The penultimate item in this series of 10 objects from my dad’s loft is a bag of unpublished portfolio material from circa 1984. There was a lot of material from London in my dad’s loft, when I left my studio just before I flew off to Japan it was the natural place to just shove everything, my entire output from 1983-1986, and it’s pretty well all been preserved, waiting for me to reclaim thirty years later. I moved to London in 1983, encouraged by two children’s book commiss

Number 8 in this series of ten archive items from my dad’s loft are some surviving copies of The Blue Blanket fanzine, which briefly flared on the streets of Norwich from 1981 to 1982. Three years in Manchester may have seen a mixed development with my artwork, but it had a profound effect on other aspects of my life – especially through music. It was a fabulous time to be in Manchester – I moved there at the height of punk, and left just before the Haçienda opened. I saw all

They always run over time and then three arrive at once. What is it with my local buses? Yesterday the bus into town was 15 minutes late, then I waited nearly an hour with my daughter in the rain for a homebound bus back again. Why can’t they keep to timetables? What is it that holds them up? Well I shouldn’t complain too much, I’m hardly one to point the finger at other people running late. This year has been demanding, illustrating books can take up a very large chunk of

While I’m on a hiatus due to deadlines, here’s some more work for Wingspan magazine…. Yes, that’s a self-portrait behind the turntables… well I couldn’t resist. #editorial #illustration #magazine #Wingspan

Here’s some more of my regular monthly cut illustrations for Wingspan, ANA’s inflight magazine on their international flights. More to come! I’ve been shamefully behind with my blog this year, chiefly because I’ve been pretty well overwhelmed by some very involved book deadlines, things have been extremely hectic! It’s not over yet, things are still very busy, but I’ll post again when things get easier. #editorial #magazine #newwork #Wingspan

It looks to be another hot summer, so here’s a splash of cold water – another recent illustration for ANA’s inflight magazine Wingspan. It’s to illustrate a piece about the opening of the world’s biggest waterslide, the Verruckt in Kansas City in the USA, which was supposed to open in May. The drop is 168 feet, longer than falling off Niagara Falls, at speeds of up to 65 mph. Apparently the opening has been twice delayed, but now, finally, is happening, tomorrow! Sounds excit

You may remember the map of the world I created for Mainichi Newspaper last year (the web interactive map is still online, see my previous post about it here). Well what do you know, I’ve done another one! This time a map of Japan. This new map is in the morning edition of today’s Mainichi Newspaper, sold across Japan. You can zoom in on all the details by accessing the fabulous interactive web version. Can you spot a tiny self-portrait in there? The observant will immediatel

In the meantime and in an altogether different vein, here are some more of the small regular monthly cuts I do for Japanese airline ANA’s inflight magazine Wingspan. Every issue the magazine runs a short nugget feature covering the weird and unusual things that happen around the world. Often they’re very amusing subjects and a lot of fun to draw. However the drawings themselves are always gentle observations, not outright humour. Unlike my more detailed children’s books, whic

Here are some more editorial illustrations from the beginning of my career in London in the mid-1980’s, from music journals and listings magazines. A much harsher angle than my children’s books of course, it was the post-punk era, we were all angry back then. At that time most of my regular work was for the press, a lot of it in black and white, I’ve discovered literally piles of work from this era in my father’s loft, it amazes me now how prolific I was then! Façade Studios

Alas! Calamity! Halloween deadlines held up my marathon of daily sketches and I’ve been having a rest from the blog for a while. I’ll pick up the sketching thread again soon though. In the meantime here’s another editorial illustration from the regular bimonthly series I draw for ANA’s inflight magazine Wingspan. This will be in the next issue and focuses on the annual French Turkey Festival (Fete de la Dinde), held in the town of Licques in December. I’m a vegetarian myself,

Here are some simple cuts from a regular series for ANA’s inflight magazine Wingspan. The feature runs in alternative issues every 2 months on their international flights. Each image is to illustrate an unusual festival celebrated in different parts of the world. Here are three: Man versus Horse Marathon (UK), Tanabata (Japan), and the Chonburi Water Buffalo race (Thailand). Apart from being a fun series to work on, these stand-alone simple images give me a chance to experime

Here are two recent pieces completed for the British Medical Journal. The first, “Aging Tsunami” accompanied a feature about pressures on the health service as the population lives longer. The second illustrated an article on the decision of some hospitals to ban bedside flowers as a risk to health. #britishmedicaljournal #editorial #illustration