A Global Tennis Match

The picture below is one of a series of three images commissioned to accompany the 2014 Global Carbon Budget Report, which is published today – right now, in fact.

Among other things the report outlines the planet’s carbon emissions over the last year and the implications for both society and the climate.

To find out more about what the images represent, and the issues raised by the report, visit the project here, and follow the latest updates on Twitter @gcarbonproject. The next pictures in the series will be tweeted over the coming days, as well as posted up here. Stay tuned.

Radio On: Issue 1

‘Radio On’ is a comic anthology of short tales on a musical theme. I’ve drawn a rather dark and sinister tale – ‘My Great Uncle’s Piano’ – for it. You can see the second page below. Click on the image to order a copy of the first issue, which is launching on Kickstarter throughout this month…

 

Back to the funEverse

This month I’m excited to have been invited back as a guest illustrator at the funEverse. Throughout July the funEverse poets will be writing original poems in response to pictures from my website and after that schools will have a chance to  get involved and contribute their own responses to the images. Once again I can’t wait to see the different interpretations people come up with. First off is Lesley Moss, who has written a poem inspired by the image below, which is definitely one of the scarier ones I’ve done. See what she came up with here – you’ll be surprised by the ending.

And keep checking back at the funEverse throughout the month to see what the other poets contribute next…

 

The Solar Wind Tunnel

This week’s weather machine, from our board game ‘Stormy Weather’, is The Solar Wind Tunnel: for when your sunny day just isn’t burning hard enough.

Visit our kickstarter page for more.

The Solar Wind Tunnel is definitely one of the more evil and preposterous looking machines in the game, and yet for all that it’s also the only one I based on something that actually existed.

The ‘war tuba’ was built in Japan in the 1930s as a kind of acoustic location device intended to detect aircraft in the days before radar. It’s a reminder that if you’re looking to create something that looks bizarre, ridiculous, dangerous and downright insane you have to look no further than the things people have actually attempted.

ps – The shortlisted entries in our competition to come up with two new mad scientist taunts to include the the game are here! Visit our facebook page to cast your vote.

The Light Sharpener

I’ll be posting a different weather machine from our board game ‘Stormy Weather’ each week for the next few weeks. Here’s one of my favourites – The Light Sharpener.

There are only 24 days left to get hold of a copy of the game before our Kickstarter campaign ends. Click on the image to visit our page and sign up for one, and do share with anyone you know who might be into board games. Or mad science.

We are also running a competition inviting you to share your best mad-scientist-style evil taunts. Evil taunts form an integral part of the game and the winners will be added into the game itself. So put yourself in the shoes of a thwarted mad scientist about to unleash one final, vindictive, table-turning bombshell against your opponent. What would you say?

Click here for more details on how to enter…

How to Control the Weather

Stormy Weather is here!

Our 2-player boardgame is launching on the crowdfunding website Kickstarter.com today.

Involving two retired mad scientists who go head-to-head to win a gardening competition it features over 40 individual weather machines, designed and created by my good self. If you’ve ever wondered what a machine for magnifying mist might look like, or how you might go about dispensing typhoons, your search is over.

As well as the game itself you can sign up to get all kinds of other freebies, including limited edition postcards of the game art and the chance to be transformed into a mad scientist and actually featured as one of the characters in the game (best hurry for that though, places are very limited and going fast).

Head on over to our official page for more details, and do share it with anyone you think might be a closet insane evil genius. We made this for them. Kaboom!

Storm Clouds a-Gathering

I’ve been busy designing Weather Control Machines  for a board game involving two mad scientists going head-to-head to win a gardening competition (behold the terrible majesty of the Rain Magnet below). Stay tuned for more soon, or if your appetite for mad science, weather control and gardening have been whetted, head over to our Facebook page. There you’ll find more machines and neat little video… Start practicing your evil cackling now.

7 Things I’ve Learnt So Far…

I’ve been invited to share some thoughts about the process of looking for an agent, getting published and generally doing illustrationy things on Chuck Sambuchino’s blog Guide To Literary Agents. You can take a look at my words of wisdom here, and maybe win a copy of The Nowhere Box to boot.

Tell-Tale Start Competition Results!

Well, it’s Halloween, and the closing date for my Edgar and Allan Poe Trick or Treat competition.

To recap on the task:

 

In the book the Poe twins, Edgar and Allan, play a spectacular Halloween prank on the local bullies, turning their home into a haunted house and inviting the bullies round for a terrifying party.

Your task is to create and draw your very own Halloween trick or trap – it can be as crazy, complicated or simple as you like, but it has to get me cackling evilly.

 

I’ve had some brilliant entries sent in, outlining some truly fiendish Halloween traps, and there has been much evil cackling. Thank you also to everyone who sent in a letter with their trap, it’s always nice to get a letter. Choosing the winners has been really difficult but after much sifting I am pleased to showcase 6 entries that particularly stood out (and on the basis of the terrifying imaginations at work here I have decided not to set foot outside for any trick or treating of my own tonight). Click on the images to enlarge.

1. Liam

Liam has booby-trapped his entire house with  a range of traps, from the state-of-the art (lasers at the windows) to the tried and tested (a lit fire in the grate to catch anyone coming down the chimney). Nice work Liam!

2. Catherine

Catherine’s trap involves a trapdoor and a sticky gloopy mixture. I liked the recipe she included for how to make the goo, and the extra details like the Pumpkin moon. Nice touch!

3. Natalia

Natalia’s trap came on a huge unfolding poster and I loved that sense of scale, not to mention the escalation of chaos that followed anyone caught up in the mischief: ghosts, shark’s skin and vampire teeth – truly the stuff of nightmares.

4. Max

Max made a strong case in his letter for why he should win, and he also gave my artwork a generous score out of 10 – a sure-fire way to gain favour. The sheer ingenuity and complexity of his trap appealed no end, I could almost see it unfolding before me.

5.  Simon

Simon also had some encouraging words for me and my artistic aspirations… His trap features gloop, ghosts and tripwires – a deadly combination. And I loved that Edgar and Allan themselves are there in the middle, overseeing the fun. Thanks Simon!

6. Monica

The effort that Monica has put into her trap is plain to see, as the letter she wrote highlighted. I thought the 3D collage elements were great and I certainly wouldn’t want to get caught at the wrong end of that giant boot…

Very very well done guys,  signed copies of The Tell-Tale Start are on their way to each of you, along with my hearty congratulations and cautious respect – we clearly have some fiendish geniuses in the making out there.

Happy Halloween!

Tom and Lucy Getting Married

Two of my good friends are getting married in August and they asked me to design a Wedding Invitation for them – something cartoony and colourful. They’re having a literary theme so I put them in a book. Congratulations guys, here’s to Happily Ever After!