In this time I have been involved in a varied amount of  branding, communication and POS projects for some prestigious and diverse brands.

Just click on any of my work samples to open up the lightbox where you can look through my portfolio.

Since January, I have worked across London for some fantastic design agencies, working on a variation of dynamic and exciting projects.

As well as this I have been working my way through a series of commissions. They include one which involved me drawing a series of black and white characters from different social backgrounds and another which was based on a character design for a South African company.

Over the winter period I was also fortunate to win an Illustration competition for the royalty-free stock site iStock. Each month they set a competition based on a different theme. I used to enter this competition quite a lot when I first started using the site, but as things have got busier for me I  had to stop participating. Over the Christmas period I had some spare time and thought I would give it a go. The theme for that month was noise and you can see my entry in an earlier post by clicking here.

Below I have included some samples of the projects I have been working on.

Finally, these selection of portraits are just a few of some that I have produced for a London-based client I have. They wanted to move away from using photos on their website and so contacted me to illustrate them.

The illustration is based on the concept of  a young girl playing with her imaginary friend.

Below is the complete process, from the original sketch to the final illustration.

At the moment, only the untextured vector file will be available to purchase, but the final variation will be released soon.

Growing up as an 80s child meant I was able to see first hand the huge impact these little reptiles had on the world. To say I was obsessed with them would have been an understatement.

I collected everything that had even the slightest glimpse of their little green faces on; from the figures and comics, to the more random items such as toothpaste tubes and shoelaces (all of which I still have – gross huh?).

I was forever drawing them and it even got to the point where we were banned from doing so at our school, the world literally went Ninja Turtle mad.  Since then though, I haven’t ever really taken the time to draw them again. I’ve done the odd doodle, but nothing I’ve ever put my heart and soul into… Until now!

Below is a drawing of Raphael that I have been working on. He is based on the original comic book character design, rather then the more jolly cartoon style. In time I would like to produce all four characters, but for now I will leave you with this one. Thanks for dropping by!

You can also find and rate him on my dribbble page.

What better way to start it off then with an illustration of a Yeti. This file will be available to purchase from my iStock portfolio.

I have included the complete process, as well as some larger screenshots of the illustration so that you can see the detail a little clearer.

They aren’t anything amazing, it is just some character design work I was doing in between that lull of Christmas and the New Year.

You will notice that I have created two different executions for the same concept, with the idea of the man taking his head off. It is a bit of a warped idea that I have had knocking around in my head for quite some time. Though when it came to drawing it, I wasn’t sure which style I wanted to do it in and so produced it in both.

As always, these illustrations will be available to purchase from iStock.

With that, I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for reading my mindless rambles and to wish you a Happy New Year and a successful 2012.

For those who don’t know, Dribbble is a show and tell site for designers where you can upload snapshots of your work for the world to see. You can register to view the other designers work whenever you wish, but it isn’t until you receive an invite from another ‘player’ that can you start uploading your own work.

I first found out about Dribbble about a year ago, when a friend mentioned the site as something I could be interested in. I looked into it and was instantly in awe of all the amazing talent on there and I knew it was something I wanted to get involved with.

It took me quite a few months to get my invite, but even without it I found the site simply amazing and such an inspiring resource.

You can see my Dribbble home page here.

For me this rounds off a brilliant year. I haven’t been able to do as much drawing as I would have liked, but this is due to me being kept busy with my freelance design, which is obviously a great situation to be in.

I have been fortunate to have worked with some outstanding agencies on some very prestigious brands this year, including the biggest home entertainment launch of all time in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

I have also been fortunate enough to spend a few weeks in the US (another dream that came true for me), where I met and saw some incredible things and made some fantastic new friends.

I am hoping that 2012 continues in this vein and I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Thank you so much for taking the time to look at my work, it really means a lot to me.

As a final present to you all, below are a couple of illustrations I have finished his week.

You can see the remaining seven by following me on Twitter or by checking my other blog on a daily basis. Alternatively, I will be uploading the final few to this site on Christmas Eve.

The illustration itself is based on every commuters nightmare… Having to stand near the guy who has his music blaring out so loud that your brain begins to throb.

The illustration is available to purchase as a royalty-free image from iStock by clicking here.

The first thing I normally do when drawing, is to roughly visualise what I want the illustration/composition to be.

From that I start thinking about the characters I want involved within the illustration.

Once I am happy with the characters and composition, I then create the final sketch which I scan and trace over in Illustrator.

I always try to add as much detail as possible, especially to the clothes, as I feel it gives more personality to the characters.

I know that isn’t the most exciting process of working, but I wanted to share it so that you can see the journey my illustrations go on, from the beginning of their life as a simple doodle, to the completed image.

For me, it is the best time of the year bar none. I simply love the joy it generates and the way it can bring people together.

Last year I decided that I wanted to inject some Christmas spirit into the lives of the people who follow me on Twitter and so I created an Advent Doodle Calendar.

What is that I hear you cry?

Well, in a nutshell, I simply uploaded a new Christmas-based doodle everyday to my Twitter account from 1st December, up until Christmas Eve for people to see.

It isn’t much, but it is a small way of saying thank you to the amazing people (and spambots) who follow me, as well as spreading that little bit of Christmas cheer.

You can either follow me on Twitter to see the posts, or you can see them daily by clicking here.

Alternatively, I will post a weekly collection on this blog.