New Empress: The Stewardesses (1969)

An illustration for New Empress's B-Movie special, for an article on the 1969 film The Stewardesses

New Empress: The Violence in Silence

We've just got the new issue of New Empress in the post - now A4 sized, printed in b&w, with a glossy cover for the Silent Film Special. My illustration for Helen Cox's article "Slap That Baby Make Him Freak: The Violence in Silence" (about violence directed towards babies in silent-era films) was of a train about to hit a pram. I wasn't sent the article to work from (the brief was just to have a pram in a precarious situation) but oddly enough one of the first examples of infant-directed violence mentioned in the article involves a pram hit by an oncoming train. 

(Please note that no babies were harmed in the creation of this illustration.)

I also made a colour version too:

Illustration for Issue 5 of New Empress Magazine, available soon from the BFI shop

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Lately I've become obsessed with the work of Polish poster artist Tomasz Boguslawski - 

I love his economical use of objects, as well as the lighting, and the arrangement of the typography. He is able to raise these simple items (paper, scissors, dolls, mechanical parts...) to a level of beauty and imbue them with fresh purposes.

      

"Whatever you cannot understand, you cannot possess" - Goethe

An illustration for New Empress Magazine for a review of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 

(pictured: Tom Wilkinson and Dame Maggie Smith)

Only given a day to create this but it was a nice opportunity to use colour. 

New Empress Magazine

I had a nice surprise in the post this morning...

Issue 3 of New Empress is now available from these stockists:

• The BFI Southbank shop in London.
• Wardour News in Soho, London.
• Cornerhouse in Manchester.
• The New Empress webshop.
• The Prince Charles Cinema, London.
• Riverside Studios, London.
• Watershed Media Centre, Bristol.

Sensurround

an illustration for New Empress magazine, for an editorial on Sensurround, a process used in the 1970s to create "extended-range bass for sound effects" in cinemas. Film producer and agent Jennings Lang (pictured) wanted to create an "event movie" - and Sensurround was first utilized to create the film "Earthquake", using sound to emphasise the feeling of an earthquake for the cinema audience. Unfortunately, the bass was so loud that ceiling tiles would fall down, cracks appeared in the walls of cinemas, the windows of nearby businesses shattered, and some people reported nose bleeds and headaches.

(You can find the latest issue of New Empress Magazine at BFI Southbank, Wardour News in Soho, The Prince Charles Cinema London, Riverside Studios London (one of my favourite cinemas), and Watershed Media Centre in Bristol, and via the New Empress webshop).

A selection of my illustration work has also just been featured on the blog of Juxtapoz Magazine (one of my favourite magazines). You can find the article here.