Skeletons on Holiday meet Fox on Windowsill

Up and coming London-based band Skeletons on Holiday recently used one of my photos as the cover artwork for their new double A-side single 'Night of the Long Knives/Silence is Broken.

You can listen to it here.

For camera nerds, the photo was taken using a Diana F+ camera and double-exposed. For location nerds, it was taken at Columbia Road Flower Market. Amazingly, I actually got permission from the man dressed as a fox to use this photo for the single as he was looking at something else on my Flickr account, found himself on there, and got in touch with me.


My cover photo for 'Night of the Long Knives/Silence is Broken' by Skeletons on Holiday

The Most Expensive Picture

I recently paid to have my photo 'Fish Kiss' included on the home page of The Most Expensive Picture (and fortunately quite early on in the project). It remained there for about two precious hours before someone paid a buck more than me to shunt it off.

I'm a sucker for the kind of projects I wish I'd thought of myself (and actually been motivated enough to put together) - good luck to them!

No Short Circuit

Earlier this year I did some design work for Sue Austin and Nick Lee, two intrepid and eco-conscious travellers who plan to drive around the world in an electric car.

Their ambitious project goes by the name of Global Circuit, and they were among the first people this year to buy the brand new Nissan Leaf to carry it out in.

Their blog about their trial run in Europe earlier this year makes for very interesting reading, particularly in regards to struggles to find charging points before the car ran out of electricity, the kindness of strangers in helping with this, the non-standard technology and schemes for charging a car in different countries, and in the questions they posed to those at Nissan HQ in Paris, their ultimate destination, about the practicalities of running such a car.

Good luck to them, and I look forward to hearing more about their travels!


Global Circuit logo

I Got 99 Problems

This image often pops into my head when I hear Jay-Z's '99 Problems', so I had to get it down on paper.

Peculiar Pictures #01

The inside of my head, earlier.



In honour of National Freelancers Day

The Fresh Prints

Hot off the printing presses I have 5 copies each of my prints 'A Little Horse' and 'London Plane on Hampstead Heath'.

Being as it is somewhere between Halloween and Valentine's Day, might I suggest that these would make an ideal Christmas (*ducks for cover at the mere mention of this occasion with more than a month to go*) present for your loved ones?

Both are individually numbered giclée prints on Hahnemühle FineArt Photo Rag paper (translation: incredibly high quality prints on the finest paper there is), and of an edition of 50.

Prices for each are as follows:

£120 unframed or £220 framed + £10 P&P (or hand delivery by the artist, if you live in London and ask me soon enough before Christmas) per item. You can avoid the £10 fee if you're able to collect your order from Stoke Newington in north London.

To place an order, or to ask further questions, please email microsketchdesign@gmail.com


A Little Horse, 29.5cm by 29.5cm


A Little Horse, 29.5cm by 29.5cm


London Plane on Hampstead Heath, 29.5cm by 42cm

3D design - The Fantasy Ball: A Masquerade Affair

I was commissioned by events audio/visual specialists BMEAV to create and animate a 3D version of the CLIC Sargent event The Fantasy Ball: A Masquerade Affair, which took place on Wednesday. Let's hope that huge amounts of money were raised for the charity.


A still from the 3D animated logo

Hair This

I recently photographed and designed a website and for Jane Edwards, a rather excellent hairdresser in Stoke Newington. If the top of your head is looking shabby, and you're in the N16 neighbourhood, I highly recommend a visit. She's right next door to brand new cafe, Fred & Fran which is also very good.



Jane Edwards,
53A Kynaston Road,
Stoke Newington,
London N16 0EB

Telephone: 020 7241 0393

To the Rescue

I recently designed and built a website for Search & Rescue, a new shop in north London (oh, and produced the photography for).


Search & Rescue homepage

In terms of what they sell, in the words of its owners:

'Some things are old, some things are new, and most things are truly unique.'

If you're ever on Stoke Newington Church St, why not pop in? They're at number 121, opposite The Lion pub.

The eagle-eyed among you may have spotted one of my prints in one of the screenshots here, which is on sale at the shop.


Search & Rescue homepage

In a dark dark cellar...

Hip new band and Artrocker favourites Skeletons on Holiday are using one of my photos as the cover for their next single, and in promoting their forthcoming gig at the Buffalo Bar on Fri 21 Oct. Check them out and be as down as any 'kids'.

Going Postal

A postcard I designed for Search & Rescue, Stoke Newington Church Street's new premier shopping location.

Search & Rescue

Search & Rescue (121 Stoke Newington Church Street, London, N16 0UH) opened today and is selling some of my prints. It's well worth a look, and there are plenty of other interesting items on sale by artists local to N16, including Josie Beckett's 'Four Corners' range of cushions made using fabric she's collected from every corner of the globe.


'A Little Horse' shown in the window


'Blanket Coverage' and 'London Plane on Hampstead Heath'



'Maggie' in the changing room

microsketch in the media: southbanklondon

A couple of weeks ago the folks at southbanklondon kindly selected a photo I took of the National Theatre as their Picture of the Week.

It's very nice to be getting so much coverage over the past few weeks from my photos and design work, including Time Out (this is no longer on their site, unfortunately), Londonist and the Guardian.


My photo on the southbanklondon site

Behind the Masque

I just found this advert I did back in 2007 for a masquerade ball. I've removed the text from it as I quite like as a standalone piece.


Masquerade, 2007

microsketch in the media: Time Out

One of my photos went live today as the header image on the Time Out blog. It should there for a couple of weeks.

I took it at the Wellcome Collection; it's of the ceiling in the cafe, which is adorned with lights in the shapes of flasks, beakers, and whatever the pointy things are.


My photo (top), used as the header image for the Time Out blog, August 2011

The full version of that shot, as well as a few others I took that day around King's Cross are available here on my Flickr page.

microsketch in the media: Londonist

A recent photo of mine taken during sunset at the South Bank made it on to the home page of popular London blog Londonist yesterday. While it's since been pushed off this hallowed page, it still lives in their Sunday Seasoning section which is described as such:

Every week we select a photo from the Londonist Flickr pool, taken in the last seven days, that illustrates this season or time of year in London.

For the purists out there, the colours in my original are far more flattering than in the version that they kindly posted on their site!

My photo, shown in its glory while still on the Londonist homepage

microsketch in the media: The Guardian

An article recently appeared on the Guardian's website with my Agit illustration for an app I recently designed the icons for. I now wish I'd spent more than five minutes on it, but it's nice to see it there all the same!



The app itself continues to win praise; If you'd like to know more about it, please see my previous post on it.

App-solutely Fabulous

I recently had the honour of being asked to create some icons by Roberto Tyley for his just-released app for Android, Agit (Buy it here!)

If you're a fan of the version control system Git, it allows you to do some very clever things with it on an Android device. If you have no idea what any of this means, it's all about checking files out, and then back in again (it's the virtual equivalent of the hokey cokey).

Here's a video of Agit it in action.

Did I mention that you can buy it here?

Pitzhanger Manor

I was fortunate enough to attend a wedding over the weekend in the very pleasant surroundings of Pitzhanger Manor in Ealing. As a wedding present for the happy couple I produced this illustration of the entrance to the building.


Pitzhanger Manor, 2011

The manor was once owned by a hero of mine, Sir John Soane, who was an architect during the end of the Georgian era, and most famously designed the Bank of England (although most of his design has since been demolished). He also designed his own tomb, which was then an influence on Giles Gilbert Scott's design of the red telephone box.


Pitzhanger Manor, 2011


Pitzhanger Manor, 2011 (original drawing)

Along with Pitzhanger Manor, the 'dream house' he set out to build and subsequently used as a weekend retreat, I'd highly recommend a visit to the other house he designed and lived in towards the end of his life which is now open to the public as Sir John Soane's Museum (nearest tube station Holborn). This contains an eclectic collection of architectural features that he liked and encouraged students to draw at the time (something which still happens today). There's also a seemingly empty wood-panelled room which, should you find a helpful member of staff, can be transformed using its hidden compartments to reveal the original copies of Hogarth's 'A Rake's Progress'. If you're lucky enough to have a member of staff explain what is happening in this highly entertaining series of pictures, you will perhaps see why those such as Robert Crumb hail Hogarth as being one of the pioneers of the comic strip.

Both venues are free to visit, although you'll probably want to leave a contribution if you enjoyed them as much as I did.

Hear that noise?

I've just been trawling through an old hard disk and found this poster in the archives, back when I did most of my work in 3D. The main shape represents the concept of 'noise' in 3D. I quite like the font that my younger self created.


Hear that noise? 2003

Shoreditch Safari

I recently added a new Photography section to my website at www.microsketch.com (which in fact links to my Flickr page). To celebrate this, I ventured into the wilds of Shoreditch on Saturday. Here are some of my favourites. (The full set of photos is here).


Trois Garcons, 2011


Gals, 2011


Man with Pram, 2011

Minding my business

I recently ordered some business cards and am very pleased with how they've turned out (I have never had one before, so feel like I'm a proper grown-up now). There are six different designs each with a small version of one of my illustrations/photographs.

Let me know if you'd like one and I'll try and get it to you somehow.

I've stopped pickling my nose

I attended the anti Valentine's Day event at the Hunterian Museum on Monday. If you've not heard of the place, it's a free museum (well worth making a donation) within The Royal College of Surgeons on Lincoln's Inn Fields and contains thousands of jars of pickled human and animal body parts.

Unfortunately you can't take photos of the exhibits, although you can draw them, which I plan to do at some point.

As part of the evening there was a 'pickle a body part' session - here's my effort.



Pickling my nose, 2011

Not the most lifelike of things, although it might just get me a job in a sweet factory.

Brian

A quick sketch of my Dracaena Marginata, also known the dragon tree, more often know as Brian.


Brian, 2011

The New Photographer

I recently treated myself to a new camera. You can see my latest efforts on my Flickr page here.


Jellyfish, The London Sea Life Aquarium 2011