Hello Mauritius!

When I was a kid I used to collect stamps. (Such a nerd right?) I loved that you could learn so much about a place through stamps - I would often go and research the different and exotic places that I saw. I still have a stamp book full of the stamps I collected! Recently it's also been so lovely being part of the Postcrossing community and receiving and exchanging postcards from all over the world! Always so interesting to see different countries' stamps!

So this is my first stab at a postage stamp. 

For me nothing quite says "Mauritius" like the Dodo bird especially as it was the only known habitat of the bird! The Dodo was first spotted by Dutch settlers when they arrived in Mauritius in 1598 and it was hunted to extinction in 1662.

A few process sketches.

Playing around with colour.

 The final piece. 

I'm thinking of trying an even more limited colour palette too, possibly even it being completely linework. What do you think?

You can take a look at some interesting stamps here and here!

The Nobles - Pitfalls of Earth Life

> Click to view large.

Earlier this year I was contacted by The Nobles, an indie rock and jazz band based in San Diego, California to illustrate their album artwork for the launch of their fourth album, entitled "Pitfalls of Earth Life". Their music is light-hearted and quirky, yet underpinning each song is a form of fable, each alluding to a different trapping of life. To capture this, I illustrated what at first looks like quite an interesting island, but on closer inspection, is one filled with much disaster - representing some of the trappings of life.

Their lead singer, Allen Sulzen had recently just returned from a sabbatical in Mexico before returning to start on the new album, and so the artwork has some Mexican influence.

A huge shout out to The Nobles for contacting me to work on such an amazingly awesome brief and for being absolutely winner clients! It was truly such a fantastic experience working with you!

Here are some more details of the artwork.

Take a listen to The Nobles' fine music here and head over here to get your hands on their latest album!

You can also connect with them on Facebook and Twitter!