beardy mc beard face

http://toysrevil.blogspot.com/2010/07/beard-up-paper-beard-contest-by-kenn.html

hahahaha I bloody love this! I've been thinking a little TOO professionally recently.. imagining how I'm going to have to adapt my way of working/style to fit a corporate world.. but why? this cover of Design Week by Ken Monk has reminded me that my own work is about having fun, nostalgia for my childhood and pretty much silly nerdiness... so... excuse me whilst I go print and make myself a beard...

D&AD Don't Panic

well.. i DID PANIC!.. i didnt know what to expect.. i was nervous before even getting there and was kinda just looking forward to doing a bit of networking but for those who dont already know.. I bloody won! I came first in the D&AD Don't Panic Illustration category with my "Don't Do That" poster as it has now been named...

I was shocked more than anything, purely because I expected Tom Rainford's piece to win, but saying that... I am truly happy that I did... I'm so excited about it and feel as if I havent truly celebrated yet or flaunted it... (mainly because half of my friends dont know/understand what it means). It was a beautiful day for the ceremony to be held on, although a little too warm, but also a fantastic choice of venue in the Old Spitalfields Market down in London. The setup of the event was designed to almost force students and professionals to mingle and interact, however I spent more time with my tutor and the 3 other entrants in the Illustration category - Tom Rainford, Helen Vine and Chris Arrowsmith. We were later introduced to Phil Nutley of Corridor and Patrick Burgoyne of Creative Review, who commented on each of our works, gave advice and generally just listened to use waffle on.

This is all a bit new to me... but here is a video summarising the ceremony with a small bit featuring me.. D&AD Student Awards

as well as the D&AD Illustration page

As part of the competition, I had a little interview featured on the Don't Panic website and 80,000 of my posters will be printed and distributed in September this year.... can't wait... I'm gonna try get a couple!

there's also various other links online that have covered the award ceremony including...

Creative Review

Digital Arts Magazine

Macworld

Summer is HERE!!!!!

ok... i've not been on here in a while and I'm a little ashamed of myself, certain things in my life have affected me ways greater than I could've ever imagined and just when you think you have everything sorted out... the rug is pulled out from under you... but enough of me cryin about my life...

first thing's first...

This summer saw the 3rd years graduate from Stockport and couldnt have been more excited... a) because I wanted to see the final show, b) because i am looking forward to getting into 3rd year myself and finally c) I was asked to design the cover for the Stockport College newsletter/poster: Picture Box...



In a similar fashion to my Don't Panic poster, I went through a steadily progressive process to create the image... from selecting a composition from a thumbnail, to sketching out the final thing, working over it with tracing paper, putting it into Illustrator and then finalising things like text and texture in Photoshop...