1st Design in Store at Tesco

I started working with Tesco in May, and wasn't expecing to see any of my designs hit the stores until spring 2011 as thats what we were working on then. This one must have been pulled forward though. Its been a long time coming but its a real buzz to see my work at Britains' largest retailer.

High Summer Ts in store at Tu Clothing, Sainsbury's

One of my designs used in marketing material, above...

Branding badges and repeat prints feature on Next Girlswear garment

This girlswear garment currently available at Next features graphics and repeat prints I created. heres the original artwork below:

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...

Look After Your Insides

I'm having a laparoscopic cholecystectomy today. Or in laymens terms, gallbladder surgery. I'm less concerned about the operation itself, rather the recovery and how long I'm going to be missing work. I'm hoping somone will buy me this Howies tee to help me feel better...

New placement graphic T at Warehouse

Its a while since I designed this gothic graphic for Warehouse while I was still working in-house for a clothing manufacturer, but its now available to buy. It appears that since I last saw it the buyers have had their usual input and had some wings added and amended the central crest but theres no mistaking the print. It was always tricky to design for this client as the imagery they were prepared to use in the graphics was extremely limited, they wanted to acheive a gothic, etherial, All-Saints style without using skulls, crucifixes or other similar emotive imagery. I think this design strikes the balance though.

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.

Nightwear seems to be staying strong in the downturn

Even after 7 years, I still get a buzz whenever I see my designs out there in the world, like the shortie set above. I found the Camille website the other day which is where some of my nightwear ends up. The first row and a half on this page are my designs, I love the poses they've got the model doing, its like they've asked her to really feel the message on the pyjamas.

I seem to be writing a lot about sleepwear at the moment, I guess thats because I've been working on it all week and been discussing some new opportunities to work with other companies on nightwear so its at the forefront of my mind. I've also added to the the nightwear gallery on my website. It seems its one sector thats staying strong in the downturn. I've always been one to follow where the work is so for now that's fine by me. Below are a couple of designs I completed today.

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.

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.

Emma Cook for Topshop - Feeling inspired

The diffusion Emma Cook range in Topshop has really got me fired up. Its a quirky but simple range and hits all my 'I could do that' buttons. She has used her own photos taken in her local deer park to create these cute but strangely sinister prints. This week has been really busy on the commercial work front but I'm hoping to FINALLY get into some self-directed next week... Time to take the SLR to Bradgate Park...

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...

I could do with more space

I'm not sure if its the best space for getting creative. It was always a squeeze but the lightbox has tipped the space-to-sanity ratio over the edge. Perhaps when I get my bike shed and finally give Fiona's MTB the home it deserves it might not feel quite so crammed in here.

You can see in the picture the development of a placement graphic for Britain's Got Talent. I've taken stills from the show and created a collage with some star graphics and roses, which you can see by the printer on the right. I've then traced the image in pencil, which is on the lightbox. I've also added some watercolour splashes and scanned all these in. On the screen is the coming-together of all of these elements.

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...

Latest design at Warehouse & Britain's Got Talent

Its nice to see my back catalogue still bearing fruit. This is one of my designs created when I worked in-house for a supplier.

Today I've started work on a new project for one of the Licensed Clothing companies I design for. We're putting together a style guide for Britain's Got Talent and I'm currently working on graphics for a range of girls' apparel. Variety is the spice of life and all that!

New Lost My Dog Premium Range...

I've teamed up again with UK House Music label Lost My Dog to create a premium range of clothes and accrssories. The emphasis is on unique, hand rendered pieces of illustration to represent the brand. We're launching with 4 exciting new designs and plan to regularly update the range with new one-off designs.

Check out the shop here...

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.