Just re-worked my Tomcat Murr book cover design...

Sidle Zine Blog

The Sidle Zine blog is now online - you can find it here: http://sidlezine.tumblr.com/

It was great to receive illustrations every few days as the deadline approached, and I was impressed with the standard of work - all of the illustrators who took part covered a wide range of issues, which they clearly cared about, and there was a lot of variety too.

Hopefully it has shown that illustrators are capable of creating work which is engaged with the world around them, and I hope to get more illustrators involved in the next issue.

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:

Dan filmed me drawing today

I've been experimenting with more of a children's book style, albeit a rather bleak children's book involving a trapped mountain bongo...

It will be on display and available to buy from Mustard Café in Norwich from Monday

"I have always preferred the reflection of life to life itself." - Truffaut

(I know its sort of terrible that I'm using watercolours on printer paper, sorry if anyone feels offended by this...but when it comes to experimenting and playing, I don't feel so precious if I use cheap materials. Drawing tools should always be good quality though - gilot mapping pens are delicious, but leaky biros and blunt pencils are going to make you feel like you can't draw)

Sleepy cat

A sleepy cat linoprint/painting I made for Mother's Day. Our cat Hebe loves cardboard and will often attempt to curl up to sleep in the tiniest spaces possible, including easter egg boxes.

To sit in the corner of a tram, your coat wrapped around you

Book cover design for ETA Hoffman's The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr, a book whose premise is based on a printers error.

(I've been playing with linoprint lately)

You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming - Pablo Neruda

Spring has sprung! 

I've been experimenting with calligraphy and linoprint.

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.

      

1. to move sideways. 2. to advance in an unobtrusive, furtive or coy way.

I'm looking for contributors to the first issue of Sidle zine.

Within illustration there is a fine tradition of social commentary, satire and reflection, and I'd like to bring together illustrators working in this way.

This is partly in response to a recent article in Creative Review "where is the content? where is the comment?" which takes the view that illustration has become an insular, self-indulgent craft, lacking engagement with political issues. 

The brief:

Create an illustration dealing with a contemporary issue which you feel strongly about.

Layout:

A4 dimensions, 300dpi

landscape or portrait (bearing in mind it will fold in centre to form an A5 booklet)

Colour or black and white (original colour pages will be uploaded to a blog while a paper copy will use black and white photocopies of these images, so bear in mind that your image/text will need to work well tonally)

Aside from that, it is completely open, and you can use whatever media/techniques you like.

I'd like to involve as many talented illustrators as possible - the more the merrier!

The final collected works will be displayed on a Sidle Zine blog with links to each contributor's web-site or blog, and a final printed edition of Sidle will be sent to Salford Zine Library

E-mail your contributions (or any questions or suggestions you might have) to: 

sidlezine@hotmail.co.uk

The deadline is: April 3rd 2012


After a few requests for more time, I have decided to extend the deadline


The new deadline is April 17th 2012