Absolut Round One

Myself, Mark Wickham and Fergal Brennan are doing 7 nights of 'Unflattering Portraits' in conjunction with Absolut Vodka's 'Absolut You' nights (and the handsome lads from Synth Eastwood) over the next few weeks. Myself and Mark completed our first round of abuse on unsuspeting members of the public last Saturday night in the Chocolate Bar in the Pod.

We set up outside on a big old barrel and spent 3 hours drawing portraits of customers, taking into account their worst features and expanding on them. Sounds cruel but between us and the audience I haven't experienced as much tears of laughter while drawing in I don't know how long. Fair play to the poor subjects we were drawing they pushed us to make them worse!

I've uploaded a set on my Flickr account so check it if you have a moment.

I'll upload them as we go. We'll be in Cork, Sligo and Kilkenny over the next few weeks as well as other dates in Dublin so drop in and get yours done if your brave enough. All for free and packaged in a nice tube!

Comic Cast!

I recently did an interview with Liam from the Comic Cast about The Lonely Beast book which is one of the features in this months episodes. If you haven't heard the Comic Cast or indeed are not even into comics I urge you to listen to this podcast on a regular basis. It's just brilliant.

The Beast on Titan!

 

I spent last Monday night searching the skies for Saturn with my telescope and finally found it, tiny but crystal clear, hanging in the sky looking very lonely and quiet. I managed to take a blurry photo of it but you can definitely make out the rings. I posted it on Facebook and my brother Andrew managed to clean up the photo enough to reveal Saturns biggest moon Titan to the left. If Saturn looked that cold and lonely in space, what the hell is Titan like?

Based on those fantastic Sci-Fi paintings from the 50's and 60's, I decided to transplant The Beast to this lonely rock miles from Earth. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to explore it's surface.

I also got some nice pics of the Moon too...

The painting is for my contribution to the annual United Arts Club illustration exhibition which opens tomorrow evening in Dublin and is curated by illustrator Brian Gallagher.

Venue:
United Arts Club
3 Upper Fitzwilliam Street Dublin 2

Date: 24th march 2011

Time: 7pm.

Children's Books Ireland Conference 2011!

I'm honoured to be have been invited to be a guest speaker at this years Children's Books Ireland conference along side some of Ireland's most talented illustrators and writers. It takes place on the 21st-22nd May in the National Library, Dublin. I am also very chuffed that they used The Beast for the cover of their programme and posters.

This is the event I'll be taking part in so I have to get my thinking cap on:

2.45 Picture-book Inspiration 4x4 with Emma Byrne, Chris Haughton, Chris Judge & Steve Simpson
Take four of Irelands most talented picture-book designers and illustrators then challenge then to talk about their four favourite designers and illustrators. The catch? They have only two minutes per artist to make their case!  

Click here to find out more about the fantastic event.

GRAPHICS UNLEASHED Tonight!

 

Poster for exhibition by Alan Clarke.

BLUELEAF GALLERY

 An exhibition of graphic and illustrative work by:
Alan Clarke, Brian Coldrick, Cathy Dineen, Brian Fitzgerald,
Brian Gallagher, Una Gildea, Chris Judge, Joven Kerekes,
Emmet Mullins, Padhraig Nolan, Ray Sell, Steve Simpson

The reception will be held
Wednesday, 16 March 6.00pm-7.30pm
at BlueLeaf Gallery Project Space
7 Sir John Rogersons Quay, Dublin 2
(building backs onto Windmill Lane; three blocks west of Samuel Beckett Bridge)

The exhibition opens for viewing Tuesday, 15 March
and will continue until Friday, 25 March
Viewing hours:
Weekdays: 11:30am-6:30pm
(Closed: St. Patricks Day 17 March; Sat & Sun)

New Prints!

I have just added some new prints to my shop including some prints of images from The Lonely Beast book. Drop in and have a look if you have a moment.

First Known Footage of The Beast!

New Shop!

I've just uploaded my brand new shop. There's a selection of prints for sale and I'll be adding four more next week as well as other fun stuff in the coming weeks. Signed copies of The Lonely Beast book are also for sale.

All with free shipping!

Click here to visit the shop

The Lonely Beast website!

After lots of false starts and much work I have finally finished The Lonely Beast Book website. There's lots of down-loadable stuff as well as info and photos so have a browse when you have a moment or two. It's iPhone and iPad friendly too so if you have either of those check it out in those formats. Thanks to Amy D'eath in Andersen Press for the help with some of the graphics and sound advice.

We are currently working on a video of the Beast out and about in the woods using the incredible suit that Renate Heschke created. All will be revealed in the next week or two!

I've received a bunch of emails looking for signed copies of the book so you can now purchase it here directly from me for €10 with a signature and inscription of your choice along with a nice postcard, all with free shipping! Apologies for my very basic shop :-)

Upstart 2011

My entry to upstart.ie 2011.

UpStart is a non-profit arts collective which aims to put creativity at the centre of public consciousness during the Irish General Election Campaign in 2011. They plan to do this by reinterpreting the spaces commonly used for displaying election campaign posters in Dublin City by adding 500 new artworks across the city. 

For my entry I wanted to try and capture those positive fun 70's and 80's posters that people would hang on their walls as teenagers, mine being 'We're all in the same boat, man' type thing. There's been so much negativity in the press and on the radio in Ireland so I just want to paint the bigger picture that represents everyone in the current global climate.


They rejected it anyway, ah well.


You can check out all 500 that made it through here.


I reckon I'll add some text to it and do a limited print of it in the next few weeks which I'll post here.

Comic Cast!

I totally forgot to post this new banner I did for the incredible Comic Cast podcast. If you haven't heard the beautiful Craig and Liam's infectious monthly podcast get over there and listen to their whole back catalogue you won't be disappointed, it's most excellent.

TVAds.ie

TVAds.ie have recently revamped their website with lots of new functionality and I was chuffed to be asked to supply the first guest banner for the topper most bit along with the radio icon.

AXA Book Print Ads

Some of the lovely artwork for the print ads from the AXA book commercial I worked on with the fellows in The Pool.

The Real Rebecca

Anna Carey's great debut new novel The real Rebecca hit the shelves last week with a great launch in the Gutter Book Shop, Dublin. I was delighted to be asked to design the cover.

Pablo Picante Restaurant Deux

Pablo opened his second restaurant before Christmas in Clarendon row and I only got to visit it for the first time last week. It's very lovely indeed, this time I tried the chicken burrito and I recommend it no end.

I worked on some new bits and bobs for the new place but it's great that the old sign and interior designs have been re-used. There's also a cool new neon sign! Drop in for some delicious burritos if you're in the area.