Madden Illustration Blog

Photo

Thu, 17 May 2012 14:19:00 +0100

New Prints!

Tue, 01 May 2012 08:49:58 +0100

There are new prints available in my shop…why not treat yourself as you have worked so hard this month!

Follow the link in the sidebar or go here

In a galaxy, far far away...

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:34:00 +0100

This is my submission to “May the 4th be with you”; a Star Wars tribute exhibition in leeds… can’t remember what date it opens!

I’m not sure if this is finished yet or not…will have another look after the weekend.

•more info on the Exhibition here •

Monocle

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:09:49 +0100

Here is a couple of Images that were recently commissioned by the ever-wonderful, Monocle Magazine.

The article was about, how even in an economic crisis people still want something to ‘look after’ and will spend money, regardless of the situation. It was a fun job and I am quite happy with the results!

Theseus & The Minotaur

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 09:06:00 +0000

My previous post was a sneak peek at a personal project I am working on. The project is based around Greek Mythology and the infamous “battles” that occurred in those stories.I have started with story that is arguably one of the most famous of mythology and folklore; Theseus & the Minotaur.

I have always been fascinated with fantastical fairytale elements of Greek Mythology since learning about it in Primary School, and even before I studied illustration I have had this project lurking in the back of my mind!

I am hoping to produce at least 8 images based around iconic battles in Greek Mythology. However, the more I read the more Ideas I have…this may go on forever! :)

click “read more” for some pages from my sketchbook and work in progress etc

Sneaky peek of a new personal project I have undertaken. No...

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:16:19 +0000

Sneaky peek of a new personal project I have undertaken. No prizes for guessing what the project is based upon

Old

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 14:40:00 +0000

I was just looking through some old computer files where I saved all of my Illustration work from Uni, and came across these. I am posting them here as a reminder to myself to loosen up my style again. Over the past couple of years I have become less playful with my work, and it shows!

Seeing these images again made me envious of myself (if that is possible) I know I can create work like this but for some reason I have stopped. My intentions are there, lets just see what comes out of that!

Capitalism 24902 in context

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:08:00 +0000

Here is an image I produced for the Guardian a few months ago, in context. To read the full article just click the image :)

Proposal

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 11:38:00 +0000

5 years ago today I met the woman I am going to spend the rest of my life with! I know this because yesterday I asked her to marry me, and thankfully she said “Yes”!

Salt

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 09:47:00 +0000

A few weeks ago I was sent over the brief from one of the articles I illustrate regularly. At the time I had been playing/experimenting with ink brushes and such and so wanted to try to incorporate those new found techniques into the spot I was working on. I’m not sure how successful the image or the techniques are but there are elements that I enjoy.

Happy Valumtimes!

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:05:00 +0000

This is the card I designed especially for my Girlfriend, Abi!

Toasted

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:29:14 +0000

Look at what I just received in the post! It’s my Toasted greetings card from Urban Graphic. I’m not sure when they hit the shops but it should be soon - They will be on sale at the Tate, V&A, Design Museum, Magma, Paper chase, amongst other independent sellers…Very exciting having my work in any of those places, Never mind all of them. p

Please go out and buy one so they ask me to do some more :)

Southbank Centre

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:07:00 +0000

My very good friend, Natasha, has been kind enough to let me steal a few of her photos that were taken when she visited the Southbank Centre last week.

Imagine Festival 2012: The Southbank Centre

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:19:00 +0000

Back in October last year, I had a call from my agent saying that the design team at The Southbank Centre were interested in using me to illustrate a project they were working on. The project was ‘Imagine Festival 2012’.

‘Imagine’ is a annual children’s literary festival held in february half term, over 2 week there are loads of events and workshops with the aim being to encourage children to want to read more. The illustrators job would be to produce a cover and 13 additional double page spreads for the brochure that advertises the events. The main illustration would also be used for posters and advertisements across london to promote the festival.

I was really excited to land this job, but I was one of three illustrators they were considering for the job. I have been in this situation a few times before; I get my hopes up that I’m going to land a lucrative job and the exposure is going to be great, then my hopes are dashed at the last moment when they go with someone else. It happens, I have learned that it’s part of life as an illustrator.

However, this time it didn’t happen. I got the job, and it was honestly one of the most enjoyable illustration jobs I have worked on. Don’t get me wrong, It was a solid month of hard work but the outcome was rewarding and I learned a lot about the direction I would like my work to go in the future.

As well as this, I learned a great deal about the importance of good time management and when to take a break! Just before I landed this job I hadn’t had much work for a few months, so as it was approaching Christmas I thought it best to take on a day job…full time. Then, when starting the Southbank job, instead of dropping a few hours at my day job, I thought the best thing to do was to enter the winter months juggling 2 full time jobs. It turned to be quite exhausting, both mentally and physically. I was working 5 days a week at my day job, then working solidly through the evenings and weekends; I didn’t get more than 5 hours sleep a night, I wasn’t eating properly and I didn’t have a day off for over a month. Needless to say, I put unnecessary pressure on myself and on my relationship.

Quite naively I neglected to realise how challenging and exhausting illustration can be, especially when you have already worked a physical job for 8 hours that day. Lesson learned.

Enough of the downbeat stuff.

In the time I was working on this job, I came to the realisation that I would really like to do a lot more work like this. illustrating children’s picture books has always been an ambition of mine and although it was hard work, I had so much fun getting into the mindset of a child, (wasn’t that difficult to be honest) and just being playful with character design and colour palettes made it seem less like work.

While I love working an editorial brief and the challenges that come with them, creating this children’s imagery was a welcome break from all of that dry copy. A nice balance of the two would be perfect!

Below is some examples of the initial sketchs and their corresponding final images.

Baby Barnes

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:55:50 +0000

My good friend Martin, and his lady wife Helen, are due to have a beautiful little baby of (as of this moment) unspecified gender! it’s all very exciting, indeed!

A few weeks ago Martin & Helen bought two of my prints to put on the wall of Baby Barnes’ nursery, and as a kind of congratulatory/baby shower gift, I have produced a 3rd to go up next to them. The 2 prints that M&H bought were ‘Tiger In The Rain’ and ‘Jelly & Ice-Cream’. Each is an image of animals that they encountered on their honeymoon in Thailand, so M&H thought it would be a nice idea for the 3rd to follow this theme with the addition of elephants!

So this is it. To make it a bit more interesting for the internet I have also added the preliminary sketch and inking work to show a blow by blow account of the image in all of its elephanty glory! I made this image using different techniques than I normally do but using the exact same methods, I have played with Ink and brushes on my blog before but never for a full piece. I loved it, and shall do so more often

Inked using a Pentel Color Brush and a lightbox

Drawn using a pencil, my hand and my brain mind!

Memory

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:41:49 +0000

Another brain based commission; this one was for an article in The Guardian about the importance of forgetting things. it was quite a fun little job to do, and I am quite pleased with the colour palette, too.

Eating Disorder

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:29:43 +0000

This was a small commission for an article on the science of eating disorders. I found it quite difficult to tackle such a bleak subject matter without being too negative. I didn’t think that the art director would go for this but surprisingly, he did.

Guardian (NPB)

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:55:00 +0000

Before Christmas I was commissioned by the Guardian for one of their business supplements. It was a cover illustration. It was also the tightest deadline i have ever had to work with…which is the reason I am so proud of the outcome. It is by no means my best work, a lot of the finer details I usually like to add to my work were left out but there are elements of the image that I really like.

I received an email from the AD at around midday stating that the deadline was 4 o’clock that same day…I was initially put off by the lack of time, as I didn’t think that in short of 4 hours I could get an Image done and that it would be one that myself and the Guardian would be happy with. However, I also like a good challenge so I said “Let’s bloody do it!”

So I did! it was a very stressful scramble to meet the 4pm deadline, But in the end I made it with about 15 minutes to spare.

• New Personal Best •

Print Shop

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 10:42:09 +0000

You can buy my work from my print shop, you know!

PRINT SHOP

SPIEL

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 13:25:35 +0000

I recently completed some work for lifestyle & football magazine; Spiel. I did the cover image and a full page illustration, as well as a little animation that I may show on here soon.

Cover Image

Full Page

SPIEL