New Blog over at my website

Hi there,

Around about last year I updated my website and was toying around with the idea of making a blog which is integral to the then new portfolio site.

After some experimenting I've decided to go with this option and so here is the link to the new blog below:

http://scottbalmer.co.uk/blog

I may look into repurposing this blog into something else but who knows.

Tee Design for Made in the Now

I've designed a Tee for the good folks at Made in the Now which pits designers/illustrators to design a T shirt based around the popular current events that happened in the news that week.

This T shirt is only available for limited time, 7 days to be exact so get in there.

http://www.madeinthenow.com/shirt/380.html

So You Created A Wormhole... Group Show

 

Come one and all to the show 'So You Created A Wormhole' Curated by the nice folks at iam8bit and held in Sunny LA.

Celebrating the launch of the new book 'So You Created a Wormhole: The Time Traveler's Guide to Time Travel' by Mr. Phil Hornshaw & Mr. Nick Hurwitch (published by Berkley/Penguin).

The show opens this Friday (the 13th I might add for those with some superstition oooooo.) 

With the likes of Jack Huson, Scott C, Jesse Balmer, Lisa Hanawalt and myself as well as some few surprises along the way. 

its going to be ace. 

http://iam8bit.com/the-gallery/time-travel/

so if your in LA (or going there) then pop in and see wonders of time and space that awaits you.

Designer Cocktails for Computer Arts

If you have a flick through of the latest Computer Arts magazine, then you may of seen the images I had made for CA.

These were done for the manual section of CA magazine for the Drinks by Design article about if certain designers were cocktails, what would they be.

Brand Spanking New Website

This has been something which was long overdue, but now i present to you the new and improved website full of new work and a slimmer design.

Plus it should be easy as pie to update :)

http://scottbalmer.co.uk

And not only has the website been updated, i have also added an new online store to buy prints and other things of my work. Right now there are only a few things available but this will grow over time.

go here if you want to go directly to the store:

http://scottbalmer.bigcartel.com

illostribute: A tribute to Earl Oliver Hurst

illostribute has just put up its 4th tribute post, this time paying tribute to Earl Oliver Hurst and his stunning body of work.

Above is my tribute piece to Hurst which, while looking for the potential candidate to base the tribute on. This one caught my eye with the subject matter being placed further away rather than the up close and personal subjects that feature in most of hurst's work.

This post has some really great tributes created by the likes of Ben Newman, Curt Melo, Cesar Barcelo, Gabriel Corbera and of course, illostribute's founder Toby Than Neighbors.

Good/Bad weather

I Thought I'd better post something just to say that i'm still alive and that image making is still my game, for now anyway.

As with most of my work, this piece started off as going to be something completely different. Initially this was going to be a multi-coloured lightening bolt being held by a hand with some clouds at the base. but as always I just go nuts with my instincts and create things on the fly (which is something i do a lot, i guess i'm hooked on instant 'on the fly' decision making!) and came up with this above and below, an image that flips with the rain cloud and the sun acting as flowers in these chaps lapels. And thats not all, take a closer look and see the texture within that flash and all the other elements.

I need new postcards and this was the sole reason that this image came to be. Postcards to tell the illustration universe that i still exist so it looks like i'll be ordering them this week. along with other goodies/bribes for those art directors (if you want some of this gear once its in mineral form just email me and i'll send them over.)

Other things that i'm planning to make are desktop icons for both windows and mac and once i've figured it out, a screensaver (yes way make a wallpaper when you can make something that moves and at the same time make it ten times more harder for yourself!).

introducing Mr. Wicker-Man

Its been something I've been thinking about doing for a while but I've decided to retire my previous logo for something else, so as of today I have started using the new design above.

Other things to sort out next is a complete revamp of the website which will happen soon once i've decided what is the best way to present the site to the masses.

Stay tuned for more info on this and other things that are in the pipeline.

Glug London presents - Toys R'US (& Noma Bar)

This Glug event is for tonight so if you want to go down and see some and buy TOY goodies (tee's and glow in the dark prints) head down there.

Noma Bar will be doing a talk about his work as well as Grant Orchard talking on his work and with BAFTA award winning Studio AKA.

Next location is Berlin

I've been meaning to put this up earlier but was side tracked a bit on a few commissions for magazines.

If anyone has been looking up my twitter profile, I hinted at creating some new work for an up and coming event. Well since there's a nice poster to go with said event i might as well give that away, but they'll be no sly peeking at the new work until the exhibition is at full swing where they will be uploaded to the likes of flickr, some other sites and a taster on this blog.

limited edition print now available to buy at the working proof

This screen print is now available to buy at the working proof. It is a three colour screen print on 285 gsm fabriano so its on nice thick quality paper and is limited to an edition of 50.

you might be able to see the trees from the images above which are quite subtile but they are there if you look close enough.

not only that 15% of sales goes to the 'kids in need foundation' so its also helping a good cause as well.

the print costs $45 and only available from the working proof.

Zine A by Tor Press

Zine A is the first in a series of zines by Tor Press, each zine will focus on one individual letter of the alphabet where artists/ illustrators/ designers create imagery around the letter stated for the zine.

Zine A features imagery created by the 23 selected artists/ illustrators/ designers (including myself) around the theme of the letter A.

Contributers include:

Stuart Kolakovic
Jake Blanchard
Bjorn Rune Lie
Ornamental Conifer
Matthew Green
Sophie Kern
Lizzy Stewart
Tom Fewings
Edward Mcgowan
Seiko Kato
Rachel Lattimore
Partly Civil
Wizards Hat
James Lunn
Richard Clarke
Nicholas Saunders
Scott Balmer
Gemma Correll
Eleanor Grosch
Holly Wales
David Callow
Bob London
Marcus Oakley

Zine A is now available to buy from the Tor Press online shop.

For anyone that wants to visit the Tor Press website can find it here.

FFF brand spanking new site

Hi there, FromFiftyFive has just removed the covers from its newly designed website today. For those who don't know FFF is a design / creative / inspiration blog which showcases a mixture of creative content from around the world. FFF is not just another design blog though as it also allows through its interactive elements storage and exchange of ideas while also getting creatives together encouraging collaboration and then some.

Through the TOY label, Me and the other members of TOY were asked to design the image header at the top of the site, the idea was that FFF would invite folk to design the header which would then change now and then. And TOY was selected as the first to design the header. My design is up first and will then be followed by the other members of TOY.

All the headers are linked to the creator's site so in this case this will take you to the portfolio on the TOY website.

Out with the old...

And in with the new website filled with new work and with new visuals around the whole site.

About last week I was thinking about putting up a screen grab of a part of the new design to show that it was near the finishing stage as a sort of preview but thought it would be best to post about the new site when its live.

One thing to note is that i have decided not to have a splash screen this time round, so if anyone linked to the main page to avoid the slash screen will need to change it so that they can see the new site.

And finally, the Story Motel Exhibition Starts Tonight at the Owl & Lion Gallery which will showcase artist's books and zines from around the world.

Story Motel Exhibition

Hi all,

The Story Motel exhibition is a collection of artist's books and zines created by participating Artists/illustrators from around the world. These self published works range from the low level zine to different forms of artist's books. In sort its a celebration of the book form as a means of artistic discovery.

for my contribution to the show, I have produced a screen printed zine going by the name of 'Untamed World'. This book is mono in colour to stay true to form of the zine, each book is also unique to one another because of the screen printed nature due to the way the ink has settled on the paper. Another thing is that there are only 36 of these zines up for grabs.

so where and when is this exhibition? its at the Owl & Lion Gallery in Edinburgh opening on the 14th of May and running until the 12th of June. heres a link to the Owl & Lion site.

And heres the address below:

OWL & LION

15 Grassmarket

Edinburgh

Scotland

UK

EH1 2HS

Above is an albino version of the character on the front cover that have I just made, later on I will be uploading parts of the book in all its glory in the not too distant future.

This is Toy

This is Toy is a collective of illustrators for commissioned projects. working in the range of collaborative projects involving motion, print and screen. 

The website has now gone live and showcases fantastic work from the likes of Jean Jullien, Jon Boam, Chris Martin, Chris Grey, Nicolas Tual and many more including myself. I am honored to be part of an amazing group of talented illustrators.

The Toy site can be found here.

Christmas bobbles for the YCN

Hi all, here are images of the bobbles that I painted on for the YCN Christmas Tree. I was emailed asking if I would be interested in sending them a decoration in exchange for a gift under the tree, the decorations were done just for fun but also could be seen as a bit of promotion at the same time.

First off, I spent a day to decipher what form was the decorations going to be, are they going to be made out of paper, maybe papier mache, what about using something like wood and finally what about using old decorations to make new ones.

After looking around I came across some old bobbles which I decided to go down this path of making the bobbles for the tree, I also thought it would be nice to make more than one to make it a series rather than just sending one to the YCN.

I have to say paining on them is one thing but drawing was a bit awkward in some places as the bobbles weren't perfect spheres but more like that of a disco ball in that both are made up made up of little hexagons. they have come out quite well though and hopefully the YCN are happy with them.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful christmas and a happy new year.

New images for Halloween and more at moo.com

now available from moo.com are my new halloween images, there are six all together which can be used from cards to stickers. Moo.com also has pre-made packs of cards/postcards/stickers and so on which contain a mixture of designs or you can make your own selection. 

these were done as a bit of fun to break up designing the christmas designs which are also available now and can be used for many different products offered from moo. Here are a few christmas designs below:

There are twelve christmas designs in total and can be found here.

Mail Me Art book is now available to pre-order

Early this year, I sent an image designed on an envelope to the folks at mail me art. 

Mail me art was about designing/ decorating/doodling on to any form of packaging material and then posting it to the folks in charge of mail me art, then they would select the subs that would be featured in a compilation book of the same name and shortly after, an exhibition of the artworks. I was really interested in this when i heard about it. initially, it was not what was going on the envelope but what types materials would survive going through the postal service. 

I guess that is why I decided to cut out a design in lino and also mix it up with a graphics pen for my submission. I think that they got well over 600 submissions which had to be dwindled down into a selection for the book, I got word that my sub was going to be featured in the book but hadn't anything since, until now.

The book (pictured above) is available for pre-orders at amazon. (here. this is the uk amazon store, i think it might be on the us one as well) the book will be released in march 2009 and the exhibition will be at the Red Gate Gallery in London from the 3rd of April to the 9th of April where all pieces of artwork are going to be up for sale.

The book includes posted submissions from Jon Burgerman, Catalina Estrada, Dan May, Jeff Miracola, Michael Slack, Kristian Olson, and many more. 

Malta, YCN Live and the Biker Poster

As part of YCN Live, (I think it was around the end of this worldwide event.) I was asked if i wanted to be involved in having my work along with other illustrators/designers displayed around Malta via bus shelters.

when i first got the email there was one image which i had in mind as since it was going to be on a bus shelter, involving at least an element of travel would give over the message. So the biker was chosen for that reason alone with its slogan of 'ride to live & live to ride' being something that travelers would see getting on and off the bus seemed too good an opportunity to miss.

I'd like to thank the folks at the YCN for sending me these photos to mark the occasion, they seem to have come out well and look fantastic in situ. 

Again Thank to all at YCN, this was much appreciated.