drawings and that

overdue updates/ TRAILS.

2011-11-29T14:28:00.000-08:00

Neglected for too long there's plenty to put up here and I will slowly work my way through. For now the main new stuff is on my re-done website dead trees & dye.

lets go though, in chronological order (roughly):

the talented poet Timothy Thornton asked me to do a drawing for the cover of his poem TRAILS, published on the DSG blog cos he used one of my other drawings for the cover of a previous edition (both available here). This drawing is for the second version and depicts Michael Gove's hands becoming a horrific loop of dog-head fingers and dog-tongued fingers. Read it.

The Idler

2011-08-20T10:30:00.000-07:00

So glad to finally be able to put these up. Early this year I was asked by The Idler to illustrate a couple of essays for the latest issue - one on Paul Lafargue and one on Marx. The issue has been out a few weeks and dropped through my door today. Above is Lafargue, here's the cover (lush hardback format - & i'm not normally one for hardbacks) & Marx.

& just for lulz here's the list of illustrators. Harper & Hogarth - pretty good company.

big thanks to Tom & Alice for asking me to be involved. Available all over the place & also The Idler Academy, where you can also pick up a couple of my zines while you're at it.

BOOK COVERS - The Politics of Aesthetics

2011-07-12T01:36:00.000-07:00

Potentially the start of a new ongoing proj, similar to Andrew Joyce's drawings of dvd covers, I finished The Politics of Aesthetics the other week and thought it would be an interesting way to respond to the text by making an illustration for each book I read. From that I thought it makes sense to instead focus on a cover, to try and 'get' the book in a succinct drawing. Obviously this is going to be a steep learning curve but stay tuned for progress. Not sure which of these works best but the idea is the same. Also probably owe a lot to the design of the first issue of ..Ment journal which is fantastic and you should get your hands on. ANYWAY, 2 versions:

Ides - Tropical Waste

2011-07-10T12:45:00.000-07:00

The super dudes at Tropical Waste asked me to do another drawing for a feature on the musician Ides. Check it out here.

Poolga

2011-07-06T12:41:00.000-07:00

I did some iPhone wallpapers for the nice people over at Poolga, and they are available to download over there.

Available at Poolga, here, and here.

Recent zines

2011-07-05T12:27:00.000-07:00

Few more updates coming in the next few days, but had some drawings in some zines that came out recently so here they are.

Melanie's great Shape & Situate is back for the 2nd issue and she asked me to contribute a poster about an inspirational woman, so I did Louise Michel as I'd recently seen Paul Mason talking about the Paris Commune at the Really Free School and also just moved to East Dulwich where she spent a time while in exile. Here's the spread.

Also Sarah Tea-Rex compiled this zine of stories and articles about the increasingly likely prospect of Graduating into Unemployment. I've put up this comic too much already so I promise this is the last time.

Both zines are available from my distro.

Also last month was the International Alternative Press Fair and I used my mad grafik design skillz to put together the programme. Laid it out and did the drawings and stuff but NOT the drawing on the cover & that was on all the flyers. I didn't do that. I just did the text and the drawings of buildings and the thumb (quite happy with that) and the banner and all that. Enjoy.

oh & also you can now get my Great Anarchists zine from The Idler Academy in notting hill/royal oak, and from Microcosm in america. Microcosm were nice and called it "An ideological sledgehammer of awesome!"

GRAD - 1 YEAR ON

2011-06-18T09:21:00.000-07:00

Illustrator and fellow class of '10 alumni Holly Exley has written a couple of very pertinent posts on her blog about the experience of finishing an illustration degree and suddenly being at the mercy of the real world and the 'industry'. I wanted to add my thoughts about this being in a similar situation (i-e - one year out of college, a handful of paid/non-paid work, no real job, want to die, etc)

The first post you can read here, and talks about working for free - and I pretty much agree with everything it says and will mention this in a bit more detail later, but the second post seemed to resonate a bit more, particularly the role that Illustration degrees have in preparing students for their futures outside of college.

When I first read the post, which you can read here - and dip below the comments line too for some discussion - I pretty much agreed entirely. I graduated last july with a 2:1 from Camberwell, and while we did have a specific workshop on professional portfolio's with people from the AOI and other q & a things with the tutors who were regularly working illustrators, the sessions that had been organised to talk us through things like setting ourselves up as self-employed, etc - the technicalities of life as an illustrator, were postponed and never re-scheduled which I think definitely left us a bit in the lurch. But I hope this was just unlucky for our particular year, and the fact those sessions are offered is great.

What made me question the post though, was this idea that the courses role was to prepare students for a professional life when they leave. The drastic changes that are affecting the way higher education is being organised through the 80% cut to the teaching grant for arts and humanities courses and the changes to student loan repayments is indicative of a shift away from the idea of education for the sake of education to a more career-centered learning experience. The entire argument against the rise in tuition fees wasn't simply "it's too much debt", but against the idea that universities are solely steps on the ladder to a better career. Of course there should be elements to the course that help to prepare you for life post-university but I personally think colleges are striking the right balance between that and providing a space for you to focus solely on the work you are producing. You are far less likely to land good jobs if you're work isn't up to it's highest standard.

I'm sure some people start illustration courses with the sole view of becoming an illustrator, but a whole load don't - myself included. Infact I ended up at university precisely because I didn't want to get a job. I went into an art foundation course doing photography and grateful for the chance to not think about real life for one more year, and came out the other end applying for illustration and graphic design degrees. People I graduated with are now working as graphic designers, art directors and prop makers, making music videos, etc - had our degree been focused towards becoming a professional illustrator rather than fostering their creativity and allowing them to pursue their interests then they would've had not only a much less successful time at school but a downright shit one.

My point is that the three years of university are about developing your work to the its conceptual and technical best, and that that should always be the priority. Without that there is no chance at all of doing well in a creative career.

It's become the norm in the 'creative industries' that you have to work for free in some capacity as a graduate - be it through an internship or for the type of websites and publications Holly mentions on her blog. This is part of a much wider trend of precarious and temporary contract labour that is starting to spread to virtually every other industry, and to which there is a growing backlash - but for illustration this is the norm, and really the recession has done little to change how the industry operates. It's always been pretty bad in terms of getting work, getting paid and being valued - shit the standard day-rate hasn't changed in over a decade. Unlike graphic design or other creative degrees, you can't really walk out of university into an agency or company, much less do work experience as Amelia suggests in the comments to Hollys blog. Unpaid internships I'm sure are a valuable way of making contacts in the industry but operate in the same way internships in other industries do in pricing out those who can't afford to work for free and putting them at a disadvantage. Illustration and the 'creative industries' in general are pretty bourgeois affairs as anyone who's been to art school can attest, but that doesn't mean we have to just take it. Illustration is a career that takes as a given 2 years at least of unpaid or not-enough work before you can sustain yourself, those who can't be subsidised for that period will and do find it very hard indeed.

Of course it all depends what course you do at what university. Someone has commented on Hollys blog that at Falmouth they are extremely pro-active in regards to teaching you about working with art directors and seeking out work. I naturally can only comment on my experience at Camberwell, on a course that encouraged a broadminded approach to 'illustration' in it's various guises to, I think, the benefit of the work we were making when we left.

Another point I disagree on is the idea that other skills should be taught with illustration to make you more lucrative to the job market post-uni. I chose to study illustration at Camberwell because it's the only remaining course at a UAL college that is exclusively illustration, rather than a pathway on a graphic design degree. Graphic design and illustration are two different disciplines, different industries and require very different teaching. I don't like it when employers have assumed I can put together adverts in InDesign or design logos because I have an illustration degree, and equally I resent when 'illustration' becomes an additional, secondary skill on the CVs of graduate designers. I love illustration, and believe in it's value as a thing that exists in the world, and therefore I want to see it continue as valuable in it's own right, and the people who invest the time and energy to pursue it with some seriousness are paid for their labour.

I want to make that point clear - I think unpaid internships are bullshit, and that if you do work for someone you should be paid for it. I do unpaid work because I love drawing, and mostly it's for people I know and money isn't an issue - they don't make it and I don't ask for it. When the culture in the industry is to exploit desperate graduates in a competitive 'marketplace' into giving their labour for free in the hopes of it paying off later then that needs to be addressed. Maybe this is what universities are failing at, and that is the fertile ground where an organised resistance to these practices should be built from.

p.s - the images in this post are from the top 1) my comic for 'Graduating into Unemployment' zine, edited by Sarah Tea-Rex, 2) drawing of black bloc smashing up the Ritz on the TUC demo and 3) sketch for poster demanding interns join the strike on June 30th.

Quemados con el sistema

2011-06-16T08:40:00.000-07:00

Drawing about what's been kicking off in Spain for the excellent Deterritorial Support Group. See it here.

Tote bags

2011-06-15T08:37:00.000-07:00

Here's some bags I designed for a conference in Barcelona for my dads company IMI. Screenprinted by my good friends Known, so big up to them.
Here's the drawing:

Bust

2011-06-14T08:36:00.000-07:00

No One is Illegal

2011-06-13T08:35:00.000-07:00

Sneak peek of the comic i'm very very slowly working on. stay tuned.

Exodus Print

2011-05-08T17:24:00.000-07:00

Here is the print I made for the Tic Toc pop up shop organised by Efdeay in cahoots with Hato Press. They invited 24 artists & illustrators to make the work and have Hato print it all within a 24 hour timeframe, each was then printed in an edition of 24 and sold at the shop for the 24 hours it was open. Some really rad people were involved like Ian Stevenson, Peter Nencini, Luke Ramsey, Daniel Swan, etc so a big thanks to the efdeay crew for asking me to get involved.

Mine is Exodus, about the ship of the same name taking refugees to British Palestine in the hopes of setting up the state of Israel. Have been wanting to make a little book about it of some sort but this was a nice stop-gap before that happens, if ever.

Sorry the picture is so small, I don't actually have a copy so had to steal it off the internet but you can buy your own from the Hato Press website here.

anarcho launch photos

2011-05-06T17:51:00.000-07:00

Here are some photo's from my Great Anarchists launch the other week. Thanks so much to everyone who came, it was a really fun night. These photo's were taken by Fiona Allison so thanks to her particularly, and the whole Sauna crew for letting me use the space. I showed the drawings from the zine and a couple new ones, alongside the quotes with a couple extras, and made a video we had on loop throughout the night to give some more context and background to the different strands of anarchism that are represented in the zine, & also had a specially 'curated' (lol) anarcho zine distro selling texts from some of the people featured (Flores Magon, De Cleyre, Lucy Parsons) alongside some of my other zines (One-Nil, new one Crime Scenes, Maxho) and some of the more interesting newer texts of late (Tiqqun, Coming Insurrection, that kind of stuff). I hope everyone had a rad time, the zine of course is still available and so are the other stuff I was hocking on the night - get from my distro.

GREAT ANARCHIST LAUNCH

2011-04-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

HI HI HI, this is this wednesday, sorry haven't posted about if before I forgot and was busy with the zine symposium. but come! I've made a video to play in the background explaining anarchism through youtube videos and will be selling the zine, as well as other literature by the people featured. it's going to be rad I promise.

Versailles

2011-03-25T17:27:00.000-07:00

here finally is a section of the big drawing I had in the Versailles show at The Gallery on Redchurch St. It's called 'Tout Va Bien' and if you want I can expand on the reasoning behind it. It was a really amazing show, and constantly busy - much more than I think everyone expected. Click below for the full thing, it's all abit sewn together as it's drawn on three A3 sheets so scanning was an issue.

check out info about the show and the rest of the people involved at the Versailles blog.

IN OTHER NEWS - EGAKU, our Japan fundraising event is about to go live so will post about that tomorrow with flyer/website, etc. Keep you posted.

japan

2011-03-16T12:21:00.000-07:00

i'm sure everyone by now recognises the sheer insane scale of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that took place in Japan last week - the number of missing people is rising, the scale of the damage is still impossible to comprehend, and the crisis is still ongoing amongst radiation fears, power cuts and food shortages.

here's something easy you can do to help. visit Print Okushon and submit a print for others to bid on - or dip into your pocket and bid on someone elses. times are tough moneywise for everyone, but lets be real - you still have a house and everyone you know hasn't been washed away. please support this and spread it as far as possible - twitter, facey, take a bucket out on the street or round your neighbours - organise a film night or benefit gig.

we are trying to organise a big event where people will be able to donate art work, zines, prints, ceramics, books, bags - anything really to be sold and 100% of the money will go to the japanese relief effort. i will naturally post more about it as it becomes reality but so far we have Nobrow, Laura Carlin, It's Nice That, Okido and loads of fantastic illustrators and designers donating work with loads more to come. please get in touch with me, chie, soju or jordan to offer support, donations or your time! stay tuned

UPDATE/POPUPSHOP

2011-03-15T07:17:00.000-07:00

hi hi, sorry for lack of updates. had a full time job for a bit so did zero drawings but now have plenty to update with once i get my act together. but first, urgent announcement:

come to this on thursday if you can, or at some point before it shuts. edfeay are ex-camberwell cats and have been working with Hato Press to get 24 illustrators/designers to make a poster or zine to be created and printed in 24 hours. and the resulting products will be onsale here. I made a really basic A3 print about the SS Exodus - the first ship taking zionist refugees to palestine to try to instate Israel. I'd post a pic but i havent seen it yet so expect that soon.

In other news sent off a very exciting and paid and REAL illustration job just the other day. thats all the teasing you're getting til it comes out in print. I also did this ages ago for Tropical Waste

other stuff I will write about soon in full: my zines were on sale in Amsterdam at the 'It's a Fanzine, Dummy' fair, VERSAILLES was rad - i will scan and post my drawing soon but you can have a peek at the blog here, you can buy some of my shit from the Czech Republic if you visit Textextext_ - they'll have more One Nil at some point. Great Anarchists was reviewed in Maximum Rocknroll which was rad, i'm in the Go Red thing who's website is finally online though my submission looks abit shit but you can see it here, and the zine symposium is coming along nicely - my plan right now unfeasible as it may be is one comic and 3 zines ready by then, err...lol?

PLEASE REFER ALL PAID (and non-paid) JOBS TO ME AT DEADTREESANDDYE @ HOTMAIL.COM PLZ

VERSAILLES

2011-01-31T12:53:00.000-08:00

soz for the lack of updates. moving back to london finally, and doing some exciting things which will naturally post here as soon as I can. I hope that next thursday everyone will join me at this rad show Versailles. Will post the big drawing i'm showing as soon as it's all finished but it should be really interesting, great theme and a great selection of very different work. Here's all the details:

I also did this drawing awhile ago for Nothing Bad, profile of Lauren Pritchard. Soz Lauren.

check the whole thing here

NEW YEARS

2011-01-02T13:04:00.000-08:00

here is my desktop wallpaper for the latest Just Us proj - based topically on NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS. these are ten of my suggestions, the idea being if you find yourself consumed with boredom or ill feeling throughout the year you can simply tap f11 (on a mac, how presumptuous) and pick something from the background and change your life forever! these are not my resolutions, mine are essentially the same as last year, the results of which you can see at my other blog.
DOWNLOAD THESE FOR ALL DEVICES MADE BY APPLE AND AT ALL RESOLUTIONS HERE or use one of the other ones other fine struggling folks have done.

more tropics bizniz

2010-12-30T05:00:00.001-08:00

Some more bits for Tropical Waste. having a weird technique crisis where I feel like I've lost all ability to draw well, but hopefully have reigned it in now. For some reason have spent the last few weeks actively trying to draw more 'sloppy' with horrible disasterous results. Think it's indicative of the wider trend of me losing my mind but i'm tightening up again, have been doing more and better stuff that won't see the light of day yet but it's all good. see you in 2011 please when I am hopefully not as dead broke as I feel now financially and psychologically. that's enough of that, this isn't livejournal.

ANYWAY, HERE'S THE CHRISTMAS MESSAGE I DREW FOR TROPICAL WASTE:

and also the follow up to their Lewisham soundsystem post, an interview with Les Black you can read here and features some more of my drawings which make me cringe (but as Kanye would say ITS A PROCESS)

blogzzz

2010-12-20T15:02:00.000-08:00

last week was a busy week. in addition to the iphone wallpaper, other stuff of mine hit the interweb: first was an amazing piece by Seb Wheeler over at the great blog Tropical Waste with an article about Lewisham sound-systems of yore.
Read it and see another of my drawings here.

Then on the same day, Nothing Bad magazine asked me to do a quick drawing of David E Sugar to accompany his interview.

see it with your eyes here.

that's all for now, but more soon! here's to seeing the back of 2010 and blindly stumbling into 2011

iphone background

2010-12-13T08:43:00.000-08:00

Just Us are doing a series of winter-themed iphone wallpapers, and the first release is mine. Just download the image above and whack it on. Not sure if there's anything specific cos i've not got an iphone. ENJOY. should be posting blog stuff, covers and a computer desktop SHORTLY. Oh also I'm in the E-Spam zine for sale on the just us site too.

graduating into unemployment

2010-12-02T15:13:00.000-08:00

apologies for the lack of updates, I wish I could say it's because I've been super busy making loads of work, getting paid and living a great life, but unfortunately no. Still working (seemingly endlessly) on my migration comic project, got a few other exciting drawing work coming up which will post as soon as they're done. here is a comic I did quickly and roughly (but thats the point babes) about what i've been doing since I graduated with a 2:1 in illustration. i.e -lots of long baths, walks, job apps and rejection emails. Might be printed in a new zine on the subject of graduating into unemployment, but will naturally keep you posted. ENJOY

Dysophia

2010-10-19T09:14:00.000-07:00

I've been working on the new issue of Dysophia, a green anarchist journal that publishes themed issues, this new one being about Migration, Population and Climate Change, and the inter-connectedness of these in a capitalist society. Above is my original cover illustration, later revised as it could be construed that 'migration' is a negative when lumped in with nationalism, capitalism and climate change. Which it definitely isn't. So with the death of Jimmy Mubenga, we changed this for 'authoritarianism'

I also did a series of internal illustrations

And these, migrants blinded by the use of the word "illegal"

The finished zine should be out for the Anarchist Bookfair this saturday so I'll post some photo's when it's printed, and probably get some for the distro

Phoenix mag

2010-10-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

Just briefly, I've a brief interview in the new issue of Phoenix Magazine talking about my Great Anarchists zine. It's part of a whole article on british zines at the minute and features my boyzz Edd and Jimi and despite containing the horrible sentence "Zines are print version of Facebook status updates", it's a pretty good piece. Here's a phote of my interview.

and here are some omg celebs holding it! Not sure who that other woman is, but Keisha, if you just email me I'll send you a copy for free.

DEEP END

2010-10-02T08:40:00.001-07:00

Me and a bunch of fellow Camberwellian's (and a few Goldsmith's too) are commandeering the 3rd floor of The Macbeth in Hoxton this week for an exhibition to coincide with the macbeth's film night. They are showing the great 1970 film 'Deep End', and we have all created new work based on the film. Above is a flyer by Ella, the private view is this tuesday the 5th (please ignore the dates on the flyer), and if you RSVP here, it'll be free to get in.
Here is my piece, come and see it bigger and better and in real life on Tuesday, then watch the film. Or watch the film and then come, feeling this multi platform format -will the film be enhanced as you've seen the film or vice versa. Interesting.

an update

2010-09-22T18:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a drawing I did for the banner of Australian music blog tune the proletariat for their recent redesign headed by my pal Jordan. Here's what it looks like in action:

And be sure to visit the website to see the other rotations from great guys Chie and Katie.

Also, continuing a familiar theme (perhaps the start of 'More Anarchists'?), here is a drawing I made of Herbert Read, for the Anti-Design Festivals workshop entitled "Anarchy or Apathy?". The event is organised by Research Studios and runs on Sunday 26th of September.

sketchy

2010-08-23T09:51:00.000-07:00

few sketches and odds and ends from the last few projects i've been working on

E SPAM II

2010-08-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

Here's my revised submission for the Just Us E-spam book. Last one was terrible. Been getting a lot of spam about needing gold mining equipment so did a piece on that.

In other news the Snakes show was rad, i'll post a photo soon. The "Take Away" show wasn't as good but whatever, was happy with the work I made for it. Up next is Deep End! Our show at the Macbeth. Also hopefully a few other bits before then. I'll post some sketches and stuff this week too.

cheap chinese

2010-08-11T10:29:00.000-07:00

Here is a drawing I will be showing/giving away at the previously mentioned Take Away show at The Outside World gallery this friday. The Brief was 'the outside world' and I decided to make an editorial illustration about an article I recently read originally published in Mute Magazine.The perilous and exploitative employment of economic migrants, despire the public outcry against it, is an essential component of capitalist productivity. Concentrating on the structural insecurity of Chinese workers both in the UK and mainland China, John Barker moves from the contextless media coverage of specific deaths to the macroeconomic picture that caused them, full article here

Here's the oddly-long flier:

celebrations

2010-08-09T14:54:00.000-07:00

did this thing for creative orchestra/diageo to make an image for "celebrate life everyday everywhere" with a 'responsibly' added at the end because they're a drinks company. it's for a charity auction and to be displayed in their box at old trafford so the whole thing was to be completed in 90 minutes. this was way harder than i first thought. Here's my first attempt:

got this far and went wayyyyy over the 90 mins. So scaled down and tried this one:

and got that far in an hour but wasn't feeling great about it. So had a late-night panic and did this instead:

green-haired woman is terrible but oh well. need to get quick with drawing man, yikes!

EXHIBITIONS

2010-08-08T14:19:00.000-07:00

This is pointless as it ended today but my zine One Nil was part of the Paper Exchange exhibition at the To & For gallery in Holloway. I couldn't even manage to go so feeling super shit about it, but I've heard from friends that it was rad, there's info about the gallery here: To and For Gallery

BUT this weekend 13th, 14th and 15th I'm in an exhibition at The Outside World gallery, 44 Redchurch Street, Bethnal Green, E2 7DP. It's called TAKE AWAY and all the work is displayed in pizza boxes. I think. There's no website or anything but it should be good?

AND ALSO on Monday the 16th I'm in another rad show called SNAKES at the former alliance gallery on sumner road in Peckham. here's the event on facey & here's a logo:

featuring work by; Rosie Carr, Ele Cockerill, Ellen Cummins, Ian Daniell, Charlie Froud, Jermaine Gallacher, Murray O'Grady, Lily Keal, Will Kemp, Sean Kirwin, Robyn Minogue, Matilda Moors, Rosie Ridgway, Hannah Stearn, Debbie Stone, Lucia Quevedo, Emily Vickery, Mark Walker and me. It'll be good.

Great Anarchists II

2010-08-03T05:07:00.000-07:00

So finally, over a year since I put out the original photocopied zine, I've got some properly printed, quality copies of my zine Great Anarchists. 20 portraits of historically important anarchists each accompanied by a brief quote. With 2 colour cover, all printed on a heavy stock on a risograph. They are £1.50 each, with I guess 50p if you are paypalling. My paypal address is deadtreesanddye@hotmail.com. Here are a few spreads.

e-spam

2010-07-30T08:57:00.000-07:00

the first project we are all doing over at Just Us is a series about e-spam. I was struggling to think of what to do, was getting a lot about gold mining and stuff like that til this great one came through saying i could "be the champion of pleasure in bed" if i only bought some sketchy pills. more about the outcome soon (to the project, nothing else)

Rolling Sea #1

2010-07-23T14:34:00.000-07:00

Was asked by course-mates Joe Kessler and Tom Pearson to contribute to the first edition of their print set/riso business, Rolling Sea. 25 different illustrators each submitted a colour print which they then printed on their risograph and compiled in this super nice package. here are some pictures of the inside, and my contribution. Check them out at their website ROLLING SEA.

oscar's lookin' good there on the top

mine

detail

world cup

2010-07-22T14:33:00.000-07:00

MAXHO #1

2010-07-21T14:29:00.000-07:00

did this zine too, collecting my drawings about Nestor Makhno and the black army into a narrative. I did about ten or so with colour covers on brown card for the London Zine Symposium, and have just done a bunch more like this, rugged and diy. if you want one they are £1, just email me: deadtreesanddye@hotmail.com.

bags bags bags

2010-07-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

found some of the bags we screenprinted just before christmas. if you would like one, it will look like this, maybe minus the ink splodge at the bottom, short handle only sorry dudes, but great for carrying records.

just email me: deadtreesanddye@hotmail.com
£4 ppd

paris, 1927

2010-07-01T14:13:00.000-07:00

did this last night in a poky little room in vacated halls up at the university of westminster. nestor makhno meets alexander berkman in paris around 1927.

family time

2010-06-30T14:09:00.000-07:00

here's me bringing back the creepy/awkward look in full effect infront of my work at the degree show. oh no you missed it? no worries, it'll all be in SAVE OUR SOULS (@ the nicolls & clarke building 8th of july-13th july), so come along plz. these are 4 of my makhno final drawings, part of a set of 8, also available in my zine i did on the proj aswell.

finished

2010-06-14T19:07:00.001-07:00

want to die. heres something i made for a competition.

didn't win.

weird weekend

2010-05-18T04:50:00.001-07:00

i got a book made with Lulu, the online publishing website thing that has all the images from my pictures folder, so stuff i've downloaded, photos i've taken or been sent, etc. it's basically a visual journal from the past 5 or 6 years and is weird to look at but im glad i have it.

also at the weekend as part of the Tattoo Circus prisoner-benefit in camberwell, me and my 3 rad housemates all got little memento's of our time together. a simplistic tatt of the front of our house. bound now forever!

overheard conversations #2

2010-05-01T16:36:00.000-07:00

makhnovshina

2010-04-26T17:32:00.000-07:00

#3 in a series

overheard conversations

2010-04-25T14:24:00.000-07:00

doing a zine based on conversations i overhear. it's pretty much been done to death but it's easy and i'm trying to pass my degree so chill.

TWO THINGS

2010-04-22T05:49:00.000-07:00

THIS IS TONIGHT, PLEASE COME AND GIVE SOME MONEY AND GOOD VIBES FOR OUR DEGREE SHOW.

also, I am now officially part of the Just Us collective, and some of my work is up on their site now, so go check that out HERE. they also just blogged about our S.O.S website so thats rad too. visit that as well here.

Children of the Grave

2010-04-19T13:48:00.000-07:00

fold out 7" single sleeve/poster for Children of the Grave by Black Sabbath from the album Master of Reality.

into the void

2010-04-18T17:43:00.000-07:00

seven inch cover for Into The Void; last track on Master of Reality. bit design-y I know. currently re-visiting sabbath project as i'm making a poster/insert to stop me from going mad. cut and paste and photocopy is where i am right at home

the workers unite

2010-04-16T13:24:00.000-07:00

more research stuff for makhnovist project. here's a ukrainian worker.

Divination @Wah Nails

2010-04-13T06:57:00.001-07:00

come to this on thursday, it's in a nail salon and i'm in it. there's 2 reasons right there.

pencils

2010-04-12T11:12:00.000-07:00

found this while i was home for easter, the connotations of pencils from first year.

one nil update

2010-04-08T16:35:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update on the state of my mission to gradually rake back some of the hideous amount of money spent on boxes and boxes of this zine about football, as of now, here is a short list of places you can purchase it:

Magma 117 - 119 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1 5BY

Lik + Neon 106 Sclater Street, London, E1 8HR

KK Outlet 42 Hoxton Square, London, N1 6PB

Gosh Comics 39 Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3NZ

Arcademi

Dead Trees And Dye (no shit)

And of course the best way, straight through me;

more ukraine

2010-04-07T03:51:00.000-07:00

SAVE OUR SOULS

2010-04-06T07:44:00.000-07:00

if you havent already then get over to our sweet degree show website SAVE OUR SOULS. contains all the info about the show, a gallery for each exhibitor, a shop where you can buy loads of great stuff we've made and a blog updated daily about one of us and our work. its just plain great.

SAVE OUR SOULS

lenin//stalin

2010-04-03T15:13:00.001-07:00

alexis

2010-03-27T08:26:00.000-07:00

meet alexis. alexis was the son of one of russia's tsars later ousted by the bolshevik revolution. i'm going to be posting some more sketchbook stuff up here in an attempt to actually post drawings. doing a project about Makhno's Insurrectionary Anarchist Army of Ukraine but proper finished pieces are coming along slowly. but expect them soon, as well as a re-print of Great Anarchists with new colour cover, and a show at Wah Nails which opens April 1st.

just us.

2010-03-23T16:18:00.001-07:00

i have been accepted to be part of this years just us design collective, which is a collective of graphic design and illustration students whose roster changes each year. pretty exciting! me and jordan chatwin are as far as i know the only camberwell dudes representing. expect to see a portfolio page on their new 2010 website soon, i'm sure i'll post it when its up. rad.

makhno rules. trotsky sux.

2010-03-01T14:43:00.000-08:00

here's a drawing for the go red charity auction. ill post the blog at some point, but right now its down, so keep your eyes open. i got this really great book of horrible slick nineties poses and faces from a charity shop and am going wild using it for face reference right now. so good.

here are some 7" single covers for songs on the master of reality album by the masters themselves, black sabbath. ltr,ttb: after forever, solitude, children of the grave, sweet leaf, embryo and into the void.

and here's a non-folded cover for Soul Control's Involution album. just needed a break from all the sabbath worship. i like it though. it should be mentioned i think that i only made covers for the sabbath album and this one because i dont have the original sleeves. so they are pretty much just for my collection than anything else. obvs the 7" covers arent but school is school. thanks

updates

2010-02-09T04:27:00.000-08:00

hello. hopefully at some point i will be able to actually scan in some drawings to show but for now here is the only photo i can locate of any of my record covers project. this is a cover i did for black sabbath's master of reality. just handed in 50% of my degree so no access to work right now and also shitting myself. spent yesterday eating loads and watching star trek as a "break". life could be worse.

in other news me and sam had a table at the Lancashire Zine & Artists Book Fair. here we are looking pretty nerdy. it was a cool weekend for sure. half way through the coach journey my friend ross text me saying i was on Fecal Face! and lo and behold, when i managed to get on the internet there I was just underneath news that J.D Salinger had died.

you can check the full write up of my zine One-Nil if you follow this link. it's pretty crazy being on fecal face as i definitely remember around art foundation time being obsessed with the type of work thats often on there, and getting boards from our garage and doing really shitty paintings that i'd then throw out. definitely been a major influence over the years. so thanks trippe!

in other blog news, got an email yesterday saying i was on the twenty2wo blog. and there i am! thanks guys, check it out here

and to finish off, see who you can spot in this:
big up alex, cat & emma. hahaha

the frontroom

2010-01-19T03:18:00.000-08:00

the sweetsheets over at The Frontroom blogged about my new zine! how lovely of them, if you ever find yourself in cambridge (hometown), i highly recommend heading to their little gallery as it's great. Tinhead has a show there right now so check them out.

http://www.frontroomcambridge.com/2010/01/18/peter-willis

a rough update.

2010-01-07T07:14:00.000-08:00

Hello hello, this has been neglected of late, but here is a quick run down of exciting things happening;

One Nil is out and available and finished, you can view proper pages from it on Dead Trees & Dye, just follow pete willis illustration and its the top link. You can even buy it via paypal!
So far it is stocked at Lik & Neon on Slater Street off Brick Lane, but I will be posting a more comprehensive list of outlets when I can.
You can also buy it and look at images on Arcademi
And it will be featured in a great new exhibition The Art of Zines, at the Anno Domini galler in San Jose, California. So go check that out in Feb if you are local. I will be showing One Nil and my Great Anarchists zine.

Otherwise though I have been working hard on schoolwork, currently doing record covers for Master of Reality by Black Sabbath. I have about a week left so hopefully I can post some images soonish. Just need to get to a proper scanner or camera. Also done a couple Soul Control sleeves on the side so will post them too.

Also I've been asked to take part in a zine workshop day and fayre coming up at Westminster Kingsway college. I think its the 3rd of Feb but I am not too sure. Also I'm not sure if non-students can attend but hopefully I will have some more info soon. Imagine me talking to people about making zines? It's really really easy, you just do it. Viva la zine.

oh and also a few years ago one of my zines, Click #3 (i think), was featured in a zine exhibition by Nieves which took place in Stuttgart and I think a few other places. I had no idea until I saw my name on the Nieves site haha! Anyway, the zine was a collab between a bunch of amazing people I know so heads up to them too. here is a picture.
you can see ours bottom right-ish

Anyway, thanks for looking at my blog, its been a crazy few months and isn't stopping any time soon (keep an eye out for zine covers, contributions, comics and a whole bunch of school work), but please if anyone can help me with some money or a job that would be great. Times are tough!who wouldn't hire this!? p.s-i screened that shirt.

it's finally here!

2009-12-21T16:08:00.000-08:00

i finally got 500 copies of my new zine One-Nil through the post! proper details to follow, i will update the website with it properly when i get a chance. it's £3 though, ill try and set up some sort of paypal thing but just give me a shout. dope!

xmas cards.

2009-12-21T15:59:00.001-08:00

here are some of the christmas cards i made. they are all gone though because i didn't make very many. happy holidays!!

christmas fairs.

2009-12-15T18:16:00.000-08:00

sorry for the big break in uploads, been a bit hectic end of year, etc. where did 2009 go? woahhhh. anyway, we are scrambling together bits and pieces to raise money for our external degree show so me and the rest of the fundraising gang have been very busy producing stuff and putting on fairs. above is the poster for our very successful (if i dont say so myself) christmas fair at college. i did the title lettering, chie miyazaki did the drawing and jordan chatwin did the other text and put it all together. thanks to everyone who came and bought prints, cards, zines, cakes, anything. it's greatly appreciated.

and here is the j-dog sipping on some mulled wine at a stall we had at the brick lane christmas market on saturday. we spent a couple days going crazy making canvas bags and t-shirts especially for it. i'll post up some of the bits I made later on, i made some christmas cards, a new zine called 'Post Coital Notes' which i've actually left in london so will have to scan at a later date, a couple of bags and a couple of t-shirts. nothing crazy. i'll keep you posted. x

It's Nice That

2009-11-14T07:19:00.000-08:00

As if enough stuff hasn't been happening lately, this week while in the midst of the LCC Occupation my good friend Owen text me telling me to check out It's Nice That. And lo and behold there I was! Insane. Big thanks to Bart for guest blogging about me. These past few weeks have been mental.

Ponytail

2009-11-08T06:57:00.001-08:00

If you find yourselves in a Borders or Magma or general arty-newsagents around Soho (or indeed Paris or New York) then please have a peruse through the latest edition of Ponytail magazine. Maybe don't buy it, cos it's a tenner (it's up to you), but please have a flick and check out the article Illustration Now in which I am featured alongside Laura Mardon. As you can see from the below pictures there are some of my anarchist drawings, aswell as a full page piece I did especially and on the other spread is a small bio about me and my oil refinery drawing (see previous post for it straight outta my sketchbook). This is all very exciting isn't it! All I need now is to get paid for a drawing and I'll feel like a real illustrator!

Excessive Force

2009-11-08T06:51:00.000-08:00

Here it is! The awesome comic anthology to kick off the birth of the Last Hours publishing wing. Excessive Force brings together a collection of international comics artists united under one theme 'police everywhere, justice nowhere'. And alongside Stephanie McMillan, Ken Dahl, Scott Smith, Edd Baldry and Jimi Gherkin, is yours truly, with a short 2-page comic about the Sack Parliament protest in 2006.so there you go, copies are available for £7 through me (deadtreesanddye@hotmail.com) or from Last Hours

Great Anarchists

2009-11-08T06:44:00.000-08:00

I finished this zine over the summer but have had trouble getting it printed, etc and now have my head in a bunch of other projects but it is out there in the real world I promise. There are about 70 or so floating about, you can get one from me (deadtreesanddye@hotmail.com) or from Hausmans in kings cross, or from Last Hours. Also to save me putting up all the pages here you can have a look at the full thing on my website; deadtreesanddye.com just follow through to illustration then its the top link, great anarchists. also featured in Ponytail this month but I will get to that shortly!

MEDINA

2009-11-04T16:20:00.000-08:00

makhno mark 2

2009-11-03T16:20:00.000-08:00

i haven't already posted this have i?

what can i say, never get bored of drawing makhno. this was for a bit of research for a project i'm doing next year about the ukraine revolution and bolshevik backlash.

expect updates soon about;
excessive force and how awesome it is (my first published comic)
this football zine and what a pain it is (someone please give me money)
zine fairs and how rad they are (4 in 2 weeks? okay)
immigration comics and how confusing they are (i.e-i'm not very good at comics)
black sabbath covers and how nonexistant they are (i.e-i havent started yet)
until then......

Lord Kitchener

2009-10-30T11:05:00.000-07:00

a face

2009-10-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

if you know her don't tell her, bit weird.

comics comics comics

2009-10-27T12:10:00.000-07:00

After sending off my submission to Excessive Force, a Last Hours produced comics anthology (that looks great, will post info soon), and fresh from a talk at the ICA by Joe Sacco (I literally started that night!) I have been really interested in making actual proper comics. My comic in Excessive Force isn't really a comic as such, mostly vaguely representational drawings surrounded by explanatory text, with no panels. I really haven't done a comic comic in forever, and the feedback I've had for the panel-less way have been pretty positive. but whatever, here is the first of hopefully quite a few (at the moment i've done 2 and a half) 3-panel wordless comics about immigration. I am hoping to produce a little collection at some point highlighting the extreme circumstances people go through to get to this country, only to be beaten, patronised, incarcerated and often sent home. that is if they even make it.

I'd love some feedback as making comics is something I've been increasingly interested in of late and really have no idea about. hopefully this zine will be out in a few months, it'll be called "No one is illegal" and possibly a No Borders benefit.

futbol

2009-10-22T06:06:00.000-07:00

Eric Cantona - When the seagulls follow the trawler...
Uploaded by Totosien. - Discover the latest sports and extreme videos.

been doing a zine on football, will post up some drawings at some point. but for the moment here are some football related videos i have been looking at for research. nice.

alex kercher

2009-10-19T12:02:00.000-07:00

more Zine Soup

2009-10-13T09:47:00.000-07:00

Zine Soup is a 200 page book of international zine and art book artists published by TTC Gallery in Denmark. and my copy came today and it looks completely dope!

as you can see i have my own double page spread which is nuts. they asked me to send stuff in when i was still a naive first year, so the zines contained therein are pretty old, i remember taking the photos on my floor in halls which is why they aren't great, but hey, i am in a fucking coffee table book so whatever right. also because I sent them picture from some issues of Click, the collaborative artzine i did, inadvertently my photographer friends Owen Richards and Matt Freer both end up in there! Nice one!

and the back page has a few of my zine covers, all wok n rolls, which i have handily ringed for you to pick out. i am pretty excited, this makes me feel like im actually real, even though the stuff featured is fairly horrible in terms of my drawing. it was the best i had at the time though eh. but being featured next to dudes like Sumi Ink Club, Craig Atkinson, Jody Barton, Bongout, Holly Stevenson, etc is pretty mental.

if you have a spare €40 you can buy it from here;http://ttcgallery.com/shop or else LCC library is trying to get one, or else come over and look at mine. awesome!

ZINE SOUP

2009-09-11T19:10:00.000-07:00

i tend to hesitate when announcing big exciting things on here like being asked to do something for a magazine or something i'm working on mainly because there is a tendency that as soon as you tell people you jinx the whole thing and end up dissapointed when nothing happens. this happened recently with getting a zine published but i managed to avoid it in this instance, amazing Danish gallery TTC asked me over a year ago to submit some of my zines for a book they were doing about the international artzine scene. naturally it was delayed and i sort of forgot abit about it, thinking it had gone the way of a lot of projects, until i got the email earlier in the week saying it was ready to be shipped to my door!! amazing! I'M IN A FUCKING BOOK.

not only that, a book that looks wildly good. check out some of the photos and have a gander at the TTC website where you can get a copy for a special introductory price of €30. be quick, only a thousand made. i am on page 162 according to this photo, expect another update when i can hold it in my hands. so dope.

http://ttcgallery.com/exhibitions#ZINE%20SOUP%20BOOK%20RELEASE
http://ramarama.dk/zine%20soup/

sketchbook shit

2009-07-27T15:56:00.000-07:00

a few sketchbook bits. i've also just done a new zine so i'll put that up on here possibly tomorrow. rad, hopefully should be more stuff up now i'm back in the flow of things

Criminal

2009-04-12T08:08:00.000-07:00

some roughs i've done for accompanying illustrations to the short story Criminal by Isabelle Eberhardt. Been trying to get my head around both colour and paint with varying amounts of success. these are the most finished pieces ive got but ill scan in some of the rougher roughs which maybe have something else. keep your eyes open and your fingers in the comment box

sketchbook

2009-04-10T04:39:00.000-07:00

some odd drawings from no projects in particular. i know that army guys got weird eyes by the way i was just going with the flow

penny dreadful

2009-04-10T04:33:00.001-07:00

here are a select few pages from my 16 page mono-printed penny dreadful. not going to lie, was quite disappointed with the main bulk of work here. monoprint is a ballache and my drawing isnt all that. oh well.

houses/dens/nests

2009-04-10T04:28:00.000-07:00

here are some houses i drew for our external group project proposal/presentation. been loads of gnarly work going on for that but we've got a seperate internal blog for that biz so no point sticking it all up here aswell. keep your eyes open in may for the big reveal.
oh & also before you say it, yes if i could be/get married to monica canilao OBVIOUSLY I WOULD

characters

2009-04-10T04:16:00.000-07:00

here's some other potential characters for the penny dreadful biz. monoprints and pencil drawings. i think i've not scanned one or two so they might creep in later on.

penny dreadful #1

2009-04-09T08:10:00.000-07:00

the next project was to make a sixteen page booklet based on a folk tale based in and around London. here are some initial monoprints i did for mine which was about a mysterious figure who killed cats in the late nineties.

a zine about the sun

2009-04-09T08:03:00.000-07:00

a zine about the sun and how far away it is from the earth. i like the last spread in particular. it should be mentioned that all of the facts for my project were culled from the book A Brief History of Time by my homeboy (cambridge reppin') Steven Hawking. it's a pretty gnarly book that will make your head hurt and perhaps make you have an existential crisis regarding your utter meaninglessness in the grand scheme of HOW EPIC THE UNIVERSE IS. stay posi

you are standing on this right now

2009-04-09T08:01:00.000-07:00

posters about the earth and how it's real and you're on it right now reading this. head = exploded.
original and re-worked versions

more stars...

2009-04-09T07:58:00.000-07:00

a stripped down version of the last post. where each star is an abstracted line. just an idea. again working with the format of a fold out booklet.

stars...

2009-04-09T07:54:00.000-07:00

this was one of many fold-out posters intended to show the insane vastness of the universe. the first page depicts one star and is A5-sized, you then fold out to A4 which shows a galaxy built up of a hundred thousand million of said stars. then in theory you would fold out to A2 and see the hundred thousand million galaxies that we know exist.
however the task was extremely laborious and i didnt manage to finish any of the loads that i started. whack.

FACT PROJECT

2009-04-09T07:52:00.000-07:00

it's been ages i know, i've not had a scanner. i do now though for a whole week, so expect excessive updates from this term now passed.

FIRST PROJ, was FACT. the opposite of FICTION. here is a collage about stars.

Ladyfest Goldsmiths

2009-01-14T14:09:00.000-08:00

heres a poster i did this week for Ladyfest Goldsmiths. had a bit of a panic as the internet weren't working the day i had to send it off but it was all okay.

and cos i'm a full nerd who likes seeing drawings ive done actually being used here it is on the facebook event. no doubt when i get my hands on a flyer or poster i will grin ear to ear and post it up here.

wrapping paper

2009-01-05T09:20:00.000-08:00

this blog is one year old! woah. i'm going to get less rigid about stuff and just post stuff when and where i do it, rather than waiting til projects are finished or things are totally done, etc.

anyway, heres some wrapping paper i did to wrap my gifts up in this chrimbo. or in other words, i got some newsprint and then sat in front of the telly with some pens for a few days. thats what holidays are all about

Handmade & Bound

2008-12-18T04:51:00.000-08:00

photos of our table and shit at the Handmade & Bound zine fair. it was sick.

poster city

2008-12-17T14:50:00.000-08:00

and (almost) finally, here are some posters i made for the zine fair. they all went but i can make more i suppose. in fairness i think i only made 9. one more post and then i'm done with the zine fair i swear

The Jonas Brothers

2008-12-17T13:39:00.000-08:00

this is another zine i made for the handmade & bound zine fair. it is about the Jonas Brothers. i was going to send them one but i can't find an address anywhere on their stupid website. let me know if you can help with that.
sorry again for the shit photos, haven't had time to scan. i still have some i think, they are 50p but you'll have to wait a few weeks

Popular Culture

2008-11-22T16:33:00.000-08:00

here's the zine I did for Zine Swap and then also sold at Handmade & Bound. its #3 of No Fate But What We Make, the series of zines i've been shitting out this year. i've got some left I think, they'll be on dead trees and dye when i finally get round to updating it. theys 50p

more zines

2008-11-22T13:32:00.002-08:00

I also put my Eeeee Eee Eeee images into a zine aswell. got a few of these left if you really want one. they are one pound i believe.

Listen to Aaliyah

2008-11-22T13:21:00.000-08:00

some postcards I made for the Handmade & Bound zine/book art fair. i've got loads, just let me know if you want any

Donald Trump & the Planets

2008-11-17T14:54:00.000-08:00

In the summer I had some drawings in a group exhibition at the 42 New Briggate Gallery in Leeds called Donald Trump and the Planets. I couldn't make it as it was the same week as the photography exhibition at Shoreditch Town Hall but Roman Alaska (who curated it) have put up photos so I can finally see what it looked like! Looks like it was awesome, i'm abit gutted I didn't bother going. They had a big cardboard cashpoint with a guy sat inside dishing out handwritten advice slips. Other rad cats featured were; Zeroten, Isabelle Benoit, Neil K Andrews, people from Metronomy and loads of other rad dudes. check out the rest of the photos at the Roman Alaska myspace.

i did that grey landscape A4 one of planets with wigs.

i also did that owl drawing for the Roman Alaska bric-a-brac stall.

and they had one of my zines as well. i think i misunderstood because I only sent them one copy ha! oh well. i'm glad i was involved it looks like it was totally sick

Series of 9 narrative illustrations

2008-11-15T17:03:00.000-08:00

Rat Recs -da collab piece

2008-11-15T10:24:00.000-08:00

oh and also for the show we all chipped in and made a collaborative piece for the behind the counter of the shop. they said they wanted sommat big for the back wall and none of us really work that epic so we all decided to work together.