Thanks for the Margerine

After yet another lapse in time, I can't help but question where it's gone... Days and nights fly by, the ink dries quickly and stays in ways I couldn't imagine. I'm 27 now and it's been non-stop. Having said that, I'm watching Louis and the Brothel again in the background. I like the way he makes cups of tea and wanders the corridors. Anyway, I digress. Life has been busy and with busy comes the good news and of course the good news. No, I didn't mis-type anything there, it's just all good.

Firstly, I am now officially a represented illustrator. By represented, I mean I'm now being carried by an agency and by agency, I'm referring to none other than the amazing folks at Jacky Winter Group's 'The Hatch'. The JW group is run by Jeremy Wortsman, an old university colleague and personal source of inspiration. His roster at the group is nothing short of amazing and diverse, so I strongly recommend you take a look at some of the other amazing artists in his collective. I feel honoured to say the least, and I'm hoping you'll be seeing the results of some of these jobs right here on this blog, and it goes without saying that I'm available for commissions, so contact the agency for further details.

Secondly, here's a new piece set to appear in the next issue of Music Australia Guide. It's another one in the icon series of artist. This month looks at American Folkster, Peter Seeger. Had a bit of fun with this one, even if it may not show. Goes to print tomorrow and should be on shelves in a week in early July.

colour

The Henfield's daughter will choke up and lose her cool.

Another quick piece for Music Australia Guide. This one is part of a series on iconic artists of our generation, in this month – 'sound botanist' Brian Eno. The concept came to me when I was listening to his Music for Airports and I imagined the way he gets some of his ambient sounds. Turns out when I was researching for this piece he appeared a lot different to how I'd always pictured him.

Linework


Base Colour


Finished Piece

Move to Arizona, start a family, eat at the bar and sleep in the family car...

Here's some really new stuff. fresh of the digital sketch pad, I'm obsessing over Travis Charest again. He was one of my biggest influences back when I was 16. 10 years on, his legacy still remains and his drawing ability still amazes me. I like the way he uses ultra-detail to define his forms, and then big black slabs elsewhere to leave the rest up to the imagination of the reader. So I warmed up yesterday and today with these two, each about 30 minutes each. I've left them rough and unrefined as there's no real intention to take them any further. If you took a look at my sketchbook right now, there's a lot of these style faces happening in it, I think there might be something in it, but I know I'm not quite hitting the mark yet... Ran some basic colour through them for interests sake.

Sketch 01


Sketch 01 (Detail)


Sketch 02


Sketch 02 (Detail)

That's when Joe Henfield gets his paycheck

No random ramblings today. Heres a really quick piece I recently finished for the current issue of Music Australia guide, for their Tech Mag Supplement. The feature article was on Google's new version of Google Earth (5.0). The updated application allows you explore the geography of the sea etc with impressive detail.

Finished piece:

Got his hand stuck in the kitchen sink, it was his birthday tomorrow and he couldn't resist

So it's Friday again. No meddling heat-waves this week, but like this time last week, I'm sitting back with a beer and putting some thought into this blog, and sending you some illustrated love.

Probably one of the most illustrated bands of 2008, including a Village Voice commission that seemed to cause an upset of sorts, TV on the Radio seemed to be just on everyone's lists come the year's closing critical breaths. In the magazine I design and illustration for, MAG, Dear Science got voted No.1 in their inaugural Top 50 albums of 2008. Regardless of whether or not I agree (truthfully and ashamedly, I didn't give it a chance), the Top 50 is the great opportunity to have some prominent illustration space. Last year it was Silverchair. Two years before was the Arctic Monkeys.

Similar to previous years, I chose to play on the title of the album and similar to last week's Black Kid's entry, feature a rather phallic looking rocket (seriously Freud, do your worst). My original idea revolved around Star Trek (TV (on the radio) Show), but the editor didn't buy it, so it was back to the drawing board. Unlike a majority of my pieces, I chose to jump from pencil to colour in this one, working in a bit more toning than I normally would, and settling on a fairly muted palette to give the whole thing a bit of a cold/serious tone. I was pretty happy with this in the end, but looking at it a few months on, I feel I could've done a lot more with it. Regardless, it was sent to the Record label and they seemed pretty happy, but for the more likely reason that one of their artists got into the magazine's no. 1 spot. Well Played.

Pencils:

Base Colour:

Finished Piece:

I saw him downtown, placing bets on the hounds, he was as big as a house, we shouldn't be messing around

It's Friday night in a sultry Melbourne and right now it's the 3rd day in a row to hit over 40 degrees (that's approximately 1,250 degrees farenheit to my friends on the other side of this world).

It's my official music month and I can't get enough. As Jay Reatard's Blood Visions blares out of my tinny lofi speakers, I came to the realisation, as I prepare to see him live with the uber-great No Age, how much music plays an important part of my life AND that it's too hot and sticky to draw. So I should probably take this chance to post some recent work and briefly talk about the week that's been from my air-conditioned tomb, in a state heat-exhausted come-down afterglow euphoria. Enough adjectives in there? I like detail.

So, as a continuation from my previous post on my annual Big Day Out Entries, I thought I'd post the most successful of my entries (this one adorned the InPress Cover, Won me 4 Big Day Out tickets, 31 CDs and more), which was entered under the creative alias of the real name of Apostropher. I'll take this opportunity to thank Apostropher again for the use of his name in my tragic and desperate scam to get my art out there (and score at least one pair of Big Day Out tickets for next to nada). This piece for those of you who missed your weekly copy due to time/location constraints, was my super-happy-rocket-filled Black Kids cover.



The Black Kids are a 5 piece out of Jacksonville Florida. Their EP of catchy melodies overshadowed by almost angsty lyrics catapulted them into the stratosphere of singalong songs and downright funtime playlists world wide.

I was fortunate enough to see them play their Corner Hotel Sideshow last Saturday night and while the sound was a little disappointing, they still brought it and played a pretty damn good show. I also took the opportunity continue my tradition of trying to show my artwork to bands that inspire in the hopes of some sort of expression of gratitude, so as soon as their set was over, I whipped around the corner (of the Corner) and nervously confronted Dawn, their awesome keyboardist who was kind enough to make the deal that she'll get the band to sign my cover illustration in exchange for another few copies of the cover and my autograph on one of them. Needless to say, I obliged and in the depth of midnight cover, managed to run past security and back into the bar to get what looked like their final copy of InPress. I quickly returned to Dawn, nervously signed it to 'Don' (I'm sorry, it was her accent!), and said goodnight.

I rang Liz to find out where she and my other friends were.
"We're backstage with the band". I quickly returned to the backdoor to see them on the other side opening beers with the band. The band were kind enough to chat to use while we drank their beers (and taught them the most important part of opening a Coopers Pale – Roll it on it's side). The fun didn't end there. Dawn graciously invited us to party with them at the Ding Dong, a small club in the city and after a quick discussion of the plan's pros and cons (1-Nill), we decided we'd head in there.

After some of us not being allowed in, we managed to find Dawn and some of the sound-crew in the club and convince them to come hang outside, where the drinks and music weren't. After 2 hours of standing around like a bunch of star-struck dorks, we somehow invited Dawn and whoever else was interested in attending our Annual backyard Australia Day barbecue.

Waking up the next morning somewhat frazzled and relatively sleep-deprived, I shook off the head-in-a-vice feeling and rang my friend Serena to confirm what in fact I was starting to disbelieve. Were some of the band I'd actually spent time illustrating actually coming to our BBQ? Was this for real? Sure enough, my good buddy Serena had arranged to pick Dawn and Ryan (their rad drum-tech) from their hotel and bring them over. So, as our usual flock of guests arrived to get their lazy drink and lazy food on, in our hot and parched backyard, they were joined by none other than the aforementioned guests.

I still hope to this day that they had a good time and soaked in some lazy culture. I also remain thankful to Ryan who taught us how to make a proper margarita, and all my friends for coping with the heat as we cooked up a usual frenzy of meat and drank until the midnight hours.

The rest of the story is a bit of a blur, but essentially we ended up hanging out with Dawn for a couple more days including a post-set drink and dance to Neil Young at Monday's Melbourne Big Day Out and (accompanied by the awesome Ali) at Cookie on the following Wednesday night before they flew out. In a word, an amazing and privelidged experience to meet some great musicians that still haven't let all that attention get to their head and tell a good yarn or two to boot. Thanks for making my year, so early on in the equation!

Here are some photos from our Barbecue and the Big Day Out. While this blog remains more a document of my artwork, I can't help but want to share something that I'm probably going to tell my kids about when I'm 80.

Thanks again to Liz, Red, Serena, Rudee, Michelle and co. for helping me use up my cheese-wheel of tickets and having a great day with me.

I look in their eyes, try to see what it was inside, I wish they were still alive

Happy New Year!
Following on from the theme of tradition brought up in my last two posts, there's no clearer indication of an impending new year than the Australian summer music festivals. For me, this is a time of hope, creativity and stringent budgeting (my wallet typically hemorrhages during december, so of course January is the time of thrift). So what better way to ring in the new music year with my annual onslaught of InPress and Herald Sun big day out entries.

Following on from last year's efforts, I decided to hit up both comps with a slog of fresh entries in a variety of styles. I thought I'd start this post off with the most direct extension of my style, a portrait of my partner's favourite, indie-hip-hop savant Lupe Fiasco. To prelude the presentation of this piece, it's worth noting that neither competition went for this one, but in the coming posts, I'll reveal both the winners and the losers of this season of perspiration and inspiration.

Inkwork


Colour


Finished piece with customised type