ATTENBOROUGH AT 100
The fine people at Big Issue gave me the opportunity to draw Sir David Attenborough for their cover to commemorate him hitting triple digits this month.
I can’t begin to tell you how happy I was to see this one turn out the way it did. Attenborough is the voice of God growing up and wanted to give him the proper vibrant representation he deserves; surrounded by the elements.
Big thanks to @gillian.k.smith for her fantastic art direction and @harrisonaikendesign , and as always super-agent @timbojhiggins for making it all come together.
Do the right thing and pick up a copy as its out today.
Today we celebrate Gray Day and the life and work of Glasgow’s favourite polymath, Alasdair Gray.
It is hard to overstate the impact his work had on me. Gray showed that you did not need to leave Glasgow to make ambitious, world class art. The city itself could hold myth, politics, humour and humanity all at once.
His seminal novel Lanark feels inseparable from the identity of Glasgow/Unthank. A book that reshaped how a city could be written, drawn and imagined.
“Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation.”
@thealasdairgrayarchive
And finally: George Harrison.
A small breakthrough has happened with these Beatles portraits.
Years of refining shading, texture, and painstaking composition, then deliberately dismantling it through a limited colour palette and reckless pencil strokes.
Breaking from a house style is uncomfortable, but it was necessary. This new direction will be developed as a working sketchbook rather than a finished system until I reach a point where I am confident it can be “on-brand” (a cringe inducing phrase, i know)
David Bowie
I was getting quite reflective last week when I realised it had been 10 years since the man himself passed. Re-listening to his back catalogue; I realised this was a person who was never afraid of making a mistake (Tin Machine specifically) in the pursuit of trying new things.
In the age of AI perfection, I am experimenting more with the the imperfect: not being too hung up with polishing everything down and playing it safe.
