Downton Abbey Christmas Card

You can pick up this card and see the rest of my Christmas Card range now at Big Cartel

Christmas Cards Now Available on Big Cartel!

You can purchase my 2014 range of Christmas Cards here at my Paper Fables Big Cartel!

You can also commission me through here for a bespoke portrait!

Christmas Yak and Cat cards complete!

A double post! Two new designs I enjoyed working on here. I like challenging myself with recreating the fur on different animals, as correct shading is imperative in making the animals look convincing both in the fur they distinctly have but also as a vehicle to show their form and shape

The Grand Budapest Hotel Christmas card

I wanted to recreate the lush pinks and homely colours that Wes Anderson so splendidly delivered in his latest feature length. The art nouveau patterning and illustrated bow reflect the look of a lavishly designed box of chocolates

Winter Dogs Christmas card

I have completed this pair of scheming pooches, plotting to break their stoic stances in favour of building a snowman. Recreating the aesthetic of the fabric required some translation to look convincing in pencil form and this was a nice challenge

The Grand Budapest Hotel Christmas card teaser

Coming Soon!

Early 1900s Insurance City Maps

I am in love with these graphic logos used as document covers for Insurance Maps for different cities in America.

The intricacy and crispness of these stunning designs are seldom seen in any form of graphic design nowadays.

My work always in some way harks back to the traditional and I may use these as a basis for a future greeting card or piece of packaging design

It's Going to be a Long Night

Although later split into two separate cards, the original intended design is a pug standing proud, awaiting orders to deliver an insurmountable piles of presents to the world

WWE Sheamus meet and greet!

I took a short break out from my current Christmas-themed work to turnover an illustration which was essentially a two day project. Above shows me explaining the intricacies of this piece to Sheamus ;)

I am interested in producing more line illustrations created with pen, coloured in flat tones. I have a lot of areas I want to refine, including both the definition and colour palettes, but this was a nice tester to see how things look initially.

Weird dogs update!

 I am illustrating a pair of winter-dressed pooches as part of my Christmas animals range

Imposter Puggy!

Pug card complete! A reindeer couldn't make it so this chubby pug bears the challenge of delivering Christmas to the world.

No Sleeps Left Christmas Card

Here is the completed Christmas Sleigh piece. I have gone with a traditional red and gold palette on the wooden sleigh to further the vintage feel introduced in the 1920s car designs.

Christmas Sleigh card on the way

I have coloured the sleigh in slightly muted colours to reflect a worn old fashioned sleigh. I will separately draw a pile of presents and drop them into the sleigh. Either I will add a snowy background and leave it like this or add the pug to make the piece more humorous, this depends on whether the pug adds to the composition or unbalances it.

Festive Pug

I will be adding reindeer antlers to this little fella, I'm tempted to make him pull a huge sleigh to give the reindeer a rest.

Christmas Updates

A few traditional and animal Christmas cards on the way including a Christmas Yak

Yule Ball Harry Potter-inspired Christmas Card

Here is the completed Harry Potter Christmas Card. I have added the pillars and gargoyles to replicate the Grand Hall to set the scene for the Yule Ball, and gives more of a magical, typically Harry Potter feel to the design.

Santa is Coming Game of Thrones-inspired Christmas Card

'Next Stop, Christmas!' Card

This is my final design for the Next Stop, Christmas! card. I have added a snowy road to the car so it isn't floating in the air. The snow on the christmas tree gives a much more wintery festive feel so this was a nice touch to add.

Here the car still looks plain and the tree just looks like a random tree.

The white background is more contemporary, however as a vintage card I feel the card should be more inviting and old fashioned with a warm Christmassy feel.

It's Settling, Get Doris

I've gone for a more vintage approach on one of the Christmas Card ranges for this year, old 1920s cars with more classic colour palettes.

Merry Christmas Ya Filthy Animal

Brand new Home Alone-inspired Christmas Card for this year!

Update 3

Latest update, next to add some snow

Christmas card update 2

Here is the 2nd update on my illustrated Christmas cards for this year. I've been using a mask to colour individual sections rather than plain layers as masks allow me to completely change the layer colour.

Christmas Cards 2014, first update!

Here is the first illustration, I will be colouring the designs and adding what I believe are greatly humorous one liners. You decide..

Bad News Barrett illustration

I've been dabbling with Live Trace a little more to get a sharper finish to my illustrations, as I was getting annoyed by the jagged lines caused by the paper grain when scanning a pen-drawn piece at high resolution. I'm obsessed with WWE so thought this would be a good way to go and experiment with a completely different feel to my usual pencil-laden work.

Maths-teaching Robots!

This is a series of Robots I designed and illustrated for a company which used exercise to teach mathematics. Each character deals with a discipline within maths, for example the Data Handling Robot, which uses his keen eye to analyse data like a detective.

Cat Spread

Here is a playful spread I produced for an as-yet unwritten cat story aimed at 5-8 years. Again playing with type to show how a story can meander along in a more fun way, whilst drawing more cats!

Children's book spreads for Piano & the Boy

Here are some re-laid picture book spreads from a story I wrote titled Piano & the Boy. I have paid a lot more attention to the typography as this plays a massive factor in the delivery of a story. The images are dense, lush and still so the typography introduces an extra dimension of energy to the spread

Ancient Egypt educational resources for children

This is a set of educational work I was commissioned to design and illustrate for Key Stage 2 pupils. It taught fact form Ancient Egypt in a fun and colourful way, featuring many activities to complete!

Lego Portal App Branding and Concept

This is a proposal for a Lego app for children. It takes the physical lego bricks we know and love and scans them into a virtual world where challenges and tasks are undertaken. Instead of the construction being the main selling point of  Lego set, with my proposal it is only the beginning. 

Yorks Art Exhibition Flyer!

I took a typographical approach to this poster to show the eclectic nature of the works shared across the walls of Yorks. I also toned down the black logo to a softer grey and this ended up deciding my colour scheme or grey and yellow.