The Hand Drawn Creative Blog

I have seen the light…

Big news this month for Hand Drawn Creative is my invitation from European pen & tablet manufacturers WACOM to join their Wacom Evangelist Program. Only 57 creative professionals throughout Europe have been officially appointed as enthusiasts of the brand. Illustrators, Graphic Designers, Photographers, Comic Artists & Visual Effects artists.

I'm honoured to be included in this roster and have been a long-time user of Wacom products (over 10 years now). I can't wait to get my Wacom Toolkit in the post. One of the perks of the program is a free Intuos4 tablet of your choice – I've picked the Intuos4 L model which is closest in size to my current Intuos2 tablet. If you've not used a Wacom Tablet before, I'd strongly recommend it. It's such an intuitive way to work with your computer.

 

 

Step back in time

Prepping for a Pecha Kucha talk in Belfat this month has led to me rooting through old boxes of illustrations & sketches from years gone by. Most of these date back to 1993/1994 – back then, vector illustration seemed like the stuff of a madman's dreams.

 

The New Girl…

Been a bit busy so far this year, but I've made time this weekend to work up a new Madmen inspired Illustration for Planet Pulp's 'Versus' gallery. This illustration features Don Draper's new secretary Jane Siegel rubbing Joan Holloway up the wrong way by exposing too much 'decolletage' in the office. Definitely one of my favourite moments from the second series – hope you like it too.

Soaring through all the Galaxies…

Just a New Year's reminder that the good old Hand Drawn Creative Store still has a couple of super limited edition screenprints up for sale. My Ulysses 31design went up for sale in early December, with a limited run of  20 available (as of today, I've got 8 left for sale). So, if you still have some pocket money left over from Christmas why not follow this link and take a closer look.

So long 2010…

Mrs Draper!?!

This is a doodle I've worked upof Madmen's über-housewife, Betty Draper in a memorable scene from the show. Okay, so I'm not the first Illustrator to have been inspired by this TV show, but what the hell! This will be a limited edition digital print out very soon too.

That's Christmas Sorted…

Announcing 2 new exclusive postcard releases from The Hand Drawn Creative Store. First up…

Revisiting the Golden Era of motoring, this third collection of motor car illustrations includes the Citroen DS, Volvo P1800, Porsche Speedster, Jensen Interceptor & Jaguar E-type. All firm favourites among Vintage Car fans.

 Drawn in the Pin-up style and clutching some of my favourite guitars, the Six String Sirens are ready to rock your world. And remember, this is only the first collection, expect Volume 2 in 2011. 

Each collection of five postcards is priced $20.00 & each card is signed by the Artist. They make a truly, unique, quirky & highly collectible stocking filler this Christmas for any discerning family member or close friend. If it was me though, I'd keep them for myself, frame them up & hang them in the study.

I can't think of a place I'd rather be…

I'm a big Kinks fan, always have been. When I lived in London some years back, there was only one place I could've ended up living… Muswell Hill, home of Ray & Dave Davies. This is a piece I've been working on over the last week or so using one of my favourite Kinks lyrics. It's a good, positive statement, isn't it? Expect a short run of screenprints in the New Year, feel free to contact me if you want to pre-order one.

Come & Play, Everything's A-Okay…

Okay, I actually completed this a few months back, but the shows only began broadcasting today. In the summer I was approached by the creators of cbeebies phenomenon Sesame Tree to create a library of book jacket designs to appear in the show – the premise being, that Potto pulls a book from the library each episode. This was a great job to work on – so if you have kids, make sure you tune into cbeebies! Here's a sample of what to expect…

 The Sesame Tree Gang, featuring Potto (centre) & new character, Archie the Squirrel 

Sesame Tree is a co-production with the world-famous Sesame Workshop in New York and the second series will be broadcast on BBC's cbeebies channel from 22 November.

Girl, I'm just a speedster for your love…