MERRY CHRISTMAS!

To everyone who's read (or reading) my blog - Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! See you in 2008...

On the cover...

It seems that recently, most of my artistic time has been spent creating covers for the ever growing series of live, fan made CD's and DVD's from TheHipTracker. I really enjoy making these covers. Not only do they provide me with an outlet to give something back to a community that has given me so much, but they also give me a focused project to keep me ticking over, as well as somewhere to try out new techniques and ideas. It's also nice as it gives me scope to use type, thus giving me a nice mix of illustration and graphic design - winner! So, with all that said, I thought I'd share some with you on here. I'd like to hear what you think...

Most, if not all over the above can either be downloaded as part of the torrent from the tracker, or from The Unique Motel or covers.hipfans.com

A change in the weather...

Recently, over at the IS, we've had a CD compilation exchange. The theme was 'A change in the Weather' which was inspired by the change of the seasons from Summer to Autumn, but the brief was widened to also include any real change in your life. I was pleased with my compilations, and even more so with the cover. I knew that although the brief wasn't strictly tailored to that subject, I wanted to keep the Autumnal feel. I struggled for a while getting something I was happy with, but once I had the branch and the bird in place, it all seemed to fit together. I'm starting to find the best way is to just to throw everything at the image and then cut it back until you're left with something you're happy with. It seemed to do the trick at any rate.

The lucky (or perhaps not so) recipient of my CD was Paula Bowles. I hope she's enjoying it. The tracklist was as follows...

01 Manic Street Preachers - Faster

02 The Tragically Hip - My Music At Work

03 Pearl Jam - Rearviewmirror

04 Rush - The Spirit Of Radio

05 Rilo Kiley - Portions For Foxes

06 The Samshing Pumpkins - Today

07 Death Cab for Cutie - Why You'd Want To Live Here

08 The Cooper Temple Clause - Who Needs Enemies?

09 Tool - Stinkfist

10 Incubus - Aswethinkweis

11 Ben Folds Five - Alice Childress

12 Steve Vai - Sisters

13 Boards of Canada - Telephasic Workshop

14 The Postal Service - Sleeping In

15 Rush - Closer To The Heart

16 The Tragically Hip - Escape Is At Hand For The Travellin' Man

The Photoshop Professional?...

Well, apprently so (sort of). I was approached by Nick Spence to answer some questions about creative online forums (or "fora" as the plural should be?) for Advanced Photoshop Magazine. This was an invitation I duly accepted, and lo and behold, my insane ramblings were actually used, along with one of my images being printed! It's all rather exciting...

Who gives you extra?...

I was having a clear out of old bank statements and the like yesterday. As I'm sure you all know, Credit Card bills come with an assortment of other bumpf that no one (I imagine) takes the slightest bit of interest in. I know I don't. So, imagine my suprise when pulled out a handful of said junk mail only to have this land in my lap...

This is the finished leaflet from Halifax, which I did the background for! Granted, it's very subtle, but it's definitely there which makes it my first piece of professional work that I've seen in print! I'm rather excited about it all.

In other (exciting) news, I'm off to see Rilo Kiley for the first time tonight! I've just bought their new album, so I have some revision to do this afternoon before the gig...

Hands...

Some sketchs I did whilst "watching" Heroes last night. I'm trying to get the creative juices flowing on another (rather exciting!) project I have in the pipeline. More on that soon, hopefully...

New Hipfans Banner

My recent Hip-based image for The Travelling Sketchbook has now been made into another banner for Hipfans.com. Personally, I think it's one of my favourites that I've done!

The Travelling Sketchbook

I have finished my Hip themed image for the Travelling Sketchbook project. I hope you like it! There's a bit more information about it on the official Travelling Sketchbook Blog.

Soundtrack...

I'm finally getting round to compiling my CD for the FD exchange. Why oh why am I so rubbish at doing these?! I always get really excited aboout it, but then it ends up being a real chore as the deadline looms. Ah well, I guess I'll never learn. I have, however, produced a nice cover that I'm pleased with - especially as it's the first bit of illustration work I've done for seemingly ages. You may have noticed that there is a distinct lack of tracklist - this mainly because I (still) haven't decided exactly what to put on there. I told you I was rubbish.

Anyway, what see yea, the blog loving public at large?...

Life Drawing - Pt.5

I went to life drawing again on Monday, for the first time in what feels like ages. The Manics tour seems to have completely wiped out May! It's been good though!

Anyway, I actually remembered to take my watercolour paints with me this time, and I'm pleased with what I produced...

SCC Logo - Pt. 2

After Chris' comments yesterday about my SCC logo designs, I have made a few slight alterations...




I think the added line of the left leg does seem to make things clearer. Any opinions?

Late breaking story at the SCC...

I've been asked by the powers that be within the SCC (Sandstone Climbing Club) to design a logo/header/t-shirt design for the club. This was an opportunity, that naturally, I jumped at! The "brief" (i.e. Ashby trying to string a vaguely professional sentence together without passing out from exhaustion - He's editor of the Sandpaper, the SCC magazine as well now. Piers Morgan eat your heart out!) was that they wanted a yellow and black colour scheme. The idea is that the logo design could also be printed onto club t-shirts and form the basis of the layout for Sandpaper. I saw this as a great opportunity to try out some of my new found Adobe Illustrator skills...



I decided that I wanted the design to be landscape(ish) in its orientation, so I initially began with a picture of a climber on an overhang route. This seemed (to me) to work ok, but some feedback from the illustrators forum suggested that he looks like he's falling. So, after finding another suitable image (i.e. a clean, clear outline) I tried the second design which I think possibly works better.

Any feedback is most welcome.

Me, Myself and I...

I thought I'd better drag this blog (at least in part) kicking and screaming into the realm of illustration again, thus making it worth of the URL it sports. So here, without further ado is, is the next stage in the evolution of my London self portrait...

I've tried a few new tricks in this image, including trying to get a spray painted effect on the phone boxes which I think has worked but needs refining. I think the clouds have added a nice dimension to it as well. I have a load of things I want to try now, I just need to find the time...

Opinions and feedback are welcome - what do you think, guys?

P.S. It's so hot in the office today!!

The winner by a nose...

I was presented with this sketch on the Illustrators forum today! It seems that I've been given the Jonathan Cusick treatment! I feel honoured!

Apparently I reminded him of a young Pete Townshend, which isn't the first time that comparison has been drawn (no pun intended!). If you're a fan of charicatures, then check out his blog/website.

Thanks for the laugh, Jonathan.

My Banners At Work...

After some rescaling, recropping and resizing - my banners now have pride of place on Hipfans.com. I know I'd get there in the end! I have to say, I think I prefer the new composition.

Hiptracker...

In addition to the Hipfans banners, I also made a start on a graphic for the HipTracker. I'm really pleased with it, and I think the simplicity of it works well considering the space I have to fill...

Hip Hop - Pt. 2

I've done it!! I've finally finished "the set". Yes, it's true - The set of six Hipfans banners are done. I have to say, I am really happy with them as a whole (especially the purple Gord one, and the Red, Rob one.) I think I may have to make some alterations to the original three so they fit together better with the new ones, but I think they should work quite well.

I just hope Chris likes them!...




What say you, blog fans?

Life Drawing Experiment...

I've been experimenting with one of my sketches from my life drawing session last week. I'm quite pleased with the outcome on the whole. I think I'm really starting to get to grips with getting a real convincing 'weathered' look in Photoshop.

New Yoik...

Yep, I've cracked out the New York photos again, and coupled with my car sketch from the other day, I have made another image that I'm really happy with!

I have a sneaking suspicion that a version of this could well find itself on a T-shirt some time soon...

C'mon, Jump in my car...

During my experimenting at work, I produced a sketch of the Chevvie we saw in Toronto. I then coloured it up in Photoshop, and I'm really happy with the result! I've also included a step-by-step image of how I went about colouring it (more for my own piece of mind than anything - I always find myself thinking "How the hell did I do that again?!"). Anyway, I hope you like it!