F. Scott Fitzgerald...Flappers and Philosophers, a collection of short stories

I'm reading this collection of short stories at the moment and they are so descriptive and vivid that I couldn't resist tackling an illustration for one of them....so here's 'Bernice bobs her hair' a tale of jealousy, revenge and debutante balls! You can hear it read here....http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pfsqw

Where some of my illustrations have featured...

These are some links to publications which feature some of my illustrations....just seem to be finding them online now!

                                               http://www.neetmagazine.com/issue003.html

                                                                          
                               http://burstmagazine.co.uk/issues_files/Issue_7_Student.pdf


...and a bus stop in Manchester advertising Noise Festival!

Backgrounds for Characters...work in progress

Here's my pencil drawings so far...I usually create characters with blank backgrounds, so I decided it was time to create little worlds to place them in! I've been looking at lots of historical houses and cityscapes, I tend to be drawn to slightly decayed or out of date styles...so here's a few samples of 70's style homes and crumbling Haight Ashbury from photos I took when I lived there for three months. I've been watching lots of movies to get a feel for these pieces; such as Taxi driver, Leon, The Virgin Suicides and Welcome to the Dollhouse.

some patterned pictures...

I've recently being going though my files finding work I'd forgotten about, it's always nice to find these little surprises again.

I'm doing some pencil drawn backgrounds this week to create settings for some new characters. I'm working on lots of tight detail, so they're quite time consuming, but I find working like this does send you off to another zone, the only hiccup is having a record player while I work means having to break concentration every time the record needs turning over!

Weetzie Bat final design for a book cover...

Well I finally finished up working on my design for Weetzie Bat!...I spent a very pleasant, crafty day cutting out letters, printing and photographing for this project. This is the L.A. of my imagination!..Now to have a think about my next book design!

Hollywood landscapes...

Continuing my Weetzie Bat book cover design, I'm working out a Hollywood themed backdrop for my figure drawing....I don't want to make it too cliched, so I've dug out my whittling tools and had a go at making some rubber stamps to do some prints of palm trees, birds and cages...

 

....here's a peep into my ever so slightly cluttered studio!...I just can't pass up a car boot sale or charity shop, all inspirational treasure!

Weetzie Bat Book Cover Illustration

I've been thinking about doing a cover for Francesca Lia Block's young adult novel 'Weetzie Bat' for a while now, the visuals in the book are saturated with a sense of dreamlike LA kitsch, all flamingos, neon signs, plastic flowers and prom dresses....this is the design so far. I have an idea in my head to place the title as the Hollywood sign up on the hills...