26 letters, 128 animals... Welcome to the Animalphabet!

After tackling architecture and history through the alphabet, I wanted to try my hand at animals. There are thousands of Animal Alphabets out there, but I've given the genre a different spin. This colourful illustrated alphabet of animals has several critters making up each individual letter. Some are from the sea, the air and the land, or a mixture. There are insects, fish, birds, mammals and everything in between - even a dinosaur or two appear on the special 'extinct' letter.

The Animalphabet was always created with a long concertina design in mind. I researched each creature and the reverse of the printed concertina has a couple of facts about each one. 

You can buy a concertina, print and even have a name custom ordered in my shop. 

October 2017

The 100 days project is an instagram event in which users are encouraged to create something new every day for 100 consecutive days. Phewf. It began in early April 2017 and the expectation is to choose a theme for the content and then start creating it. In order to learn more and to celebrate the role of women in our current world, I've chosen #100DaysOfHerstory. So far I am keeping the theme very open, trying to be as intersectional and diverse as I can. It's a lot of research and drawing - especially hard at the weekends! 

I used to do a similar self-initiated project called 'daily drawings' back from 2011-2014 which relied on participation from social media every weekday and took about an hour for each illustration. That process resulted in designs like the Glasgow and Edinburgh Alphabets and the Amazing Carlisle Facts.

This time the drawings have taken their own shape as black and white ink - but mostly pencil - illustrations of particular women, groups or concepts throughout history - or Herstory. I'm encouraging people to get in touch with their own selections, they'll go on the big list and I might draw them!

-- This gallery will be updated regularly, but for the most up to date illustrations, they are added daily on Instagram and twitter--

Tuesday 4th April 2017 - current

The City Art Centre’s main Summer - Autumn exhibition for 2017 is titled The Edinburgh Alphabet. Not only did they restock my original Edinburgh Alphabet goodies, but asked me to create an entirely new alphabet based on - and for – the new exhibition. Using images selected by curators from their impressive collections, I built up a new design full of colour and fun, exploring objects, artworks and architecture with a colour scheme inspired by that sweet, colourful chewy delight that is the famous Edinburgh rock!
 

The style isn’t the same throughout – I wanted to ensure each letter was as individual as the artifacts, so although they are tied together by the ABC and a shared colour scheme, I felt able to experiment with different styles and approaches. Favourite visitor items include J for junk,  a doll made from an old shoe. I loved drawing A for arts and crafts (it's also Joan of ARC so it's a double whammy) and Z for Zoo, based on a painting of leopards in the collections. 

The range will be available at the City Art Centre in Edinburgh as a colour teatowel and prints, with single letters are available as postcards and greetings cards.

Summer 2017

The Tall Ship at Riverside is a museum ship with a crew and it’s a complex beast. The ship isn’t a building and doesn’t conform to having clearly designated floors or a roof and it isn’t even the same on both sides. It was a tricky project to undertake but by working closely with the team at Glasgow’s floating museum on the Clyde, this map was born.

It shows the ship in profile from the post side (the side you see from the land) and there are helpful boxes above the ship illustration to show how certain areas are different on the starboard (sea) side. This approach seemed to make more sense for landlubbing visitors than a plan view which would prove much more confusing! The map ties into the already existing app, reflecting in the numbers and description below the map the best route through the ship.  The ink illustration has been coloured digitally and photos have been added for clarity for the really special spots. We hope that whether you’re a seasoned, salty sailor or a three-year old pirate enthusiast, there’s something to enjoy about the map and a visit to the Tall Ship.

Spring 2017

Working with lawyer, Philip Hannay at Cloch Solicitors in Glasgow, we collaborated on creating hype for a new Lawyers Heritage Trail Map. The mini postcard sized map was launched at the 200th anniversary dinner of the Library at the RFPG, the Royal Faculty of Procurators building in February 2017. Concurrently, badges and stickers were handed out and since they’ve all disappeared, we think it went pretty well!

The map is of central Glasgow and depicts a collection of sites and illustrated buildings relevant to law history in Glasgow, the current courts, sites of the old courts, the fantastic Lion Chambers, City Chambers and most importantly - the Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow.

This building is relevant as we turn the postcard over. The reverse of the map showcases fourteen busts of significant gents from Glasgow’s lawmaking past. Each of them is visible on the three sides of the Royal Faculty Building in Nelson Mandela Square, Glasgow. 

The map will be extended for a tour running throughout Glasgow’s Doors Open Day Festival in September through which we hope to explore the many depictions of ‘lady’ Justice across the city’s art and architecture. Adding a few ladies to go with the gents. 

© Cloch Solicitors, 2017

February 2016

In Autumn 2016, I was approached by Stonehouse Business Association to create a street map of Stonehouse, a large village south of Glasgow, which would highlight local businesses and spotlight local heritage sites. The map is intended as an introduction to Stonehouse and an opportunity to showcase its attributes.

The front of the map illustrates the village's main landmarks, including any historical points of interest and walks for visitors in a simple, accessible layout. While the reverse of the map provides an index of relevant groups and amenities in Stonehouse, along with the contact details of local businesses. Hand drawn in ink and digitally coloured, the map is to be printed and distributed throughout the Stonehouse area with a view to encouraging visitors to explore the village using the map as a clear and simply way to orientate themselves. 

Winter 2016

Bedlam: The Asylum and Beyond is The Wellcome Collection's Autumn / Winter 2016 exhibition concerning the past, present and imagined future of mental health care. Madlove played a key role in researching and essentially building an asylum to reflect the needs and desires of people suffering with their mental health. The Madlove designer asylum is a place created by and for mad people to go mad.

To communicate the workshop process and to try and visually express such a complex and wide ranging theme, illustration was used across the board. Along with the data gathered throughout the workshops in 2016, I worked with lead artists the Vacuum Cleaner and Hannah Hull to develop illustrations that would best serve our purpose.

There are six 'day in the life' storyboards charting the perfect day for 6 different real people in our asylum as well as a near seven metre long diagram detailing the workshop process of Madlove in over 140 seperate illustrations. There are some diagrams of the architect's models that illustrate all the areas within the Madlove asylum landscape - a sort of key to the model.

The exhibition ran in London from 15th September 2016 to 15th January 2017.

Some of the photos used here with the kind permission of the Wellcome Collection.

I was commissioned to produce an illustration by the Centre for Stewardship for their Woodworks programme which is proposing to build a craft village in the woodland of the Falkirk Estate in Fife. 

The proposed village would become a centre of enterprise for the local community. The plan is to have a number of buildings that support the development of hands-on skills and crafts, such as blacksmithing, woodwork and tanning. In the top right of the main illustration, you can see sustainable accommodation for workers and a large central hub based in an old saw mill which would become a centre for all craft activities. My brief was to produce a realistic visual interpretation of these plans to convey the ideas behind this exciting project at a craft symposium - basically bringing the plans to life. The final images were drawn with ink, coloured digitally, and included a cross section of the saw mill to give a suggested idea of the workshop layout inside.  

After an enthusiastic response to my Glasgow Doors Open Day Kids Map 2015, I was delighted to be asked back to create the map for 2016! Building on the success of the 2015 map, tailored specifically for children attending the Doors Open Day event, I wanted the 2016 map to be even more ambitious than the previous year.

Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival is an annual event taking place across the Glasgow during the 3rd week of September. Buildings open their doors and give free access to the public in order to showcase the city’s built environment, architecture and heritage. As well as open access to buildings, the week-long programme also includes bookable walks, tours, talks, special events and a dedicated children’s programme. One of the festival's main aims is to raise public awareness of the city’s rich built heritage and more broadly to strengthen Glaswegian civic pride! The event continues to grow in popularity, adding more attractions each year, and this latest map reflects that growth, incorporating new features and several activities for its young audience.

The document was given to every primary school age child in the greater Glasgow area, totalling 10,000 free copies! With both layout and design by Illustration, etc., the map needed to be fun to use and portable, whilst including enough information so that families could plan their day out together. This simplified map of Glasgow employed a slightly “creative” scale in order to include vibrant illustrations of the participating buildings and aimed to capture imaginations with interactive sections containing art activities, puzzles and a competition. 

I worked as a live illustrator for a number of workshops and events around the Madlove Project by the Vacuum Cleaner and Hannah Hull. Visiting various mental health institutions in the UK and occasionally in Europe, we run mental health care workshops with diverse groups of people; those with lived experience, patients, ex patients, staff and other professionals.

In any given workshop, I quickly draw the ideas and elements of the discussions as they happen using coloured markers. The images are usually quite swift, cartoon-like representations of objects and ideas. Afterwards, these images are documented and I redraw some of the more popular and interesting concepts in black ink, in a fairly realistic portrayal of items and ideas described.

These illustrations will go on to form a part of an exhibition at London's Wellcome Collection in September 2016. Free entry from mid September until mid January. We hope the exhibit will tour in 2017.

Jan - Nov 2016

Rozelle is a natural parkland, gallery and house run by South Ayrshire Council and it is situated near Alloway, South of Ayr. They felt the need to have a designated, illustrated map of the estate including all the interior attractions as many visitors could easily miss the more secluded carvings and sculptures. Little illustrations of the wildlife in Rozelle’s largely natural wilderness are featured as a panel to the right of the main map. The key assists in finding basic amenities and there’s also (in the illustration, etc. style) a handy fact about Rozelle’s tree species!

The map has a slightly ‘creative’ scale and even has north at the bottom of the map! This makes the site much easier to navigate for a visitor who doesn’t need to find the points of the compass (let’s be honest, that’s most of us). A visitor can easily orientate themselves via the featured items on the map and visit smashing places like the life size figure carvings in the Remembrance woodland, the ever-changing artists in the gallery and the crocodile hiding in the house.

The map launches as part of the festival of museums in May 2016. An A4 copy of the map will be available to every visitor to the house.

April 2016

Organised alongside Glasgow Doors Open Day,  the illustrious Glasgow illustrations are a visual celebration of some of Glasgow’s world class architecture. I’ve worked with Doors Open Day and Glasgow Building Preservation Trust several times in the past in different capacities and it’s one of my favourite weeks of the year. As a lover of people’s stories, architecture and Glasgow, I am in my element! A new illustration and accompanying fun fact was released each month from February to October 2016 in preparation for September’s week long Doors Open Day Festival. All nine illustrations were shared by Doors Open Day via facebook, instagram and twitter and were widely shared by many organisations and Glasgow heritage lovers, seen by tens of thousands of people.

Feb - Oct 2016

Using the Wellcome Collection as a base, Hannah Hull and a group of young people who hear voices worked on concepts concerning voice hearing. Using their workshop models, drawings and written ideas, I worked with Hannah to produce illustrations that would effectively communicate their concepts without simplifying them. Their witty, intelligent and imaginative work is brought to life through these illustrations, making them visually accessible to a wider audience.

There are seven distinct projects, each by one voice hearer;

I’m not broken; I’m a masterpiece by Nikki

Voice Hearer’s Headphones by Deliylah

Torso of a Voice Hearer by Mallory

The Sleeping Siren by Tyra

Stigma Starter Kit by Lizzie

My Infinity by Rhea

The Colour of My Emotions by Millie

Find out more about the voice hearing project here and more about these artworks by going here.

The exhibition, ‘This is a Voice’ runs in the Wellcome Collection from 14th April -31stJuly 2016. These pieces are situated by the Studio on the first floor.

April 2016

A selection of logos and designs created over the past few years for various people, projects and organisations. To find out more, just read the caption underneath any given image. Illustration, etc. isn't really a logo expert, but over time we've been asked to do it enough times that it warrants its own section!

A joint venture, funded by NHS Scotland and managed by Glasgow Life, this community arts project sought to tackle the issue of low uptake of cervical screening (smear testing) among many Glasgow women. The project tackled some of the taboos, the fear, shame, embarrassment and tricky issues around both being a woman and the complex issue of women’s health.

I worked with two groups in the North East of the city; All Saints Secondary school and a mum and toddler group at Tron St Mary’s church on Red Road. Using different approaches in a series of six workshops, together we explored the reasons why uptake could be low, our own opinions and reservations (‘smear fear’) as well as the ways we could effect change with visual outcomes.

In the school, the group was mixed gender, aged 15-16 and we spent an amount of time engaging with why cervical screening is important, the changes and effects it potentially has on women and how it can empower us through healthy relationships. Their outcome is a series of posters depicting scissors cutting the threat of a time bomb. I used the actual pencil artwork created by one pupil as the foundation for the poster and using digital colour, cleaned it and worked their taglines around the design. They were very satisfied with the way their outcome was presented and I believe it encouraged the entire group to see screening as not only important, but essential to wellbeing. I needed to be sensitive at all times to the school’s Catholic policies and also take into account their ages (they will not require screening for a number of years).

The Red Road group were all mothers and as such had a more personal understanding of screening and the reasons for disengagement. With their enthusiasm, we were able to pull three connected outcomes based on popular women’s magazines. These ‘spoof’ covers depict women positively and address the issues around screening in a very upfront, straightforward way. We had fun with the genre and with subverting the tropes of women’s throwaway literature. The outcomes are meaningful and usable and I believe could benefit from further development in a wider context.

The winter long project culminated in a launch event in Govan on International Women’s day 2016 (8th March). Workshop participants, artists and locals were invited to attend and enjoy and critique the outcomes in a friendly, open environment. The event presented all the outcomes – including those from a third group of women in Govan, facilitated mainly by Alwyn Main.

Oct 2015 – Mar 2016

An event organised by Pidgin Perfect and commissioned by Merchant City Festival 2015 and VELOCITY. The Banchetto framed a discussion and celebration of the current shifting culture in the famous Barras area of Glasgow.

My role was to work with local business, the Pantry Cafe to form one of the three celebratory meal courses – the main. After I undertook some interviews and research in the area, together we designed two sandwiches; The Barras Club (Irn Bru chicken, bacon and salad) and the Glasgow Green Club (Cheese, Irn Bru chutney and salad). The sandwiches were wrapped in illustrated newsprint, folding into a ‘fortune teller’ about the Barras area. The sandwiches were adorned with laser cut sandwich spikes with easily recognisable local icons to complete the ‘pieces’ of the Barras.  

Glasgow Doors Open Day is an annual event in September organised by Glasgow Buildings Preservation Trust (GBPT). In 2015, they commissioned an illustrated map to accompany a new Children's trail. I drew twenty buildings as well as various other sights they wished to include. I took on the layout and design, creating a complete map on one side and information and a key on the other.

The design is colourful, simple and appealing so it can be enjoyed by children as well as their accompanying adults. One of these printed A3 maps was given to every single primary aged child in the Greater Glasgow area in order to encourage participation in the week long festival.

May - July 2015

The university shop commissioned a range of exclusive merchandise based on famous alumni, including Adam Smith, Lord Kelvin and James Watt. These three designs all contain an illustrated timeline of life events, portraits, signatures and their achievements. The designs are a fun interpretation of facts and figures, brightening up any office or home.

The whole range is available from the university shop from September 2015 and the three main designs are available as A5 notebooks, prints, mugs, ceramic coasters, double sided tote bags and magnets.

Feb-May 2015

A permanent outdoor artwork for Shetland Library, commissioned by the Scottish Book Trust and facilitated by Pidgin Perfect. The ‘High Standards of Shetland Library’ is a series of four hand sewn flags, inspired by Shetland Library, the islands and the Jackie Kay poem, ‘Dear Library’. The designs celebrate the different aspects of the library; the mobile libraries, the family and children’s services, the people, the books and the building. The wooden flagpole was made by Paparwark for the ‘standards’ and harks back to the Shetland seafaring, craft based culture.

The artwork was officially unveiled on Friday 28th November as part of Scottish Book week 2014, with four other artworks across Scotland unveiled in the preceding four days. The launch event began with the first flag being flown. Locals were treated to coffee and cake, and children were invited for colouring in, singing, storytelling and other activities.

November 2014

Hand drawn map with digital colour. Commissioned by Community Renewal for the Govanhill People's History Project for their website, accompanying leaflet and listening trail in the area. Showcases many of the well known sights of Glasgow's Govanhill, but also ties into oral history collected from local residents.

The leaflet of the listening trail  is available for free at local libraries and community centres, as well as online as a download. To view an STV interview about the project, just click here.

Jan 2015

A book commissioned by the Village Storytelling Centre  to commemorate the Glasgow Garden Festival of 1988. The book contains recollections from locals of all ages that remember the pavilions, events and flowers at the festival. I created colour accented ink illustrations for the cover and interior pages to complement the text and bring some colour to the stories.

Jan 2014

To celebrate Glasgow’s Commonwealth year, I wanted to build on my Glasgow Alphabet, revisit the places and draw a map of all twenty-six letters. I wanted to explore the places and the people that make them special to Glasgow. The A2 printed maps have the buildings and street plan on the front, but the reverse is the result of over eleven hours of recording. I interviewed a person from each of the twenty-six Glasgow icons in order to get their personal reflections and insights, some of which features on the map.

The Lighthouse launched my map and accompanying exhibition in the long gallery in time for the Commonwealth Games opening and I conducted tours all summer and for Doors Open Day 2014

Spring- Summer 2015

Selma is the name of a refugee who came to the UK from Serbia in 1991. Vickie was her friend and lived with her in a school for several months – she’s now a theatre maker. The illustration element was the creation of a ‘mobile museum’ of handmade, marker drawn artifacts. It ended up being 10 drawers, 5 suitcases, one huge game and a big banner. Impressively, it all fits in the back of a car. The Terra Incognita show is designed for school age children and it toured in early 2014, early and mid 2015 too.

Photos by Jassie Earl. 2014

I created the Glasgow Alphabet with the help of local people through social media. They made suggestions for every letter and I illustrated one each day so people could keep up with the real time progress as well as feel involved in the process. The finished alphabet is a colourful celebration of all twenty-six icons in the ABC, from Armadillo, Barras and Clyde all the way to the Zoology Museum. The icons have a good spread geographically across the city, are culturally all different and they are a mixture of famous places as well as some more hidden favourites.

Prints of various sizes, printed teatowels and the accompanying Glasgow Alphabet Map are all available from several Glasgow retailers as well as from my online shop.

Sept-Oct 2012

Commissioned by Carlisle City Council and sponsored by Dulux paint, the murals were to reinvigorate a tired urban area of Carlisle. The Sands Centre mural is a series of seven painted walls covering elements of the area’s past and present. The designs were based on the Amazing Carlisle Facts series I designed, but also cover elements of the unique Cumbrian culture and history. It contains sheep counting, railways, Cumberland wrestling, lions, unicorns, Hadrian’s Wall and more. The 250 square metre mural took me and a team of volunteers twenty-one days to paint! The murals are a permanent fixture in the city centre and were opened by the Mayor in June 2013.

May 2013

Theatre company, Tortoise in a nutshell commissioned a series of illustrations for their 2013 Edinburgh Fringe show, GRIT. The show tells the story of child soldiers and the effect of war on children. The show featured puppetry, movement and manipulation of projected, illustrated images – which I drew to their specifications. I created the images in ink and digitally accented each with a sharp, bold colour. Most of the images depict people, but there are cityscapes, tanks and objects of war included in the expansive series. It was punishing!

Spring 2013

I come from England originally (despite being an honorary Scot) and I grew up in Carlisle. It is steeped in history, but also harbours an impressive array of interesting facts! As a love letter to my home town, I decided to create a series of 25 illustrated facts about Carlisle, the Cumbrian city of my birth. Each fascinating fact is not only entirely true but is accompanied by a hand drawn illustration, coloured digitally with a smart, bold red, a reflection of the red sandstone buildings that can be admired throughout the city. Following the success of the original designs, I was commissioned by Cumbria County Council to design and paint a mural in Carlisle City Centre based on these 25 facts in Spring 2016. 

This set of engaging and fun images are now available via a number of quality products including colour printed tea towels, books and postcards which are all available from various Carlisle retailers and also in my online shop.

In association with the Arches in Glasgow, National Theatre of Scotland commissioned a series of illustrations for their Auteurs Project programme. It was part of the Behaviour Festival. The five performers were illustrated in sharp, dark pencil along with a series of objects from their shows. The artists were Kieran Hurley, Rob Drummond, Claire Cunningham (no relation), Nic Green and Gary McNair.

March 2013