Happy Holidays - see you in 2008!

Hi there folks - yep unbelievably another year has (not quite but almost) come to an end. 2007 has been very kind to me on both a professional and personal level, and I'd like to thank everyone who's helped make it so memorable for me. Naturally there are projects that I've been working on that I'm unable to reveal just yet, but I'll have more to tell soon.

Got a few bits and pieces to finish still, but basically I'm winding down for the year now, and this will be my last post for a few weeks. Have a great break, and I'll be seeing you on the flipside! But just before I go, here's a little present for your virtual stockings:



Hopefully you'll find a wallpaper to suit in one of the following sizes: 1920 x 1200, 1680 x 1050, 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 1024 or maybe even 1024 x 768. Enjoy!

Black and White Projects

I've contributed an article to the 105th issue of Computer Arts Projects, which focuses purely on black and white imagery. I chatted with some nice folks over at Sopp Collective, Faesthetic, Studio8, Studio Output and Shilo for my feature. Thanks for the help guys!

PS3 Site Scoops BIMA

Last week the Playstation 3 European launch site I was involved with at the beginning of this year won an Interactive Craft Award at the British Interactive Media Association Awards for LBi. My involvement was relatively small, and while I provided various assets for the main flash site, mostly my role was to design the html alternative site. Still, was nice to be part of it all, and congratulations to everyone who originally conceived of the project, and the talented folks who helped make it a reality over several months.

Rambow: First Poster

Back in early 2006 Preloaded invited me to contribute to an online gallery inspired by the concept of Son of Rambow, which was then the new (unmade) movie project from Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith of Hitchhiker's Guide fame. Cut to the present and the movie is complete, featuring at numerous film festivals this year.

Okay so this isn't going to be the most modest of blog postings, but I think it's fair to say that there's been some influence here, and I did a bit of a double take when I saw the poster. It's not so close of course that I'm calling my lawyer (in a way the whole point of the exercise was to generate visual ideas as well as funding for the movie and it was fantastic to be involved), but it's certainly quite flattering.

Thunder Chunky Advent Calendar (Year 2)

Last year I was invited to participate in Thunder Chunky's inaugural Xmas Project, an online advent calendar, if you will. So it was cool to be asked again this year to create another seasonal illustration. You'll find this years project here, with all the artwork available at a variety of sizes, including for the swanky new iPhone.

Don't ask me how I arrived at this one exactly, but I suppose light has always been at the core of my work, and twinkling Christmas lights are meant to evoke the stars of course. So somewhere in between all that you get this:



My piece was revealed for download today (December 4th), but be sure to visit every day as seasonal works by the likes of Kev Speck, McFaul, Jeremyville, Jon Burgerman, Ben The Illustrator, The Boy Fitz Hammond continue to roll in...

Finally, Thunder Chunky have recently redesigned their site, and an interview I did with them back in early 2005, which seems like a very long time ago, is now back online.

Staying Alive for MTV

Over the last month or two I've been designing and creating a new microsite for Staying-Alive.org, the AIDS awareness campaign from MTV. Add in a forward slash followed by the word 'hot' and you'll be there presently. It went live in time for World AIDS Day last weekend, and contains a wide range of interactive and informative content, from video documentaries to a quiz, and a ratings poll.

It's not exactly what you'd call a shy design (!), but naturally the aim was to create something that was very much alive. The flash animation and scripting (inc. video) was put together by David Terranova, and the HTML/CSS/XML was supplied by Oliver Jones. Thanks very much guys for helping this one to run super smooth, and of course to MTV!

Mighty Boosh Pitch Design

As the word 'pitch' in the title reveals, unfortunately this is a project that never came to be, but it was ace to work with Nowwashyourhands on this in the summer. A number of screens were prepared by the team, but below is the urban environment that I created for the Boosh series 3 website pitch. My own favourite Boosh moments? Probably still the tundra rap and the 'you fear jazz' speech from series 1. Not to say that I've not enjoyed series 2 and 3 (so far), because I most certainly have sir. Mighty indeed...