Logorama!

Good evening!

I thought it might be nice to give you a little glimpse into another side of my day job! Specialising in illustration means that I am commissioned for an array of interesting jobs, from hand painted portraits to business branding. This is a small selection of logos that will soon be appearing on my website! I'm also working on something special for a client who makes special objects for our feathered friends. Watch this space!

Magspotterphotography.co.uk

Spinning Jenny, an independent Crafter who was making her first lovely items for sale

tntcomputing.co.uk

Monikasays.com

Oh, and I have finally set up a Facebook page! Feel free to drop by and say hello by clicking the link below!

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Pearl-Grey-Illustration/182129658527355?sk=wall

TTFN
xx

Eglentine's Screen Debut

Good evening!

Long time blog readers may remember that back when this little blog started, I was working on a large needle-felted puppet (who later became known as Eglentine). Well I received a lovely surprise today from the very talented Fuad Ali in the form of the little video she featured in! It seems such a long time ago that we filmed it. Fuad provides the wonderful voiceover and I am (believe it or not) hunkered down behind the chair doing the puppeteering and trying to guess the pace at which he would read! Also, if I remember rightly, fighting off a pretty mean hand cramp towards the end. Nice to see you again, Eglentine!

TTFN
xx

Riot Raffle

Good morning!

This August I and thousands of others watched aghast as hoardes of people rampaged through the streets of London, seemingly hellbent on causing mayhem and destruction. It was a heartbreaking and disgraceful display of criminal damage, theft and violence that I sincerely wish never to have to see again.
However, from the destruction came something truly special, which reminded me just how much I love this little country and the people in it (in addition to the images of communities banding together to defend themselves and others from this yobbery, which was beautiful). I first noticed rumblings of a riot cleanup effort on Twitter, but as I was not in the capital I was unable to get involved physically in the immediate aftermath. Then I read a Tweet appeal from Zoe Drew, who asked creative practitioners to donate goods and/or services for a raffle in order to raise funds. It was decided that the money raised by the newly founded Riot Raffle would be donated to the Retail Trust, so that it might help tradespeople and small businesses worst affected by the rioters' trail of destruction.
I donated a couple of prints to the cause, and am pleased as punch to be able to inform that the raffle was a great success! You can read more about this effort at www.riotraffle.org. A blogpost from Becky, one of the winners who received a print from me, is also viewable by clicking here.
Lastly, to anyone who was in any way involved with the resistance effort, or with helping London to her feet afterwards- a huge thankyou and lots of love. If we all work together, we can keep our country wonderful.

TTFN
xx

Deseye and doodling

Good evening!

Some eagle eyed readers may have noticed a new addition to the motion section of misspearlgrey.com! It was my pleasure to work with Mari of MDLLS again, and (for the first time) Georgina Ferguson on an animation for Deseye, a hand painted eyewear company. I created the illustrations for the animation which was very cleverly designed, directed and animated by the other ladies.

I have been working on a real mixed bag of projects in the last few months- everything from business branding and logos to digital portraits! Among my commercial projects, I was recently asked to create a pitch featuring Barbra Streisand as the Queen! Both things I love, so that project has been great fun!

I firmly believe that practise does make perfect, and I love nothing better than catching little sketches on my travels. I hope you like this latest little peek into my sketchbook!





Stay tuned for a special feature on logos!

TTFN
xx

Happy birthday, Alesya!

Good evening!

I have something fun to show you all today in the form of a large painted portrait! It was a commissioned birthday gift that, once painted, winged it's way across the pond all the way to the USA! Although I do a lot of drawing, I also work a lot on the computer, so it was great to do a physical painting at this scale again. I forget how much I love to work in this way- hooray for raw paints and making a mess!

TTFN
xx

The Owl in progress

R.I.P Amy (a Nightingale no longer singing)

Good afternoon!

I was very saddened yesterday to learn of the death of the British singer, Amy Winehouse. Whatever the circumstances of her death, a young woman lost her life and that is a terrible tragedy. I only hope that she is remembered for being a gifted musician and not for her troubled personal life.

I leave you with a little image that I have taken from one of my sketchbooks, completed in 2007.

TTFN
xx

Art and an Article

Good evening!

Some of you may remember that a little while ago I won a blog award. Well, I was recently commissioned by the lovely Editor at Arts Media Contacts to write and illustrate my very own article about the relevance of illustration. How exciting!
I interviewed the incredibly talented Julie West and Amy Ng (among others), and the piece is available to read in the latest edition of the Arts Media Contacts Directory.

TTFN
xx

Design Time!

Good evening!

I have been out in the world of commercial design lately! I find the pace of the publishing world very exciting and it's fun to work with different tools and techniques to create fresh work. Would you like a couple of sneak peeks at what I have been getting up to?





Aside from this, I have recently been working with a very talented couple of animators on a really fun project- I will show you all as soon as I am allowed!
I also met David Dimbleby recently ... but more on that story another day.

TTFN
xx

Evolution of a Superhero

Good evening!

While I busy myself on design and deadlines, I thought I may drop by with a little 'behind the scenes' post for you all! This is a recent commission I completed that had been requested as a birthday gift. Unfortunately, I didn't have the bright idea for this post until I had already mapped out the image and started patching it in, but I hope you enjoy regardless!

TTFN
xx

P.S,
He also ended up with feet and a more defined cape!

Paloma at F-Ashish-ion Week

Good evening!

The Amelia's Magazine fashion week coverage continues! I was recently asked to illustrate the sartorially experimental singer Paloma Faith, who was spotted attending the Ashish catwalk extravaganza.

Miss Faith's exciting mish-mash of colours and textures was a delight to illustrate! You can see the full post (including Ashish catwalk photographs) by clicking here.

TTFN
xx

Kokon To Zai

Good evening!

I have been out in the real world doing all sorts of things that keep me away from blogging- whoops! In amongst moving house (more studio space- hurrah!) I have completed a few little illustrations for Amelia's Magazine and their coverage of this year's London Fashion week.
There were some utterly fabulous collections this year! One of my favourites, however, was KTZ (Kokon To Zai) for their intense pops of colour and interesting shapes. You can see Amelia's write up and more photos of the show by clicking here.
Stay tuned to see a very special post about one of my favourite places- Paris!

TTFN
xx

Principal Colour

Good evening!

A nice little job for Amelia's Magazine to show you today. It was my task to illustrate Amelia's printers, Alan and Martin of Principal Colour, who do wonderful things in the name of carbon neutral production. They were also at the book launch, and although I don't recall seeing them I am now very familiar with their faces after such a detailed illustration!

You can see the post in it's entirety, including another illustration I put together, by clicking here.

TTFN
xx

1, 2, 3... ACOFI!

Good evening!

Are you sitting comfortably?... Then I shall begin the blog post bonanza!

I have been busying myself with all sorts of things both in and out of the studio lately. A couple of weeks ago, I attended the launch party of Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration in Shoreditch, London. It was a very chatty, buzzy atmosphere and I was finally able to meet Amelia herself, the Ballad Of team and a few of the featured illustrators.

Illustrators Jo Cheung and June Chanpoomidole

The Ballad Of team (Lindsey, Erd and half of Claire)

Matt Bramford, Amelia's Magazine fashion editor.

It was a lovely venue too, at 123 Bethnal Green Road, which is a Grade II listed Victorian building that now boasts three floors of retail treats. If you find yourself in east London, you should pop in for a visit- it's well worth the trip!

More exploits soon!

TTFN
xx

Tea and ACOFI

Good evening!

Well, here we are at the dawn of a new decade- 2011 is upon us! So I shall start the year with some exciting bits of news. Today I received a very surprising but lovely notice... I had received the status of 'highly commended art blog 2010' from the esteemed Arts Media Contacts! The full listing can be viewed by clicking here. Do have a jolly good read because it's teeming with inspiration and I am nestled in among some really fantastic blogs! Honouriffic!




Also, I have received my copy of the beautiful and very fragrant Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration (or 'ACOFI' to the avid social networkers among my readership!). I say fragrant because that was my initial thought when I opened the parcel and all the delectable treats sprang forth. There is just something wonderful about the smell of a brand new book! Amelia had the book printed in the UK using environmentally responsible vegetable inks on FSC approved paper; such is her dedication to ethical production. The publication features the work of lots of other very talented illustrators and profiled designers. If you are interested to read what I have to say for myself about illustration, fashion and park benches, therein lies a sizeable (and slightly self indulgent) interview along with some new work.
The book is stocked at Tate Modern, Magma, Design Museum, Serpentine Gallery, Tatty Devine, Cornerhouse, Arnolfini and many other good independent book stores across the UK (and by early 2011 around the world). Alternatively, you might want to snap up a copy from the Amelia's Magazine shop directly.

Until next time!

TTFN
xx