Giant Drag, the farewell tour

Just did a little poster design for Giant Drag on their farewell tour; here's a nice picture I took of the bodacious Annie Hardy displaying it: (thanks Annie!)

2 colour (also available in orange/blue), limited edition of 100. Available to buy from my online store, woohoo!

I first heard Giant Drag at college when I was 19 after my friend Kieran introduced me to 'Hearts and Unicorns'. I played the album in my car endlessly for about 2 months during the end of a doomed relationship, until I inevitably lost the cd to the black hole that exists under the passenger seat where it was never seen again. 

If you want to keep up with the awesome shit Annie is getting up to post-Giant Drag, you should visit http://www.anniehardyparty.com/ where she will be posting stuff to do with her new musical adventures in Annie Hardy and the Psychos.

xox

Upfest 2013

WHAT A WEEKEND! Massive thanks to the guys at Upfest for letting me take over one of their boards - my Upfest/street art virginity is officially broken! It's been an epic, paint-fuelled, sun-soaked 2 days, and it's amazing to be part of such a huge number of talented artists who come from all over to take part in the festival and turn Bristol's streets into a living, breathing outdoor gallery. I had a lot of fun experimenting and trying out new stuff like spray cans and markers, which was pretty exciting. I must admit though, it was slightly nerve-racking laying down a great big picture of my face! What was I thinking?! Thanks to all those who came with their support and a beer!

The Destroyers

I finished designing and printing my first ever screen printed gig poster at Jacknife Studios last week for the brilliant Destroyers show at the Fleece on Saturday! Feeling really chuffed with how it turned out and the appreciation it received from the band and fans makes the whole process so rewarding. Screen printing is fast becoming a real addiction for me, and I can't wait to get cracking on the next design!

If you'd like to buy a poster, purchases can now be made by clicking on the link to my shop. Each Destroyers poster comes signed and numbered out of a limited edition run of 100, fits nicely in an A2 frame and is hand printed using the finest water-based inks in the land. x

Also - make sure to check out the circus swing rampage that is The Carny Villains. The Invisible Circus band are let loose out of Carny Town... coming soon to a stage near you!

Admiral Fallow, 'The Paper Trench'

Latest collaborative work on the music promo for Admiral Fallow's 'The Paper Trench'. I worked on the design and making of the tree costume, as worn in the video by actor Jez Hellion, also known as Hagrid's body double in Harry Potter! That's a big tree suit.

'The Paper Trench' is the new single taken from Admiral Fallow's brand new album 'Tree Bursts In Snow'.

Director: Gregory Davenport
Producer: Licia Shirin Conn
1st AC: Emilio Schlappi
2nd AC: Alistair King
Gaffer: Raz Khamehseifi
Grade: Toby Tomkins
Costume Design: Ashley Clarke
MUA: Sammm Agnew

A Fantastic Fear of Everything

Here it is folks; the trailer for A Fantastic Fear of Everything is out, featuring the animated hedgehog puppets I designed and made for the film! This is the secret film project I may have mentioned that I was working on last summer.
Release date is set for June 8th in UK cinemas, we can't wait! x

link to the IMDb page
Hollywood Reporter review ("disturbing-looking hedgehog"!)

Admiral Fallow, the making of Tree Man

Last month I was contacted by fabulous director Greg Davenport of Epoch Films, London to help him find a solution to his urban 'Tree Man' character idea for a music promo for Glaswegian band Admiral Fallow. He quickly shot over some pointers to be included in the design and I sketched out some rough visualizations for the costume...

NB - The actor donning the tree suit was eventually confirmed as Jeremy Hill, who played Hagrid's body in the Harry Potter films, not Tom as I originally drew in the designs! Either way, both actors are exceptionally tall. 

In the original design I had intended for the skin on top of the framework to be mostly made out of lightweight and organic materials like real bark and branches/twigs/etc which I knew I could fairly easily acquire around Bristol, and would also make the costume fabrication achievable within the 1 week timeframe and low budget restrains. But after the logistical decision was made for me to work as part of a team in London instead, this part of the design was difficult to implement. Fortunately, the discovery of a dead tree in Sammm's back garden the day before the costume was due to travel to Glasgow meant that parts of the costume could still be fashioned re. the original design (ie. head/shoulders/collar - the parts to be mostly seen in close-ups), with extra bark and tinted tissue paper/latex laid over to blend the other parts that had already been made. Sammm Agnew MUA is the other half of team Tree Man and my fellow collaborator on the project.

It's nice to have soft, warm friends to cuddle up to after an exhausting night tree surgeoning...

After a 9 hour road trip with the film crew up to Glasgow (kudos to our lovely driver Leandro who kept stoked on caffeine and never once tired!) and a much deserved rest, we headed out early the next morning to begin shooting. Our wonderful actor Jez is an absolute trooper and wore the costume from morning to sundown, being bundled into the back of a transit to travel from location to location - now that's dedication! He looked treemendous on film too hahaha sorry there really has been no end to the tree jokes.... Special Branch anybody?.....ahhhaa cough cough.

Sammm and I with Jez inside our tree man creation

A great big thank you to all the film crew, my fellow tree maker Sammm Agnew MUA, our amazing tree man Jeremy Hill, the band and producer/director Licia Conn/Greg Davenport at Epoch Films for a fantastical Scottish adventure.

Expect the music video for Admiral Fallow 'The Paper Trench' to come out later this month! 

The Infanta

 

... And the Infanta frowned, and her dainty rose-leaf lips curled in pretty disdain. 'For the future let those who come to play with me have no hearts,' she cried, and she ran out into the garden.

Nor was he alone

'...It was a monster, the most grotesque monster he had ever beheld. Not properly shaped, as all other people were, but hunchbacked, and crooked-limbed...'

Character Design

'...The little Dwarf looked in wonder all round him, and was half- afraid to go on. The strange silent horsemen that galloped so swiftly through the long glades without making any noise, seemed to him like those terrible phantoms of whom he had heard the charcoal- burners speaking--the Comprachos, who hunt only at night, and if they meet a man, turn him into a hind, and chase him...'

Both characters are based on those found in Oscar Wilde's 'The Birthday of The Infanta'. With my interpretation of the story, I have been playing around with the idea of the 'Comprachicos' or 'child-snatchers'. According to Spanish folklore (and wikipedia), these were woodland dwellers who bought unwanted babies from whores and then physically mutilated them in order to sell them as entertainment to the popular freakshows...

Hence, playing with this idea of 'made' freakism - the first character, the little Dwarf of Wilde's story. He is found running wild through the woods and brought to dance before the Infanta, who leads him on by throwing her white rose at him and fluttering her eyelashes, so that by the end of the dance the little dwarf is madly in love with her. But he doesn't realize the tragic truth about his own hideous appearance until the end of the story....

The unnaturally conjoined monkeys are based on the gipsy monkeys who make a brief appearance in the story, also performing for the Infanta.

In progress...

Currently working on a self-directed project for my final few months of university, based on Oscar Wilde's short story 'The Birthday of The Infanta'. I love this story and have wanted to illustrate it since i first read it.  The dark undertones running through Wilde's stories make for a perfect twisted fairy tale....

Grand Guignol

Commission for an upcoming 'wrong rockabilly' event from Devil Kicks Dancehall, inspired by fin de siecle back-street Parisian horror theatre.

Sissies Stay Home!

Blue Aeroplanes gig poster

Quick flyer I put together for an upcoming Blue Aeroplanes gig feat. Daddy Long Bones & Archimedes.

Clockwork Dog

...And with the serendipitous finding of a lost lorry ratchet, Steam Dog was complete! And forget chihuahuas in handbags or pampered pugs, Steam Dog wears the handbag! Two of them actually...

Stokes Croft Prints

I made a series of litho/mono prints combining textures and observational drawings of shop fronts in Stokes Croft for a project at uni...

The big grey one is called Westmoreland House and together with the old carriage works next door, it's become somewhat of a Bristol landmark. To some it's an eyesore waiting to be ripped down, but I think it's intriguing and pretty tragic - given its sketchy recent history as the last resting place of at least a few graffiti artists and outcasts....as well as imposing a giant question mark over the future of these abandoned buildings and others like it.

Read more about the fate of Westmoreland House and the ongoing creative regeneration of Stokes Croft at the PRSC Blog.