Kindle My Heart

Good morning lovers

First thing I'm going to mention in this blog today is something that I don't often come across with my work but every now and then, something of this nature does crop up. Now this might be pure coincidence or there has been some fishy doings afoot but Amazon's recent 'Kindle' logo does appear to be quite similar to a design I did for a festival compilation earlier in the year.

It may just be me looking into this a bit much but the similarities are there, though my guy does look a bit more Iron & Wine-esque and is sans book.

I've got lots of projects that i'm sitting on at the moment and will be announcing in the new year (i'm not lazy) but for now I guess i'll just wish you a very merry christmas! It's been a great year for twoducksdisco with lots of exhibitions and screen-printed gig posters amongst making new clients and keeping busy with old ones, so let's hope that 2011 is going to be just as good, if not better.

Thanks to everybody who reads this blog, or likes my facebook group, or follows me on twitter, or browses my big cartel store. It all means so much to me. So I hope y'all have a great christmas and incredibly joyous new year!

Peace!

Heart Monitor

Hello

Well, it looks like the snow is starting to melt, so to keep the memories of chilly things alive the lovely folk at Roxbury Industries (who distributed Ice Cream Man for me earlier this year) have a selection of iPhone wallpapers available for download. They've been awesome enough to include Ice Cream Man in set 2 of this, which you can download here. Oh yeah, it's totally free!

Apologies for the slightly tenuous link there but moving on quickly to some new work i've finished.

First up is a new t-shirt design for old time buds worriedaboutsatan. This was a fun one to work on for a couple of reasons... It was the first piece of work i've done for the duo since their EP02 release. For this design I looked at how their music has progressed over the years and took the tree motif from the 2007 designs and experimented with new ways of presenting the old theme.

I decided to illustrate a cut tree trunk, to emphasise the 'out with the old...' theme but also in keeping with the stark nature of their sound and previous designs, I kept the design quite minimal and abstruse.

I also recently completed a logo design for a friend who is starting up a music journalism website / blog that specialises in jazz reviews.

Again. another fun one to work one as I wanted to create a subtle and delicate design yet be able to hint at the fact that Rosie's blog would be quite specialist.

Oh and one last thing before I go, since it's that time of the year again and you're probably struggling for gifts for loved ones then you can always pop over to the twoducksdisco online shop and pick yourself up a bargain there. Plus from now until the 25th of December (end of advent) you can get 20% off all orders when you put in the special promo code: ADVENT2010 (clever, huh?).

I will no doubt blog about this offer again... Thanks for reading.

Kankouran

So, I have a few new things to announce in twoducksdisco land.

Firstly, I have created a Facebook group page, where you can view pretty much all of my work in one place. You can even 'like' it, if you're that way inclined... Secondly, I went and got myself a Twitter page, where I will update planet earth with anything twoducksdisco-related, along with a bit of nonsense but that's what Twitter's all about right?

And on to some work which I recently completed for a chap called Tarek Musa, who approached me for a poster design but with one of the more interesting briefs i've had in quite a long time...

The brief was taken from a series of stories called The Atlas of Curiosities. The story tells of a village where upon a certain morning all the young male residents have to stay in their homes and await a 'harrowing' visit from a devilish spirit named Kankouran. Upon arrival of the individual homes the spirit takes a sacrificed leg and eye from each male, so that they can pass into manhood. Scary but inspiring stuff...

This project was very interesting to work on and allowed me to experiment with darker imagery that my regular approach to illustration. Plus that tale is one of those chilling stories that sticks in your head for a while, so you can tell all your friends when you stay up late telling ghost stories...

Savoir Faire

G'day

Another update today of some projects recently completed and just to wet your appetite, massive news coming next week. Well, fairly big anyway... oooh.

So, moving on quickly to a t-shirt design I did for London-based singer / songwriter Pete Hickman. This was a fun one to work on as the brief was essentially to do anything I wanted. So after listening to Pete's music and in particular the song 'The Master' I decided to go with a literal interpretation of the opening lyrics to the song due to the striking nature of the introduction.

I also wrapped up a logo for a friend and her new online zine entitled 'Mind Over Matter'.

The purpose of the blog is to allow people to post about medical experiences whether professional or not and help give support to people in similar situations.

Good stuff.

Hit the Switch

Hi folks

Another spell of quietness from me for which I must apologise but it was due to organising a massive poster exhibition as part of Poster Roast Leeds at Constellations festival. It was a lot of great fun and a photo-filled blog is being assembled to document the madness and will hopefully be presented to you early next week!

To keep your eyes satisfied until then, here are a few pieces of work that have recently been signed off, the first being for Leeds City Council. I was asked to create a series of posters for LCC who promote Christmas Light 'switch on' events around Leeds' many boroughs, including Morley, Pudsey, Rothwell, Yeadon and pictured is the Farsley version.

I was also asked by a Leeds-based badge making company called Beardo Badges to create an identity for their new badge-venture (sorry). Being bearded and having been a resident of Leeds for 7 years (alas, no more) I jumped at the task and created a simple one-colour design for the company.

And finally a company who I have worked with very closely for the past few years (because they do great charity based work) asked me to create a design for a new fund-raising promotion of theirs.

The company being We Heart Arts (I have also created their new logo on the site) have come up with the concept to print limited edition posters for local up-and-coming bands. The first band in the series are Our Lost Infantry and below is the design.

If you fancy purchasing one of these and helping out a really good cause, then follow this link and get involved.

So there are more things to come but I have made an executive decision to limit the content of these blogs, otherwise your head would probably explode. And we wouldn't want that...

Head Rolls Off

Hi

So whilst trying to better last months number of blog posts I've already succeeded with this very entry. It's a poster that I did recently for Frightened Rabbit.

It's primarily based on ideas taken from the song 'Head Rolls Off', which has references to death and religion. I wanted to create an image that would illustrate the religious undertones of the song but not come off as cheesy or cliche. I also looked to their recent artwork, which contains images of crosses and illuminating light and decided that the best way to execute such a poster would be through basing the illustration on religious literature.

With an image of the bible being the focus of the poster, I wanted to add a more personal touch, which would suit the sound of the band. The water coming from the book draws reference to the song 'Swim Until You Can't See Land' and also emphasises the themes of loss and isolation which frequently occur in FR songs.

Hopefully the design came across something like that to you. If not, then hopefully you just like it...

Bye

Tighten Up

Apologies for it being nigh on a month and no updates, moving house is a long and arduous process as many of you may know...

On to some work then. Recently I was asked to be part of The Black Keys tour poster series for their jaunt across the British Isles in which they played some rather large venues.

Obviously I accepted and here is a process (I know you love them as much as I do) of me screen-printing the batch that would be sent of to their show at the O2 Academy in Newcastle.

The first screen.

The first layer printed and waiting for the second colour.

The second screen ready and raring to go.

Whilst printing some test runs I came across a sheet of purple paper and thought that the design may look cool on it. And it did...

The second colour now printed and drying on the racks.

The final poster all cropped, signed, numbered and stamped.

The poster with human hands to give you an idea of scale. A2 is big!

Close up.

Another close up.

Massive thanks to Kate Desforges at the print workshop for helping me out with the near-catastrophic acetate scenario.

They are also now available from my Big Cartel store, so head over and pick one up today, yeah!

Many more things to be revealed soon, just need to get this house is some sort of order...

Ta ta.

Oh What A Circus

Hi there

Hope you folks all had pleasant weekends. Mine was spent experiencing the sights and sounds of Manchester's vibrant nightlife and looking for kitchens. All very nice...

At the end of last week I announced I had a couple of pieces in an exhibition in the heart of Manchester as part of the cities' week long free arts festival. Well, the exhibition was fantastic. The space was huge and lots of people came and looked around and drank free Peroni.

With the brief for exhibition being based around emerging artists who are working during the socio-economic conditions of the recession I felt I would create some motivational pieces to encourage artists and their practise. The first of these being a doormat entitled 'Welcome Failure'.

The purpose of this work being that an artist should not be afraid of trying and failing and to a certain extent, 'welcome' it. It's based upon the old as time saying that people learn from their mistakes, and failures. The piece also acts as an actual doormat where people can interact with the art and wipe their feet upon entering the gallery, therefore wiping their feet on failure. Take that!

The second of my contributions was an acrylic painting on canvas. I titled the piece 'Whole Hearted' as a representation of the effort's of an emerging artist needed to be made and in the interest of furthering themselves; giving their all. There's not really that much too it but I wanted to do something with bold colours that was striking and interesting. The circular canvas also suited the repeating 'tear drop' pattern, adding further depth to the work's aesthetic.

The rest of the exhibition was great, with a really interesting range of artists on display including; Taneesha Ahmed, who had curated the event.

Lydia Meiying's custom wallpapers and greetings card range

Gareth Brew

Sam Venables

Alex Moore and Annie Carpenter

And here is a picture of the stall where various artists had items for sale. The front of the stall was lavishly decorated with literally hundreds of Taneesha's post-it notes. Well done to Sarah (leg's pictured) for putting them up... phew.

Definitely safe to say that a good time was had by all and hopefully we can do it again soon. So, major thanks to Taneesha Ahmed, for putting it together, inviting me and making everything run like a well-lubricated machine!

And before I sign out, here is a poster for Drever McCusker Woomble's show at the Brudenell Social Club in November, which promises to be a folking good night.

Over and out.

Love Between Men

Hi there

So first things first, I am in an exhibition that starts this afternoon (Friday 1st October, not Sept 30th as the date above suggests), exciting! Its going down between the hours of 4 and 6pm at The Triangle, 37 Exchange Square in Manchester (the arcade next to the big outdoor BBC screen and the Wheel of Manchester).

The exhibition runs throughout the week, so if you can't make it tonight you can find the opening times here.

I've also been in another exhibition this week, in Switzerland!

[edit] New official picture uploaded.

Over the summer I produced a one-off painting on a blank record cover (above) for a chap called Amos. This was part of a huge project organised by a lovely German named Gregor Samsa. Basically he sent 300 blank record covers to 300 artists to create a unique piece of art, which would go on to be included in exhibitions across Europe. My artwork is based on a song called 'Love Between Men' and painted using old acrylics from left over screen-printing sessions.

Hopefully soon my cover (along with the other 299) will be photographed and put in an online gallery, which will be nice and made available to the world.

And last things last, here's a poster I recently completed for Ellen & the Escapades EP launch show in Leeds at The Brudenell Social Club.

Ta ta.

Constellations

Oh, hello there.

Although announced on Monday across various web platform's like NME, Drowned in Sound and The Fly it gives me great pleasure to reveal that the travelling poster art circus that is Poster Roast, is Leeds-bound.

I have joined the Poster Roast team to assist in co-ordinating the exhibition, which will be taking place in conjunction with the utterly fantastic looking Constellations Festival.

If you have a look at some pictures from past Roasts, you'll get the idea of what can be expected at the University for the exhibition. There'll be live screen-printing, original screen-printed posters on display by a wealth of UK artists, who will be on site selling their goods and able to offer further insight into the world of screen-printing.

The festival looks too good to be true too, since I love Broken Social Scene and Les Savy Fav. Not to mention having soft spots for Four Tet, Liars and Spectrals, it looks like a real winner of a day!

So, see you there then?

Next onto the poster that I screen-printed for Wolf Parade for their gig at the Brudenell Social Club last week. Well, the show was fantastic and the band were really super friendly.

I sold quite a few posters at the show (which is always nice) and now you can buy them from my Big Cartel store for £10.

And if you're the sort of person who loves to buy posters but doesn't really like trawling through the high street trying to find frames, then these are cropped to perfectly fit in the very affordable 16" x 20" Wilkinsons frames, as shown above. Gee, ain't I good to you?

This week, I'm going to be turning my attention to producing a couple of pieces for an exhibition taking place in Manchester called Customer Circus, curated by Taneesha Ahmed. Its part of a week long Festival taking place at various venues in the city between Friday the 1st of October and Friday the 8th.

The brief for the exhibition is very relevant, relating to emerging artists who are working during the socio-economic conditions of the recession. So I'm currently putting together some ideas which I'll try to reveal later in the week but needless to say, I am rather excited for the event.

Just a news barrage today then. Now, back to work!

Still Windmills

Hi folks.

Let's start things off with some good news, I have just been made a guest blogger over at the Poster Roast site. It's going to be the start of a beautiful relationship with some exciting news and events to happen towards the end of the year but I'm to keep hush on those for the moment.

So if you pop over there now you can see a screen-print process for this Wolf Parade poster that I printed last week.

I'm pretty excited for this show, having already met Mr. Krug of Sunset Rubdown at their gig at the same venue last year. Oh and the fact that Wolf Parade are really good!

They'll be available on Friday 10th September from my Big Cartel shop.

A couple more posters to reveal and as you can see, I've done a lot of posters this Summer. Next up is Sky Larkin.

These Leeds based scamps are so much fun and this poster is based on a song called 'Still Windmills' from their latest album. The colours and style of the poster lend themselves to Jack Hudson's awesome design for their new album 'Kaleide'.

I was also recently asked to do a poster for The Acorn and Born Ruffians double headline show at The Brudenell (again).

This poster is based on a couple of jams by both bands; 'Hummingbird' by Born Ruffians and 'Flood' by The Acorn. I found it interesting to combine different themes and make a poster for two bands who have a very different sound and aesthetic.

Cheers for hanging out!

Surprise Hotel

Hi

So first off, this blog is titled for the Fool's Gold song. It's not related to anything in this post but I pretty much can't stop listening to them after last week's show... magnifique!

Anyways, so onto some work. Here is a design I recently completed for screamy scamps Rosa Valle.

This design was fun to work on as I don't get the opportunity to do many one-colour merch designs. I fancied experimenting with patterns and shapes a bit with this and trying to incorporate these elements into 'my style'. I quite like it, so I think it worked...

This week I have also been screen-printing that Wolf Parade poster. It's come out pretty intense, so I'll be putting together a vibrant process of how this went down next week! Plus still need to reveal Sky Larkin and FRabbit posters... phew.

Out!

Your Cousin's On Cops

Howdy. So if you lasted the working 'Disco Poster Week', well done. I may continue things over the weekend, it all depends on how well I celebrate my birthday weekend... At any rate there's still posters to come.

Here is my effort for Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band. Not based on any song in particular so I just named the blog after my favourite track title of theirs.

They're a total party band and I'm sure the gig will be lots of fun, so that's why I drew a bloke playing a washboard and having a bit of a dance. Simple.

Thanks for stopping by, it's been fun to do. Keep those eyes peeled for future posters for Sky Larkin and Frightened Rabbit.

Ta ra.

Solid Ground

Good day all

So we've made it to day four. Is this going to go on over the weekend? Well, if enough people demand it, then I can make it so... Anyways, today's poster is for Chicago's mighty Maps and Atlases, who I have done not one but two posters for before, so it was nice to get to do another.

This poster is based on the lyrics 'I slept on the solid ground near your house / and the frost looked like a castle wrapped up in tin'. So there you go.

The gig should be rad too, as the lovely tropical rapscallions Loose Talk Costs Lives are playing and if they're anything as good as they were last night (when they played with Glades and Fool's Gold, who was also both utterly amazing too), then it should be a blast!

Not sure which poster to upload tomorrow. Life is full of surprises...

Age of the Fifth Sun

Welcome to day three of the 'Disco Poster Week'.

Today's poster is for Irelands post-rock monsters God Is An Astronaut.

Inspiration for the poster is based on the title of their latest studio album 'Age of the Fifth Sun', which like their previous recordings has a grandeur rock feel to it, so hopefully I captured that.

So just a quick update today (I'm very busy y'see) and tonight I shall be going to my first gig in near two months; Fool's Gold at the Bodega in Nottingham. Which is great obviously but two bands who I have done artwork for will be supporting; Loose Talk Costs Lives and Glades. Jolly lovely.

Hasta la pasta.

Stars

Jello.

So in keeping with 'Disco Poster Week' (yep, couldn't come up with a better name) here is a poster for the LA band Warpaint.

The concept for this poster was mainly based around 'Stars' a song from the band's debut EP and after listening to (and really enjoying) I decided I wanted to capture the band's soft sound and naive / innocent songs.

From there I basically drew a lion as although they can be aggressive animals, they also have a soft side (have you ever seen Christian The Lion). So here is a little animation to show how Chris went from being a sketch, to being inked in, then coloured and textures added in Photoshop.

Thanks again for stopping by and don't forget, its 'Disco Poster Week' all this week, so there'll be another poster here tomorrow. Isn't it exciting?

All Around The World

Good day all.

Recently I have been doing quite a few posters for Leeds-based promotions agency Futuresound. It's been quite an exciting past month or so completing posters; some with a week to knock out, others just a couple of days.

So with the wealth of work I've been doing I will be uploading a new poster everyday this week as part of 'Disco Poster Week' for bands such as Maps & Atlases, Frightened Rabbit, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly amongst others but today I'll unveil the poster for Leeds' very own Nu-Grunge masters Dinosaur Pile-Up.

Tune in tomorrow for another exciting instalment of 'Disco Poster Week', where I will upload another poster and try to think of a better title for this process.

Stay Classy.

Brainwashed

Good afternoon forks.

Every year in Leeds there is a mini-fest called Brainwash. It generally features tasty line ups and in the past has had Efterklang, Jaga Jazzist, Adem, Unsane and Olafur Arnalds (to name but a few) grace various stages in Leeds.

Every year is lots of fun, so I was especially chuffed to be asked to do the artwork for this, their fifth festival.

There will be posters and flyers up and about in Leeds pretty soon (and t-shirts at the fest) but the line up is looking right good thus far with Melt Banana, Dosh, Tweak Bird, Nitkowski and a wealth of local talent. Tickets are cheap and the cash goes to worthwhile local charities. Go chick it out!

In other news, last week I finally got to go to Spanky Van Dykes in Nottingham, which if you recall I designed some logos and typeface for earlier in the year.

So it was cool to see my typeface on menu's, flyers and totebags but it wasn't until we left the establishment that I noticed one of the designs in the window.

I can almost definitely say I've never had one of my design's put in neon lights before, so this was a lovely little surprise.

Also worth a quick mention that at Nottingham Contemporary, until October there's a quirky little exhibition by Gert and Uwe Tobias. These Romanian twin brother's deal with fables and folklore as inspiration for their huge woodcuts and paintings and their typewriter drawings have to be seen to be believed.

Anyways, that's their poster for the exhibition and I can strongly recommend it if you fancy being whisked off to their weird, mythical and slightly comical world.

Thanks for reading.