Poppy Fields - Murder Mysteries

Illustration!! on my blog! Imagine! I've held off posting any of this project for so long, but there seems to be enough of it out there available to buy now. I started them in Oct 2010, that's how long things can take in the publishing World! There are 10 books in the series by Tanya Landman and I was very happy to be asked to work on the illustrations for the redesign of all the covers. It's been a great job and I'm very lucky to have worked with a brilliant designer, Jack Noel, at Walker Books. He's a illustrator too... and it's really helped us work through these. It was fun depicting the murder scene for each book, but deciding how to show the 'corpse' wasn't always easy for a kids book! I'm very happy with the whole set, although some of my favourites aren't available yet. Here are the first 5... which is actually the first 4 and the 10th. We started at number 10 and then started working back through them. I shall dig out some of the sketches for these and show a bit of the process in a future post. for now just those covers. I don't know what it is with these pre-teen fiction books, but they seem to be my thing these days! It used to be ideas based editorial work, but things have definitely shifted. I actually enjoy the great big drawing work-out that these kind of projects bring! Right, the covers...

The previous covers

A Great Read and Rambling Thoughts

click and read, it's worth it!

I mentioned this book a while back, How To Be Free by Tom Hodgkinson. It's a great book, very thought provoking, but also a really easy and fun read.. ok, it's a BRILLIANT book! It landed in my lap at a good time. I recommend you all read it, if you give a damn about anything and the maddening systems/governments we have to deal with! I'm going to show you a couple of pages, that i re-read the other day, just to show you how much his head is on the right way. Distributism, is new to me, but again makes a lot of sense, read some more about the principles at The Distributist Review. Wow, this is a crap Iluustration/Design blog isn't it! Ha. I guess i never really intended it to be, after all it is GarrettLife! This is just where my life is taking me right now and it seems to be making me a happier more content guy (I'm not sure anyone at home would agree though!). I'm slowly losing a lot of my money anxieties (it's only numbers!) and also my anxieties of authorities/Inland Revenue etc. I care less and try and focus on things a little closer to home, where the real truths lay. Yeah, not the best Illustration blog! Oh, and I'm off the pills now... not sanctioned by my doctor, but cold turkey style (i know, not the best way, but the new 'automated' prescription system failed and helped make a decision for me) I just tried to go with the flow. Guidance from the Universe, trying to listen. Who knows, once it all leaves my system i could completely collapse, but I'm giving it a go. This current heat isn't helping my fatigue though... but I'll take the heat and sun over the completely shit weather we've had most of this year. Ok then, in summary... shit blog, good book... go and read it.

Paddle Time!

Finally got myself out on the sea in a kayak on Tues evening. It was gloriously warm and the sea was incredible still and clear. I only rolled it twice! ha. The second time was intentionally though... and worse for it! It was good to get myself out on the water, but frustrating that i spent most of it drifting in circles, even when paddling madly on one side to correct it... i'm blaming it on the amount of drift out there ; ) Apparently it was quite strong for the relative calmness of the water. Anyway, that initial barrier has been overcome, i had a great time, now to see where it goes (I went to the local club, but i'm not very good at doing the club thing, the feeling obliged to turn up regularly, that's a sure way to stop me doing something!) Onwards!

Recent Job - Dien Spiegel

Here's a nice little spread i did recently for Dien Spiegel, a children's magazine. Simply drawing the signs of the zodiac interacting a bit for an article about Horoscopes. Nice to use the limited colour palette too.

Face Jug Friday

Edwin Meaders

Vimeo Staff Picks

We were very happy to have Wish List be awarded the Staff Picks on Vimeo. It's been going down really well, lots of people watching it and responding positively. It's also been officially selected to screen in competition at Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival in Bristol in September. Scoff & Gritt are very happy. Hopefully we'll get another project under way soon.

Call To Action - Brad Kittel

Have a watch of this little call-to-action by Brad Kittel, i like what he is talking about. I'm one of the generations that needs to learn these skills! Brad is the man behind Tiny Texas Houses (and Pure Salvage Living). Tiny Texas Houses is a real favourite of mine. Look at the beautiful, small homes they make out of salvaged materials. You could feel good about living in one of these and they're very beautiful too. Recently there seems to be a development to their tiny houses, a social experiment, Tiny Texas Territories. There will be an amphitheatre with stage area surrounded by a moat, with bridge access for bands... cool! This seems to be the starting point for a new community of tiny home villages, with a regular market place where barter is encouraged. I like the sound of that, the idea of scaling down living space and costs, but having more communal areas and resources seems like something that can work. You need more space, but just not all the time! Anyway, go and explore and keep up to date with them on facebook, always a great stream of pictures and builds.

What a beauty! and that little balcony detail!

Beautiful hand crafted interior, love the incorporated antler horn

Amphitheatre site in glorious light

the moat taking shape

The man himself- Brad Kittel

A Little Potter's Film From The Past

Here's a nice well grounded little film of Bill van Gilder. Excuse the annoying narrator's voice!

Wish List Animation Now On Vimeo

For anyone who missed this (you missed this!?) you can now see it in all it's glory on Vimeo. Hopefully not the last of my collaborations with Griff. We have a couple of other projects kicking around. It seems very popular, Griff reports great viewing figures. That's what i like to hear.

WISH LIST from Griff on Vimeo.

Far Out Isn't Far Enough

This looks brilliant! I've always loved Tomi Ungerer and his work and i think this shows you clearly why. What a great looking movie.


Far Out Isn't Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story | OFFICIAL TRAILER from Corner of the Cave Media on Vimeo.

Recent Book Project

Here's a project I've been working on recently... well, since I returned from the States in Jan. It's been a great project to work on, the stories by Steve Hockensmith are cool, the practical experiments by Science Bob Pflugfelder are great and the guys at Quirk have been fantastic to work with. This is book 1 of the new series of middle grade adventures, Nick & Tesla's High Voltage Danger Lab, which will be available in November. I'm now working on book 2. My boys will love these books in a few years!

Nick and Tesla are bright 12-year-old siblings with a knack for science, electronics, and getting into trouble. When their parents mysteriously vanish, they're sent to live with their Uncle Newt, a brilliant inventor who engineers top-secret gadgets for a classified government agency. It's not long before Nick and Tesla are embarking on adventures of their own-engineering all kinds of outrageous MacGyverish contraptions to save their skin: 9-volt burglar alarms, electromagnets, mobile tracking devices, and more. Readers are invited to join in the fun as each story contains instructions and blueprints for five different projects. In Nick and Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab, we meet the characters and learn how to make everything from rocket launchers to soda-powered vehicles. Learning about science has never been so dangerous-or so much fun!

This is one of my Illustrations from inside the book.
i also illustrated lots of diagrams of the science experiments