OddBallMall

I almost forgot. A couple of months ago I did a quick job with Newhaven (advertising agency in Edinburgh for those of you who don't know 'em), for a shop in Edinburgh called OddBallMall. Based at 28 Lochrin Buildings near the King's Theatre, OddBallMall specialises in skatewear; jeans, t-shirts, hoodies - for boys n girls. Newhaven were asked to produce a campaign to increase the 'Mall's profile.

They came up with a character called OddBall and his perky female sidekick NoBall. Coming up with the strapline 'Clothes are important', the lads at Newhaven (Rufus Wedderburn and Chris Watson - hi guys) wanted the characters to be butt naked; I shall spare you the protracted email exchange we had debating the suitable size of OddBall's wee fella. Methinks the boys were a bit threatened by my early renderings. Bless.

As if that wasn't enough; true to his name, OddBall is one scotch egg short of a picnic, and NoBall... well NoBall is just nekkid. Copy was along the lines of 'I wonder if they'll have something to cover my fu-fu?' and 'I must buy some trousers from OddBallMall, I just followed through at the bus stop'. The guys artdirected (I was doodler for hire on this one) and while I wasn't jumping up and down about my work, I was still pretty satisfied with the outcome.

The upshot of the whole affair is that the OddBallMall campaign has been nominated in five categories (including Best use of Illustration) at the Scottish Advertising Awards 2007. I so did NOT see that one coming. Have a look at the other nominees and see all the finished ads here.

It's ALIIIIIVE!

Here's my latest flyer for the World's Biggest Burlesque club (official) - Club Noir.

La Noir are back after their summer recess on the 20th October with a cracking theme; Shlock Horror. I love that Noir's comeback club is at Halloween. It's always a a record breaking club and the outfits are awesome (I went as Queen of Darkness last year, my kiwi friend Stacey dressed as a dead Wren, complete with WWII cap, and a military skirt with bustle that she made herself. Oh, and peeling skin).

If you can make it and like a bit of dressing up (oh come on, who doesn't?) then I can thoroughly recommend it. Don't ask me to get you on the guest list though - my 'plus 1s' are all taken.

I've included a wee close up of the rendering I did on the illustration after exporting from Illustrator. Bit of unsharp mask to get the eerie glow and good ol' noise to get that grainy, B-movie poster print quality. Yum.

See you there?

Pastures new

Sorry - I sort of disappeared for a while there didn't I? Apologies for that. I have, however, been rather distracted and busy. You see, I am leaving the only agency I have ever worked for, my workplace for the past four years, and heading off to join a shiny new one. All the cloak and daggery associated with a job switch has been eating up my time, which meant no posts for you good people.

I hope you've missed me. I promise I'll never go away again.