Gehirn Extrem

late last year,Dr Klaus M. Stiefel approached me to see if I was interested in illustrating his book Gehirn Extrem which, to quote the direct words from the publisher, is a book all about: ‘extreme States of the brain neuro-biologically explained. A journey through extraordinary brain States - in scuba diving, oxygen deficiency and in extreme mountaineering.’

I was of course delighted to work with Klaus - a Microbiologist, Neurologist and Biologist. He wanted me to really bring his findings to life which I certainly hope I have. The book was published across Germany in September and Klaus is only too excited to let the book grow it’s fan-base overseas.

AusBiz, Rex, Alliance and True Blue...

Over the last year, I have built a relationship with the publisher to a host of in-flight magazines across Australia, Publishing ByChelle.

It’s been wonderful to work with the team and below are three highlight pieces from the DPS spreads I have created for them as editorial pieces laid out by their clever Creative Director, Jon Miller.

What a great journey of learning about the rise and fall of housing prices during the mining boom, issues with Cyber security to Australia’s most famous sports wars. I look forward to working with them more in the foreseeable future…

Merry Cardmas...

In December 2017 with Christmas on the horizon and the end of work looming, I was asked to create the company Christmas card for 303 MullenLowe. I opted for the most complicated idea which was to create a Santa's workshop out of the 303 classic Cleland Bond building, The Rocks with elves busily working on each of the four floors. 

To make the card an extra bit special, I included objects relating to every single client on the 303 Sydney and 303 Perth roster. We created a die cut out of the building for the card owner to peer inside into the world of the elves working hard all year round.

It was an adorable project to work on hand painted entirely and for this project I had to put my architectural thinking cap on...I have never painted to-scale buildings before...

Another year gone by and another one on the way, what cards will I think up this year...?

Take a look at the video of the finished product being merrily opened and closed on @strongpencil 

Project Monday

A couple of months ago now, Davina - our gorgeous designer extraordinaire - Molly and myself came up with a collaborative exercise we called 'Project Monday'. Weekly, out of a tiny lolly jar one of us would pick out a word from the secret 10 we each put in that were completely randomly written down by way of a word dumb onto a page and torn into little folded pieces. The chosen word would then become the very subject of that week.

The idea of the project is to expand our creative skills in any creative area we so choose. My desire to become an experienced digital Illustrator pushed me to take my understanding to new heights, Davina wanted to become an agile animator and Moll wanted to select from creating within the written word to continuing on her journey as an equally talented designer.

We were later joined by another creative team made up of the talented AD Leila and wordsmith to the stars, Simon and now our head of Print Production, the ever spiritually enlightened, Brett.

Here are my designs so far...and one still in the making that I'm pretty proud of as I continue to delve deeper into the exciting world of Adobe Illustrator...

(A work in progress...)

COLLECTEDworks Volume 2

I was recently invited to submit a portrait of myself plus some back up 'about me' works for the COLLECTEDworks editions. I'm delighted to be in volume 2 and you can buy and have a look at the new book here: https://au.blurb.com/books/7526380-collectedworks-vol-2

There are some seriously talented peeps in there, including a couple of friends.

Book bottoms up!

When Anna Met Molly

During Award School I met my lovely Copywriter partner Molly Catchcart who is not only a talented writer but a very talented Graphic Designer and all-round champ. Molly and I teamed up to become 'When Anna Met Molly' which is, of course a very daggy play on an 80's rom-com classic. 

Our work together is very much a work in progress as we work to re-jig Award School briefs together and create new briefs for interesting campaigns...

Together we poured our creative juices into a silly site that is currently more a reflection of our shared sense of humour, the lightness we want to express through our collaboration and the talent we both share as writer and artist. 

Molly took care of our title page image which is still in it's first draft stages and I mocked up some ridiculous hatchet-job images of Molly and I as Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in their respective roles and I must say the results are mesmerising...

Check us out here.

Award School 2016 Graduation Night

Award School Graduation night came and went on July 19th and although, physically I couldn't attend as I was in Ireland for a craic-filled wedding, the cardboard cutout I had made of myself (with the help of my long suffering mum) was there in full swing having herself a blast.  

I was excited of course to see the ridiculous photos that followed and I was not disappointed...my Award School mates and legendary tutors from both Clemenger and Isobar all took part in the fun. Here I am rubbing shoulders with the best of 'em, having a couple of cuddles and at one stage, sneaking behind the bar to shake a few hands from a distance. I was everyones mate that night.

Thanks to Andy who volunteered to carry me to and from the very public and discerning stations for the festivities and to all of my mates who joined in for a cheeky snap. You are all, bloody legends.

I was also so chuffed to learn that I am a finalist for the Press For Change Campaign from Brief 3! We were given a live brief and we were in the running to have our work published across News Media papers! Very exciting and stoked to be part of such a fantastic campaign. Great night had by cardboard me and all. 

(Photo: courteously nabbed from the Award School Facebook Page) 

Cardboard Anna: Queen of the Photobomb...

(Photo: courteously nabbed from the Award School Facebook Page) 

 (Photo: courteously nabbed from the Award School Facebook Page) 

Joe and Niamh Owls...

For our good friend's wedding in Ireland this Summer, I decided to gift them their very own portrait each, painted as Owls...certainly an odd request for some but for Niamh, the Owl is her favourite fluffy, feathered critter.

I included certain personal traits unique to both of them including Joe's large Gallstones he had removed last Christmas, resting in the scales of Justice to represent his law background and ventures into becoming a Barrister...Niamh not only has a selection of her favourite books, but also her prized pair of Con's hanging from the branch she's perched on. 

Joe is from Navan outside of Dublin in Ireland, an area known for it's historical landmark 'Newgrange' so that is represented in the background...Niamh is from Tipperary in Ireland and the landmark on her sunset skyline is the famous 'Rock of Cashel' famous in that area.

The two come together beautifully in a pair of vintage frames dated from 1939 with authentic bubble glass I picked up from a wonderful old lady in Queensland, Australia and they made the journey over here to Ireland safely...

Very happy with the result especially all worked up in Watercolour...my fave. 

Before framing...cut to size and painted specifically for their vintage frames...

The vintage bubble glass frames in action, dated '1939' on the back and stamped from their maker.

A trip to my favourite Framers 'Forte' for some advice and backing to those vintage frames...

Award School Final Book

Here it is...three months of intense work and making my way through an incredibly engaging course and here is the result - a portfolio of ten briefs.

Yes we're all still learning. Am I not up on the wall? Did I not make the top ten? Not to worry, I absorbed an incredible amount over those short three months and I am a better Artist, Designer and hopeful Art Director because of it.  

Time to let the creative wormy juices flowing...

Banana Boat brief that called for us to 'spend more time in the sun'.

A Radio Campaign of 3 x 30 second spots for Tefal 'Non-stick Pans'...

'FitPet' - basically any excuse to create a Sims-type platform...

Sony Xperia going above and beyond, targeting young tech savvy experts...

Award School Application Portfolio

Earlier this year I made one of the best decisions of my life to apply for Award School, a short three month course run by Sydney's The Communications Council.

Three months of intensive, incredibly engaging training and meeting some fantastic people along the way and I can almost officially give myself the title I've been aching for for so long...an Art Director. 

Such a great team, so involved and so incredibly enriching as a course. I was so chuffed to be accepted and even more excited to begin...

We were asked to write why we were applying for the course sans the words 'dream' or 'passion'...I felt a cheeky Limerick was in order...

The brief asked us to change an ad we thought was particularly godawful...I chose the unfortunate people at Chemistworks to pick on...

I decided to give the Spotify SMP: 'Listen to music anytime, anywhere' a bit of a kick...queue 'Sexual Bear'. 

Listerine wins in this brief, it's also supposedly a healthy substitute for floss...

A Buxom WIP...

Super excited about my latest project - still very much a work in progress and part of a much larger series coming soon.

I'm investigating the world of the 'Motivational Poster' and I will be developing a series of printable posters for you to pin up in your office cubicle to keep you alive throughout the remainder of the work day.

Huzzah!

My Week In Sketches

My Week In Sketches was a project I created designed to motivate me to engage in everyday news and current affairs and become a littler bit more culturally 'on the ball'. I decided to start picking items of everyday events that interested me and characters that I found both ridiculous and fascinating... 

Every week I would update the world with another useless painting which was a quick sketch of items that caught my attention or points about certain aspects of life I wanted to highlight...

This is a collection of just a few but for the full rundown, I post weekly to Tumblr and Instagram to keep you 'in the know'...

Chifley Square Mag 'Ben & Co'

Here's some cute little Moustache sketches I made for last year's Movember campaign in the Chifley Square Magazine Ben & Co. I worked alongside a fabulous Copywriter who made each little blurb come to life for pure, unadulterated perfection. 

Hairy Bunting

Following on from my new found bunting obsession comes 'Hairy Bunting'...a focus on the feminine hair movement and chicks 'hairing it up' across social media. I wanted a celebration of all things bush, armpits and legs like Wattles.

I still can't decide if people would actually like a more ironic spin on the cute bunting of bum fluff and fuzzy chicks on their wall...they might appear on The Strongpencil Store...stay tuned.

Knobhead Bunting

The Knobhead Bunting series was inspired by the world's great Knobheads. 

Ever since I can remember I've had an irrational hatred of Rod Stewart. I was curious to see if anyone else had a hateful, insipid side to their psyche so I put the call out across social media to see who could offer up their most hated public figure...the results were glorious. The three winners received their very own Hipster-chic Knobhead Bunting created by me. 

Julie Andrews, Alex Perry and Rihanna took the winning spots as the fairest Knobheads of them all...my list included Rod, Bono and Dr Harry - a special selection of very particular Knobheads.

Timeout Magazine Portrait

Bars and Pubs Editor for Timeout Magazine, Emily Lloyd-Tait asked me to make her her very own portrait for her social media presence. Her specifications were 'Victorian Bar Wench' so, I pretty much just went with that...

The result is a busty, stern Bar Wench who filled all of the necessary requirements and certainly looks like a woman you wouldn't want to mess with. I used a combo of my usual Watercolour with the added thickness of Gouache.

Jane Farrell Food & Health

Jane who's based in the UK, approached me to draw a collection of her favourite foods as a Coeliac for her food and health blog. She gave me a list of possible foods to include to be scattered throughout the site as a static backdrop - I decided to make everything on the list as a bit of a foodie challenge for myself...

I then built the custom made background and images into her site all by myself! I think the result is stylish, bright and works well for her content.

Jane ran her very own health-food store called Aubergine based in Portland, UK that was an award winning organic supplier and carried on her obsession with all things healthy, delicious and nutritious to her blog to talk about her own experience battling Coeliac Disease. 

Piss In Boots

In 2015 I created the Satanist fat cat I like to call 'Piss In Boots'.

Piss In Boots was an experiment I created after I was invited to take part in an exhibition exploring Satanism, curated by self confessed Satanist, Vice Contributor, Artist, Writer and Director Shane Bugbee, based in the US.

The content made me squirm slightly and it wasn't an image I was used to creating or an area I was comfortable involving myself in, but I wanted exactly that. I wanted to push myself well out of my comfort zone and into: 'anthropomorphic-overweight-cat-with-a-whipped-cream-pentagram-smeared-across-his-chest' territory. 

NSFW Santa

Not Safe For Work Santa was an experiment I decided to play with in December, 2015...a comic a day showing off Santa's more risque side...

On social media I released a drawing a day over the December month, this year he'll become a Christmas card comic. Bring on the cold dangly bits...

Christmas Card 2014

This year I wanted to create a card that contrasted my very British roots and memories of a Dickensian-esque cold Christmas growing up and the hot Christmases of my home in Aus...this is the result and a bit of an experiment for potential future cards to come!

I printed the cards and dished them out to a few special people...pretty chuffed with the result. I gave myself a skimpy little deadline and wedged myself through it in time for the festivities.