One of the main reasons I’ve been so fascinated with the Illustrated Police News lately is because of the old-school illustrations in them. I like the idea that entire front covers of newspapers around the turn of the 20th century may have been filled, essentially, with comics telling the latest news and gossip stories. Some of them are fascinating little slices of life: in my research, I’ve seen illustrations of stilt-walkers racing the trams in Dublin, and hot air balloons going rogue, and police tracking convicts who’ve escaped by hiding in coffins. I’d be unlikely to have noticed any of those stories if they hadn’t had curious little illustrations alongside them!

With that in mind, for the front cover of my Study in Scarlet project I decided to fill the page with a sort of comic summary of Part I of story itself. From the initial discovery of a dead body at Lauriston Gardens, to Sherlock Holmes’ clever capture; it’s all based very heavily on illustrations and layouts and typography I found in actual issues of the Illustrated Police News, and also some very early artwork of Sherlock Holmes and Watson. Lots and lots of crosshatching later, and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out!

I've been using the same profile picture - for everything - for years, and it felt like time for a change. Also, I'm starting to worry my friends will forget what I look like by the time I can actually see them again, so... here's my face. Several times, in fact, because I couldn't decide which photo I liked.

One of the first elements I drew for my Study in Scarlet Project was 221B Baker Street. From what I can tell, Baker Street would have been a high-class residential area when the stories were written, and the apartment that Holmes and Watson share would probably have been part of a Georgian Terrace house. Although the street itself did exist when A Study in Scarlet was written, the numbers didn’t go up as high as 221 until the street was extended in the 1930s. The residents of the new building almost immediately began recieving both fan mail and genuine letters of inquiry from people hoping to avail of the consulting detective’s services, at a volume that apparently warrented hiring a full time staff member to deal with. XD

In 1990, the Sherlock Holmes Museum opened its doors at numbers 237 - 241 Baker Street, yet claimed the address of 221B. When the leader of the Westminster City Council officially bestowed the famous address upon the museum, a dispute quickly broke out between the museum and the residents of the actual No. 221. It seems the feud wasn’t settled until 2005, when the residents of the real No. 221 left their premises, and the museum was given sole rights to the famous address. To this day, Baker Steet is the only street in London that has a house number out-of-sequence with the rest of the street.; a fun little literary quirk popping up in urban architecture. :)

All this is to say: I based my illustration largely, but not entirely, on 221B as it stands today. It didn’t exist when the story was written, so I felt free to use artist license. Nevertheless, I had fun learning about the history of the address. :)

I've been listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks lately, and I'd forgotten how much of a drama queen Malfoy is. I recently finished book 3, in which he reacted to what turned out to be quite a minor injury by yelling ‘I’m dying! I’m dying, look at me! It’s killed me!’ He's an interesting character. Very much a product of his environment... As for Harry; I can't help but admire how Harry handles everything life throws at him. Doesn't give in and doesn't give up, even when there are dragons involved...

Click through for extras! Custom Gryffindor red damask wallpaper with lions and lilies for Harry, Slytherin green with snakes and narcissus for Draco, the original sketches for both, and a silly doodle of shennigans from PoA.

A while back, I started listening to Sherlock Holmes stories while I worked. One idea led to another, and soon enough, I found myself researching early 1900s typography, advertising and newspapers, so that I could redesign the first Sherlock Holmes story, "A Study in Scarlet," as an issue of The Illustrated Police News, full of illustrations and advertisements that support the story. For many reasons, this is perhaps the most self-indulgent personal project I've taken on lately, and one of my favourite portfolio pieces to date. ️️

I plan to talk about some of the individual elements later on - this project gave me an excuse to draw steam ships and violins and portraits and hats! - but for now I just want to share the project as a whole. A fun little adventure through history and storytelling via graphic design. ️

I'm a little late with this, but thought I'd add to the #DrawTheOceans tag created by @greenpeaceuk with a little origami drawing. Last month the theme was Dolphins, highlighting the work they're doing to help protect ocean life in India.

"An rud is annamh is iontach / What's rare is wonderful."

I’ve picked up plenty of odd hobbies and fascinations during lockdown, and penmanship is one of them. I was at a virtual class late last year and the designer mentioned Shakespeare’s handwriting, which sparked my curiosity. I ended up falling down a rabbit hole exploring the handwriting and signatures of historical figures, taking an interest in all the little quirks that can reveal a lot about someone’s character. Long story short: here’s a handful of quotes I liked, in handwriting I found interesting. (This isn’t a serious project btw; just a fun little dalliance through history via handwriting. So these are more approximations than exact replicas of each handwriting style.)

I read Terry Pratchett's Going Postal recently, and not surprisingly, it got me thinking about post. I like his idea of letters being like "little packets of history" and the fact that you can seal a letter with a "loving kiss" or whathaveyou. I've been lucky enough to read old postcards my relatives wrote decades ago - about their travels and their work and their romances! - and it makes me think that perhaps we lost something when we moved to emails and DMs.

I’ve been thinking about music, Lou Ottens, and analog tech lately. Click through for playlists and stuff!

“Be the rabbit. The humble bunny can outwit all of his enemies. He’s brave, and sneaky, and strong. Be the rabbit.”

I’ve been interested in Ui and Ux design for a while now. I took a couple online courses a few years back, and every now and then I play around with the various app ideas knocking around my head. Yoga Flow is one of them.

When I started practicing Yoga a few years back, I wanted an app like this and couldn’t find one. I just wanted a library of yoga positions, so I could select the ones I wanted and semi-automatically create a routine that would flow together reasonably well. I have a bunch of features in mind that I’d love in an app like this, and I had a lot of fun designing it. It was mostly an excuse to explore Ui and Ux design, though I genuinely would like this app to exist. Is there one out there that comes close? (Or is there a coder out there who would like to make one with me? XD )

I've had some empty wall space in my room for a while now, and wanted to fill it with something that represented my love of graphic design, illustration and film. So I decided to recreate one of my favourite hero props, from one of my favourite films. Lots of fun to make, I love all the little details, and I'm happy to have improved on the blank wall situation (even if the frame I bought is slightly too small)!

Part of my ballpoint origami series! As per usual, click through for extras if you’re curious!

For the past while, I've been part of the team @rogue_comics_ir , working with Colm Griffin ( @artofcolmgriffin ) on the Ocean City series, and upcoming book, Jumpsuit Johnson. Gill ( @gillzebub ) has been a wonderful editor along the way too! I love working with text and images, so comic lettering is always a pleasure. These are some of my favourite panels; bringing SFX to life on the page and making it feel part of the scene is so satisfying! 😊 All artwork is Colm's.

This is part of a series of storefronts I'm working on at the moment, inspired by my friends and family. In this case; this little sweetshop is for my brother, who has a very sweet tooth and always seems to have a selection of sweets to share! I taught a workshop based on this illustration, so if you’re curious about my process, take a look below!

These days, I just want to focus on the little things that make me happy. Like ballpoint pens and sketchbooks and origami animals. 🧡

I had a lot of fun designing and illustrating these! I've loved the Wooden Overcoats podcast for years, and recently started listening from the beginning again. I really wanted to bring a little piece of Piffling Vale to life, so just for fun, I made myself a little bottle of Antigone Funn's Embalming Fluid - with a fresh Clementine and Cinnamon scent of course! - and a few little Funn Funerals business cards.