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

New Designs in Adams

A couple of my designs now available at Adams kidswear...

Nuts

I have been working on lots of lovely hand-rendered girlswear designs for Adams recently. Its nice to have an opportunity to incorporate some original illustrations. This is one of my sketches I have been working with:

New Strictly Come Dancing Girls' Clothing Range At Mothercae

I do all my licensed placement graphics via a third party, so I'm never sure where they could end up as the style guides containing my designs may be sold to anyone. Designs from the Strictly Come Dancing range I worked on last year have found their way to Mothercare which is a great retail platform for the collection.

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:

Paisley Park

A paisley design for the tribal brief...

Tribal girlswear butterfly print

I've been continuing with the tribal brief, completing the artwork above which will be a oversize front placement. I've been developing ways to create etherial painterly and photographic effects which are still solid colour and therefore viable for standard screen output and this butterfly is an example of this technique.

I'm off to Manchester now to visit some old friends and soak up some big-city culture (and no doubt get my Urban Outfitters fix)

Have a good weekend!

Working from home on a sunny day - tribal girlswear brief

I've been working on a great brief today for older girlswear 2010, incorporating some lovely tribal elements. There's been lots of hand-rendering involved at this stage so I've been lucky enough to sit outside and work in the garden and enjoy the gorgeous weather we've had today. The jolly pair above who started life in the sunshine will hopefully end up on a girls tee on the high street.

This has been my studio for the day:


My colleague is a bit lazy...


But the locals are friendly.

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.

Baby and toddler graphics on phirefly.co.uk

I'm really pleased to have added content to the baby and toddler gallery of my online portfolio. This is an area I'd really love to do more of, so I'm hoping now I have this showcase of some of my best work I can feel confident to approach potential clients.

I've been speaking to an agent in the US about representation over there, I really need to develop a strong body of self-directed art before I can seriously start thinking about that, so I'm now more motivated than ever to get cracking on some personal illustrative work.

I'm just struggling to find the time at the moment, I've been working on the website all day and tomorrow I'm meeting in London with the company I design nightwear for to discuss some new projects with them. While I'm in the smoke, I'm planning to visit the Dover Book Shop for some inspirational material and also Images 33, an exhibition of British contemporary illustration at the London College of Communication which I'm hoping will be equally inspiring. If I get time I'd love to visit my favourite gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, but I'll see how I get on!

Ikea fabrics

My crafty friend Anna has found the most fabulous fabric in a most unexpected place, Ikea. It has further fuelled my desire to get working on some repeat prints for a small run of fabric from spoonflower. If only I could ever get this Britain's Got Talent brief finished....

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.

Watercolour designs for Adams

I'm back to the days of burning the midnight oil again. Which is no bad thing considering. This week I've been working on a real mixed bag, fistly some branding and World cup Ts for Tu Clothing, and today I've been splashing the paints around to create the watercolour print above for Adams girlswear. The rest of the week I'm back to Britain's Got Talent, the boys range this time. And there was I thinking that with the downturn I'd finally get chance to enjoy working on some self directed projects. Maybe next week...

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...

Branding for ITV's Rainbow Magic, Charlotte Allen & I ♥ Julia Pott

After a steady start to the year (compared to the regular 60+ hour weeks of last year that is) things seem to be gathering momentum, particularly on the nightwear and licensed side of things. I'm working on some exciting new projects for ITV in particular, rainbow magic garment branding images above.

I've also been inspired to try and find time to do some more personal work prompted by the amazing illustrations and animations of Julia Pott. I also have been inspired this week after visiting my friend Charlotte Allen who is currently working on a fabulous range of digital prints for her Fashion MA which incorporate her beautiful drawings inspred by nature and eclectic vintage pieces.

I count myself lucky every day that I get to draw pictures for a living, but all of my work is extremely commercial, great because it pays the bills, but by its nature quite limiting. I'm hoping to find time to work on some more self-directed projects over the coming months.

Brand New Phirefly

My new phirefly.co.uk site goes live after months (years) of talking about it. As much as I'll miss the jolly yellow phirefly and polaroid snaps about the place, it was time to present my work in a more professional context. There's no point paying all that money for hosting if I'm too embarassed to pass my site details to anyone...

I'll be working on adding some content over the coming weeks and will try my best to keep this blog updated!