Known for my early pioneering hand-lettering and hand-drawn type, developing styles and approaches now ubiquitous in the creative industries, my work is shot through with a vivid inky thread of conversational energy, detail and movement, whether or not words are part of the image.
My work's been described as ‘unmistakable’ while ‘never staying still’; organic, restless, inspired by the penmanship of a more elegant era, but with a muscular grasp of experimentation and a healthy distrust of the rules. Ink runs through my veins and generally lands on paper, but new materials and methods have been embraced with enthusiasm throughout my two-decade career, from live-filmed murals for TV advertising, outdoor walls and giant breeze block murals to the minutiae of cross-hatching, embroidery, sculpture, built objects, wearable pieces and pixel-only creations.
I was the first person in 25 years to illustrate the cover of American Playboy, and created the 50th Anniversary cover of Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird and its prequel, Go Set A Watchman.
With a client list that reads like an A-Z illustrators’ dream Roladex, I have over 400 book covers to my name and with creative partner Leigh divide my time between illustration, public speaking and a ceaseless series of side-ventures, including a radio station, a record label, exhibitions, broadcast work, globally-sold chocolate eggs and myriad curious enterprises.
Our first short documentary, ‘Stupid Enough’, on the nature of creativity in business, was premiered in Austria in the autumn of 2015 and continues to tour to creative institutions.
Clients include: DeBeers, Playboy, Coca Cola, New York Times, Royal Mail, LA Times, Tiffany Jewellers, Macy’s, Starbucks, Target, Disney, Crayola, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Crabtree & Evelyn, Saatchi & Saatchi, Folio Society, The Natural History Museum and all major US and UK publishing houses.
