YARNfest...the Aftermath.

Right, well, here we go, my first live drawing write up!
I took part in the YARNfest 2011 'Cover Wars' event last week, in which 4 illustrators, myself included (no way! Yes way.), representing different creative networks went head-to-head to design a new cover for Hanif Kureishi's celebrated novel 'The Buddah of Suburbia'. Needless to say, I was terrified. Like, completely, dude.

The other artists taking part were all really good and talented, and having done a bit of research into their work, it only added to my already rather large and indomitable pile of utter terror. They were as follows: Claire Hartley representing Ammo Magazine, Robin Boyden representing Paper Fox Press and Hidden Dingbat representing The Hidden Dingbat Collective. A surmountable amount of talent. Meep. And ME (Jamie Littler. Please pay attention). Representing the Soupa Creative Network! Woooo!

Gooooo Soupa!

But, to cut a long story short, it was a great, great night. After a little introduction from us all, it was straight into it, Claire Hartley versus myself. She did a beautiful piece that was really nicely detailed (and we both had to really strip back our style to the bare minimum...we had 20 minutes to do an A2 illustration! 20 MINUTES!! That's like...how long it takes me to get out of bed after my alarm!)

The really nice banners team Ammo Magazine brought to support Claire.

As soon as I started drawing, and managed to control my shakey hand, and got over the fact that I began by drawing my image too high on the page and had to rub it all out again...I got in the 'zone', and managed to block out the fact that we were being watched by a big (and very supportive!) crowd, and I found myself really enjoying it! I even managed to relax enough to hear Hanif Kureishi himself reading excerpts from his book whilst we were drawing, and the guy was incredibly funny. With all the talented artists there that night, who were all incredibly cool and nice to boot, I somehow managed to swing a second place, which I couldn't have been more surprised with! The winners were the brilliant Hidden Dingbats...well done guys! I really was impressed with everyone's design that night, and I really recommend you check the guys out! So yes. I shall definitely be doing some more live drawing in the near future. Who ever would have known that it's just like drawing?
My lotus flower cover...


Claire Hartley and I going HEAD TO HEAD.


Blocking in my colours...wet ink and watercolour...with only 20 minutes...no time to let it dry. But who does have the time, these days?


The clock is ticking. And Hanif Kureishi's reads from 'The Buddah of Suburbia'


The judges JUDGING.


Aaaaand my finished piece. Aw.
Thanks so much to the guys at YARNfest for putting this night on, and to Jo and all the Soupa lot for their support and for being awesome. All the photos here were taken by Clare Kelly (from Soupa...WOOOO! Thanks a lot, Clare!)

Steam Punk Ahoy!

Hello again!

I've decided to post these two preview pages of a graphic novel idea I have been working on. I started working on the idea at the beginning of last year, but other work has since taken precedence, but I al quite excited about this idea, and would like to come back to it as soon as I can! I don't want to say too much about it, for numerous reasons...1) It still in its early stages and...2) It may never see the light of day, so I don't want to hype it up too much just yet. But needless to say, it does involve machines. And orange.

YARNfest 2011

Ah yeahs, just a gentle reminder about YARNfest!

Here's the link to their site again, just incase you missed it:

http://www.yarnfest.com/

It's shaping up to be a really, really great weekend. A festival of storytelling, literature, art and illustration, and many illustrators from the network I am a part of; Soupa, will be taking part in the various events, including the Zine Workshop on Saturday. I'm gunna drop by and show my support!

And then on the Monday at the Queen of Hoxton, I will be one of the four artists battling it out in 'Cover Wars!' trying to design and illustrate a new cover for Hanif Kureishi's 'The Buddah of Suburbia', which will then be judged by the author himself and Jon Gray from the design studio Gray318 (gulp). It should be a really good night, the other artists are brilliant and i will be attempting to draw and paint on A2 paper...which I haven't done since college! It will definitely be a site! So yes...I will hopefully see you there!

Stuff.

Well, I still have to wait a bit before I can show the illustration work I've been working on (I'm very excited, but I can't show it until the stuff has either been released or announced etc...please bare with me!)

So I'm just scouring my sketchbooks at the moment to keep this blog alive! I found these images of WAR (RRRAAGGH) which I thought I'd post, as they are no longer going to be used (I drew this MASSIVE battle scene, spanning numerous pages...it was painful to just drop it, but hey, that's what this blog is for!). But to show I'm not some bloodthirsty beast, here's a cheeky paper cut-out musk oxen as well, for your delictation.

Comissions and YARNfest (21st February!)

Hey there!
Here's some recent comissioned work I have completed, and I must say (I truely must, no...no really) that I had an absolutely great time doing them. The brief was really open, which is always nice, and I could just have fun with foxes and trees. As I've had a lot of tight briefs and big deadlines recently (not that I'm complaining, actually, I'm kind of rejoicing), it was a real nice breath of fresh air to do something so free and different. Almost like yoga. Or flying an X-Wing in a rogue squadron.

In other news, I will be doing my first live drawing event on the 21st of February at the YARNfest 2011 Cover Wars event, which can be found here.

I'll be representing the Soupa Creative Network and going head to head with three other fine illustrators representing their own respective London Creative Networks as we illustrate a cover for the book 'The Buddha of Suburbia' (which I'm quite nervous about, but extremely excited too...AAAARGH!). Should be a really good night, so if you're in the area, and feel like watching me snap my pencil leads in absolute nerves...book a ticket and come say hi! I'll post more info as I get it!