwork from that specific era.

The artwork has been mounted on those rotating billboards which explains the poor quality of my photograph. So lets go back to the original illustrations in all their glory!