Pictish Trail Edinburgh Gig Poster

Pictish Trail is playing at the Caves in Edinburgh in April. I designed the poster.

If you didn't grow up in the UK, you might miss that there's a Beano parody thing going on. The Beano is a children's comic that launched in the 1930s. I subscribed to it when I was younger and the art style of the period (late 80s - early 90s) forever has a place in my heart, despite it being kinda ugly.

I've been looking through a few issues from my childhood recently. Hunting down No. 2540 from 1991 specifically, which featured a modern re-style of Dennis the Menace (which, luckily, was a publicity stunt - I was furious about it at the time). When Johnny asked me to put together a poster, I guess cool-dude Dennis was fresh enough in my mind that I figured I'd try to make a Beano cover of my own.

Time was pretty tight so I had to sacrifice authenticity to get a serviceable poster together. Given another day or two, I would've tried to get all the line weights, colouring, lettering etc. bang-on. Ach well, it's nice and bold at least.

I drew the illustration of Johnny using Procreate on my iPad. I mixed my Beano time periods a little and gave him the paper-white skin of the early-80s. My inner 8-year-old isn't impressed but it makes for a stronger poster.

You can buy tickets for the gig over on the Lost Map web shop and you can find out more information / register your interest over on the Facebook event page.

Kid Canaveral's Christmas Baubles IV

Hello December!

Kid Canaveral's Christmas Baubles returns to Edinburgh for the fourth time, bigger and better than ever. The event at Portobello Town Hall on the 14th has already sold out. With artists like The Pictish Trail, Rozi Plain and Edwyn Collins (bloody hell!) on the bill, it's no wonder. More info over at Lost Map.

I'm chuffed to have been asked to design this year's poster (I also did the first one). It's a simple affair that came together really quickly. Kinda works upside down too.

Putting Edwyn's name on a piece of work felt pretty good.

Kelvin Brawl

A couple of weeks ago, the God of Games himself, Robert 'Rab' Florence (Consolevania / Burnistoun), asked if I could design a poster for his spectacular pro-wrestling event, Kelvin Brawl (followup to last autumn's Oran War). Rab was looking for a layout with an old-school influence. Something tough. Something hard. I got to work.

Kelvin Brawl will take place at Kelvin Hall here in Glasgow on the 21st of June. A night of fighting, music and comedy with six bone-crunching matches between some of the top pro wrestlers in the country. To top things off, the evening will culminate in a bitter tag-team main event where Rab will throw down against his sworn enemy, Greg Hemphill (Still Game / Chewin' The Fat). There's certainly been no love lost between the two former friends with their dirty laundry aired for all to see in a very public feud of violence, rap put-downs and mothers.

Designing the poster was really good fun - a chance to revisit the kinda Art Chantry inspired style of the old Air3 Radio Poster I put together way-back-when. Lots of information and lots of energy in very little space without much concern for getting everything perfect. While it doesn't exactly look like the real deal, I tried my best to chuck ideas at the screen in an appropriately carefree way.

Thanks to Rab for getting me on board. Good luck to everyone involved. It's time to pick a side: #teamflorence / #teamhemphill

Fence's Flamin' Hott Loggz Poster

Again I am delighted to have been allowed to help out the Fence Collective with another poster design. This time it's for a Guy Fawkes shindig up at their Anstruther HQ. Johnny 'Pictish Trail' Lynch asked if I could come up with something suitably silly to illustrate his 'Gunpowder, Treason and… Plop' Bonfire Night theme.

My time was quite tight but, thankfully, the brief kinda suited something being a little rough around the edges. Taking a cue from my What I Wore Today drawings, I cranked out this pair of beardy fellows and a titular hott-logg and things just came together. This is actually my first ever fully hand-drawn poster design, which took me a little by surprise. The colouring was added digitally but apart from that, it's all pens and paper. Getting text to sit well with my drawings is something I've always struggled with.

As with all Fence events, I wholeheartedly recommend you get your arse along to the Hott Loggz party if at all possible. Fence Records consistently put out some of Scotland's finest music and their live gigs are a joy to witness. Recently I've caught a little sneak-listen to some upcoming releases and, honestly, if you follow what they do, you're in for a treat. Here are the details:

Fence's Flamin' Hott Loggz
An all-day (2pm - 1am) event of music & excitement
Saturday, 5th November
Anstruther, Fife, Scotland
Featuring a yet-to-be-announced line-up of Fence Collective members + friends.

Tickets are available here.

I'm gonna try my best to head up for the show. Despite the promise of a bonfire, a Scottish seaside in November will be damn cold, so wrap up warm.

Kid Canaveral's Christmas Baubles

Here's a quick poster I've made for the fantastic Kid Canaveral and their Christmas party / gig / event type thing, Kid Canaveral's Christmas Baubles. Really chuffed to have been asked to do this - I've seen KC (and a bunch of the other bands on the lineup) a good few times over the years at various Fence things and I'm a big fan. I'd thoroughly recommend getting a copy of their recent Shouting at Wildlife record, it's top of the pops.

As far as the poster is concerned, I had a wee false start with this one and completely changed direction at the last minute. The mashed-up Radio Times Christmas listings is my, very British, nod to Art Chantry, who I'm a great fan of. I'm gathering quite a collection of really weird vintage clip-art these days.

Anyway, the gig will kick off at 2pm at The Lot in Edinburgh on Saturday 18th December. If you can make it, you definitely should. Great music, great food, great fun. Great! Thanks to Kate from Kid Canaveral for getting me on board. Here are the full details for easy reading and for the old search engines:

Kid Canaveral's Christmas Baubles
What?: A festive party with live music
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Where?: The Lot, Grassmarket, Edinburgh, EH1 2JU
When?: Saturday, 18th December from 2pm
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Who?: Ballboy, King Creosote (solo), Kid Canaveral, Come On Gang! Cancel the Astronauts, The Last Battle and Gummi Bako + Song, By Toad & Straight to Video DJs
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How?: For tickets, visit kidcanaveral.co.uk or nip in to Avalanche Records in Edinburgh.

If this sounds like it's up your street (or up the street of people you know), give it a mention wherever you can. That would be magic. Christmas is really creeping up, eh? Jesus Christ.

Fence Hallowe'en Party

For the past, jeez, 10 or more years now I've been a big fan of Fence Records, a record label and collective of musicians based in Fife, Scotland who make some very good music and put on some very good events. This month, they're having their annual Hallowe'en party in Glasgow and I was very happy to have been asked to design the poster.

I think it turned out pretty good. The deadline was quite short on this one, so I kinda just went a bit nutty grabbing all sorts of odds & ends and mashing them into shape. Looking back at my sketchbook, the only planning I really got done was writing 'cowboys + sci-fi + vintage horror + Fence' in the corner and a couple of quick scribbled layouts. Sometimes it's better just to have fun and cross your fingers that a few ideas will jump out at you along the way.

Anyway, the party is sure to be a belter. If you can make it along, you should. Can you think of anything better to do on Hallowe'en than a full day of live music, djs, fancy dress (fency dress), drinking, dancing and general goodness? I doubt it. It's like a mini-Hallowe'en festival for Christ's sake. They've even set the great wee theme of 'wild-west 3010: space cowboys & aliens' to get your costume ideas a-flowin'. How nice not to be bombarded with a million folk kitted out as The Joker, a 'sexy' cat or the ever-hilarious Borat*.

The important details are as follows:

Fence Hallowe'en Fancy-Dress Party

On: Sunday, October 31st, 2pm - 2am
At: Stereo / The Old Hairdresser (which is the building across the lane from Stereo)
In: Glasgow
Remember: Fancy dress is mandatory, so no spoilsports
Tickets: are available at fencerecords.com, £25 for the full day.

I'll hopefully do a little reminder post shortly or perhaps write a little more about Fence for anyone who isn't familiar with who they are and what they do.

If you could, please promote/post/tweet this poster and details of the event. That would be great. There is a larger version here if you need it. They'll be up around Glasgow and beyond shortly. Hopefully there might even be a few for sale at the gig. Big thanks to Johnny Pictish for getting me on board.

* not hilarious