Big Board for Bernard

I spent yeasterday afternoon and a coupla hours today working on a big 8 x 4 foot bit of MDF which will be used every Sunday in the Bernard Shaw. They open from 12pm on Sundays so you can head down and read the papers and if you feel up for it stay on for a few pints until 12am. Only if you have your homework done first of course.

Look, there's actual Sun in the photos! In Ireland!

I thought it would be nice to have the beasts let off a little steam and dance around the woods. While I was sketching it the first Daft Punk album was on in the background of the pub. They go perfectly with Around the World...

30 Minute Portrait #6

Robert Pollard. 50 year old baby.

T-Squared 4.0

I forgot to post these photos taken by Keith from TH who put on T-Squared in the Bernard Shaw last week. Only got one t-shirt finished, this yellow dotty gent.

Belfast Live Drawing & Sweetalk

Mr. Alan Clarke ag obair.

Alan's banjo midget.


I spent a lovely Saturday afternoon and evening live drawing in the Waterfront in Belfast next to the honourable Mr. Alan Clarke which was a nice treat. It was all part of a Candy event. There was also a Sweetalk that night featuring Aidan Kelly, M&E, Mr. Alan Clarke and Gavin Strange.

Great way to spend a sunny July afternoon.

Iveagh Gardens Festival

I trotted around to the Iveagh Gardens last Friday to get some photos of the Carlsberg Comedy Festival. They ended up using loads of the artwork I did for all the press stuff so it was brilliant to see it used like this. There were some great cut-outs of the tents and bees and other things while the grass and foliage were used on all the barriers and bars.

Dystopia

Dystopia for August issue of Totally Dublin.

Clouds T-Shirt

This is the Clouds t-shirt I design for the Stratus online exhibition. Just saw it in the flesh last thursday for the first time in the Versus shop.

Tiny Little Horse Posters

I just did my first collaboration with Bren and Gav from Tiny Little Horse. I supplied the bugs in the Butthole Surfers poster and Bren did the rest of the amazing artwork and lettering. Gav is currently working on a screen print of it at the moment. I'm very very excited about this gig...

Also, check out Bren and Gav's awesome screen printed poster of the two Ministry gigs.

Click the pics to see bigger versions.

Mood Clouds

I have collaborated again with my sister Ciara on an idea we had when I was painting the cloudy looking picture for the Stratus exhibition. These plush fellows are called Mood Clouds because one side is white with a big smiley face and the other is black with a big angry face. So depending on your mood when you get home you can either face the bright happy side out on your couch or the black angry side when when you're all pissed off. Or you can just bash people over the head with them.

There's also a picture of all the new decapitated animal heads and limbs for the Versus show along with the clouds that Ciara has worked on all week. Cliona took loads of nice product shots of them all for our Big Softees website which will go live with a full shop in the next few weeks.

Versus Snaps

I managed to get a few quick n' dodgy photos while the lads were still setting up for tonight. I was dropping in all the Big Softee plush toys Ciara made for the show which look amazing. I'll post pics of them here inaminute.

The place looks incredible, full of lovely t-shirts by Angry, Threadless, Turtlehead, Veer and Lazy Oaf among others as well as original art and photos for sale. Oh, and Peroni beers and food by Diep...

More photos here to give you a better idea of the space.

Well done Keith & Oisín from Turtlehead who's baby this is.

Versus

Opening tonight!

My paintings go head-to-head with Rich Gilligans brilliant photos in the first show at the new Versus shop / Gallery in Temple Bar. Opening night is tonight from 6.30pm and the show runs until the 1st of August. They have tons of stuff from all over on sale there too, well worth a snoop.

Photos to follow.

More bloody Beasts

This is a photo The Brother Andrew took when we all piled down to Lough Key forest park. We spent every Summer down there as kids so it was great to go back to our old stomping ground. There's an enormous tree there that we had to go see again. Andrew took the photo inside the tree of some tiny beasts hitching a ride on the back of a rhino beetle. Giddyap.

30 Minute Portrait #5

Number 5

The look on his face is the same as my own all day looking out the window at the rain. Sheesh.

Beasts of Wicklow

Only the really big beasts get to live in the Sally Gap.

Click the pic for a bigger version.

This was taken in April when the weather was lovely. What's with all this rain in the middle of July, I ask you?

Versus?

The lovely fellows in Turtlehead are opening an amazing new shop / gallery in Temple bar Dublin called Versus? and have asked myself and Rich Gilligan to go head to head for the art bit for the first show which opens on the 17th of this Month.

This is from their site and explains how it works:

Versus? is a new gallery/shop brought to you by turtlehead. Versus? will pit shit cool t-shirt brands from around the world against turtlehead’s own designs, as well as pitting different artists, photographers and musicians against each other. These t-shirts and artists will be on show for two weeks only, before we bring in 2 new artists and 2 new sets of t-shirts to go head to head. Each artist will be leaving one piece as part of our permanent display.

First up in the t-shirt category is turtlehead versus Threadless. In the art category it’s Rich Gilligan (photography) versus Chris Judge (illustration). And in the music section, it’s Dublin band Rollers/Sparkers’ new album “Hames” versus their previous album “Second Level Crossing”.

Versus? will officially open with a launch party on Thursday 17th July.

Comic Cast Interview

I did an interview a coupla weeks ago with the two lovely chaps from The Comic Cast, who have recently launched their new website. I'm delighted announce that the interview has just gone live on their site. Click here to listen. (I also got to draw the illustration of the two handsome fellows above).

They have some great stuff lined up for the next few months so keep your ears peeled.

They're also launching a new comic written by Liam on Wednesday (9th July) Gazebo which is drawn by Phil Barrett and will be launched downstairs at 7pm in Thomas Reads, Dame Street, Dublin.

From their site:
The Comic Cast is an Irish based show about comic books - both superhero (Marvel, DC, Image, etc) and indy (Fantagraphics, Drawn and Quarterly, Top Shelf, etc). Hosted by Craig O'Connor and Liam Geraghty, the show comes out fortnightly alternating between comics news and discussion and interviews with mainly Irish comic artists, writers and designers. Wanna get in touch? We'd love to hear from you. thecomiccast@gmail.com

30 Minute Portrait #4

Number four in a series of something. Bored Blue Beatnik Girl.

Beasts V Dandelion

The Beasts love the taste of Dandelion stalks but are terrified of the floaty bits when they come loose. One of them inches closer as quietly as he can while the other waits anxiously...

Slant Exhibition in Ormeau Baths Gallery

The IGI was approached by the Ormeau Baths Gallery in Belfast to submit and idea for an exhibition to be held during the Summer. As promotions officer for the IGI I took on the role of organiser and began correspondence with Feargal O'Malley in the Gallery. Between myself, Padhraig and Steve we came up with the idea where each member of the Guild takes a favourite painting and reinterprets it in their own way and style. We got an amazing response with 18 brilliant unique pieces.

They're currently being framed and will be on show in the Ormeau Baths Gallery from 1st August - 27th September 2008. I highly recommend a look if you're up that way.

This is my effort. I always loved this painting by Picasso it always seemed so modern to me. Almost like a cover for a comic by comic artist Bill Sienkiewicz. I imagine Petrvs Manach to be this amazingly slick bar owner in Madrid in the 1920's so my interpretation is Barman Peter Murphy from Dublin in the 1980's.

30 Minute Portrait #3

Number three. Made while eating sandwich, drinking weak coffee for lunch.

Sunday Tribune

Great article by Patrick Freyne on the rise of journalistic comics in last Sunday's Tribune. Our Dystopia strip was printed alongside Josh Neufeld and the great Joe Sacco which was a great honour indeed.

Here's a link to the online article.

Winehouse

Drawn at 5am on the fence behind our tents in Glastonbury after we saw her box some guy in the face.

30 Minute Portrait #2

Number two in a series of 2 million.

Name: Mr. Fernandez?

Carlsberg Comedy Posters

Just started spotting the Carlsberg Comedy posters out and about. Saw one on the side of a bus but it was way too wet to be chasing it down the road.

30 Minute Portrait #1

This is the first of a series I'm going to try and do over the next while. The idea is to try to draw a quick portrait like this fellow in my notebook, scan it, colour it in Photoshop and upload it onto the blog all in 30 minutes. Drawing exercise you might call it.

I hope to do a few a week.

PRINT cover

When I was approached by PRINT magazine to be one of twelve European illustrators in the latest issue I jumped at the chance and couldn't believe my luck. Then the following week they asked me to do the cover which completely bowled me over! I worked in a panic, sending work back and forth to NY for two weeks, trying to capture the brief they sent but in the end it just didn't work. It was one of those really difficult briefs and it was only after I saw the cover they used that I understood what they were after which works really well. C'est la vie.

It was a great learning curve anyway and I produced lots of work I like during the process. Here are two of the more finished covers I worked on. I thought it would be nice to let them see the light of day here as I have no other home for them.

Illustrating de Soto

I recently worked on three editorial illustrations for the Junior Scholastic monthly magazine which is published in the US. Each illustration is based loosely on scenes from a short play about the life of the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto featured in the magazine.

I had heard of his name but didn't really know much about him. Very interesting character indeed. Check out this great painting, so much going on.