"Chavs"

These are a series of images I did on request for a magazine that seems to have disappeared before going to print. I'd initially been asked to do 8 pages of illustrations, said I could do four, and then a pretty full-on case tonsillitis meant that only three got done.

From what I understand the magazine was going to be themed on subcultures of London's East End, and I was given 'chavs' almost definitely because of some illustrations I did for Amelia's Magazine a few years ago. I felt pretty uneasy, especially when looking online for reference, since so much of it is vicious, nasty and horrifically classist. So I tried to make my illustrations monstrous, a reflection of how 'chavs' are viewed, as well as trying to build some sympathy in too -- whether that was successful or not, I don't know.

Earlier sketches and drafts replaced the figure's heads with ant heads, or abstracted tribal masks, but in the end I went with what I know, which worked in my favour. Although, with more time to work on it, who knows what might have been.

Secret 7" 2015

My sleeve for The Chemical Brothers' 'Let Forever Be' which depicts a researcher investigating a Buddhist statue that had a mummified monk inside it.

Here are the four designs I submitted to this year's Secret7". I was absolutely thrilled to get a design through again, for The Chemical Brothers' Let Forever Be, and even more thrilled to see it sell on the day (and to have gone to a great home, by the looks of it).

It's a great charity, and consistently does exemplary work for their chosen charity. It's fantistic to see them grow every year, and I'm honoured that I've been able to be a small part of that journey for the third year running. Year-on-year, my work for Secret 7's gets better, and I'm really looking forward to taking part next year.

A picture of my friend Kate Dowling's dog Bella, done for Underworld's Born Slippy. The song was named after a greyhound, a fact which a huge number of contributors seem to have picked up on.

For St Vincent's 'Digital Witness' I drew a secretary bird and added a background based on  a predominant colour in the video to the song. Like with greyhounds and Born Slippy, I get the impression that a whole slew of contributors used the same colour. Also, no idea why I drew a secretary bird -- it just felt right, and looked good.

I found out that 'Maccabee' is Hebrew for 'hammer'. So for The Maccabee's 'Go' I drew a horrendous visual pun based on the band's name.