I love seeing my work on iTunes

I suppose it's the modern-day designers equivalent to hearing your song on the radio. It always puts a brief smile on my face.

See the full version here

Slipstreamlined

It's been a while since I've gotten into any Citizen work but I recently had a request from one of my favourite local bands Slipstream to create the artwork for their new album Mantra, of course I accepted.

The album's a great rock and roll record, it's got the kind of psychedelic influences you'd expect from the ex-Spiritualized guitarist, and we wanted to create something to reflect this in a modern way.

I'm not going to explain the work too much, if you have to explain why it works, then it’s not working.

Click the image below to see the whole illustration.



See more of my album artwork here

In the Factory lineage

Durutti Column signed to Factory records in 79/80 as one of Tony Wilson's first acts and their first album 'The Return of the Durutti Column'baring the catalogue number FACT 14 was the famous Peter Saville sleeve made of sandpaper (designed to destroy all the records around it).

They're a hugely important band and have earned their place in the history of music as part of the Factory scene. As you can imagine being asked to work on a Durutti Column album cover is an honor, and I've really enjoyed working under the pressure of my legendary peers.

My work on the album, 'Sunlight To Blue... Blue To Blackness' gives me a direct link to greatness, however vague it is, you can trace a line from Tony Wilson, to Factory Records, to Peter Saville and Duritti Column, skip a few years and there's me at the end of it, smiling like a buffoon.

You can see the cover here and the inside of the booklet here.

It's a great album and when it's released on Kooky you'll be able to pick it up at all good record stores.

Exhibition Success

Well, I had a good time anyway. The work looked great, it was surprisingly busy and I met a fan all the way from New York, which was really nice.

Thanks to everyone who made it on the day, and if you didn't make it, it's on until 7th Feb at the Art Vinyl Gallery, 20 Broadway Market, London.

You can see some photos from the day here

Maps Exhibition

At long last I have details of the exhibition of all my Maps artwork. It's this Saturday 24th from 12midday until 5pm at The Art Vinyl Gallery, 20 Broadway Market, London E8 4PH. The exhibition runs from January 24th - February 7th

I’ll be there and James chapman will be DJing at the opening which will be attended by most of the artists. It’s my first ever exhibition, so if anyone is in the area please drop by. More info here.

Thanks to the people at Mute and at the Art Vinyl Gallery for all their help.

To The Sun

I forgot to post this last month. It's the Maps artwork in the Sun, and it's on my favorite page, Victoria Newton's Bizarre.

There are no mountains left for me to conquer. Good night.

Building the Middle of Nowhere Poster.

I thought it might be interesting to dissect a piece of work and talk through all the layers that go into something. Plus I'm a bit 'Mondayed' today and this is quite a relaxing thing to do.

So the brief was for a festival to take place in next year in Northampton called 'Middle of Nowhere'. I knocked together a load of obvious festival-looking ideas before I got anywhere close to something interesting. I wanted to avoid the whole Summer of 69 vibe, illustrations of flowers and trees, summer and sun, love and peace and harmony because let's be honest festivals aren't about that anymore.



(You might need to right click the picture on the right and have it open in another window to follow the steps).

ONE. So this is the starting point. I wanted an empty sky that had some drama and a little bit of detail. I found this on Flickr on a search for sky and fog. It took a while, but it was perfect.

TWO. The next step was to colour the frame to make it look more dramatic and flattern the tomes a little. I added a couple of layers of distorted pigment that I found on iStock Photo and used the Hard Light filter to make these sit on top of the photo and let the detail and scruffiness bleed through.

THREE. I wanted to age the poster, in a non-trite way. I really liked the US posters for Death Proof, they were artificially aged really well, so I borrowed that kind of look. I wanted them to look like they'd been folded in someone's loft for 30 years and the gloss has all stuck together and ripped off when it was pulled apart.

FOUR. For the title of the festival I wanted to build something illustrative into the photograph and not simply overlay the type on top of it. I played about with several ideas including a reel of film and a cinema canopy, but eventually I decided on instruments and cameras. I've used Gretsch drums and guitar and an old cine camera to hold the text.

FIVE. The final step was some flatterened colour correction and to overlay the type, I used a new font I’ve found called Coolvetiva, crap name, but lovely font.

I brought contrast up in Photoshop to bolster the hues and make it look more juicy. Finally I placed the logos, I love putting little logos on posters, I always think they give work some authority.

The festival is currently in negotiations, so it's all underwraps at the moment. When the final work is signed off it will be on my Flickr Site.