SLACKER

It's been an exciting and busy time here in Studio 51 and I haven't managed to post since Feb. I've almost finished up my series of 13 covers for Penguin and another big series for an advertising client that I should be able to tell you about soon but just so you don't think I've been slacking off here are some other recent pieces.

The Law Journal

Six Black Pens

Baby & Toddler

Inside Sport

The Law Journal

Ramalamas Poster

PENGUIN EERIE SERIES

The cat's outta the bag. In this case he's a zombie cat called "Tiddles". I'm currently working on a series of 13 spooky books for Penguin. The series, called "Eerie" written by S. Carey, is aimed at scaring the daylights out of Tweens. I can finally show you the first covers which are being released throughout the year. The stories are super creepy and have been tonnes of fun to illustrate. Always a good day when the kids ask you what you worked on in the studio and you get to casually drop "zombie cat". I also created little flick-book animations to work throughout the top corners of the books. There's a little animation for "Hunter & Collector" below which gives you an idea of how they work. A big thanks to Tony Palmer at Penguin for his great design and art direction. More info on purchasing them for your favourite nephew here. 

2013 ILLUSTRATORS AUSTRALIA AWARDS

Went done got me some Gold, Silver and Highly Commended in this year's Illustrators Australia Awards! Congrats to all the other winners and a huge thanks to these awesome judges:

Mimmo Cozzolino (Designer & Historian)
Erica Wagner (Publisher Allen & Unwin)
Shayne Pooley (Exec Creative Director Ogilvy)
Gary Taxali (Canadian Illustrator)
Ian Bear (Snr Art Director DDB Advertising)

Received a Gold Medal in the Advertising Category for 

The "Beautiful Journey" lady commissioned by Thursday Design for

K.W.Doggett Fine Papers.

Silver Medal for my "Slax Appeal" exhibition pieces at Lamington Drive Gallery in the Self Promotional Series Category.

A Highly Commended for the "Found" girls commissioned by Hoyne Design in the Advertising Series Category.

And a Highly Commended for "The Black" series commissioned by Fenton Stephens in the Advertising Series Category.

THE BLACK

Happy New Year! I thought I'd kick off with a cool job which has just been published online for The Black, a Pure Business Strategy Firm. Fenton Stephens Advertising asked me to come up with a range of images which described the services The Black provide. The asked if I could incorporate a Sasek-esque vibe whilst maintaining my own style which was fine by me, Miroslav already being a huge influence. Here they are!

Killer business strategy.

Business strategy is all we do.

We work as a team. Our clients are winners.

Unlocking our client's expertise.

The benefit of hands-on proven expertise.

Helping business leaders get where they need to be.

Partnering agencies to identify winning business opportunities.

Here are a few detail studies:

I was also asked to provide portraits of the founders.

UPCOMING EXHIBITION

You have exactly one week to organise your diary and join us for a crisp, light chardonnay at East Sydney Doctors Gallery whereupon you shall delight in the works of 3 of Australia's finest illustrators and myself. 

SOCIETY OF ILLUSTRATORS NEW YORK AWARDS

Some good news over the weekend! This pair of sassy gals have been accepted into The Society of Illustrators New York Book 55 and Exhibition. They'll be heading over to the big apple soon. 

Thanks to the talented designers at Thursday Design for coming up with the "Beautiful Journey" concept with the vintage girl on a bike and for always pushing for more illustration. You can find more info on that job here.

And thanks also to my friends at Hoyne Design who are also big supporters of illustration and whose fine eye for detail got our Found girl just right. 

LATEST WORK

Coupla recent pieces! The tasty pizza guy was for Clemenger BBDO Melbourne and the client was Yellow Pages. The second piece was in last saturday's Good Weekend mag for The Sydney Morning Herald. It accompanied a story which fondly recalled various cars from the writer's life.

MOONCAKE CENTRAL

Chinatown went Mooncake crazy in September and like last year I got a chance to participate when I was invited by Freeform Advertising to create the art for their Market City Shopping Centre promotion. Things have been a bit hectic around the studio lately and I'd forgotten about the job until late one night last month when I was dragging myself home from work and discovered my moon girl staring back at me from a billboard in Central Station.
Here are some snaps.

FOUND

Here's a recent job that followed on from the "Beautiful Journey" poster I did for KW Doggett earlier this year. Andrew Hoyne, founder of the amazing Hoyne Design liked the original poster and wanted something in a similar vein for his client Found, a vintage furniture shop. I had reference for a specific Danish chair and Andrew also sent through some models and poses that he thought might work with the image.

Once we had the rough ok'd it was onto the final. The guys at Hoyne also thought a distressed treatment for the Found logo might sit well with the design so I went ahead with that and on to the final. The people at Hoyne have been fantastic to work with and I'm really excited about the second poster I'm currently working on for an amazing bar stool so I'll post that once it's completed too.

RISOGRAPHICA 2

Hey if you're in Melbourne tonight get along to Risographica 2!
The blurb goes: This group exhibition will see 37 of Jacky Winter’s most celebrated artists explore the risograph print medium via an A3 limited edition 2-colour print, with each edition available for an incredibly reasonable sum of $50.00. The best news is that percentage from each sale will be donated to Vision Australia. More info here. Showing at Lamington Drive from August 10 to September 29, with an opening on Thursday August 9 from 6-9pm. Here's my contribution "Which Doctor?". Don't ask.

XXXX ISLAND

Earlier this year I tackled one of the biggest AND smallest advertising jobs I've ever had the pleasure of illustrating. Sydney agency Momentum commissioned me to hand paint 12 bottles and cans to be hidden "Willy Wonka" style amongst cases of XXXX GOLD beer. The people who locate these bottles and cans will win a trip to XXXX Island. 

It was out with the OOO size sable brushes as I started off with a test can and bottle to get the go ahead and be used for promotional photos before beginning in earnest on the 12 finals which would be hidden in the packs. Each can or bottle took about 12 hours to paint and I was on a tight deadline with several other jobs floating around tugging for attention while this one was on the hook. 

Layer upon layer...

by lamplight to help the drying process.

Applying the transfer.

The production line. With mickey mouse gloves to stop smudging.

Nearing the end.

Keeping the design exactly the same on each can and bottle was sending me crosseyed but the going really got tough getting the fine print on the back identical x 12. We also had to figure out how to protect the surfaces from slipping off the cans and bottles during their journey from the brewery to your winning hand. A big thanks to Sal Wildeboer at Momentum for being so cool and navigating this job and also to my wife and kids who lost me for a fortnight. I can honestly say I was ready for a cold beer after signing off on this one. The hunt for these little hand painted treasures has begun. Good luck!

Oh and I also created a map for the shuffleboard you can see in the second vid. Cheers!

Hello Australia.