Next Boys Embroidered Triceratops T-shirt now in store

Above, the original design created in Photoshop

I'm happy with the way this one has turned out almost exactly how I designed it. Available at Next

Dinosaur Print Tee at Next

Drawing dinosaurs from scratch is never a walk in the (Jurassic) park, particularly when the client is Next, who are scrupilous about copyright law and insist that all images generated are completely original and bear no discernable resemblance to any source material.

I was pleased how this one turned out though considering dinosaur drawing is not exactly comfort zone work and I managed to acheive the painterly effect that the brief required. And, unusually for Next, my first draft, completely un-amended design went straight to production. Although that was probably more of a timescale thing than a design-perfection thing!

See it online here.

New designs at next.co.uk

I've not blogged for a while as I've been completely swamped with work, and much of it consists of things that can't be released in the public domain yet, so I've not had much to share.

The new season collection is now online at next.co.uk, and here are some of my graphics that feature:

Self employment and sickness...

...Don't go together all that well. This weekend I've had chronic stomach pains and as a result have had next to no sleep. Terrible timing as I was supposed to be working in-house at Next today. Its extremely rare that illness affects my capacity to work, but today there was no way I was up to going in. Its a gentle reminder that you have to take extra care of yourself when you're self-employed as no one else is going to do the work for you or hand out sick pay.

I'm feeling better this afternoon though and should be fine to get back to it tomorrow and my client at Next was extremely understanding and I'm going in next week instead now.

Apart from the bouts of sickness this weekend, we had lots up fun dressing up the hounds and eachother at my friend Charlotte's house which always seems to evoke eccentric behaviour...

Britain's Got Talent brief nears completion & more work for Adams

Sometimes I'll enjoy a brief so much more than others and find it really easy to complete, and theres no obvious reason why. the Britain's Got Talent project has been one of these. Perhaps its a combination of a good client, who in turn has a good client, both really decisive and constructive. Above is a watercolour sketch design for boyswear based on the one I already did for girlswear which they loved

Hopefully this latest round of amendments and recolours is the last and the project will be signed off.

I had a lovely email from the designer at Adams with some great feedback on the recent watercolour designs I completed for her and a request for lots more work from me. Adams is another good client, with concise design briefs and clear design direction, and not too unnecessarily picky so I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks working with them.

Britain's Got Talent - The Boys

I'm back on Britains Got Talent today, this time working up some placement graphics for the boys' range. Some days it flows better than others and this has been one of those days. Its a tricky brief with limited imagery and a dodgy logo, but luckily this is via one of my favourite clients who always gives me lots of graphic inspiration and direction and we bounce off eachother well.

Next Childrenswear designs in store now

Childrenswear designs I started working on for Next almost a year ago are starting to filter through into the shops. Heres a couple on the Next.co.uk website...

Its rewarding to see them finally on sale...

Lovely lightboxes

Well today was the first time in over a year of self-employment that the benefits of being an employee resonated. Oysters officially disagree with me, but theres no sick pay for me and the briefs aren't going to complete themselves.

I have managed to add quite a bit more to the gallery today too, and thanks to Tom at Double D Creative my lightboxes are fully functional, not just on my own browser! Menswear, surf and teen are starting to bulk out but its time consuming work going through an archive of thousands of artworks in an attempt to pick just a few representatives. Completion seems a distant dream. And I keep thinking of more sub-categories for the site; all over repeats... nightwear... embellishments.........