Andy Smith Illustrator Blog

New normal

2012-03-11T15:16:00.002-07:00

Cover for CM Magazine. Apparently the 'new normal' is all about realising that things aren't going to get better and be back to how they were so we just have to accept it and get on with it. Some rays of sunshine at the back though so it can't all be bad.

Paris

2012-03-11T15:14:00.001-07:00

Been on a trip to Paris. It was good to get away from varnish fumes for a week.
Didn't go in this car.

Pick me up

2012-03-02T17:10:00.003-08:00

I'll be taking part in Pick Me Up at Somerset House with Soma Gallery, alongside Crispin Finn, Tom Frost, Peskimo and Gemma Correll.
Pick Me Up, the UK’s first annual contemporary graphic art fair returns for its biggest edition yet this spring. The fair showcases the best new work from around the UK and the world with original works and prints available to purchase from just £10. With loads of events and workshops for you to get involved with, expect eleven days of graphic mayhem!
The show runs from from 22March -1 April. All the details here

Primaries

2012-02-27T09:27:00.006-08:00

I have some work in Primaries, a group show at the Yes Gallery in Cincinnati. Curated by Andrew Neyer all the work was to be made in the primary colours of red, yellow and blue.
It features: Will Bryant, Nicolas Burrows, Kevin Byrd, Jay Cover, Liam Devowski, William Edmonds, Matthew Feyld, Maxwell Loren Holyoke-Hirsch, Erin Jang, Tim Lahan, Andy J. Miller, Matt W. Moore, Andrew Neyer, Marcus Oakley, Rand Renfrow, Benedikt Rugar, Nathaniel Russell, Andy Smith, Olimpia Zagnoli

This is a screenprint on to wood.
The show is on now, more on the Yes blog here

Existentialists Guide...

2012-02-17T10:07:00.000-08:00

Cover for The Existentialists Guide to Death, the Universe and Nothingness. Written by Gary Cox. Published by Continuum Books

Words in the country

2012-02-13T03:55:00.000-08:00

A second catalogue made for Faber and Faber books, this time in a countryside setting. Art direction by Brightons Crush.

Krafty

2012-02-13T03:52:00.000-08:00

The Nations Favourite- a concertina folding booklet made for Kraft. Art direction by The Storytellers.

Double Identity Customized

2012-02-01T03:13:00.000-08:00

Double Identity presents- Customized

10 Artists were asked to customise sneakers in their own personal style. Their brilliant original pieces are here for you to vote for your favourite and be entered into the draw to win one of 3 pairs of Double Identity sneakers.
The show runs from 31st Jan- 11th Feb at Kingly Court off Carnaby Street London and you can vote at the show or on Facebook here

I went for the old red foot, yellow foot treatment.

Winner is

2012-01-14T08:39:00.000-08:00

Cover for The Guardians Guide about whats in the envelope on awards night.

Sensible ideas

2012-01-13T13:24:00.000-08:00

A press ad for Renault. Its in Spanish and it refers to mad inventions- 'Sensible ideas for a mad world'. I think.

Cards

2012-01-05T03:40:00.000-08:00

A set of my prints have now been made into a range of cards by the folks at Nineteenseventythree. Theres 20 cards in all and you can buy them from Nineteenseventythree here or in the shops.

Christmas

2011-12-22T09:41:00.000-08:00

Bewares

2011-12-22T09:39:00.000-08:00

Words in the city

2011-12-21T09:23:00.000-08:00

Cover for Faber and Faber's new books catalogue, featuring typefaces let loose in Bloomsbury and getting up to mischief. Art direction from Brighton's Crush

Alpkit mugs

2011-12-07T13:56:00.000-08:00

I have designed these 4 mugs for my pals at outdoor company Alpkit. Each mug shows a creature tangling with explorers. You can get them here. Best not to venture far from the lights of the town I think...

Kemistry Kristmas

2011-12-06T08:59:00.000-08:00

I have some work in the new Christmas show that opens at Kemistry in Shoreditch on friday. Lots of great stuff will be available to buy from people such as Parra, James Joyce, Dan Eatock, Hvass & Hannibal and many others. I'll have some prints, some of my goldfish bowls and a painted sign. Take a look here

Keep smiling

2011-11-20T17:25:00.000-08:00

I have made 2 signs for the Soma Gallery Christmas show. They are painted in enamel on wood, measure 43 x31 cm and are £60. You can buy them here along with lots of other nice stuff on the Soma site. Sorry to keep mentioning Christmas in november. Sold Out

In search of the South Pole

2011-11-19T06:34:00.001-08:00

I have designed the endpapers for 'In search of the South Pole' by Huw Lewis-Jones and Kari Herbert. If you want to find out about Scott, Amundsen and lots of others this is the book to get. You can buy it from Amazon here or from Polarworld here. I've also made a screenprint of the endpapers thats also available from the Polarworld site

Labels

2011-11-16T01:34:00.000-08:00

Its that time of year when snowflakes must be drawn...
These are some Christmas labels for a gift guide in Time Out Chicago.
First Christmas job done!

The Lonely Goldfish

2011-11-14T06:23:00.000-08:00

I have made some more Lonely Goldfish sculptures. They are wooden and handpainted in enamels. Some more details here

Easy

2011-11-11T12:22:00.000-08:00

A new T-shirt from 2k by Gingham. You can get it here

almost done

2011-10-31T03:42:00.000-07:00

Nearly finished painting the goldfish bowls. Just got to add the eyes and mouth. Then print some boxs.
The fumes are killing me!

Madrid

2011-10-21T12:29:00.000-07:00

Been on holiday to Madrid. Now I have a cold, poor me.

Sight and Sound

2011-10-12T07:48:00.000-07:00

The London Film Festival starts today and I've done the cover of this months Sight and Sound magazine which has a profile of it.

Google people

2011-10-11T08:09:00.000-07:00

Man/woman at computer desk is one of my drawn specialities and this time they are in a booklet for Google.

Bowls

2011-10-06T09:36:00.000-07:00

Here are twenty five wooden goldfish bowls that I undercoated today. Hopefully soon they will all look like the one below.

Things

2011-09-27T09:53:00.000-07:00

These will be something soon

One pot wonders

2011-09-21T03:23:00.000-07:00

Page opener for Bon Appetit, a US food and drink magazine

Live happily

2011-09-20T02:37:00.000-07:00

A new poster for Virgin Active. I've done several formats of this one for different sized billboards. Send me a pic if you spot one!

Tiphaine book

2011-09-19T11:26:00.000-07:00

My French agent Tiphaine has just published a book. 'Jaime, J'aime pas' has 2 pages for each of the illustrators she represents on which they comment upon something they love/hate. You even get some free stickers to fill in the small gap left on each picture. Click here to go to her site and have a look at the work of Genevieve Gauckler, Klaus Haapaniemi and Sac Magique as well as us brits including Al Murphy, Spencer Wilson, Andrew Rae and Tado

Football Football

2011-09-16T09:38:00.000-07:00

These are two book jackets that I've worked on for Carlton Books. They are in a similar style to the England Supporters Guide which I did prior to Englands attempt at the world cup earlier in the year. The drawings are all different despite looking similar. It didn't help that all 3 play in red and white. I wasn't tempted to cut and paste, honest.

Grafik

2011-09-16T01:55:00.000-07:00

I have a couple of pages in the new issue of Grafik. They have a hand drawn type special with work from Jody Barton, Dan Cassaro, Mario Hugo, Carolyn Sewell, Seb Lester, Deanne Cheuk, Gemma O'Brien, Friends of Type, Si Scott and myself. Plus lots of other stuff too. Get it!

Built to last

2011-09-15T09:23:00.000-07:00

An illustration for Imbibe about how to make a success of running a restaurant

Les Echos

2011-09-12T03:01:00.000-07:00

Some lettering for French newspaper Les Echos. Its technical stuff about asset management companies (I'm told)

Downhill

2011-09-08T03:52:00.000-07:00

I've made this for a type show at AMVBBDO. Its made to hang on the stairs.
Its made of wood and painted in super shiny enamels.

Typographic Sketch Books

2011-09-07T11:37:00.000-07:00

I have some work in this new book by Steven Heller and Lita Talarico. Published by Thames and Hudson its a big book packed with stuff.

Heres some blurb:

Aimed at all those who use type, whether by hand or on screen, and selected by the world’s most knowledgeable and well-connected graphic design commentator, Steven Heller, this survey gets into the minds of designers who create typefaces, word-images and logos through examination of their private sketchbooks.

Arranged by designer, this collection reveals how the world’s top typographers and designers strive to find new and exciting ways of communicating through letters and words.

Contributors include both the world-renowned – Milton Glaser, Erik Spiekermann, Peter Bilak and Jean Baptiste Levée – and the up and coming, while Steven Heller and Lita Talarico’s text provides invaluable commentary on the designers’ creative process, their design philosophies, inspirations, techniques and influences.

Orange TUC

2011-09-04T12:15:00.000-07:00

Poster for The TUC about their aims, objectives and what they get up to across the world

Paintings from the Cave

2011-08-26T08:55:00.000-07:00

A jacket illustration for a Gary Paulsen book. Published by Random House USA.

Images

2011-08-26T02:12:00.000-07:00

My cover for The Lonely Polygamist has won a silver award in the Association of Illustrators show Images 35. Weirdly the book is now in a smaller format and has another cover also by me. Maybe I'll enter that next time.

Beer

2011-08-23T09:41:00.000-07:00

A cover and interior illustration for Camra's Beer Magazine.

Fancy paints

2011-08-23T09:32:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a painting for a type show at AMVBBDO next month. I've been using these enamel paints from one shot which give a really nice shiny finish. Heres a work in progress picture. Its done now but I won't post it until showtime.

Bat Fact

2011-08-18T11:45:00.000-07:00

Learn something new everyday is a website by design studio Young. Initially a web based project where amazing facts are coupled with doodled illustrations it has gone on to become a book published by Penguin Books. To celebrate the 2nd birthday of the project Young have asked illustrators and designers to contribute a fact of their choice and Andy Rementer, Marion Deuchars, Merijn Hos and lots of others have all taken part. Heres mine. You can see the site here

Film characters

2011-08-17T09:59:00.000-07:00

I did these film character names for a project that didn't take off. Not bad though considering of the three I've only seen Star Wars

Polarworld

2011-08-15T00:14:00.000-07:00

I have done 2 illustrations for Polarworld who specialise in publishing related to maritime, wilderness and yes you guessed it polar environments. These will be used in upcoming books but are also available from there website here as silkscreen prints. One of these is an earlier, simpler version of the Great God print.

Giveaway! Giveaway!

2011-08-08T03:54:00.001-07:00

Some more new T-shirts for 2KbyGingham. I have 5 of these to giveaway this week. To win one just leave some kind of contact in the comments section for this post (email, blog, twittername etc) and then I'll pick some winners out at random on friday.

This is all finished now, if you've won you'll have heard from me!

2011-08-08T00:48:00.000-07:00

Two new t-shirts for 2K by Gingham.

Big Fish

2011-07-22T11:48:00.000-07:00

Poster made for Channel 4 to mark the achievements of their long running Big Fish Fight campaign. Art direction by Its Nice That.

Tippoo Sultan...

2011-07-20T01:28:00.000-07:00

Cover for 'Tippoo Sultans Incredible White Man Eating Tiger Toy Machine' by the poet Daljit Nagra. Its out now and published by Faber and Faber.

Goldfish tee

2011-07-04T01:43:00.000-07:00

You can get this tee shirt from Super Superficial

Creative Tourist

2011-06-29T13:57:00.000-07:00

Cover for The Creative Tourist Guide. A guide to what to do with kids in Manchester this summer. Commissioned by Modern Designers. You can download the guide as a pdf here if you haven't got a proper paper copy.

Elle Korea

2011-06-29T13:52:00.000-07:00

Elle Girl Korea did a piece about my Rainy Season book in their July 'hot and cool summer' issue.
I guess it rains a lot in the summer in Korea.

Soma show

2011-06-28T06:46:00.000-07:00

Heres some photos of my show at Soma Gallery in Bristol. You can now buy all the prints and objects on their site here. The show runs until 20th August.

2011-06-28T06:44:00.000-07:00

2011-06-28T06:41:00.000-07:00

Sunny Side Up show

2011-06-26T05:05:00.001-07:00

All the work from my Soma show is now available to view and buy from their website here. I'll be uploading some pictures soon.

Soma show

2011-06-20T06:21:00.000-07:00

Heres some more previews of some of the work I'll have on show at Soma Gallery this summer. 'The Lonely Goldfish' and 'This way/That way' figures are enamel painted wood and the 'Push to Quit' buttons are screenprinted on to wood panels.

2011-06-20T06:18:00.000-07:00

'They went that way' hanging sign screenprinted on to thick card and another from the print series.

New prints

2011-06-15T06:35:00.000-07:00

These are 3 new silkscreen prints that I'll be showing alongside 13 others at Soma Gallery in Bristol next week. I'll post up some more of the new stuff soon. The private view will be on 24rd June if you want to come and say hello and the show will be up until the 25th August.

TP

2011-06-03T12:28:00.000-07:00

Another photo of the teepee I designed for Alpkit, this time pitched at Keswick. Those people with the car behind it are saying 'oh shit ours is crap, lets find another site'

How heavy?

2011-05-23T23:34:00.000-07:00

I feel heavy is another t-shirt from 2K by Gingham. I have one to give away, all you have to do is guess the weight of this large mens t-shirt. The one closest by the nearest gram gets the shirt. Answer in the comments or tweet me.

The T was won by Matt Baxter. It was 235g

Brady Udall

2011-05-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

Last year I worked on the cover for Brady Udalls The Lonely Polygamist for Vintage. Its now being released in the smaller regular paperback size and I've had the chance to re do the cover again. Here it is along with a matching rework of Udalls The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint. They are again published by Vintage. The art direction was by Kris Potter.

I also do crisps

2011-05-18T01:16:00.000-07:00

I designed the packaging for these crisps by Golden Wonder. Crispman says 'like monster munch but better'. I haven't tried them yet.

Beware Tee

2011-05-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

Heres a new T-shirt that I've done with the people at Gingham 2K. You can buy them from their site here but I have one to give away to the first person who can guess which 60's- 70's rocker this beware man is based on. Post your answers in the comments or send me a tweet. -(This isn't easy to guess!)

Thanks if you entered but Scott Garrett got it in record time. Its Leon Russell.

Sunny

2011-05-14T12:08:00.000-07:00

This summer I am going to be having a show at Soma in Bristol. I've been working on a lot of new prints on paper but also on wood. I'll post some up pics nearer the time but heres some blurb to be going on with.

'His summer show at Soma Gallery in Bristol will include a set of 12 new large artworks, hand screenprinted by Andy and featuring his distinct hand lettering and visuals. They deal with bold statements, strange visitors, warnings from gurus, the thoughts of Captain Scott and other random themes. Accompanying these prints will be an eclectic collection of new 3D arrows and moose heads, totes, stickers and one sad lonely, goldfish.'

BHF

2011-05-11T12:51:00.000-07:00

This is a video made for The British Heart Foundation to help promote the good campaigning work they do. I worked on this with NB Studio and the animation was done by Bali Engel in just one week.

Germany

2011-05-11T04:09:00.001-07:00

Spent the last week in Berlin having a look about.

Pulled

2011-04-30T07:22:00.000-07:00

'Pulled- A Catalogue of screenprints' is Mike Perrys new book. Published by Princetown Architectual Press its in a similar format to his earlier books Handjob and Over and Over. Whats nice about it is that instead of just using digital artwork files to show the work as often happens, hes instead photographed the actual prints so its much more authentic. I have some work in there alongside lots of good stuff from people such as Aesthetic Apparatus, Seripop, Imeus, Jim Datz, Rinzen, Scott Barry, Jim Stoten and Mike himself. Buy it!

Teachers toolkit

2011-04-30T06:55:00.000-07:00

Book cover for Continuum press.

SCT Magazine

2011-04-29T01:06:00.000-07:00

Cover illustration for SCT Magazine in the US.

Wooden things

2011-04-24T14:01:00.000-07:00

I've been making these out in the garden this weekend. The entire house, windows and me are now all covered in a fine wood dust but they are all done and nice and smooth. I am going to paint them for my Soma show. They are based on my Its nice that drawings from the previous post so no surprises about what they are going to be about. They aren't going to be chopping boards.

Pick me up

2011-04-08T16:56:00.000-07:00

Some more photos from Its Nice Thats drawathon at Somerset House. I might do the lonely goldfish as a screenprint sometime.

rsvp hrh

2011-04-05T00:28:00.000-07:00

Thursday night is the private view of the alternative wedding invite RSVP HRH show. It will be at the Rag Factory on Brick Lane. I've posted my picture up as its on the internet already anyway, but they'll be work from 30 other designers including Bille Jean, Richard Hogg, Jesse Auersalo and Si Scott and also a live band and a charity auction of the prints. You can see some more of the work on the Creative Review blog here and all the details of the show are here (If you'd like to come along you need to rsvp them first: rsvphrh(at)gmail.com

Houses

2011-04-03T14:20:00.000-07:00

I have made these illustrations for Construction Manager about the future of self build housing.

Hello There chair

2011-04-03T07:14:00.000-07:00

I bought this 70's chair from a shop in St Leonards and have spent the last few weeks polishing it up with wire wool. Its shining nicely now but I've got very black fingernails.

Run Fatboy Run

2011-03-31T12:07:00.000-07:00

Fat ad man Andy McLane is running a marathon to raise money for Sasha who is ill with celebral palsy. I helped with the website in which a little animated should speed up and run on the day of the marathon, in keeping with Andys speed. Hopefully he will manage a run at some point. See it and sponsor him here

Shaw

2011-03-28T02:36:00.000-07:00

Some more posters for Shaw in Canada.

Pick me up

2011-03-22T12:50:00.000-07:00

Spent the morning at Pick Me Up with Its Nice That doing drawings for sale to the public. Thanks to whoever bought the work I did last week. Mr Bingo had been drawing the day before and I couldn't resist taking him on. You can see more of his very funny work here

Pick me up

2011-03-17T11:17:00.000-07:00

Had a good time at Pick me up at Somerset House last night. I was doing some drawing for Its Nice That. I had a quick look around and theres lots of good stuff to see. I'll be back on tuesday 22nd to do some more and have a bit of a better look at what else is happening.

stickers!

2011-03-14T03:12:00.000-07:00

Go red

2011-03-12T02:29:00.000-08:00

The Partners have now launched www.goinggoinggone-red.org a fundraising project for Richard House a childrens hospice in London. You can compose a picture by selecting a head, body and legs from over 120 drawn by different illustrators and then have it printed out and posted to you. All the funds from this then go to Richard House. Heres my fishtail with a head by Peter Grundy and body by Joe Baglow

Trip

2011-03-12T02:14:00.001-08:00

We've been to paris for a few days for a bit of a look around.

Went to a fancy chanel/colette do, so me was there drawing on bags and things. I don't know why he was wearing that jumper it was bloody boiling in there, so it was a fashion disaster for him in that respect.

Pick me up

2011-03-06T03:23:00.000-08:00

Pick me up runs from the 17-27 March at Somerset House London. Theres lots going on including work from Nobrow, Print Club, Nous Vous and loads of other people that you can see being made and buy to take home and a residency by Anthony Burrills studio. I will be there on the 16th which I think is the opening night and also on the 22nd doing some drawing with Its Nice That along with some other similarly minded people. More details here

Stitch

2011-03-03T10:22:00.000-08:00

You can but this t-shirt at Supersuperficial. This time its not printed by me but by the professionals.

RSVP HRH

2011-02-26T12:54:00.000-08:00

I am going to be doing an invite as part of this show happening around the time of the royal wedding. Lots of good people doing it including Richard Hogg, Billie Jean and Village Green.
Have a look at the info here. Meanwhile I have till monday to think up something to do...

T shirt giveaway

2011-02-24T01:30:00.000-08:00

I have a This way up T-shirt to give away today. All you have to do is suggest what might be in that box. Leave your answer in the comments below with some kind of contact or email me with it. Best one wins.This is over now- If you won one you will have heard from me. Thanks everyone.

This way up

2011-02-22T07:37:00.001-08:00

Another T shirt. This time in L or XL.

Look T

2011-02-21T05:57:00.000-08:00

I've printed up a few of these just to see how they come out. You can get one on my website. They are XL, so for fatties only.

More Pretends

2011-02-20T09:03:00.000-08:00

Not wanting to be too original I have printed up another version of this print, this time in a nice sweetie coloured pink. Its had a coat of varnish and so is prepared for the weather. They can be found on my site if anyone wants to buy one.
Look at it shimmer in the light!

Books

2011-02-20T08:23:00.000-08:00

I swapped some work Jordan Crane and this is what I got. The copy of Clouds Above has a screenprinted jacket and fancy bookplate. Good stuff.

card

2011-02-17T13:23:00.000-08:00

Card made for ANAH- The French National Agency of Housing, who have been going for 40 years.

Gainsbourg

2011-02-16T01:21:00.001-08:00

Poster for a project that kind of happened but didn't really....oh well, c'est la vie as serge would say.

website

2011-02-13T02:33:00.000-08:00

I've done some work that makes up the website of Beaming a company thats based just down the road in St Leonards. Shop local and all that...

Oomph!

2011-01-31T09:02:00.000-08:00

This is a 48 sheet and 6 sheet poster that I worked on for Virgin Active before christmas. It should be up around town right now.

Princeton architectural press

2011-01-24T11:43:00.000-08:00

My Watch this Space print is on the cover of the new spring catalogue for Princeton Architectural Press. Its a photograph thats taken from the book 'Pulled A catalogue of Screenprints' by Mike Perry thats due out in march. In the meantime you can download the catalogue for Princeton here

Atoova

2011-01-21T07:36:00.000-08:00

I've been doing quite a bit of work for Atoova a transport company in France. A new website has been produced as well as a lot of printed promotional material, heres some samples below but most of it can be seen on their site.

Heart the arts

2011-01-07T08:09:00.001-08:00

Poster made with Ben Bateson of Propaganda for ivaluethearts.org.uk
You can download it here

Guardian guide

2011-01-01T08:25:00.000-08:00

A cover for The Guardians weekly guide. This issue looks forward to the year ahead with a feature about Danny Boyles new arm chopper film 127 hours.

2010-12-31T01:42:00.000-08:00

1000 Indie Posters

2010-12-31T01:38:00.000-08:00

I have some work in this new book by John Foster. Its published by Rockport and has got a lot of posters in it.

2010-12-24T09:35:00.001-08:00