Petit Mal

Drawing Process

2012-02-01T08:55:00.000-08:00

I like knowing about other illustrators' process, so thought I would share mine. This drawing took about 3 hours in total: HB Pencil, 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 technical pens. The full set of images can be viewed on my Flickr.

Zouch Magazine Interview

2012-01-23T02:16:00.001-08:00

Click on the above to be whisked away to the fantastic Zouch magazine interview - with me, about art, negative space and related miscellany!

Hare of the Dog Installation

2012-01-11T08:16:00.000-08:00

I've just finished the first of two installations in Birmingham, arranged by Red Bull Curates and Scream Pubs. This one is for the newly refurbished Hare of the Dog pub in Perry Barr - it opens again tonight so if you're in the area head down and see the mural in the flesh!

You can view more images of this installation on my Flickr page.

More Sharple Boone...

2011-11-10T02:41:00.000-08:00

We now have a new website to promote the Sharple Boone comic!

Head along there for more preview pages, fll synopsis and details of how you can help to get this project completed!

The Sharple Boone Conundrum

2011-10-28T08:59:00.001-07:00

After a couple of months work and another couple of months of submitting it to publishers I've decided to upload a couple of pages from the comic I have been working on with the incredibly talented David Drake.

The Sharple Boone Conundrum is currently on pretty much every comic publisher's slush-pile so we'll see what happens there!

The rest of my website has had a little bit of a tidy and there's a few more recent bits of work up, so have a good look around whilst you're there!

I'd Like To Tell You About The Book I Read...

2011-10-25T06:40:00.000-07:00

The start of a new series of work (it all helps to keep me off the streets) in which I avoid all that hassle of applying for actual work at a publishers and just pretend that's what I do anyway.

Well, sort of. As I read books I can't help images popping into my head that could be covers - especially so when the cover is crap. Far, far too much use of standard Getty Images photos for my liking these days. So what you have here is an indulging of that urge, coupled with what will hopefully be viewed as a tribute to some of my favourite writers.

The full set can be viewed on flickr at the above link.

The Rialto Cover!

2011-10-25T02:16:00.000-07:00

The new issue of the fantastic Poetry magazine The Rialto is out now - featuring a cover by me!

Been a fan of the magazine for a long while now, and I'm over the moon to be the latest cover artist - pick up a copy now!

Tarot

2011-10-04T10:39:00.000-07:00

Today I started a series of works based around the iconography and symbolism of the Tarot deck.

This all sort of spun out of an idea I had for a comic strip or at least a narrative series of work which was going to be themed around Tarot and how the iconography relates to current events, e.g. The Tower and it's application to the attack on the World Trade Center. All well and good, but I'm not primarily a writer and aside from a few snapshots of images I had in my head it was far from being anywhere near complete.

Time is money as some idiot said, and this is a bit of a pro-bono project, so I decided to use the snapshots I had prepared and directly apply them to the Tarot deck. Time will tell if I can get through the 21 Major Arcana (let alone the full 78 cards in the Tarot deck!) but already it would be nice to see these printed as a set. We shall see!

Penny Arcade Record Bags

2011-10-03T04:18:00.001-07:00

These little beauties were hand-screenprinted to help promote the Penny Arcade night.

They're limited to a run of only 30, and some have already been given away as treats for people attending the night so don't delay if you want one!

Grab them via my Big Cartel store: http://petitmal.bigcartel.com/

SOL MACHINA - Folc/Psyc/Roc Mix

2011-09-02T02:05:00.000-07:00

As a special insert for the THE RUMSEY WELLS Rumsey Times I have put together an hour long mix of folk, psych and psych-rock inspired by late evening sun, hidden rituals and dream flora.

Get the mix at the above link, and head to the Rumsey to pick up a free promo poster for the mix!

This is a joint Penny Arcade and Petit Mal - Illustration venture!

The Corn Bride

2011-08-24T10:58:00.000-07:00

New piece dedicated to my beautiful, creative and slightly mad fiancee Beth.

Two for Joy

2011-08-18T01:52:00.000-07:00

Here's the new poster for our regular DJ night, Penny Arcade, inspired by old-school cut and paste and psychedelic posters.

Head along to our Facebook page (link in the title) for more info!

Screenprint in INTO-Giving Charity Auction!

2011-08-02T07:53:00.000-07:00

I have a screenprint in this years INTO-Giving Art Ball to help raise money for the building of an Orphans and Vulnerable Children’s Centre in Lusaka, Zambia - if you fancy bidding on mine or any of the other fantastic works of art up for grabs then head along to the Sainsbury’s Centre for Visual Arts on the 9th September!

http://www.artballnorwich.co.uk/

2011-06-22T01:46:00.000-07:00

Mural completed for the current run of ShopArt! - up now on Castle Meadow, Norwich (just next to Maplins).

Confronting the Danger of Art

2011-04-28T03:25:00.001-07:00

Images from a Pamphlet I’m working on in collaboration with the poet Ian McLachlan.

The pamphlet is based on Public Information Pamphlets which were prevalent (certainly in the UK) around the 1970’s. These pamphlets were on a range of topics concerning safety in and around the home and in general worked by reducing uncontrollable events (such as a nuclear attack) to a series of easy to follow actions. They were weird though, placating and patronising and with a hefty dose of fear mixed in.

Our Pamphlet is based upon the idea that the main danger facing the public today is that of art. This creates a nice little paradox and has provided really fertile ground for me and Ian to work on.

Currently I’m about a third of the way through, then there’s printing and so on, so don’t expect this very soon. More, as soon as we can!

More self-negotiated fun

2011-04-21T03:16:00.000-07:00

Another piece done purely for the fun of it. This one is worked up from an old Scouting annual I found in a charity shop. I want to hold a fox.

Work on three pamphlets/zines (whatever you want to call them - I guess 'zines' is wrong as none of them will be done on a photocopy type ethic) concurrently at the moment, the 'Broken Homes' one is nearing completion and should be available in my store soon. The 'Revelations' one is a little way off still and the other one, well that's a little bit of a secret and special collaboration with the fantastic poet Ian McLachlan.

More to follow as and when. Get out in that sun!

That's My Game!

2011-04-19T05:51:00.000-07:00

Portrait of Will Ferrel, for no good reason other than I love him and I love drawing.

Etsy Store now open!

2011-03-29T04:04:00.000-07:00

I have opened a shop on Etsy so head along there to buy prints (and more in due course)!

Feel free to contact me if there are any other images from my website you would like a print of and I'll happily get those listed too.

In other news, I am also taking part in the Open Submission Screenprint show at Stew Gallery in April - more info here. The piece I'm submitting is above, a limited edition hand-screenprinted exploitation themed number - you can buy one in advance of the show from my Etsy Store.

Lovely!

Revelations and Golden Homes

2011-03-09T07:12:00.000-08:00

I'm busy working on two series' of work which I'm hoping to collect in some form of book/zine (tbc) by Summer this year. One is based around The Revelation and all the crazy imagery that's in there and one is based on a stack of 1970's home improvement magazines I picked up from a charity shop about 8 years ago. Both are ideas that have been rattling round my head for a while so it's nice to have the time to get cracking on them.

ShopArt!

2011-02-14T04:15:00.000-08:00

I am over the moon to announce that I have been selected for the next run of ShopArt! exhibitions.

ShopArt! is a fantastic rolling series of exhibitions taking place in empty and unused shopfronts around Norwich city centre. In the curent economic climate, what better use of empty stores is there? Filling in the gaps with interesting and exciting framed and installation works.

More info can be found at the above link.

More work on my website and I also have a new Facebook page - so come and follow me there. I intend to use it as a(nother) way of updating people on any prints, exhibitions and the like without the formality of a mailing list.

Work Update...

2011-01-27T10:01:00.000-08:00

So... working away on a few things at the moment. The website has been updated with a few new bits since the new year and there'll be more of that to come.

Currently I'm working on a series of images which will be an opportunity for me to return to my favourite medium, screenprinting. I envision this as an ongoing series of pieces around the themes of childhood, 1980's safety videos and nature.

Also, I am very excited to be starting a pamphlet/book based project, helmed by the lovely Jon Stone and Kirsty Irving. The project will involve a collaboration between myself and poet to create a unique publication reflecting the themes of our work. Jon and Kirsty are hands-down the most dedicated exponents of Poetry, with a real hunger and grass-roots drive to get new and exciting work published. And all whilst being thoroughly lovely people. Check out previous projects here...

Ghost Box

2011-01-27T09:34:00.000-08:00

Ghost Box is a fantastic record label run by Julian House and Jim Jupp which releases music by a collective of artists (inculding themselves under the monickers The Focus Group and Belbury Poly respectively) inspired by folklore, vintage electronics, library music and 1970's documentary soundtracks.

Every limited release recalls school music room experimentation, school trips to a local woods to collect insects and the long lost safety videos of childhood (learn to swim!), without ever stepping into homage or pastiche.

The packaging is also a perfect reflection of the label's influences. Created by House, each sleeve is somewhere between the covers of science text-books and library recordings. The kind of beautiful object you wish your house was full of.

This mixture of childhood, nature and instructional material really resonates strongly for me and is becoming a nucleus for my own work. Far from just nostalgic reverie, I think there's a tangible sense of what it was like to feel protected and creatively encouraged as a child in Britain.

El Gato Negro

2011-01-27T09:17:00.000-08:00

Hey hey,

Long time (again) since posting. Just wanted to draw your attention to the fantastic work of Eric Bonhomme aka El Gato Negro.

There seems to be a lot of work out there that really picks up on a vintage, inky comic style echoing artists such as Paul Pope and Jean Paul Leon (two favourites off the top of my head), but very few have the balls to carry it off.

Eric/El Gato's work never falls into that category; his illustrations are getting stronger each time (as shown by the warm-up work on his blog) and he has a really unaffected, free style. The link above is to his Society6 page, but you can also check out his blog here...

Black Swan

2010-12-22T02:17:00.000-08:00

These are too good not to mention too... Excellent work from British design company La Boca here.

Olly Moss

2010-12-20T11:19:00.001-08:00

Olly Moss really is at the top of his game at that lovely place where graphic design and illustration merge. Check out his site here.

I first became aware of Olly's work through the excellent podcast on Computer Gaming and Gaming culture, A Life Well Wasted. Check that out too - here!

That's two little presents. Merry Christmas everyone!

Submit & Exhibit

2010-11-25T04:41:00.000-08:00

I am pleased to announce that I am taking part in the open submission exhibition at The Rumsey Wells - Opening Night is Thursday 2nd December.

The inaugural Open Submission show features local, national and internationally based artists with work coming from as far afield as the USA and Pakistan. Featuring a diverse and exciting mix of photography, painting, collage, digital prints, screen prints, kinetic sculpture and more the work spans established artists, students and people making their first forays into the creative world.

The evenings events will include live music from the experimental musical group Transept as well as DJ sets from I-Tombs, Forrest City Joe, Penny Arcade (me) and more.

If you're about, head on down as it should be eclectic! If not, the exhibition is on for a month so be sure to check it out.

New Website Is Up!

2010-11-17T05:11:00.000-08:00

It's taken a fair while, but the new Petit Mal website is finally up. I've slimmed it down a hell of a lot and removed a load of work (which is still all up on Flickr) to help create a coherent visual style. I'm very happy with the work that's up there and will be adding more in the coming weeks.

There's also a new links section - as mentioned below, many of the people on there were very helpful and generous with advice so please do check them out and support their work!

In other news, Buddy Peace is really someone you should be checking out. A consistently creative and original producer and mixtape legend, he is currently producing a minute-long beat each day until he reaches the magic number of 100. There's a fair few already up now so give them a listen here...

I love this kind of project where self-imposed rules push you in new and unexpected directions. Amazing stuff!

It's Been a Long Time...

2010-10-20T07:28:00.000-07:00

Been very busy recently getting everything ship-shape to launch this Illustration business properly. Just finished a five day Business Start-Up course (which was excellent) and have been plugging away behind the scenes at the updated website, which should be up and running very shortly.

In the meantime, I have been drawing furiously. More work to follow soon.

Samoobsługa Pictures

2010-09-13T05:50:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of the joint exhibition Samoobsługa, currently on show in the Rumsey Wells Underbelly until the end of this month. (More can be found on my Flickr page... here).

I'm pretty happy with how this all turned out. There were a few disasters as the collage work refused to stick to the walls, but that was all resolved pretty easily by using PVA instead of wallpaper paste.

After spending a week putting something up (the ripping it all down and putting it up again, twice) it becomes pretty hard to be objective about how successful the finished exhibition is. Plenty of nice feedback from people on the opening night and with a couple of weeks hindsight I'm happy with the overall aesthetic of it.

Moving forward, I'm going to have a change about of my website - I think it looks ok, but no longer reflects the sort of work I'm making - and slim down the amount of work on there. I have had a tendency to show everything in an attempt to appeal to anyone who might come across it, but this has the downside of watering down what I feel could be a tighter portfolio of work. Also, I want to avoid getting any future comissions based on work, or working styles, that I don't really enjoy doing anymore.

Which leads on to a little realisation, which may seem obvious, but only hit home after putting up the Samoobsługa exhibition. That is, I want to focus my energy on making work using processes I enjoy - as opposed to trying to control the finished product too much.

I've shyed away from collage for a while, instead focusing on drawing, but in putting up the installation I realised I enjoy the problem solving involved in collage. Everything placed down becomes something to resolve compositionally and I enjoy the uncertainty and suprise involved in working that way. More of that then.

Samoobsługa

2010-08-06T13:54:00.001-07:00

So, the time has come where I have something to promote! Hurrah.

This lovely word (meaning 'take what you want/need') is the title for a joint exhibition between me and the aforementioned Sammy Merry.

There will be four 'main' pieces which I will be installing (cutting up, layering etc.) in the Rumsey Wells' Underbelly along with four collages by Sammy.

The title refers to a great discussion (one of many) Sammy and I had recently about how we don't feel like we need to endlessly justify our work - or at the least not justify every aspect of it. We do have explanations for decisions made and we're concerned about a range of things (which we will happily elaborate on over a drink), but really, shouldn't the person looking have the final say?

I don't know, some people love the detailed theory and analysis (and fair play to them) but we just want to make thought-provoking and interesting work.

The exhibition opening night is on 4th September at the Rumsey Wells from 8pm - with DJ-ing provided by Penny Arcade (Psych, Funk and Disco).

In other news, I have been doing a lot of research over the last few days into starting an Illustration business 'proper' and making it my bread and butter. In doing this I have contacted a number of Illustrators and I am honestly overwhelmed by how lovely people are - despite their busy workloads they have responded quickly and answered my questions thoroughly and given lovely feedback.

So, the upshot of that is that when I have time I will definitely sort out a 'links' page on my website, and I will have plenty of great artists to put on there.

This Is Just To Say...

2010-07-31T01:49:00.000-07:00

Hannah Walker is amazing. This is a fact I was aware of long before I was invited to "attend"/"participate" in her new poetry show "This is Just to Say...", but after experiencing her "performance" earlier this week I am still moved and the colour of my world has shifted ever so slightly (for the better).

That's a lot of parentheses (sorry), but it's hard to pin down the show in traditional performance poetry terms. When you see it (which you should) you will be one of a small group of eight people all sitting round a table, potentially with wine, with Hannah at the head. The atmosphere is not unlike that of a seance, as Hannah raises the spector of Apology - an act we all perform every day, mostly without thinking - and deconstructs it through discussion, anecdote and beautiful, heartaching poetry. But like a seance, we are not mute witnesses to the act, the energy and involvement of the audience is an integral part of the show.

I'm sorry that I can't really go into more detail. I'd love to share moments from the performance we attended, but I would hate to ruin any of it - it's so much better approached open-minded.

I'm also sorry that I don't have the words to describe how beautiful and melancholy it is. Just see it - its being performed at the Edinburgh Festival as part of the Forest Fringe - Monday 16 – Friday 20 August, 5pm & 9pm. More details on that here.

That's three apologies and I haven't even left the house yet.

Sway and Sammy Merry

2010-07-25T11:10:00.000-07:00

I'm currently reading "Sway" by Zachary Lazar. It's a great book (picked up on a whim) about the early days of the Rolling Stones, The Manson Family (esp. Bobby Beausoleil) and the film-maker Kenneth Anger (see a fantastic example of his work - with the 'Stones - here).

What Lazar does is re-tell, beautifully, recorded events from the lives of the people involved and embelishes them, essentially colouring the characters and drawing a dark web between them. I like this. I like that these events are raised to mythological status in his book, something we can all own a piece of.

I didn't intend this to become a book review blog, but this has really kick-started some connections for me and I have started researching the occult and symbolism. I am fascinated by the placement and layout of symbols, motifs and drawings. Are there symbols and codified words that when placed together have inherent meaning, or can any items be placed together and a deeper meaning attributed?

I feel the latter, but who knows?

As usual, I wouldn't expect any future work to be clearly an examination of this, but at the very least my imagination is running away with itself at the moment.

In other news, you should really look at Sammy Merry's website as he's a fantastic bastard with a unique talent for making art that manages to take the piss and somehow cut to the heart of the modern condition at the same time. Whatever that means. And he's going to be a dad, so spare a thought and some pennies should he try to sell you anything he's drawn on in the coming months.

Watercolours...

2010-07-07T08:31:00.000-07:00

I have cracked open the tin of watercolours I've had since March and had a play.

Bits

2010-06-30T12:02:00.001-07:00

Worse; PetitMal

It's Getting Worse; David Shrigley

This is Worse; Goya

All rights to the respective artists.

The Detectorist

2010-06-17T02:01:00.000-07:00

This post firmly fits within the category of 'people I love, doing lovely things'.

My good friend Jonathan Blagrove wrote and directed this short film. Considering the constraints of time, money and weather it is nothing short of a little miracle. Funny, sweet and beautiful it caused a huge reaction at the Norwich Short Film Festival.

The Detectorist from Jonathan Blagrove on Vimeo.

Having completed its rounds you can now view the whole thing on Vimeo. It's entirely worth ten minutes of your day.

I also produced the lobby cards for this beauty, which can be found on my website here. (easy work when all the stills look so great!)

Enjoy!

Hello...

2010-06-15T08:23:00.000-07:00

This blog will be a (sporadically updated) accompaniment to my website http://www.petitmal.co.uk. Here, I'll aim to upload stuff I'm working on, things I'm doing and things that are influencing my work.

Today I have been trying to neaten up my site and categorize the artwork on it so it's not such a mess of stuff. Hopefully that's worked as it feels like its taken up too much of my time already. The opportunity to draw has slipped by again.

However, work from yesterday can be found above. A continuation of a series of work drawn from old family photographs, combined with collage elements from 1970's D.I.Y. magazines found in a charity shop.