Latest Collection of Illustrations
Most of these artworks have been created in Adobe Illustrator. There are retro posters with a 70s vibe and tightly cropped graphic images often inspired by my photographs and collection of everyday items. Please contact Colin to see additional designs and discuss ideas for your unique project.
Old-Style Lightbulbs
Soon to only be seen in museums, these BC (bayonet cap) and ES (Edison screw) bulbs use inefficient filaments and are now being phased out. The red bulb is one that used to live under the fake coals in an old electric fire.
I wanted the illustration to feel like a badly printed magazine advert from the 1960s, so made the colours out of register. The blue background has a slight texture to emulate course newsprint.
Tablet Shapes
For this illustration I used just three simplified drug shapes; lozenge-shaped capsules, circular tablets and paracetamol-style caplets. I experimented with transparency and blending settings to make the other drugs slightly visible through the capsules.
I started with the correct colours of the capsules, but in the end preferred the minimal palette of blues and greens.
Melaware Advertisment
Melaware takes me back to a caravan my aunt and uncle had in the 1970s. The colours they had were simple red with white inside. Years later my collection of Melaware is much more diverse. My favourite is the rich teal colour used here for the background of this imagined advert for Melaware.
I photographed each of the pieces as a starting point to create the shapes. Two large jugs were added on the left. Making one jug paler gave a space to float the logo copied from the bottom of the cups.
Fireworks
Inspired by boxes of sulphur-smelling fireworks from my youth. In my early teens my parents had a village shop. I remember the excitement of having a bonfire, eating spicy parkin cake and setting off the fireworks that hadn’t sold in the shop.
The illustration shows rockets, Catherine wheel, Roman candles and Firecrackers, all on a starry black Guy Fawkes background.
Fairy Lights
When I was a toddler my dad made his own Christmas tree. He was so proud of it he shot lots of slides of it. 55 years later I had all his slides scanned, meaning I had really good reference to draw these lantern-shaped fairy lights from the 1950s.
I have created a second version to use as a Christmas card and on Instagram at Christmas. Here I have made the wires more twisted, then added some 50s typography.
Balloon Dog Illustration
Inspired by Jeff Koon’s balloon dog sculptures. In contrast to his solid shiny shapes, my balloons are more realistic being semi-transparent, where it is possible to see though to the balloons behind, as well as the strings in the background.
I tried other balloon shapes, but felt the more classic-shaped ones like the thin twisted ones worked the best.
Vase Shapes Pattern
This pattern is based on cutout folded paper shapes. The simple design of alternating grey tones has a vibe of the Festival of Britain
72
I’m not even sure if this should be called an illustration. This exceptionally simple graphic was inspired by a fleeting image seen in the background of a documentary about events in America in the 1970s. The original graphic in the film was multicoloured and a bit too loud. I recreated the 72 in reversed out white. Avocado was chosen for the background to represent the ever-popular colour of the era.
Development Potential
Taken from a photograph of a wonderful builder’s yard, before it was demolished to be replaced with a housing estate. To give the impression of a screen print I replaced all the colour shades with flat colour. Then made the image extra punchy by using simple bright red, yellow, green and blue.