In July it will be 5 years since I started working for the FT and for their ‘Diary’ section of the paper. I thought it might be nice to post up a few of my Diary illustrations from the start of the year. You can pretty much chart my career though these illustrations, seeing all the changes I have made over the years to make it what it is today. The short deadlines and current affair subject matter really bring the best out of my abilities, they leave no room for creative block or procrastination!
Singapore Stress
A definite favourite of mine for the year so far; This image was all about Singapore’s law that states every new home built after 1998 must include a bomb shelter within it. Although it’s become a little bit of a side joke for the inhabitants of the peninsular as most of them have become store cupboards. More wealthy people have used theirs as maids rooms. My illustration is depicting what would happen if the bomb shelters were to actually be used in their current state. I think one of the areas that makes this image stand out for me is the colour, the contrasting tones work very well together.
Ocular Startup
The Diary section is never dull or uninteresting as perfectly demonstrated by this image. The original had text on the doors that helped it make more sense in connection with the article, I however prefer it without as I feel it’s unneeded. The article was specifically about the Swiss mind set towards ‘Start Up’s’ and how they generally don’t like to take risks on them. At a technology convention the event goers were gripped with a certain Zombie game on the Virtual Reality head set, Ocular Rift. However when asked 99% of the parents in the room would be unhappy with their children taking a risk on Start up's such as Ocular Rift would have been, instead people prefer to opt for much safer jobs in banking and business. The idea of the illustration was to show these Swiss Executives enjoying the game but not wanting to go through the door that could lead to success …ok so maybe it does need the Text on it! In all I had 4.5 hours to complete the artwork for this image, which is equal to my record.
Frenchie Mating
Nicola Barker is someone I have illustrated for many times, in fact the first ever image I did for the FT was for her article. One of her main topics are her two French Bulldogs, for this piece the eldest one had got itself into a bit of a pickle with its balls and some rush mating carpet. More specifically it was using the mats corse make up to sexual excite itself by spinning around on them repeatedly using its testicles as the focal point. Needless to say The dog quickly got into trouble, Nicola’s job was to try and keep him off away from the mat, it didn’t go well.
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