Zen trees

More delays on the site... grr...

When I'm frustrated I like to draw trees, it hard to do wrong by a tree and the lines are so peacful.

I especially like to experiment and try new things, I forget where the idea came from but it's a fairly simple technique of superimposing photos and watercolours.

illustration friday - atmosphere

This is a recent comission of Table Mountain, I also thought it fit the 'atmosphere' topic on illustration friday this week.
It's a mix of watercolours, inks and digital collage...

Savannah 2116 AD

And speaking of covers....

Here's another one I did for Tafelberg a few years back, I used the same model from the Moon Bride kid's story I posted not long ago, remember her?

This is actually my first credited book cover and I kinda threw everything at it (at the time) but looking back, it still holds up well.

I also created the typography of the 'Savannah', there's a special place in my heart for typographical design...

Avos and the Waratah!

Part of the reason I've been so scarce (since the beginning of the year about) has been because of this book: "The Mystery of the SS Waratah and the avocado tree"

It's been recently released so I can now talk about it ;)

Written by M J Honikman and published by Tafelberg, I'm not gonna get into too many details but the story's based around the disappearance of a steamship around the coast of South Africa 101 years ago... and an avocado tree!

It can safely be said... I can now draw avos... day or night...

I reverted to a simple line style keeping the characters mostly flat against more detail intensive backgrounds and environments. Unexpectedly, I was also asked to set the book, this turned out to be great from a flexibility point of view and it's always nice to see something from start to finish design-wise.

There are also 'flashbacks' which are done in the ink-wash technique I so enjoy, I'm glad I got to use it :)

If you want to find out more about the Waratah, here's the ISBN: 978-0-624-04817-6

the moon bride

Shoo hey, crazy days.
I've been hard at work putting my site together and it's aaalmost done... how exciting! I'll keep you all updated.
Anyway, without further excuses, here're some goodies from way back....

These illustrations for Nasou Via Afrika are one of the first jobs I undertook as freelance illustrator. I wanted to play with photo-montage techniques and managed to convince a friend to pose as the Moon, the rest is layered and layered on top.
This is probably the first time I used photos in my work, I've become a lot more subtle these days :)

(I can't help shake the feeling that I've just missed the opportunity to post a scary drawing)

Tyger tiger

Went through a phase of Op Art, that is: the art of optical illusion. It spun out of surrealism but the idea's been around for ages.

This pic was inspired by Magritte… remember the pipe?

Equal Treatment

Here are some sketches of a few cartoons I did for Equal Treatment, a magazine about HIV issues.

As you may or may not know, HIV/Aids is a huge problem in South Africa, I was only too happy to have the opportunity to contribute to Aids awareness.

Design 4 Development, the studio that handles the magazine, has blogged the final cartoons so check 'em out!