Hips Don't Lie

Good day.

You may recall that a couple of months ago I posted the artwork of Sam Airey's debut EP 'Season's Change'. Well, Sam was kind enough to give me some copies of the CD and the packaging looks amazing, if I do say so myself. Sam decided to get the wallets printed with an uncoated soft matte finish, which nicely accentuates the folky qualities of his music. Plus it looks [and feels] awesome!

I also recently completed a new flyer design for the Leeds club night Silver Hips. Like Sam, these dudes are interested in pushing the diversity of print finishes and these flyers are printed on 280 micron uncoated pulp-board.

It really pleases me to see different and innovative ways of promotion and packaging and definitely makes a difference when you see the finished article in the public sector.

I also popped into Hyde Park Records earlier and can highly recommend it if like me, you enjoy flicking through stacks of records trying to find that hidden gem.

Plus the walls are lovingly decorated with Brendan [shop owner] Docherty's magnificent photography amongst other vinyl memorabilia. Brendan has a great eye for photography, so I'd recommend going to check out his Flickr page, especially the Monotonix set [pictured above] as its pretty wild!

Arrivederci

Put the Needle on the Record

Hi there.

If you haven't heard, there is a record shop that is now officially open in Hyde Park (Leeds). This is obviously exciting news. Its on Hyde Park corner and looks lovely and cozy and stocked to the rafters.

I was lucky enough to be asked to do some promotional items for the shop, including this flyer. I have yet to make it along to the shop yet but intend on doing so this weekend and taking all my hard earned pennies for a bit of a spree!

In other news the fabulous No Culture Icons collective have asked me to exhibit at Nation of Shopkeepers in Leeds city centre. I will showing off my posters / wears / something new and exciting on Sunday 14th March alongside awesome dudes such as Liam Henry, Sarah Abbott, Callum Harris, Jon Stanley Austin, Clare Owen and many more. You should come, it'll be right good. This poster was done by Sarah Abbott. I told you she was an awesome dude...

So much more work to come soon...

Ta ta for now

Dead Man

Wow, having a full-time job plus doing art and keeping things updated is tougher than I imagined. Though last night I had a night off from everything and watched Dead Man's Shoes and I can safely say it's one of the most moving and powerful British films i've seen in many a year. Plus the soundtrack is totally amazing!

In other news, I no have a small artist's page on the fantastic little collective No Culture Icons, which showcases an array of photographers and artists from around the world. Pretty chuffed to have been asked to submit some bits of work and you can see my little page here.

Onto a bit of work then; here is a t-shirt design that I completed last year for the children's creative arts program We Heart Arts, for which I also completed the site's header. You can purchase them over at their Big Cartel site.

Also recently completed a little logo for a chum of mine called Andy but is probably better known for being Atlum Schema and an all round good guy. Anyways, he's started this podcast / blog thing called Sheep Dressed Up As Wolves, which is very good and probably worth a listen / read.

Wow, link heavy!! There's a weekend's worth of reading for you with all those. Hope that was OK... Also, currently loving anything by The National and the OST for 'The Straight Story' by Angelo Badalamenti and reading 'High Fidelity', which is good but I wish I'd have read when I was a touch younger.

Life, comes and goes.

Super Disco Breakin'

Hey folks.

Apologies for the serious lack of updates, thats no way to start off twenny-ten! Having a full-time job is quite a stressful thing, especially if you wish to take part in any extra-curricular activities.

I have found some time to work on a few new projects, including a new night thats starting this very week in Leeds called Hello Nasty. This was a fun project to work on, as I needed to 'ill'-ustrate the range of music that the night would play. So I'm pretty pleased with my lo-fo b-boy. I've been working on a few other things which hopefully I'll be able to show you soon but also worth mentioning that a while back someone nominated me for a 'Sunshine Award', which was awfully nice. So that's that.

Hope everybody has been well, I am currently listening to lots of alt-country / new folk-ish stuff and as naff as those sub-genres sound, I whole-heartedly recommend The Fitzgerald by Richmond Fontaine and Shallow Grave by Tallest Man On Earth. Lovely stuff...

The Blizzard's Never Seen the Desert Sands

So, Happy New Years are in order? Hope everybody celebrated the festive period in style. I got a shiny new computer and although I'm still getting to grips with its sleek keys and bizarre mousepad, the real treasure is getting to listen to music on my computer again. I think I went for about two and a half years without any sort of sound coming from my work station (not even that sound when you do something wrong on a PC and it honks at you).

Anyways, enough of my rambling. Though there is not too much to report here is a picture of the recently completed front cover for Sam Airey's little debut EP. I'll get some snaps up of the printed product when he gets them back from the CD manufacturers.

Hopefully my next post will be full with exciting news and pictures of things that I've been working on. Until then, enjoy the snow. And if you don't like snow, wee on it.

Fin.

Handmade Hard Times Handed Back

Crikey, another update! You'll think I've gone blogging crazy. Well, I do have news to tell...

Yesterday the lovely Many Nice Things and I had a little stall at the Handmade craft fair, which went down at the ever-cozy Brudenell Social Club. It was a very pleasant afternoon with tea and free cake. Lots of people came down (thanks) and we sold a few items, which is always good! Also big chants and cheers to Amy, who put it all together!

Here are a few pictures from the event (sorry they're not very good, the Brude is dimly lit) So now our lovely little friend 'Ice Cream Man' is available from my Big Cartel store. Just click here to go and purchase the print and felt brooch package. Get him while he's hot! Or cool, since he is an ice cream after all...

Ciao

Date w/ Ikea

Hello folks.

So, First Draft (the exhibition) happened last night and was what I would call a success. Lots of people came down and mingled and munched delicious mince pies and sipped hilariously strong coffee.

My five Ice cream man got a girlfriend, awww Matt Hodson Nic Burrows Gareth Brew Thanks to the Nous Vous for putting it all together, people who came along, plus Nic, Matt and Gaz for making my stuff look crap.

And a friendly little reminder that the Handmade Brudenell Craft Fair is going down at (unsuprisingly) The Brudenell Social Club this Sunday between the hours of 1pm and 5pm. Come along and get all those crafty Christmas presents and avoid the classic last week before Christmas feeling, where you think 'Crap! I haven't got anything, for anyone, ever', then go make some wild purchases from Amazon!

Take it sleazy

Ice Cream Man

Hello. Sorry its been a couple of weeks since my last update, been rather busy you see...

So, lets get started. Everyone loves Tom Waits right? Well to celebrate the great man being... um, great, I have printed these cheeky little chappies (who's better than a swimming pool) named for the song 'Ice Cream Man' from Wait's Closing Time LP.

And here is a process thread to walk you through just how the little dudes were printed.

Here are the images burned onto the screen at the print workshop in Mirfield Printing the first layer The blue layer drying on the racks Apparently though, it all got a bit much for Susan Boyle... poor lass Printing the orange layer I printed the orange layer onto tracing paper, to ensure that the registration was spot on for the print to be at its most ice creamery Drying on the racks After they were cropped they were then signed and numbered... ... and stamped The final product A couple of detail shots So there you are, another process post to give you an idea of what goes on behind the scenes of screen-printing. This print will be debuting itself at the 1st Draft exhibition tomorrow (Thursday 10th December) at The Merrion Art Market and will be joining another secret friend on Sunday 13th December at The Handmade Craft Fair at the Brudenell Social Club. The latter of which will have mince pies and other festive delights! Come along and say hello at one, or the other, or both, or all three!

In other news, last night Copy Haho were amazing and I totally can't wait for their album. I'm also really enjoying Richmond Fontaine and The Pelican Brief by John Grisham.

Au Revoir

You Are My Coal Mine

Good day to you all.

So Christmas is fast approaching right? And to help save you time and money i've been festive enough to put up a tasty mincepie of a sale at the twoducksdisco Big Cartel store.

Christmas presents for everyone! Hurrah!

In other news I have an exhibition coming up at The Art Market in The Merrion Centre, Leeds. Its the first installment of a Nous Vous curated event called Draft, which aims to exhibit some of West Yorkshire's finest illustrators, designers and artists.

This all kicks off on Thursday 10th December between 6 and 8pm, so come along if you can as its a one night only affair. However, if you are incapacitated for the evening then you can pop along between December 11th of 2009 and January 9th of 2010 to see the work from the evening at the Opposite Café, which is opposite the Parkinson Building at Leeds Uni.

And to round things off, here is a new poster I just completed for Oxford folk-poppers Stornoway. Toodles.

Girl You Have All The Fun

Hello. A couple of posters i've just finished.

Firstly, The Old Romantic Killer Band are having a single launch in Leeds at the end of the month and this is for that. Plus I used the word 'super' twice on this poster, a personal best... I also finished a poster for Railcars who hail from San Francisco, which I hope to visit again at some point in the next couple of years... Literally being one of my favourite cities in the world! So, just a quick post this time around but new things to come soon for Never Ride wakeboards amongst other exciting projects.

Also I'm running out of interesting ways to sign off, so from now on i'll be referring to this site.

Sayonara.