Guardian Work cover : The Happiness Business

Been meaning to post this job for ages, especially as I was asked to do this by my Facebook page fans/likers/you know who you are!
Sarah Habershon asked me to illustrate the theme of happiness at work, called The Happiness Business written by Cary L Cooper and Stephen Wood. Basically the article discussed that a lack of workplace wellbeing costs the country £26bn a year and questioned the government’s new measure to make our offices nicer environments.
I must admit, I was inspired by all these groovy (yes, I said groovy) open plan offices, such as at Mother, London and well, all the places I see in my stockpiled copies of ELLE Decoration and Living etc. Everybody is happy, hip and they rollerskate to work, you know the type. Please don't dry boke :-)

Stylewise, this is developing a slighty new approach: drawing with special pens (not pen and ink) but also having some quite geometric, sharp-edged shapes in there - the desk, the laptops, paper etc to act as a contrast.

I am quite obsessed with drawing with calligraphy pens and have developed a serious habit buying them up. They give a great line and I don't have to wait for it to dry before scanning! Textured, sharp areas of shape and colour come from I do not know where, but I am doing a lot more digital collage - basically drawing shapes with the lasso tool in Photoshop but using all sorts of textures I have scanned in.
I'll be honest, It's rather refreshing to be developing my style and trying new things, but at the same time not scaring off clients who love my loose line and inkiness. I do love ink and it will continue to make a special appearance in both illustration and lettering but in the meantime I am having fun experimenting.

On a completely different note, I am also quite obsessed with this food blog I discovered called Recipe Rifle written and cooked by Esther Walker. It is full of lovely stuff, honest opinions and swear words and I would recommend checking it out.

Illustrating Julian Barnes

Lovely commission from Roger Browning at The Guardian to illustrate Julian Barnes' new short story, "Sleeping with John Updike".
Had to work super-quick on this one, as I was away teaching in Sunderland Uni on Monday when the call came through, and the first illo (for the inside spread) had to be in for Wednesday lunchtime. I had until Thursday to do the Cover art. ** adrenalin rush**

I love having meaty characters, with lots of undercurrent in the dialogue to work with - a dream!Thank you Julian Barnes.

Incidentally, I got a lovely email today from a well know wine writer, (who happens to be friends with Julian Barnes too) who loved the illos and said she would consider me for illustrating any of her future wine books! Considering most of my illustrations have someone with either a glass or a bottle in their hand, I'd say I would be suited to that particular project!

Off to Edinburgh for a spot of teaching all week, so getting ready for that tonight. I have a few potential jobs on the horizon, as well as tweaks to make on artwork for another advertising job I worked on last week too, so I need to be armed with laptop and all the various files and pen and inks. the words Pack and Horse come to mind when I see all the stuff I end up taking with me to Edinburgh!

"The Trauma of Redundancy" for The Guardian

Tsk, tsk Ms. Calder. What kind of blogging do you call this, when your last post was weeks ago? Must do better.
Sorry about the irregular blog posting, folks but I have been going through the "Trauma of Dodgy, Bodging Builders", so its been a tad stressful here in Studio Calder. However, our new builders are VERY good and we hope to be back in the house VERY SOON, so I can resume normal service again (and get my lovely studio back!)

In the meantime, I have been working away all summer on some lovely jobs, the most recent being for The Guardian. It was all about the stress of redundancy and how people felt a loss of identity and were isolated by the experience.
Writer Ian Wylie looked into the aftermath of losing your job, recognising that while it can be a psychological blow, there is much you can do to get back on your feet
Wylie described "keeping the wolf from the door" too - so I couldn't resist a big 'ol wolf.

This is a more surreal image for me,as compared to my usual narrative style but I like it - as did Sarah Habershon, the art director. I've included an image of the front page complete with illo too, so you can see it in context.

Finally, I hope you take the opportunity to have a look at my BRAND NEW WEBSITE designed by Evie at Eskymo. Lush.