chrisillo

COMMARTS INTERVIEW

2012-01-17T15:11:00.000-08:00

A little interview with me over at Communication Arts Magazine

Nice n' Slow

2011-12-19T01:20:00.000-08:00

Chillax, put your boots up and have a nice SLOW holiday season.
You've worked hard this year and so have I. Here's a Christmas card commissioned by SLOW magazine plus a bunch recent pieces to see out 2011. Cheers!

Slow run rate at the cricket for Inside Sport

Winners and losers for The Law Journal.

Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde for Gardening Australia.

And finally one for Money Magazine which asked the question

"Could Australia become another Greece?"

Yesterday in the Herald

2011-12-12T18:34:00.000-08:00

Here's an illustration I did for yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald about a new literary prize aiming to improve the lives of animals. "If anyone can give animals a voice, it is surely creative writers- The Voiceless Writing Prize is a natural vehicle to promote understanding of the relationship between humans and animals, ethical treatment of animals and animal sentience." I had one day to turn it around.

SOCIETY OF ILLUSTRATORS 54TH ANNUAL

2011-11-16T17:23:00.001-08:00

Hey I got a call at 4am this morning from New York. It was the Society of Illustrators telling me that my page from the Design Files Calender had just gotten into the annual. Wake me up any time you like for that.

DESIGN FILES CALENDER

2011-11-15T17:16:00.001-08:00

In what's been touted as the must-have calender of 2012 by design connoisseurs (that's me), The 2012 Design Files Calender has just been released! 12 artists from The Jacky Winter Group were asked by Lucy at The Design Files to illustrate an area of clutter in their lives, mine being "My Bookshelf" filled with objects and publications dear to my heart. Last years art blew me away and I was over the moon to be asked to participate in this year's. So get on over to The Design Files and order one now. Here's a shot of my page.

Also I have a signed print of this available at the super cool Open House which is a pop-up home filled with hand picked awesome stuff by tastemeister Lucy Feagins from The Design Files. An A2 signed print of my image for the calender is available alongside some great artists from Lamington Drive. Dates and location up on the website. Wish I could get down there to check it out!

Coupla things from last month

2011-11-01T02:57:00.000-07:00

Hey! Whatcha doin? Here's some stuff from last month. Later.

Successful small business second time round for BRW.

Succeeding against the odds for BRW

Skip planting in summer for Gardening Australia

Leaves which have evolved to attract bats for Gardening Australia

Outback flying psychiatrist for Reader's Digest

IA Illustration Awards Call For Entries

2011-10-24T19:15:00.000-07:00

I was honoured to have one of my illos (originally commissioned by SooJin Buzelli at PlanSponsor) chosen as the Call For Entries image for Illustrators Australia Awards 2012. If you're an Australian or NZ illustrator out there this is your chance to shine. If you're an art director, art buyer or agent who has commissioned some great work over the last year, shout it out loud and enter it. Entries are cheap and get published in a special 20 page lift-out in Australian Creative that goes out to a list of 1000 art buyers in the region as well. Plus the list of judges is pretty amazing:

Annette Harcus (Designer, Harcus Design, Aust)

Tony Palmer (Executive Designer Penguin Group, Aust)
Chris Buzelli (Illustrator, NY)
Yuko Shimizu (Illustrator, NY)
Stefano Imbert (Illustrator and board member SOI, NY)
Charles Hively (Publisher & Design Director , 3×3 magazine)

DEADLINE IS NOV 15TH. ENTER HERE!

2011 Illustrators Australia 9x5 Exhibition

2011-10-11T03:10:00.000-07:00

Each year around about November a little plank of ply arrives in the post with a theme and says "paint me". This year's Illustrators Australia 9x5 Exhibition theme is "Rapture". Deeply moved by the subject and being a spiritual romanticist at heart, I raced to put aside my crochet, put on a camomile tea and set to working on the piece below. You can vote for it or make a bid on the piece here. If you're in Melbourne on Friday the 14th of October git along to the Auction.

Gonna take you down to Chinatown!

2011-09-06T17:04:00.000-07:00

It's Moon Festival time so I thought I'd show you a few pics from a job I just did for Market City Sydney commissioned by Freeform Advertising. The Chinese Moon Festival is celebrated by eating mooncakes and worshipping all things lunar including Chang E the Moon Goddess who features in the artwork throwing cakes down from the moon. If you're in town from the 5-12th of September get yerself on down to Chinatown for a mooncake filled with salted duck egg or yam paste!

Here's Cheers

2011-09-05T19:08:00.000-07:00

On the back of my Waterhouse series getting published in the Advertising section of Communication Arts I got an email from an agency in Boston called MMB asking me if I could help them out with a series in a similar style. "Sure" I said. When I enter stuff in CA I kinda hope and dream that it will work like this but never expect it will or assume that it markets in a more general diffused kind of way. The next day I got another offer for something similar from another agency that had seen my work in the CA Annual. I had to knock it back as the deadline was too tight and I had too much on but jeepers... So here's cheers to Communication Arts. You really do work.
Here are some spreads from the work I did for MMB celebrating their recent success with a Subway campaign.

KEEF

2011-09-05T04:56:00.000-07:00

I'm not super keen on doing portraits, likenesses etc. Early on in my career I was burnt by a corporate client who commissioned me to do someone in the office. They not only possessed a huge nose but a slightly distorted personal image and became irate about the reasonably accurate results. I decided then and there that perhaps this particular pathway was not for me and I've been portrait gun-shy ever since.
Every now and then however I'm asked do someone and if I'm familiar enough with them I give it a shot. Inside Sport had a column for me about how footballers are fined for bad behaviour but Keith Richards is heralded for it. I've been studying his craggy mug for probably over 20 years so I went with the portrait angle.
I've been a lifelong Stones fan. All the albums, biographies, live recordings, studio bootlegs, I have them. Keef the guitarist I love deeply. Keef the man, not so much. Probably something to do with his knife brandishing bravado or his nodding off on smack with his son in the car and crashing or abandoning wives and babies or his faux-rasta mysticism etc. Gifted musician, flawed individual. But that's ok, I'm a flawed portrait artist. It's only rock and roll (not football) and we like it.

THIS BATTERED OL' HEART O' MINE

2011-08-08T02:53:00.001-07:00

Every year I send off a canvas to the Lighthouse Art Auction which is a great cause that raises some money for homeless kids. This year Fenton Stephens Advertising who kindly donate their services annually, asked me to whip up a nice ol' battered heart for the poster. If you've got some art laying about and you're feeling generous here are the details.

AUSTRALIAN CREATIVE

2011-06-28T17:52:00.000-07:00

A BIG THANKS to Australian Creative for this shout out in the latest Design Issue. Art with Attitude. Badass! Sort of...not really.

Recently across the drawing table.

2011-06-28T04:48:00.001-07:00

Hi there, here are some recent pieces that have made their way across my drawing table. At least the ones I can show you at the moment. Looking back, blue and yellow seem to have been popular this month.

Unions picketing for The Law Institute Journal

Inappropriate footballer tweets for Inside Sport

Good times for recruitment in Asia for In The Black Mag

Best Insurer Award from a series of 7 spots for Money Magazine Awards Issue.

Black thumb for Gardening Australia.

PLANSPONSOR Process Diary

2011-06-03T04:39:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick look at some of the process behind this illo for a.d. SooJin Buzelli at Plansponsor Mag.
Her brief for this story on hedge funds was as always short and sweet leaving me lotsa elbow room for ideas:
Flexibility, Liquidity, Being able to move in and out of investments easily.
I came up with 3 ideas to send through for approval. The first idea was based on old tent show canvases which I really love. Flexi-Bill, geddit?

My second idea was a bit more conceptual and involved a liquid dude who is so flexible that he's able to carry himself around in a bucket.

And finally the winner, an octopus who's able to easily move in and out of a his treasure chest/investments. I suspect this one got the go-ahead because it represented the "investment" aspect of the brief clearly, something the other two ideas maybe lacked.

So idea settled upon, it was time to move to the final. I copied over the back of the rough on tracing paper so I could transfer the image onto each layer of paint throughout the process. The colours seemed to lend themselves to the subject matter. The water was either going to be green or blue I figured so I had to pick another colour to match with that (maroon) and the rest would sort itself out along the way.

I built up the layers using acrylics and scratched and scraped in the textures along the way. Finishing up in photoshop allows me to be pretty fearless about this because I can always tidy up later on.

Because deadlines are often tight I've developed a hi-tech speed drying process ie placing my lamps over the work...

Here's the piece about 3/4 of the way through. Just needs some of the sea critter details added and we're almost ready to scan it in and tweak it in photoshop.

I didn't want to another shade of maroon to finish off the treasure chest so I decided to add some halftone to create a nice vintage feel in photoshop. I have some great old scanned letratone that has a nice ragged look to it. Then it was just cleaning up some of the places where I'd gone in too hard with texture and it was ready to send off.

Thanks again to SooJin. Her succinct art direction and smart choices along the way always bring out the best in her contributors.

GET YO' SWEET TWEETS HERE PEEPS

2011-06-03T03:38:00.000-07:00

Hey if you wanna get updates via twitter just click here. You won't regret it. OK maybe you will but you can always unfollow me...

I VOTE FOR ART interview

2011-05-17T00:06:00.000-07:00

An intimate chat with Christpher Nielson over at I Vote For Art...

Whoa!

2011-05-10T03:56:00.000-07:00

Whoa! It's been crazy busy around here. I thought I'd look up for a sec and post a few things that I'm allowed to show you.
New identity for Slow Magazine "for those who think life is too fast".

A couple for Gardening Australia. First one was for an article about how Monarch butterflies lay their young on certain plants to prevent disease and the second one was about pruning.

Regular spot for Inside Sport about rampant 4 year old football fan.

And another one for IN THE BLACK mag about Small to Medium Enterprises producing substantial environmental reports.

Often licked- Never Beaten

2011-04-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

This guy is part of a series for the Steggles stand at the Royal Easter Show which opened this week. Thanks to Lucy Walker Design, my cohort in all things chook-related. Lucy wanted a simplistic approach using linework and mentioned the Tom Waterhouse illustrations as reference. I also looked at a lot of vintage Ad characters while I was developing "Steggles Boy". I gotta keep reminding myself however, that while Frosty Boy can often be licked - he can never be beaten...

THE HOTSHOP AWARDS

2011-04-05T19:06:00.000-07:00

I've managed to rustle up a "Highly Commended" in this year's CREATIVE Hotshop Awards. Congrats to the Watermark Ltd agency who pipped me at the post as the other finalist in the Illustration category.
The Hotshop awards encourage entrants to Show Us Something Different and reward agencies, designers and production and photography studios that are producing clever, unique and effective solutions for their clients, so the blurb goes.
You can pick up a copy of the awards in CREATIVE mag on the newsstands.

IN THE BLACK

2011-04-03T16:38:00.000-07:00

Newie for In The Black mag about passing on self managed super funds to the next generation. But you already know all about this stuff right???

INTERVIEW WITH OUTLINE MAG

2011-03-22T17:41:00.000-07:00

LUERZERS ARCHIVE 200 BEST ILLUSTRATORS WORLDWIDE

2011-03-20T20:38:00.000-07:00

Having long suspected myself of being ranked somewhere around the 7698 region thereabouts, the arrival of the 2011 Luerzers Archive 200 Best Illustrators Worldwide has provided welcome encouragement

to this little soldier.

SOCIETY OF ILLUSTRATORS ADVERTISING AND INSTITUTIONAL SHOW

2011-03-06T14:12:00.000-08:00

My little squid, galleon, whale, kraken piece for the Society of Illustrators Advertising and Institutional Show in New York on friday night. The tyranny of distance!!!

NEW ILLUSTRATORS AUSTRALIA WEBSITE!

2011-02-26T03:03:00.000-08:00

Thissy-here is a little critter I was asked to design for the "tips" button to go on the homepage of the fantastic new Illustrators Australia website which launched this weekend. It's a fantastic resource for art directors and buyers and makes picking the right illustrator very easy. A big thanks should go to Martin Walker at Still Moving Design for the new design. Don't forget to ask for a free copy of the awesome IA swatch book to keep beside your bed at night.

PUSHED BACK

2011-02-25T03:52:00.000-08:00

Newie for AD extraordinaire SooJin Buzelli at PlanSponsor (US) about retirees having to push back their retirement.

THANK YOU CHECK!

2011-02-14T15:31:00.000-08:00

Towards the end of last year I completed my final cover for (takes deep breath) The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Check Journal. Late 2007 Check had contacted me asking if I would be interested in signing a contract for a years worth of covers. A years worth of regular work guaranteed? Youbetcha. When does that ever happen in a freelancer's lifetime.
Each month covered a new medical unit and presented a new challenge. How could I tastefully represent nasty rashes, sexually transmitted infections or lung cancer? It took a few roughs to figure out the conceptual tone that the art director and editors were after but once we got into the swing of things I really looked forward to Check coming around each month.
I was getting ready to feel the hole left behind in my diary at the end of 2008 when they called and renewed their contract for ANOTHER year. I counted my lucky stars and got back to the drawing board for another year of fun.
Come the end of 2009 they renewed their contract AGAIN and I couldn't believe my good fortune. Like all good things though, I knew that it wouldn't go on forever and last year I got a call from the art director Jason Farrugia saying that with a tinge of regret that they were changing the layout of the cover and not commissioning illustration anymore.
I'd like to thank Jason and my first a.d. there Sharon Benson for their great direction and support with each cover. It really does benefit the work when you're able to develop long term relationships with your art directors. Along the way these covers have been acknowledged by The Society of Illustrators New York, Luerzers Archive and The IA Illustration Awards. Below are some of my fave covers from the last 3 years. THANK YOU CHECK.

X-Ray Unit, Lung Diseases Unit

Eye Unit, Wound Management Unit

Skin Disorder Unit, Sexually Tranmitted Infections Unit

Blood Pressure Unit, Anxiety Unit

Gastroenterology Unit, Management Unit

HAND LETTERING

2011-02-07T16:15:00.000-08:00

Finished up a new promo for hand lettering projects. I find it to be very therapeutical.

Double Hooley Dooley...

2011-02-05T01:48:00.000-08:00

More fantastic news! The Waterhouse illo series has been selected to appear in the Communication Arts Illustration Annual. Communication Arts has the widest circulation of any graphics magazine in the world so it's a big honour to be amongst the other amazing illustrators in this book. As the blurb goes "CA's Award of Excellence is one of the most coveted awards in the industry. If chosen, winning places you in the highest ranks of your profession." Five illustrations were selected in the Advertising Series category. Hooley Dooley...

WOOHOOOOOO!

2011-01-31T16:49:00.000-08:00

The Illustratrators Australia Awards winners have been announced and I've been fortunate enough to scoop seven medals. WOO HOOOO!!!

These were the lucky entries:

Gold: Advertising- Series

Gold: Books- Single

Gold: Unpublished- Single

Silver: Institutional- Single

Bronze: Institutional- Single

Bronze Unpublished: Single

The jury consisted of: Tim O'Brien (US Illustrator, SOI New York Committee), Deborah Brash (Penguin Group Australia), SooJin Buzelli (US AD Asset International), Chris Badger (Head Of Art Clemenger Sydney), Sandy Cull (AD GogoGinko), Clifton Daniell (CD Fluid Design) and Jason Farrugia (AD RACGP). The winning entries will be published in a special liftout in this month's Australian Creative magazine. Congrats to all the other winning entries!

T-SHIRT DESIGN

2011-01-29T02:04:00.000-08:00

I've been playing about with some new techniques and thought I'd design a t-shirt. This is what happens if you listen to too much Phil Collins. Lookout ladies it's...Easy Lover-Lite Sleeper. I've submitted him to Threadless.

WHAT THE HEY?

2011-01-14T05:20:00.000-08:00

I've been looking at a lot of far out, completely insane vintage book illustrations.

Usually I'm looking at these images completely out of context from any meaning that may be connected to them and as a result I have no idea of what most of them are about. But that's the really cool bit. The first thing I find myself doing is trying to piece together some understanding of what's happening in these crazy pictures. They force me to become an author.

In my own personal work I find myself wanting to create images which do the same thing. I want people to look at them and go "What the hell's going on here?". Because trying to understand is a lot more interesting than actually understanding sometimes.
I want to kick start that little process where the onlooker begins to invent their own narrative rather than have it prescribed to them. I guess trying to make things clear to the onlooker is a part of my day job so there's an attraction towards letting go of that altogether when I'm off the clock.

So in the name of discombobulation here are a few recent canvases. Let me know what you come up with.

Vice Versa.

G Man.

WHERE ARE WE GOING TO?

2011-01-10T02:33:00.000-08:00

This is a card I made to accompany some Zoo tickets I got for the family over Christmas. I've been messing about with applying different textures in photoshop and in this piece I used some scanned letratone and brown card as well as some printmaking textures that I'm hoping to build up a library of. I don't want to move too far away from creating natural textures when I'm painting but I want to expand my palette of textures and have more flexibility in controlling them. Plus it's always fun to keep experimenting and stepping out of the comfort zone. Let me know what you think!

VAROOM

2011-01-10T02:08:00.000-08:00

The nice people at Varoom wanted me to ask me some questions about the Waterhouse job on their blog VAROOM!LAB. You can check it out here.

ROLLIN' UP THE SLEEVES

2011-01-10T01:58:00.000-08:00

Okay enough of this holiday stuff, time to roll up the sleeves and get back to the drawing table. Let's kick off the new year with a few of spots I've been enjoying for Tufts University.

Nutrition in high schools.

Websites rating doctors.

Doctor/patient communication.

HAPPY KRAMPUS

2010-12-18T03:41:00.000-08:00

Look don't get me wrong, Santa's great and all but sometimes he's just a little too....jolly. That's why there's always a little room at the Inn for his buddy Krampus. Krampus traditionally rode shotgun with St. Nick and dealt with all the naughty kids. In most depictions he's got a barrel full children or chasing some poor lass. So here's to Krampus, the Prince of Christmas wrongness.

SOCIETY OF ILLUSTRATORS 53

2010-12-06T18:59:00.000-08:00

Hey! The image I did the IA 9x5 Exhibition was just accepted into The Society of Illustrators New York 53rd Annual. Congratulations to my friends and fellow Picture Pigs, Nigel Buchanan and Lew Keiler for their winning entries as well!

'TIS THE SEASON

2010-11-28T19:29:00.000-08:00

Thought it appropriate to post some Christ-opher-mas stuff done recently. It being the season for it and all. This one was for The Sydney Morning Herald Christmas Food Guide

...and this one was for Spinach Advertising's CSR Sugar "Bake A Difference" campaign.

LUERZER'S ARCHIVE 200 BEST ILLUSTRATORS WORLDWIDE

2010-11-26T02:34:00.000-08:00

I got some images into Luerzer's Archive 200 Best Illustrators Worldwide 2011/12. I wonder if the 201st best illustrator in the world pops veins every time this book comes out? Sure is a weird title. That said, it's an honour and a privilege. Here are the illo's accepted.

DESIGN FEDERATION ANNUAL

2010-11-23T19:20:00.000-08:00

The very first ever Design Federation Annual has hit the streets and I'm pleased to say I'm in it alongside a host of great illustrators, photographers and designers. They asked contributors to come up with something based around the theme of "1". I went with an image of Vincent. With "1" ear. Goghing, goghing, gone.

HOME IS WHERE THE ART IS

2010-11-23T19:00:00.000-08:00

Great big shout out to all those peeps in the Melbourne area. I've donated another piece this year to the Lighthouse Foundation Auction being held on Thursday night, the 2nd of December at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA). Get along and start a biddin' war. I sent them "Moroccan Dentist". Let's hope it brings a smile to someone's wall.

NEW YORK TIMES SUNDAY BOOK REVIEW

2010-11-12T02:04:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd post on a job that just came out for The New York Times Sunday Book Review. It was for a review on a couple of new books in the Young Adult genre. You know, teenage vampires, angels, angst etc. Art director (and illustrator) Nicholas Blechman suggested that I do something more general on YA blockbuster romance as opposed to focusing too much on either of the books being reviewed. One of the editors also suggested depicting a couple of young lovers onscreen so I came up with 3 concepts and threw that idea in as well. Let me know which one you would have gone with.

Concept #1- I wanted to capture that kind of teenage ennui that probably makes YA books and films seem so attractive to kids. Also chicks dig guys that read.

Concept #2- Young adults in love. It's an awkward clunk of hoodies, braces and displays of public affection. The tone is probably too humorous in this one.

Concept #4- Going for something more atmospheric. Escaping into the YA genre. The films alway have kids flying over forests don't they?

Concept #4- The editors idea with some fangs and blood chucked in for good measure.

After conferring with the editor Nicholas gave the go ahead on #4.
Here's the finished piece.

WATERHOUSE BOOKLET

2010-10-31T18:38:00.000-07:00

Last week I did a whirlwind job on a super short deadline for Dave Lunnie at Fenton Stephens Advertising. It was for a booklet to be distributed this past saturday at Darby Day in Melbourne for bookmaker Tom Waterhouse. The booklet is full of his little tips on how to win on the ponies and the images are going on to his website as well I believe. Anyway, here are the pages I illustrated. I think I had Saul Bass' illustrations in mind when I was working on the roughs. A big thanks to Dave who provided me with great art direction, quick responses and much more room to be conceptual on an advertising job than I normally expect. I didn't think the headless chook would get past the pencil stage. Cheers!

BOLOGNA

2010-10-31T18:08:00.000-07:00

In other good news I had some images selected to go over as part of the ASA delegation headed for the 2011 Bologna Book Fair. If selected they'll go into the Illustrators Exhibition and the book that they publish. This will then bring me the fame and fortune so richly deserved yet elusive to my illustrious children's book career. Yep.

The images below are for an unpublished kids book I've written and illustrated called "Billy McNickle's In A Pickle". Billy is a cheeky boy who finds himself literally in a Pickle until he decides to chill out and be a good boy. If you're a publisher and you're reading this....ummm, can you please publish it? That would be great. Thanks.

THIS YEAR'S MODEL

2010-10-02T19:43:00.000-07:00

Picked up a new life model for the studio at the markets the other day. I'm calling her Veronica. She's already made an appearance in the illo below for Check Journal about the rather sensitive issue "rashes".
Anyway she's great to work with and always professional so I'm keeping her on. Welcome Veronica.

WHEN STUFF WORKS

2010-09-22T03:27:00.000-07:00

Every now and then a job comes through that lets you know that the images you have on your website are effective or the marketing you pour all your spare money and time into actually works. I thought I'd post a couple of examples here today.
This is a spread I did ages ago for The Good Food Guide with a stylized chook. It was a fun job and I liked the way it turned out with the design so I put it in the portfolio on my website.

Out of the blue recently I got a call from Lucy Walker Design saying she dug the chook and had a client who needed an advertisement for their free range chicken. She was going to a meeting with them to see if they'd go for an illustrative direction. After getting the go ahead I had a late night to complete the job for the print deadline the next day. With a slightly different chook, a few colour requirements and added ingredient elements we had ourselves a new piece.

On the contact page on my website and when I send out postcards to clients I have a little greyscale image on the back for my "contact" details. A play on two

mexican wrestlers "making contact". I'm knocked out by the lurid, over-the-top nature of Lucha Libre imagery and any chance I get to use it in my work, I'm 100% there.

So when Fiona at Money Mag called up and said that was what she was after I jumped at the job. She had an article on the merits of debit cards versus credit cards and said she loved the little "contact" image on the back of my postcard. Could I do something like that but with the cards fighting instead? You betcha. Here's the finished piece. It's kinda nice when some of the things you try pay off.

PHEW!

2010-09-21T00:03:00.000-07:00

Jody Pratt from Illustrators Australia Victoria just sent some great news. I sold my piece (remember the Kraken, Whale, Giant Squid one?) at the IA 9x5 "Untold Stories" auction. Always a huge relief to know that it's not on it's way back to me in the post with a sad letter. She also sent through a little article in The Age where I got a nice mention. Thanks Jodester!

CLEMENGER BBDO EXHIBITION

2010-08-16T21:23:00.000-07:00

Clemenger BBDO Sydney have set up a new space in their offices to showcase the work of artists, illustrators and photographers. The space is designed to inspire not only staff but visitors to the building with new and interesting work from different artists each month. Chris Badger, Head of Art at Clemenger Sydney recently invited illustrator Christopher Nielsen to one of the first to exhibit a selection on his work in this new area.

The work includes a range of the different styles from Christopher Nielsen all produced on canvas. Badger said "it's a great way to get people talking about art, not only in the creative department but around the building as well". All the work on display is also for sale, so it's giving everyone a chance to start or build their own art collection. The textured and vintage images from Christopher currently on display are proving to be a the perfect match for the new Clemenger exhibition space.

UNTOLD STORIES

2010-08-16T20:18:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd give you some insight into the painful drawing process that I endure most times I start a piece. This years Illustrators Australia 9x5 exhibition theme is "Untold Stories". I'd been inspired looking at sea monster pictures recently for another job so I wanted to recreate a classic Kraken or Squid v Whale image showing what was really going underneath the murky depths. The untold story.

I start out with lots of tracing paper and very little drawing ability and just keep hashing away until a rough composition begins to appear.

super roughs at this stage

Starting to develop a bit more in the 4th sketch. I stumble across the idea of adding a Giant Squid attacking the Whale attacking the Kraken attacking the Ship (to give the story a little more "depth" so-to-speak).

I go to my reference to tighten up my image and start focusing on some details.

I decided I liked the image flipped. It felt more balanced. Now I'm ready to start painting the final on my 9x5 piece of wood now. Phew... this drawing almost sent me to Davy Jones Locker!

Thar she blows. Title: "Tug O' War". Fingers crossed someone bids for it. I hope this post gives hope to those who say they can't draw. Don't let that get in your way.

T-SHIRT

2010-07-25T19:29:00.000-07:00

So anyway, I'm in a band called the Ramalamas. Two years ago we recorded our first album "Drownded" and we got a friend of mine Lara Goodridge from Craving Records to play some beautiful fiddle and put some lovely backing vocals on some tunes. In the haze of getting it all put together and in an unforgivable oversight we forgot to send Lara a copy of the finished album and some sort of thank you gift. When we realized this we all felt pretty bad...So by way of thanks (and it doesn't go half way to saying how much better she made our album sound) I thought I'd make her a t-shirt. Hopefully she has checked her mailbox and likes it! Sorry Lara, you really do ROCK us!!!

APE ON THE MOON INTERVIEW

2010-07-25T18:53:00.000-07:00

There's a little interview with me up at a great site called Ape On The Moon. Thanks to Alex for asking me for a chat. http://apeonthemoon.com/

TWO!

2010-06-21T00:23:00.000-07:00

My boy turned 2 on sunday and this was the invite for the big shindig. Happy birthday Stiggy!

SECOND GO ROUND'S THE CHARM

2010-06-21T00:00:00.000-07:00

This was a recent job for SooJin Buzelli for the online mag ai5000. It all started out as a completely different job for PlanSponsor magazine which SooJin also art directs. I submitted 5 ideas including the one below for an article on healthcare reforms but we ended up going for a different concept. However she really liked the skull and said she would keep it in mind for something else if it was appropriate.

Normally when an AD says this I don't get my hopes up to high and I never hear about the rough again. To SooJin's credit she came back a couple of weeks later and said she had an article on Equity which would be a perfect fit for the concept but there was one hitch...The format was different and I had to reshape the layout. I said no probs. I've always found coming up with concepts to the hard bit of the job. Resizing an existing concept was a breeze.

Here's the final layout in context

And here's the final piece. Thanks again SooJin!

Drawing From Inspiration

2010-06-15T00:08:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Michael Fleishman for asking me to participate in this book. Apart from the little "gems of wisdom" contributed by yours truly it really is an inspiring read. Lots of great illustrators spilling the beans. There are a couple of visual artists at work on the cover. You can order it on Amazon here.

Recent Jobs I Can Still Stand To Look At...

2010-05-16T22:16:00.000-07:00

I've been busy with lots of work that I'm not necessarily blown away by lately (the curse of the "commercial artist") and haven't had much time to post. I thought I'd post a few recent jobs that I can actually stand to look at a fortnight after I've completed them... The first one is for PlanSponsor questioning how US health reforms will turn out.

This one was for Check Journal on an issue surrounding Anxiety. Has a touch of "The Scream" about I realized after finishing the job. Pretty obvious to me now though.

And this fella for Nett Mag about selling Oz products overseas. I don't normally go in for "Australiana" but bizarrely I actually don't mind the kookaburras and green and gold colour scheme in an odd kinda way.

MEANJIN Process Diary

2010-04-08T17:56:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite jobs recently has been the set of spreads and cover I completed for literary journal Meanjin Quarterly. I've attached a talk I gave at a recent IA meeting on the whole process. Many thanks to Lew Keilar for the footage and editing.

And here are some close ups of some of the internal spreads:

Essay Section

Memoir Section

Interview Section

Fiction Section

Poetry Section

In Colour Section

ILLUSTRATORS AUSTRALIA A3 EXHIBITION

2010-04-08T00:11:00.000-07:00

A big THANKS to everyone who came along and to all those who helped out with the IA A3 show. It was a huge success! Here's some video of the big night.

ILLUSTRATORS 52

2010-03-08T19:06:00.001-08:00

This in live from my lovely rep Sari Levy's phone the other night. The awards presentation for Illustrators 52 Advertising and Institutional categories, Society Of Illustrators, The Big Apple. Wish I could have been there in person!

STIGGY'S TRAIN

2010-02-25T17:30:00.000-08:00

This is a diptych I've been promising to paint for my son Stig ever since he was born around 20 months ago. Took me a while sorry buddy, but I finally got there! He actually gave the canvases a hug when he got them which was pretty cool. It was a bit daunting trying to figure out what to paint to begin with but I concentrated on his main interests. That's his dog "Ocker" driving, along with his current obsessions, trains and oddly... the number 8. Hope you dig it Stiggy!

Stuff For Walls

2010-02-25T17:20:00.000-08:00

Whenever I get a second in between jobs I try to work on larger canvases which I'm hoping to get on to some gallery walls in the near future. Here are some recent pieces. If you're a rich-sugar-daddy-gallery-owner lookin' for new talent, our operators are standing by waiting for your call....

Sam Speaks Out!

2010-02-25T17:12:00.000-08:00

One of my favourite A.D.'s Sam Wright was kind enough to come at speak at one of our Illustrators Australia meetings recently and she has most of the talk up on her blog here: http://samselectr.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/talk-to-the-illustrators-australia/

Innerestin' stuff. Thanks Sam!

YEAR OF THE TIGER

2010-02-09T22:07:00.000-08:00

My friends at Design Federation http://www.designfederation.net/ are holding a shindig in Kings Cross on friday night to celebrate 3 years of dedication to the Australian design community. It's a Year Of The Tiger Party so I'm donating my "Fireworks" piece for the evening. Get along!

MY STUDIO

2010-01-24T19:31:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to put up a post on my studio for ages so here it finally is. I have a corner in a warehouse space which I share with several designers and four other illustrators and I have to admit that l love coming to work every morning. It means I'm constantly being inspired and pushed to work hard at my job. The the other illustrators are: Nigel Buchanan http://www.nigelbuchanan.com/, Jim Tsinganos http://www.tsinganos.com/, Stuart McLachlan http://www.stuart-mclachlan.com/ and Lew Keilar http://www.lewkeilar.com/ each of whom help make each day an education in illustration. It's a place where you can get an instant honest critique from people who's opinions you respect.

My corner of the world.

I have a drafting table where I do most of my painting and wet work. Over on the workbench I have a scanner, cintiq screen and printer hooked up to the laptop which goes home with me. The other table is for cutting up stuff and laying things out. The cintiq wacom means I can touch up paintings on screen if I need to and it still feels organic. There's also a little library of annuals etc. that you can't quite see.

The floor is filtered with greate natural light. Above is a view of the side of the studio that houses the illustrators. It's great to sit at the drafting table and look out over everybody toiling away and listen to the banter. Hope you enjoyed the tour!

THE BOSTON GLOBE

2010-01-03T20:47:00.000-08:00

This was a fun spot for the Boston Globe for an article about how they attempted to package nukes to us in the 50's & 60's as innovations in construction and development. More of the black keyline thing creeping into new work.

TAX DEDUCTIBLE?

2010-01-03T20:34:00.000-08:00

Recently I returned from a seaside family holiday on the beautiful south coast of Australia. First day back in the studio I get a call from the Sydney Morning Herald magazine Good Weekend, asking if I could do an illustration about a boy's whimsical recollection of his time spent by the beach. Perfect! I had a bit of a stylistic struggle when the a.d. requested a realistic depiction of the boy included in the image (generally I avoid "realism" and "portraiture" like the plague) but in the end I think I got it to the finish line without compromising what I normally do. Now I'm wondering if the holiday is tax deductible?

101 IMMUTABLE LAWS OF ILLUSTRATION- LAW # 75

2010-01-03T20:17:00.000-08:00

There are certain rules of physics that an illustrator will come across in his or her lifetime. For example at some stage an art director WILL ask you to draw a dollar sign. Which brings me to Law # 75. You WILL create an image using "The Great Wave", the famous Japanese woodblock print by Hokusai as reference. Here's one I did for Hilbert at Nett Mag, again using the keylines he requested.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2010-01-03T20:04:00.000-08:00

At home sick today so I'm taking the opportunity to put up a bunch of stuff I was meaning to do in 2009. Happy New Year! First up, more weiners. Nett Mag Art Director Hilbert Ho wanted me to create an image about people being scared of updating their mobile technology. One of the headers was something about jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. He also requested I give the characters keylines so he could easily deep etch them and reuse them throughout the article. This is something that's been creeping into my work a lot recently. Always interesting to pursue stylistic changes if they happen naturally.

SOCIETY OF ILLUSTRATORS 52

2009-12-01T19:46:00.000-08:00

This illustration for The Royal Australian College of General Practioners just made it into the institutional category of Society of Illustrators 52nd Annual. Cool!

EXHIBITION THURSDAY NIGHT!

2009-12-01T19:30:00.000-08:00

If you're in Melbourne on thursday night get along to The Sixth Annual Advertising Art Auction and put in a bid on my piece above! Fenton Stephens advertising approached me to contribute a canvas. All proceeds go to the Lighthouse Foundation which helps out young people dealing with homelessness. More details about the event here: http://www.lighthouseartauction.com.au/

ILLUSIVE

2009-11-26T20:49:00.000-08:00

Hello, back from holidays and excited to receive my copy of Illusive- Contemporary Illustration Part 3. I'm honoured to have a page amongst some very impressive company including some of my fave illustrators, Olaf Hayek, Gary Taxali and Yuko Shimizu, yikes!

SUNNY SIDE UP!

2009-10-26T01:48:00.000-07:00

Another piece for SooJin at Plansponsor. The brief was simply "Optimism" so I sent in a few ideas including a half full/half empty glass but we ended up going with this one. The bright side of the moon. It seems I can't keep away from space themes or blue and yellow at the moment.

BLATHER

2009-10-23T20:10:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd post a recent illo I did for a great A.D. who looks out for us illustrators, Sheree James from "The Deal". That's not to be confused with US publication of the same name. The article was all about that horrible biz-speak that people like to use to make dull stuff sound important.

FISHMONGERIN'

2009-10-08T19:14:00.000-07:00

This is the new logo for famous Bondi Beach institution "The One That Got Away". Barry the fishmonger also purchased the original piece which was painted on driftwood. Thanks also to the guys at Thursday Design who were fantastic to collaborate with. You can check out more of their work at: http://www.thursdaydesign.com.au

3X3 Magazine

2009-10-07T23:33:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year I had the honor of being invited to write an article on one of my fave illustrators and studio mate Nigel Buchanan for my fave magazine 3x3. You can check it out over at the 3x3 website http://3x3mag.com/currentissue.html

9X5

2009-09-15T23:03:00.000-07:00

Here's my entry for this year's Illustrators Australia 9X5 exhibition. The theme this year is "20" as it's the association's 20th birthday. This one was inspired by vintage cigarette paper designs. French to be precise!

My Weiner's On TV!

2009-08-27T18:12:00.000-07:00

My Weiner recently got an airing on TV. The Super Snag was created for some vintage butcher shop signage in an ANZ bank commercial. It's right at the start of the clip, blink and you'll miss him!

Jacky Winter

2009-08-20T20:47:00.000-07:00

Good news everyone! Fantastic "new Australian agent on the block" Jacky Winter has been kind enough to invite me onto their books. It's humbling to be counted amongst the ranks of such a great bunch of artists. Let's cross our fingers that I can still find time to blog while pumping out five figure jobs for Apple and Coca Cola huh? You can check out all the great illustrators on the Jacky Winter site here: http://www.jackywinter.com/

The Cuban Connection

2009-08-09T18:29:00.000-07:00

Here's my piece for "The Cuban Connection" exhibition opening on the 13th at Gorker Gallery.

Everyone was given a cigar box to work with. I love South American loteria cards so I used that as my starting point. Get along to the opening if you're in Melbourne. The show is curated by Timba at Wooden Toy mag.

Sydney's Child

2009-07-30T19:54:00.000-07:00

Cover commissioned by Sydney's Child for their Education issue. It's a "school" of fish...geddit?

Interview @ Amelia's Magazine

2009-07-09T16:06:00.000-07:00

Interview at design blog Amelia's Magazine. I think was suffering from a little deadline delirium...

http://www.ameliasmagazine.com/amelias_blog/2009/07/christopher_nielsen_over_the_t.php

American Illustration 28

2009-07-05T19:31:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate enough to have this piece selected to appear in American Illustration 28. From the record breaking 8,100 images entered, a jury selected 381 illustrations to appear

Recent Stuff For PlanSponsor and PlanAdvisor

2009-07-05T19:17:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of recent jobs for SooJin at PlanSponsor Mag. I'm a big fan of her mininal, succinct art direction. I was sure she wouldn't let all the blood and guts go to print in the Mauled image but instead she said "Go for it!". She's cool.

Preece wine label

2009-05-26T00:00:00.001-07:00

Keep an eye out at the local for the new range of Preece wines using images on the label by some of my favourite Australian illustrators. I was lucky enough to be asked by Ethos Design to provide the art for Rose. AND it tastes good.

Creative mag

2009-05-25T23:58:00.000-07:00

This one just made it on to the pages of CREATIVE- The Annual where it was awarded in the Illustration category. It was commissioned by Sam Wright at AFR Boss Magazine.

Plansponsor

2009-05-25T23:57:00.001-07:00

Illo commissioned by SooJin Buzelli at PLANSPONSOR Magazine, Stamford USA.Little hazy on the details now but the article was called "Fiduciary Fundamentals"and was all about new directions...