Cassius Marcellus Clay, Muhammad Ali, The greatest of all time, celebrates his 70th Birthday

With a tongue that was as quick as his feet, the heavyweight boxing legend has gifted us with a barrage of humourous quotes to name a few;

“I’m so mean I make medicine sick”

“There’s not a man alive who can whup me. I’m too fast. I’m too smart. I’m too pretty. I should be a postage stamp. That’s the only way I’ll ever get licked.”

“If you dream of beating me, you’d better wake up and apologise.”

Happy birthday Ali.

Click here to see more portraits
Ali’s official site

I recently entered the Design Museum Illustration Contest for the ‘Sparkle the Dark Up’ Design Overtime event.

I didn’t win unfortunately but, as conciliation, there were 29,000 entries!

The Design Museum  gave the House of Illustration the outside of their building for one night only, during their annual winter special ‘Sparkle the Dark Up’ Design Overtime event on December 2nd. 40 illustrators got their work projected on the museum walls.

The House of Illustration is a vision being turned into a reality. They aim to be the world’s first centre dedicated to the art of illustration in all its forms and to create a permanent home for an enduring art.

The Design Museum, situated near Tower Bridge is one of the world’s leading museums devoted to contemporary design in every form from furniture, fashion, graphics, architecture and industrial design.

Design Museum Website
House of Illustration Website 

Here’s an editorial Illustration I created for the independent food lifestyle magazine Eat Me.

The article In Betweeners, written by Chris Murphy discusses pallet cleansers. He used an analogy that their function in a meal is like having a  personal butler,

“it should look smart, brush away your crumbs and (this is universal of all courses) never answer back.”

I thought that this could work quite well visually and so the idea progressed from there.

The magazine is distributed internationally through retailers such as WH Smith or you can by a digital version by clicking here.

I also created some work for their website that you can read about here.

A good mantra to follow when discussing projects with clients is to offer three three types of service. Fast, Cheap, & Good.

I came across this phrase while listening to a webinar the other day and have subsequently created this print (which is now up in my studio as quiet reminder). It’s a fairly basic principle where all clients have access to three services, but can only pick two of them.

Apparently a Dr. Martin Barnes created this “project management” triangle and the phrase fast cheap good back in the 1970s.

I think it’s a fair and realistic principle in any project-related undertaking. And something that illustrators, designers and clients, should bare in mind.

Fast + Good = Expensive

This is a “drop everything” scenario, burning the midnight oil and working after hours to deliver your work to a high standard with the tightest of deadlines.

Good + Cheap = Slow

Most cases, work needs to be done ASAP but if you are constrained by budget, perhaps you can save money by planning ahead? With a longer timeframe, more thought and options can be given to a brief that might not have a need it now budget.

Fast + Cheap = Quality Suffers

As the rule says, you can’t have it all. If you don’t want to pay for first class seats, you shouldn’t be surprised if the hostess politely moves you back to economy. Something has to give, and a rushed, cheap job is the worse scenario out of the three.

Read more about the Project Triangle

After launching her shop earlier this year, I can finally reveal the artwork I completed for some Mary Portas scarves.

Well they are finally here!

In a post back in August, I mentioned a collaboration with none other than the Queen of Shops herself, Mary Portas. Work actually began back in May when I visited House of Fraser HQ to meet Mary’s team who included partner, and editor at large of Grazia, Melanie Rickey and Nadia Jones, creative director at Oasis.

As usual in the fashion industry, deadlines were tight and I actually had to finish the project squirrelling away on a flight to the US (and the first day of my holiday).

Channel 4 recently aired a 3 part documentary on Mary’s trials and tribulations throughout the project. If you are dab hand with a pause button (and have an eagle eye), you might be able to spot my designs… somewhere.

Watch Mary Portas Queen of Frocks
Buy one of the scarves 

I’ve finally made it. I can honestly say, hand on heart, that I have had work exhibited in the British Museum.

We took our niece to the British Museum to get involved The Teddy Bear’s Picnic. In tribute to Turner Prize winner Grayson Perry’s teddy bear and god of his imaginary world.

October is Big Draw month. This annual initiative, the Campaign’s flagship programme, aims to bring communities together in creative ways. It is the largest drawing festival in the world. More than 1000 venues take part throughout October from national galleries, museums and heritage sites to nursery schools and village halls.

Big Draw activities show how drawing can be used to connect visitors with our cultural heritage, natural or built environment – and each other. Schools often invite the wider community to share the pleasures of learning through drawing. Last year 22 countries joined the UK in organising events.

Visit The Big Draw’s website

The serene beauty of surf photography in angry Atlantic waters by Mickey Smith.

This guy makes my photographic efforts look positively pedestrian!

Self-directed with his own music and words, Mickey Smith paints a perfect autobiographical picture of his life behind the lens, shooting surfing.  From the raw, ferociousness of the West Coast of Ireland, his work is a far cry away from the typical paradisiacal blue of surf photography from warmer climbes.

The film was shot as part of the Short Stories 2010 competition sponsored by Relentless Energy Drink.

Committed, brave (perhaps a little insane), work like this whets my appetite for our Oceans. You can see my love affair with the aquatic in Surfer  & Underwater Love.

Mickey Smith Photography
Visit Relentless Short Stories
Dark Side of the Lens on Vimeo

Marine Insurance company Sieppel & Light commissioned me recently to create some cartoon illustrations.

This was a fun project if a little different from my normal work. Sieppel & Light wanted to connect with their market with an email campaign.

Their subject matter (personal injury) is something people would rather not think about, so they decided to approach it in a light hearted way.

The brief was to produce something that looked similar to the holiday postcards you find at the seaside. The client was also keen to take reference from Carl Giles, the well renowned British cartoonist who was better known for his work in the newspaper the Daily Express.

I loved Giles as a kid, my Dad collected his annuals and were a great inspiration. I recall at the time, copying his detailed cartoons. Giles was actually assigned by the Express to document the Coldstream Guards during World War II.

Traditionally in the paper the images had to be black and white and shading was conveyed with half-tone, something I was keen to recreated on the 3 images.

Sieppel & Light Website