St John's College

Liam O'Farrell has put his brushes to paper and created this wonderful watercolour for a fellow of St John's College Cambridge.

Liam says " The college was founded in 1511 and its statutes are specified as ‘The promotion of education, religion, learning and research’ and it has to be said they have done rather well as it's alumni boasts nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints!
I chose to paint the Great Gate which is adorned with the arms of the foundress Lady Margaret Beaufort. The odd creatures are yales, mythical beasts with elephants' tails, antelopes' bodies, goats' heads, and swivelling horns.
Above them is a figure of St John the Evangelist with an Eagle at his feet and symbolic, poisoned chalice in his hands. Why he carries a poison chalice god only knows, it seems a rather negative idea to me and would never get past a focus group.
Anyway, despite delicious architecture Cambridge to me is all about the people and most of them are on bikes as the students are banned from owning cars. I took the opportunity to add as many cyclists as the space would allow."

The client was immensely pleased, and so is Liam!

An Illustrated Allotment Alphabet

'An Illustrated Allotment Alphabet' based on Greg Becker's blog drawings is available now as a fantastic book. Greg's original plot 52 blog, which is ' A personal visual record of the triumphs and trials of a vegetable gardener. Detailing the ongoing struggles with pests, the weather, low flying golf balls, and a fear of deep digging.' has been the inspiration behind this latest publication, and one that is begging to be on a coffee table. The book is purchasable from blurb.co.uk, an online bookstore as an ebook or printed version.

The Olympknits

Alan Baker's animation for The Olympknits is a great success. You're sure to have a laugh when you watch this Knitted Olympknits promo, done for the book which is by Laura Long and published by David and Charles. Alan was given a free hand to do something interesting, and amusing! Watch the animation.

Frankenstein

Here is T. S. Spookytooth's latest commission, one from Steve Kirk at Computer Active.  The enigmatic illustrator says: "The brief was simply to illustrate an article about creating your own 3D pictures, Steve wanted an illustration of Frankenstein's Monster wearing old style 3D glasses. I happily obliged, there was a Spooky element to it after all, so how could I resist!"

Lyme Regis Map

After 9 months of research and pen to paper, Keith Robinson has finally completed a huge pictorial town map of Lyme Regis.

Now hanging on Lyme Regis sea front, the map measures 4 x 6 ft and is an aerial view of the whole town. The map, recently unveiled by the town mayor, was created at full size. Keith worked in sections with traditional media and then combined layers of line work, watercolour washes and flat colour in photoshop, assembling all the sections like a jigsaw. Keith says: "I won the commission shortly after moving to the Lyme area and it's been a great way to get to know the town and its history. Now that it's done I'm finally getting some sleep without dreaming of small buildings all night!"

FRAME X FRAME Ice Cream

 An amusing personal project from top animator Nick Murray Willis on why his friends like ice cream. Watch it now.

FRAME X FRAME ABC Easy

Bill Greenhead's app for the iPad is an easy-peasy alphabet game for children, perfect for pre-schoolers to learn their ABC. Get it here

Watch it now 

John Holder's Scrapbook

Veteran illustrator John Holder explains his career path was due to being top of the class in Art at school. John Holder's Scrapbook.

Knit Your Own Royal Wedding

Alan Baker creates another absurdly amusing animation. 

With the Royal Wedding upon us, these knit your own royals created by Fiona Goble and published by Ivy Press have received much media interest. Alan’s animation, a promotional piece for the Lewes-based book publisher includes lots of typical wedding dancing, and a corgi of course. WATCH IT NOW.

Frame X Frame M&M Red Light

  Enjoy this M&M world, Tom Steyer's animation shouldn't be amusing, thank goodness it's made of sweets! WATCH IT NOW.

Fishstix

Chris Lensch has completed illustrations for Fishstix commissioned by Peaceable Kingdom Press.  Chris says "...The game has been very successful and has won multiple awards including: Parents' Choice 2009 Gold Award, Dr. Toy 10 Best Games of 2009 and, Dr. Toy 100 Best Products of 2009. It's bright, colorful and fun and the gameplay is simple and direct..." See it here.

Advertising Gray

It's one of those images from Gray Jolliffe that needs no words from us. So best we leave it that way. Clever work Gray.  Gray Jolliffe's personal website.

Sholto Walker's Scrapbook

Bicycle enthusiast Sholto Walker talks of wheel building, Otto Dix and medieval England.Sholto Walker's Scrapbook.

Are You Single?

Tim Bradford's colourful creations were appointed by Time Out Dubai to explore the complicated issue of 'Why You're Single'.

Louise Brown of ITP Consumer Publishing commissioned Tim to create nine illustrations for use on the front cover and inner spreads, as well as hand-drawing the text for the title page. Says Tim: "I was given a loose outline of what the copy might be and then just got stuck in."

Educating Vigla

Some of us find it easier to learn than others. The challenge for Vincent Vigla was to create seven illustrations showing that even robots can find it difficult. Commissioned by French magazine "Le Monde de L'Education" we think Vincent passed the test!

Still Playing Ball

Meet Lefty and Righty. Two, um, "characters" designed and animated by Bill Greenhead for Marie Stopes International Vasectomy Awareness Week.

Commissioned by Dan Betts at Focus Online Media, the campaign is set to dismiss many of the commonly held myths about having a vasectomy. We won't go into specific detail right now, but you can see lefty and righty in action for yourself here.

The Small and Short of it

Going all toxic green and B-movie on us this month is Danny Allison and his ad for the BBC's small screen short films festival 'Sizemology'.

Commissioned by the BBC's Bren Callaghan and Dave McTague at Another Media, the ad is appearing in print, poster and online. For Danny it meant testing new waters: "I have never tackled the neon-style colour range before, and I also thought I'd never be spending my days carving faces into Alka Seltzers in order to make a living. What a great job!"

Say Hello to Sauerkids

A big, warm welcome to our latest illustration addition; Sauerkids!
Sauerkids are Mark Moget and Taco Sipma, an artist duo based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Besides their current day jobs as graphic designers, they started the label Sauerkids on the side as an outlet for their art and illustration work. Their character based art and illustrations have been shown in several international art exhibitions, illustration projects, magazines & books. 

Sauerkids are not only known for their humorous and colorful illustrations and fine art, but they also feel equally comfortable with designing vinyl toys, visual brands, shoes, t-shirts, sculptures, paintings and typefaces.

CLIENTS Include:

• Adobe
• EA Games
• Rotterdam Uit Magazine
• BIS Publishers
• City Museum The Hague
• Dzone magazine
• Jamungo
• Die Gestalten Verlag

See Sauerkids' portfolio here