The Sea and the Silence

I was commissioned by Orchard Wall Publishing to create the ebook cover and some digital banner ads for The Sea and the Silence, a novel set across the decades following Ireland’s newly won independence.

The lighthouse is metaphorically a symbol of safely and beacon of hope amidst a turbulent sea. In this image, the lighthouse has been inverted (reflected in the sea) suggesting the turmoil (both political and personal) taking place throughout the book. Presenting the symbol as a mirror image is also suggestive of how certain themes in the book mirror each other through history and evokes the circularity of the story.

Available now on Amazon!

Open City Docs Fest in situ

Showcase Cities Exhibition

BE - One Word Brief

This is a piece of self-initiated work in response to the Onewordbrief. The word in this case is BE which I have interpreted as BEhind. The image is about departure, leaving the past behind and embarking on a journey. As the narrative moves across the triptych the landscape changes, we see urban bustle dissolve until the individual remains standing alone on the edge of the city.

Open City Docs Fest 2013 Catalogue

Open City Docs Fest digital banners

City Stories

Hybrid Forms

Science Frictions

World Visions

Moving Lives

Theatre of the Oppressor

Power Struggles

Music Docs

Shorts

Workshops & Masterclasses

Continuing on with the ripped billboard theme, I designed a series of digital banners illustrating the various strands in the festival's programme.

OCDF 2013 trailer by Simon Ball

OC2013 Trailer H264 1920X1080 1 from MyStreet Films on Vimeo.

Open City Docs Fest 2013 brought to life by the very talented Simon Ball.

Open City Docs Fest 2013

For the third year running I've worked on the visual identity for Open City Docs Fest. This year, peeling billboards were the inspiration for all of the artwork. I felt this was an appropriate visual metaphor for a number of different reasons. Firstly it suggests the act of bringing ideas into the public domain - something which documentaries often do. The billboard is a democratic form as it's accessible and visible to all. Using the image in this way suggests the idea of reclaiming public space - the space filled usually with advertisements instead can be the catalyst for more interesting conversations. Finally the peeling nature conjures ideas about revealing what is hidden - peeling away the layers. 

The festival will take place across a number of central London locations from 20 - 23 June. Lots more updates on this project to come over the next few weeks!

AOI Illustration Awards 2013 shortlist

I'm very happy to say I've been shortlisted for the AOI Illustration Awards 2013 in two categories:

Title: Interpreting, Category: Design, Client: Women's Health and Family Services

Title: Motherhoodwinked, Category: Books, Client: Orchard Wall Publishing

Black Web

Black web is another chapter (in two parts) in the Joe Grace thriller series. The story in set in the world of financial trading - specifically oil trading. The cover illustrations of the bull and the bear are rendered to resemble an oil spillage and work as a visual metaphor to represent the movement of the market.

Yellow Flash artwork

The Joe Grace Thriller Series continues with the latest installment "Yellow Flash".

The first three books are now available as a trilogy.

Motherhoodwinked

I was commissioned by Orchard Wall Publishing to create the cover illustration for the Ebook "Motherhoodwinked". The book is a deeply personal and honest memoir of a modern woman's experience of infertility and IVF treatment. It's available on amazon.

The Joe Grace Series trailer

I made this animated trailer for the "Joe Grace" series by Peter Wilben (Orchard Wall Publishing). Music: Quinn McCarthy & Tom Fahy.

The first ebook in the series "Red Contract" is now available on amazon.

Brave New World - House of Illustration/Folio Society Competition

Chapter IV, 2 (p55):
The hangars were staffed by a single Bokanovsky Group, and the men were twins, identically small, black and hideous. 

Chapter VII (p93):
'I wish we could have brought the plane,' said Lenina, looking up resentfully at the blank impending rock-face. 'I hate walking...'

Chapter XV (p187):
And pushing open a window... he began to throw the little pill-boxes of soma tablets in handfuls out into the area.

I've entered the House of Illustration/Folio Society illustration competition. The book for this year's competition was "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley.

Book covers for "Joe Grace" thriller series

I was approached by Orchard Wall Publishing, an independent digital publishing company, to create some book covers for a series of crime thrillers by Irish author Peter Wilben. 

"Red Contract" is the first in the Joe Grace series and will be available from the amazon kindle store within the next couple of weeks.