The Hand Drawn Creative Blog

Hooray! Daddy Website now live…

I've been running this blog for well over a year now and have been putting off designing the official HDC Portfolio Website for almost as long! Mainly for two reasons:

A. I wasn't certain this venture would last very long, so blogging is a cheap, low risk way to represent myself online
B. I know virtually nothing about web design!

Luckily, I was approached by web wizard Norbert Laposa around November last year, who kindly offered to help me out with a neat little folio site. In return I've been working on some Corporate Identity work for Norbert's Onxshop project. It's turned out to be a mutually beneficial partnership for both of us and I'm very happy with the results. Here's the finished Onxshop identity I've completed for Norbert:

 

Don't get me wrong, I love blogging – it's still the best way to keep you all up to speed with my latest endeavours. But an official branded website can really help me win some new clients (in fact I've already had some serious offers of work through it). I'll keep you all up to speed with fine tuning to the new site as well as new email addresses etc. 

Greetings from North Down…

Hey Guys, just keeping you up to speed with a little project I'm dabbling with. I've produced a short run of Greetings Cards featuring my Illustrations – what do you think? Each one is up for sale on my Etsy Store for $4.00 each, I've had a couple of sales already, but I'm just wondering whether I should invest in a larger print run? Feel free to leave comments and by all means take a look at other exciting new prints I have for sale.

  

Pay Attention at the Back…

Great News! I was recently approached by the Tuts Plus Network to contribute to their excellent Vectortuts website. I've never seen myself as an of Educator, but I've been a longtime Fan & Follower of Vectortuts – there's always a wealth of of tips & tricks from some of the World's greatest Illustrative talent – so I consider it a great honour to be invited to write for them.

 

Although the finished tutorial is available to subscribers, you can read excerpts here.  I really can't stress how pleased I am to be associated with these guys, so a big thanks again to Sean Hodge for the opportunity. I really enjoyed writing the article and received some great feedback – so much so that I'll be writing a further tutorial in the New Year. For me, this was the perfect way to end 2009.

Sharing the Love…

I love attending local Art Fairs in the Belfast Area and I've made a bunch of friends this year through the Black Market so I thought you guys out there might like to share what I feel is the best Belfast has to offer in the way of cool stuff by equally cool people. Like Mike D says: DIY means Do it Yourself, don't sit around waiting for someone else. Hand Drawn Creative says: Long live the Little Guy! 

 

 

So Long 2009…

It's been a blinding year here at Hand Drawn Creative. International success & recognition from within my peergroup has really helped raise my profile as a professional  Illustrator… but it's been bloody hard work! Jules & I have decided to shut up shop a little early this December so we can enjoy our first Christmas with our daughter Melissa. Dont worry, I'l be back in January taking on new briefs.

In the meantime, make sure you have a great Christmas and don't forget to…

 

Drawing for Money (Literally!)

Okay, I'm just wrapping up on this, but I have to share it with everyone as it's the biggest 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 to their Make Money in 2010 feature for their upcoming issue. So you're an unknown Illustrator in Belfast – what do you do when you get a call from the Rockefeller Center. Hmm… let me think about it – okay, I've thought about it, yes OF COURSE  I'll do it!

Money is a major U.S. Magazine published by TIME Inc. 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.

  

Cool Birthday Treats

 

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!

 

What the Dickens!

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.

Hoorah! New Illustration

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.

Backfield in Motion…

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.