Tis the season to get married... lalalalalalaaaaa

My beautiful bessie mate Carly got married last week to the very cool Rizqy. They met out in Indonesia, where they both live now, but got married on Carly's home island of Arran. It was a beautiful, laidback sort of affair that suited them both very well. A few of the old ECA-Team made it to the ceremony and the after-party (music provided by Carly's very musical family), and I'm pleased to report we didn't let the side down. There was champagne, there was air guitar, there was knee-sliding. In short, we rocked. Carly rocked. Rizqy, you rock too.

Carly's stepdad and Uncle are both photographers and their shots can be found here, my shoddy efforts are here. Ain't they gorgeous?

Aw. Why do all my favourite folks live so damn FAR AWAY?

Merry Mickelmass!

I've just returned from a bloody lovely couple of days in sunny Sunderland with some of my favourite folks (and a few new ones).

I couldn't blog about this poster before because it was all top secret and Mr Mick might have seen it and the game would have been up. Matt Stalker of Matt Stalker and Fables - who, you may remember, I've blogged about before - held a gig entitled Mickelmass for his big brother Mick, who was back from NZ for the first time in two years for Crimbo. I've known Mick for yonks and I've also met their eldest bro Chris before too. So there were three very good reasons to haul my ass down to Sunderland to surprise Mick and see Matt and the band play live.

Well they didn't disappoint. I've said it before, but that Matt Stalker is a talented bastard and deserves bloody great things. The set was completely mesmerising, and while I'm in awe anyway of people who can play instruments and sing at the same time, there really isn't anything like standing a few feet away from a cello, a double bass and a guitar (and occasionally more esoteric instruments!) while they are played by folks who really know what they're doing with them. Absolutely awesome.

Mr Matt even got me a bit choked up by dedicating a beautiful cover of Radiohead's 'Let Down' to me and thanking me for doing their EP and the above poster for Mickelmass. Matt, you are more than welcome, buster!

And to the lovely Mick, who'll be heading back to NZ for New Year, it was bloody marvellous to see you and your cheeky grin again. Bon Voyage baby! I'll see you real soon. Sniff. Hopefully.

Gold Rush

Brazen's Christmas theme was a tricky one this year; because the good lady, in a fit of credit crunch-induced frugality, wanted the theme to extend well into the new year. So it couldn't be 'too Christmassy'. Riiight.

Other key pointers in the (actually excellent) brief were: Art Deco, Jazz, Hollywood, 1930s, Lalique etc. With the help of the lovely Lynn McHattie the name 'Gold Rush' was decided, and I set about creating a central identity, illustrations for web and print, window vinyls and bag stuffers (for to stuff bags with). The central identity took pride of place on the lovely gold-foil blocked bag stuffer: an art-deco stylised bullet hole links back to Brazen's original 'diamond and guns' branding, but also looks just snowflakey enough to be christmassy. The photo really doesn't do it justice (I'm a shit photographer) - and I'm so glad my lovely mate and favourite client chose to splash out on the gold foil on this one. It looks sexy as f*ck.

Some equally sexy illustrations will be rotated on Brazen's brand new online shop in the new year, and in the meantime one of them is appearing as a window vinyl in the shopfront. (Pics to follow once I get myself a decent camera).

Brazen and I were so pleased with ourselves after installing the window vinyl last Sunday that we simply had to celebrate by getting trollied and 'high-chebsing'. I can't attach a photo of that but trust me it was funny.

Phone's Teeth

A wee illustration for the day job. Yet to go live so I'm showing you it in progress. Was a fun one though. I do like to get the odd illustration job at work. Keeps me happy. This one is meant to look like a mobile/joke teeth. The reasons for which will become clear once the job goes live. 3D render done in Illustrator with textures/shadows highlights/details added in Photoshop. I am so loving the 3D thing right now. Yum.