Bill animates Trans-Atlantic Tumnus

Bill Greenhead's latest whiteboard animation is a music video for Free Swim.
The group asked Bill to make a video for their latest rock track "Trans-Atlantic Tumnus", and of course Bill jumped at the opportunity. He says " The track gave me a chance to try out lots of new techniques in whiteboard art. I wanted to be able to place static objects and for them to spring into life. Lots of 3d animation with UFOs and robots. It's a fun track to animate." Watch the animation.

New Talent Alert: Lisa Beta

Lisa Beta is an illlustator & character designer who gathers ideas by taking a look at the everyday world from another angle. Clients include BBDO, Amnesty International and KFC, take a look at her humorous portfolio...

A London Story

The London Transport Museum have been using Anne Wilson's city inspired image to advertise the lead up to the Serco Prize for illustration 2014.
The theme for this year's competition is 'London Stories' with the winners announced mid February and the start of the exhibition based on the theme. Anne will also be running a workshop at the exhibition in the Transport Museum on the evening of the 14th February as part of the opening, which will include "a bar and DJ and storytelling for adults on board some of the heritage vehicles; a chance to illustrate your own London Story with short illustration workshops, and to strike a pose in a photo-booth with a choice of props". See the AOI website for more information.

Bob Robber and Dancing Jane

'Bob Robber and Dancing Jane'; a children's book illustrated by Bee Willey and written by Andrew Matthews is to stage as a ballet!

Produced by Clare Prenton,  the story now evolved as 'Shadow Thief' is a thrilling development of the original book about the dark souled Bob Robber who learns to dance and live in the light with help from Dancing Jane. Bee says "Both myself and Andrew were delighted at the clip with the lyrics we were sent by Clare's agent, and also by the twitter info around the rehearsals in Barnes, seemingly leading to a premiere in 2014 in Edinburgh! It is wonderful for a story like this to take off in a new context…"

Dolores

This moody painting by T.S Spookytooth is a promotional piece for his short story "Dolores".
Spookytooth says " (The story) revolves around a house that sits on an unkempt lawn that was sun scorched from summers past and tangled with weeds that winter could not kill. It concerns a young girl called Dolores and who she is...or was." The mystery of the narrative echoes Spookytooth's enigmatic illustrations. We look forward to seeing more.

Anne Wilson in Mac User

Anne's feature in Mac User

a selection of Anne's art used in the article

January's edition of Mac User Magazine features an article on the wonderful Anne Wilson. Experiencing the industry in times before our digital world, Anne talks of the changes, her illustration education and inspirations with some sound advice; " just do what you do".

The article:
I have been practicing as an illustrator for the past 15 years or so...the time seems to have flown past so fast at an unbelievable rate. During this time the technology I've experienced has evolved tremendously. One of my very first commissions for example was completed through to the finals stage using a fax machine! Email now is second nature, and the format now in which discussions on projects tend to take place in the main, to the point where now I cannot remember the first time I began using email! It has always been a highly competitive industry and unless, for the most part, illustrators keep an eye on the technology available to them and embrace it in their working practice, those around will most likely have the upper hand.
I love the global feel of the industry, now more apparent than ever. Often I get work via the USA and recently I have completed a few jobs for various clients in Korea. The days of hiking around London with my portfolio focusing in the main on UK based clients, has passed and evolved into an exciting mix of cultures, opportunities and inspiration on a world wide basis.
On the one hand there seems to be a constant barrage of fightingly good illustrators graduating and entering the industry today, bright eyed, fast paced and full of imagination, which is both wonderful and overwhelming for me. But on the other hand it provides a pool of fantastic inspiration which serves to keep me well on my toes year after year. As this career tends to be a rather solitary one, the reality of the competition for commissions is important, a good reason I feel to take the time and energy to enter industry led competitions when ever possible. They serve as a good tool to sharpen your creative processes and a bench mark for where you are at within the illustration world.
New creatives are certainly one source of inspiration. More and more creative collectives are appearing such as the illustrator led groups of Ohh Deer and No Brow, but global culture in the main endlessly fascinates me, from intricate details, patterns, textures, colours and beliefs people possess and live their lives by.
What would I be lost without? Well the traditional side of me would undoubtedly opt for my Swan Morton scalpel, with blade 10a, and the current side of me would say my Wacom drawing tablet and pen (teamed up with my Mac and Photoshop.) I think it is important to embrace both sides, to pick up a pencil, or my dip pen and ink and commit to a drawing, or make marks with mono prints and any other mixed media I might care to throw at a surface in the moment. Neither are seen as a separate entity and when the two working methods are brought together, exciting things evolve from their meeting. I enjoy the physical process of colour mixing and mark making according to what might be suitable for the project I am working on. These results then get scanned and imported into Photoshop to create a final image. Increasingly it is my Wacom pen and eraser tool which becomes my scalpel.
I certainly don't even pretend to be remotely wise, but if I had a little wisdom to share, I would say keep it all positive, be 'can do' in your communications with clients and get plenty of fresh air!
I have always felt compelled to draw and create something on paper or whatever comes to hand. I loved picture books as a child and as my reading progressed I would still look for the pictures! I think since school I had in my mind that creating pictures to tell a story or describe something was what I wanted to aim for, just to see if maybe I could give it a go, and maybe I might be able to keep doing it, and just maybe, if that happened I could make it my job! The funny thing is, that I still don't feel I have a 'job', so in an obscure sort of way that makes me a very lucky person!
So I progressed as follows; school, (start drawing) A levels, (keep drawing) Art Foundation course, (more drawing) Degree - BA Honours at Bath, (definitely some drawing here) and then I went to do an MA in Communication Design at St Martins College of Art in London a few years ago, where I was lucky enough to get a Distinction, (masses of drawing stuff went on here!) There was no other obvious career paths for me, in my mind it was simple, I love drawing and creating images, so all I have to do it keep creating and I felt that one day I would become a professional creative of some sort - illustration fitted the bill nicely.
Some of my favourite projects have been children's picture books, I have completed several for Barefoot Books, but other recent clients include The London Transport Museum, The Independent On Sunday, The BBC, Mojo Magazine, Francis Lincon, Feast Creative, Beam, Crocodile Creek and Save the Children.
So that's me in brief! I would add though that one thing I have learnt through time, frustration, joy and the general madness my creative world involves, is that you can over think things to the point where you just can't see...my answer, is to take a deep breath...and just do what you do.

Jo Rose's Scrapbook

Based in the New Forest, illustrator Jo Rose lets us glimpse into her magical creative world. See Jo's Scrapbook.

Mt First Kafka is One of the Best

'My First Kafka' illustrated by Rohan Daniel Eason makes one of the thirteen 'Best Children’s, Illustrated, and Picture Books of 2013'.
Selected by journalist and writer Maria Popover of Brain Pickings, the book is Matthue Roth's adaptation of Kafka for kids. Rohan gets much praise for his work too, Maria writes " Indeed, it’s hard not to see Sendak’s fatherly echo in Eason’s beautifully haunting black-and-white drawings." Read more on the book here.

Once Upon A Time

Bee Willey will be taking part in 'Once Upon A Time'; an exhibition celebrating Children's Book Illustrators of East Anglia.
Opening on 25th January, the show takes place at Ipswich Art School and includes original artwork from artists such as Edward Ardizzone, Michael Foreman,  Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone and Helen Oxenbury. Bee says "I am very happy to be showing five images here as part of a large show at the Ipswich Art School Building. This is one of the artworks included as well as older pre-digital pieces . It is great to be there amongst great illustrators!". Running until the beginning of May, admission to the exhibition is free.

New Talent Alert: Dr Ponce

Meet Belgium based illustrator Dr Ponce, whose colourful work focuses on shapes, characters and composition, often inspired by his childhood.