Zizzi Camulodunum!

Roman inspired mural

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star mural

Zizzi Ristorante commission James Grover to create two murals for a refurbishment of their Colchester restaurant.
The first of the murals was inspired by Roman pottery and mosaics, James immersed himself in the history of Colchester (or Camulodunum as it was known in Roman times) to make this gorgeous decorative piece. The second appears on the stairway at the restaurant, a star in the night sky with “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” written around the edge of a diamond - originally written as “The Star” by English poet and former Colchester resident, Jane Taylor. Both works of art were painted using acrylic paint pens and emulsion, and surely transform the interior from restaurant to gallery!

Witches Trees

Inspired by a story of witchcraft and murder, Steinar Lund produces this suitably eerie illustration. The tale, set in 1737 in a town in Wiltshire, tells of the death of 130 people and the blame given to four sisters who were subsequently accused of witchcraft. Steinar's illustration and video show the 'Witches Trees', the place where each one was buried after their murder.

Santa Maria

detail

Ian Naylor works for Dorling Kindersley to create a cut-away illustration of the Santa Maria.
Published in the Knowledge Encyclopedia, Ian's intricate 3d illustration is of the sailing ship which Columbus used to discover America.

A Cambridge Companion

 

John Holder creates many beautiful drawings for 'An Armchair Traveller's History of Cambridge'.
Living and working in the city itself whilst being one of the best contemporary reportage illustrators, makes John the perfect artist for this job. Full with on the spot drawings, this book, written by Richard Tames is out now and follows the launch of John Holder's celebration of mark making; G.O.D. - Good Old Drawing at the Cartoon Museum in London and in Cambridge.

Coin Designs for The Mint

2014 Year of The Horse

2014 Year of The Horse

2013 Year of The Water Snake

Chrissy Lau works with The Australian Mint to produce several coin designs.

Following her first commission to celebrate the Year of the Water Snake - 2013, her most recent designs for the Year of the Horse 2014 have just been launched.
Chrissy was asked to work on two distinctive illustrations for the range. The first is an energetic kicking horse inspired by Chinese brush paintings and the second design illustrates eight horses,  '8' being the symbol of wealth and success in China. Chrissy was able to research her Chinese heritage and look extensively at patterns and tapestries of past Dynasties to help with the concepts. The result being these precious collectable coins.
Chrissy says "The Year of the Horse 2014 is the year of the Wood Horse and people born in this year exude strength and stability, which is represented in the muscular tone of the horse in this design."
Chrissy is currently working on designs for the 2015 Year of The Goat, so there's more to come!
The Prestige Lunar Series Coins can be seen here.

An Emmy for Aardvark

Nathan Aardvark played Art Director and Lead Illustrator on this Emmy Award winning title sequence for Starz's 'Da Vinci's Demons.'

Last night's Emmys saw Nathan and the team crowned with the 'Outstanding Main Title Design' award for the show. Talking of the commission, a very proud Nathan says "The job was to create short animated illustrations to go on top of footage from the show. I was supplied with various clips and painstakingly sketched over the top of each frame....frame by frame! In the end I had hundreds of drawings which were then composited later in post production. I tried to keep it close to the classic style of Da Vinci as much as possible."

Another cool feature of the title is the crab cannon; when the music is played backwards the melody is the same. Watch the titles.

India on Glass

Shailesh Khandeparkar's design for glass brings together pattern, shape and colour with much confidence. He was asked to work as art director and illustrator for this commission from a glass company in India who wanted to promote the Indian characters and visuals so typical of the country. Choosing The Mughal King of India as the main focus of the artwork, Shailesh's final piece will look stunning on the glassware.