Umbrella

I've entered this image in Lloyds Art of Nurture Competition. The theme of the illustration is 'We Act Wisely'. I’ve represented the simple act of bringing an umbrella in case of rain to illustrate this concept. I wished to show that a wise decision does not have to be a grand gesture but can also be a very simple everyday action. The everyday choices we make can have a positive effect on not just ourselves but also on those around us.

The Outsider

This is my submission for the House of Illustration/Folio Society competition. The brief was to illustrate a cover and 3 scenes from 'The Outsider' by Albert Camus.

Design for front  cover

Part 1 - Chapter 5

"I was crouched on my bed and Salamano had sat down on a chair by the table. He was facing me with both is his hands on his knees. He still had his old felt hat on. He was mumbling half-finished sentences into his yellowing moustache."

Part 2 - Chapter 1

"He was leaning right across the table, waving his crucifix almost directly over me. To tell the truth, I hadn't followed his argument at all well, firstly because I was hot and his office was full of huge flies which kept landing on my face, and also because he frightened me a bit."

Part 2 - Chapter 3

"They were all looking at me: I realized that they were the jury. But I couldn't make any distinctions between them. I just had one impression: I was in a tram and all these anonymous passengers on the opposite seat were scrutinizing the new arrival to find his peculiarities."

Spreading Christmas cheer

Here is the Christmas card I created and will be sending out (provided it arrives back form the printers in time!). I've also created a special festive home page for my website to get into the spirit of the season.

Xmas card for the Medcalf

I was approached by the Medcalf restaurant and gallery to design their Christmas card. The only criteria (apart from it being in some way Christmas related) was that it should include the building somewhere in the design. Inspired by the snowy weather of the past few weeks I created this festive collage.

Fearghal's Book

I have a new(ish) nephew! He's a dote and also happens to be my Godchild. I recently made him a present which is a book about his short life so far. The book includes details of his family tree, the day he was born and other famous folk he shares his birthday with. There's also spaces throughout the book for his parents to fill in as he grows up.

The portraits in the book are a mixture of mono-print and watercolour. The line quality of the mono-print combined with the subtle pastel water colours enabled me to achieve the softness I was after in the drawings. It was a slightly different way for me to work but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Some of the other spreads are more design based where I collaged different photos and graphics together. The pages are french folded and hand bound using a single sheet bind technique.

Scope Magazine

I recently completed this illustration for the current issue of 'Scope' magazine. The article is about the bombing of Bari during World War 2.

Musicians

This illustration is inspired by some street musicians I recently saw in Dublin. I like the idea of making an entire band of paper musicians.