The Things I Do...

E-READING BETWEEN THE LINES

2012-02-08T05:08:00.000-08:00

This was a commission from Toronto Life Magazine. The article expressed a view that the technology in E-Readers is detracting from their initial purpose, and overcomplicating the reading experience

PUSH ME

2012-02-08T04:52:00.000-08:00

Wanted to rejig the shirt design I made for Pusher, focusing on my favourite bits and 'trimming the fat'. Here it is.

RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME

2012-01-20T07:06:00.000-08:00

A piece for Orange again ... this post is for a competition to see who can be the quickest to find the location where certain BAFTA nominated films were shot, and place a pin in the correct place on the map.

TWO OF A KIND

2012-01-20T07:02:00.000-08:00

A couple more maps created for CSMA Club Magazine

EVERY DOG HAS HIS DAY

2012-01-06T09:21:00.000-08:00

This giveaway poster was commissioned by Hound magazine to accompany their first ever issue, named 'Conception'

PITCH IMPERFECT

2012-01-06T09:15:00.001-08:00

Creative Review asked me to create this piece to accompany an article about the hard work & stresses that go into a modern-day pitch

UP TO DATE

2012-01-06T09:13:00.001-08:00

This advent calendar was commissioned for an in-house distribution for the employees of CII.

HEAVY CARGO

2012-01-06T09:10:00.000-08:00

After realising that I didn't really have the time to update my website while busy with work, I decided to take the leap to join the Cargo Collective, and use their website builder from now on for my website. I've heavily customised it and played around with bits of HTML, so I feel like it's not a lazy approach ... merely a more practical one. Click here to visit it. Enjoy

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

2012-01-06T09:06:00.001-08:00

Another Feed piece, used over the Christmas period when everybody was on holiday

TO THE DEATH

2012-01-06T09:04:00.001-08:00

This is a little snippet of a cowboy zine I've been working on for a while, but haven't had the chance to finish

TB OR NOT TB

2012-01-06T09:00:00.001-08:00

The cover for a journal published by the Norwegian Medical Association. 'Combating Tuberculosis in the Modern World' was the theme for the issue.

PUSHER MY BUTTONS

2012-01-06T08:58:00.001-08:00

I created this Tee design for a company called Pusher, who specialise in making websites capable of realtime elements.

INANIMATE

2012-01-06T08:56:00.001-08:00

Some images from my original colour palette for the Feed animation I created with Tim Ruffle & Poke a few months ago

HIGH GROUND

2012-01-06T08:53:00.001-08:00

A piece created for the cover of the Telegraph's Higher Education supplement

EVERY LITTLE 8-BIT HELPS

2011-11-07T05:11:00.000-08:00

The wonderful people at Guardian Weekend commissioned me again. This piece was about a new website called 'If This Then That' (IFTTT) which uses a cause & effect system to automate your digital self. For example, if it is forecast to rain in your location, you can set it to email your phone with a reminder to take your umbrella with you

OUT ON THE TILES

2011-11-07T05:05:00.000-08:00

This is a downloadable tile desktop wallpaper. Just drag the image to your computer and set it as your desktop wallpaper (as the tile setting) . It will look something like the image below it

GIVING VOICE

2011-11-07T04:56:00.000-08:00

The Feed rebooted their 'This Summer' post for halloween. People sent in their tweets and received a spooky MP3 of their Halloween plans. The image below was used to promote it on Spotify

YOU HAVE A GIFT?

2011-11-07T04:51:00.000-08:00

Another image created for Orange; this post is a chance for people to win personalised gifts for people for Christmas

VERY ANIMATED

2011-11-07T04:46:00.000-08:00

This animation was created with the very talented Tim Ruffle for the very awesome Feed

ALL SINGING, ALL DANCING

2011-11-07T04:09:00.000-08:00

This was a logo I created for a Burlesque show.

GET A MOVIE ON

2011-10-25T05:10:00.000-07:00

Another piece for Orange

COSTA THE EARTH

2011-10-25T05:03:00.000-07:00

A new map created for CSMA Club Magazine of Costa Rica

TOO MANY COOKS SPOIL YOU

2011-10-14T04:56:00.000-07:00

75 artists were asked to create a portrait of the award winning architect, Sir Peter Cook for an exhibition in Brisbane, celebrating his 75th birthday and raising money for charity. You can join in the auctioning by going here and bidding online. You can also see the full list of awesome illustrators involved. My contribution is below:

GOOD KNIGHT

2011-10-08T15:53:00.000-07:00

I've had some wonderful reviews of my new book, 'Knight Night', from a variety of sources and I thought I'd share some quotes with you:

"Beautifully illustrated in autumnal oranges, burgundies and browns by Junior Design Best Newcomer Winner Owen Dave, Knight Night has a simple narrative about a boy’s bedtime routine. Yet in the illustrations, we see our hero imagining he is really a brave knight, climbing mountains on his trusty unicorn, saying Night Night to his pet dragon and tidying his precious things away into a mysterious treasure chest. A wonderful way to turn the daily bedtime ritual into something far more exotic for children with vivid imaginations." (Junior Magazine)

"This is his second children's book and his distinctive style effectively brings to life a tale which is simple yet brimful of detail and adventure. One of the strengths of the book is how the author plays with the boundaries between reality and fantasy. The palette of colours used by Owen Davey, is as in Foxly's Feast, striking and original, especially for a children's picture book. It is limited, with shades of brown and orange and a variety of warm colours. The effect is not only beautiful, but also particularly fitting for a bedtime story, as those tones ooze a relaxed mood." (Library Mice)

"This picture book has some of the most utterly beautiful illustrations I've ever seen...It's pretty much the perfect book for any little kid who loves knights and castles. (And are there any little kids who don't? I'm sure there must be, but I haven't met them yet.) My little boy adores it." (Stephanie Samphire, Amazon)

"Knight Night was an enchanting and enjoyable book, perfect for any little boys (or budding knights!). Its readers can follow the brave knight on his quest to bed through forests and past crocodiles and up a castle wall. What I particularly enjoyed was the blurred lines between reality and fantasy. It created the perfect story world for all to enjoy. The book helps make bedtime more fun and enjoyable, whilst still keeping it about the task at hand. The full and busy pages keep children easily engaged, with plenty to look at, whilst teaching them that yes, even brave knight’s have to brush their teeth. Knight Night was an absolute pleasure to read. " (Pamela Roach, Good Reads)

ALIKE IT OR NOT

2011-10-05T09:01:00.000-07:00

This was yet another project for Orange: The Feed, where I was asked to create some character designs for a post. I won't tell you what the idea for the post was, in case they ever use it, but as it doesn't look like it's gonna crop up any time soon, I thought I'd share my illustrations with you. Enjoy

POKE ME IN THE ICE

2011-10-05T08:58:00.000-07:00

I recently dabbled in the world of Illustrator to create some imagery for Orange: The Feed. To cool people down during the (not so hot) summer, The Feed sent an Ice Cream van to four cities to give people free ice cream. I created the series of maps of Manchester, Birmingham, London & good old Brighton, which people then chose the area in the city they wanted the van to visit.

I was also in charge of designing the exterior imagery for the Ice Cream Van. I did a bunch of illustrator stuff that wasn't actually used in the end, but I wanted to share it with you anyway.

The final decision for the van was to have a more hand-drawn feel to it, so I created the work in my traditional way, then converted it into an Illustrator document. You can see the results in the below video:

It was great to have a bash at creating things digitally. I'll definitely try more Illustrator stuff in the future.

TEN PACES & DRAW

2011-10-03T01:55:00.000-07:00

I have been working like an illustration beaver for the past month but unfortunately, I can't show any of it to anybody. Except for this mini project I did with Ten Paces & Draw. Ten Paces is an awesome blog set up by Alyssa Nassner (whose illustrations are superb), where illustrators are asked to create sketches based on a subject, which are then passed onto another illustrator to finish off in their own unique style. It's a very clever way of approaching collaboration and produces some wonderful results.

We were given the simple brief of Monsters. Below is the draft that I came up with, finished off by the ace illustrator Lydia Nichols (I've loved her work for a long time so I was chuffed when I found out she'd finished mine off). There is also a draft from Kyle Fewell (again a very talented human being) and the finished image I created from that.

The Medieval Monster I designed is also available to purchase here.

The whole experience was great, and despite it being very awkward timing (in the middle of about 6 commissions), I'm very glad I did it. Hopefully I'll have time to contribute to the blog again soon

AS GOOD AS NEW (ENGLAND)

2011-09-07T07:06:00.000-07:00

Another map commission created for CSMA Club Magazine

Call It A Night

2011-08-31T16:36:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of reviews of Knight Night, posted on the Templar Website:

I remember seeing Owen Davey’s work for the very first time back in Foyles Gallery after his first roughs for Foxly’s Feasthad been highly commended. It really stood out. Alongside his fantastically bold style it was a real breath of fresh air, having no text at all. Don't get me wrong I like a good piece of text, and love the way text is integrated into most picture books. Yet this really drew me in, I was amazed with the amount of information I could read from Owen’s illustrations alone. It reminded me of being young ‘reading’ Raymond Briggs’ A Snowman story in my head, making up my own lines and conversation as I flicked through the wonderfully descriptive illustrations. Knight Night, like Owen’s first book, demonstrates this great ability to tell stories using very little if any words at all.

Knight Night is quietly humorous from start to finish, as the Little Knight's imagination is truly reflected by the imaginative pictures illustrating the little boy’s real world, alongside how it is seen through his playful eyes. It really made me smile and it has all the charm of Oliver Jeffers' work.

Kids are truly the harshest critics and my nephew went straight to the kitchen cupboard for the colander (or should I say knight’s helmet) so I think that’s two big thumbs up!

Kristyna Litten

Knight Night was an enchanting and enjoyable book, perfect for any little boys (or budding knights!).

Its readers can follow the brave knight on his quest to bed through forests and past crocodiles and up a castle wall. What I particularly enjoyed was the blurred lines between reality and fantasy. It created the perfect story world for all to enjoy.

The book helps make bedtime more fun and enjoyable, whilst still keeping it about the task at hand. The full and busy pages keep children easily engaged, with plenty to look at, whilst teaching them that yes, even brave knight’s have to brush their teeth.

Knight Night was an absolute pleasure to read.

Pamela Roach

A WORLD OF THEIR OWN

2011-08-30T03:17:00.000-07:00

My lovely agency Folio got me this job. I have no idea who it was for or what the hell it was about...nobody did. But I like the colour palette.

A SONG & DANCE

2011-08-25T09:50:00.000-07:00

I was commissioned again to create the third single from The Leisure Society's new album, Into The Murky Water (listen to or buy it here).

NO SPAIN, NO GAIN

2011-08-25T03:35:00.000-07:00

I was recently featured on a Spanish website called End Topic. Thought I would share it with everyone. Visit the site here to see what they say about me & look at some more of my work.

KNIGHT NIGHT

2011-08-22T09:24:00.000-07:00

My second Picture Book with Templar is out and available for purchase here. There have already been two wonderful reviews of it here & here. Below are some photos of the finished book, but it looks better in real life, so GO & BUY IT!

IN MY GOOD BOOKS

2011-08-10T05:12:00.000-07:00

I recently had the chance to create a bunch of book covers for an Orange: The Feed post. This was a ridiculously fun project. Here they are:

AN INDIAN SUMMER

2011-08-10T04:37:00.000-07:00

I was commissioned to create a map of Kerala which is an state in south-west India.

NATURE CALLS

2011-07-11T07:08:00.000-07:00

The Leisure Society have released a digital single called 'You Could Keep Me Talking'. It's awesome & you should buy it here.

SET UP SHOP

2011-07-11T06:52:00.000-07:00

I've set up an online shop, selling my work. Purchase stuff here.

'BRAND' NEW

2011-07-11T06:38:00.000-07:00

I've been doing some branding for myself recently. Here are two logos I've created for myself.

GOOD KNIGHT

2011-07-11T06:30:00.000-07:00

My new book! Available for pre-order here.

ON THE SPOT(IFY)

2011-06-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

Cameron Steward (Two Ducks Disco) used his eagle eyes to spot my work appearing on Spotify to advertise The Feed post about Voiceovers. He nabbed me this screen shot and sent it to me.

SELF IMAGE

2011-06-24T04:38:00.000-07:00

I really hate press photos. I especially hate them of myself. They either look posed, weird, cheesy or all of the above. So I decided to draw myself instead, and hope that people will use this instead of any bad photos.

Disclaimer: I do not have pink hair. I am brunette

HOME ALONE TOO

2011-06-24T04:31:00.001-07:00

An article for BBC History about the rising trend of people living alone and large houses being converted into smaller apartments for single occupants.

BEARS IN MIND

2011-06-14T02:49:00.000-07:00

YouTuba are a tuba quartet that try to experiment with their albums & performances, and this time around, they have enlisted the help of Simon Callow & Ian McMillan to tell a story about four tuba players summoned to the woods to help open a mysterious chest. This is the flyer for the event, but I will also be creating the album artwork and a digital press release. I've loved having the chance to design the whole thing myself with a load of creative freedom...awesome clients indeed.

IN A NEW LIGHT

2011-06-13T10:39:00.000-07:00

This logo was created for Red Shade Productions...but I'm kind of hoping you'd already guessed that...otherwise I'm a horribly bad illustrator

SINGLE FILE

2011-06-12T10:50:00.000-07:00

The Leisure Society have got a digital single coming out soon called 'You Could Keep Me Talking'. It is one of my favourite tracks from the album and it's all about feeling awkward in social situations.

I'm not gonna show you the actual artwork until the release, but I thought I'd show you my draft. The song is actually quite upbeat so when I took the image through to final, I added bright colours and tried to make it look less atmospheric and spooky, but these elements were initially my favourite bits about this image, so I thought it would be a shame not to show it to you. Enjoy

JUST TALKING ABOUT YOU

2011-06-12T05:52:00.000-07:00

Tweet your summer plans to The Feed with the hashtag #thissummer and a professional voiceover artists will turn your plans into an epic audio file. You can hear how my summer is likely to pan out here. Below there is a mini animation explaining the process, my illustrations, and an image of things in context. Visit the site here.

ONE FOOT IN THE GLADE

2011-06-12T05:30:00.000-07:00

The idea was that people would post pictures of their festival footwear on The Feed and the best choice of feet protectors would win their owner tickets to a festival.

LAND: A JOB

2011-06-12T05:13:00.000-07:00

This was another tiny map I was asked to create.

AAAAAARGH YOU A PIRATE?

2011-06-12T05:03:00.000-07:00

The Feed commissioned me to spend a week drawing members of the public as pirates. I originally drew the background image and then throughout the week, the image was filled with pirate characters, based on tweeted suggestions. See it large and in context here.

AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT

2011-06-12T04:28:00.000-07:00

This Orange: The Feed post was a sort of digital lucky dip. People would click at random on various buttons to see if they could win prizes. I decided to take the illustrations on a sort Victorian Circus route.

A LOT ON MY PLATE

2011-06-12T04:21:00.001-07:00

In answer to the fuss about the royal wedding (which I surprisingly loved watching for the most part), Orange: The Feed asked me to create a bunch of plate designs to commemorate the not-so-special moments of the general public. In two weeks I created 33 designs (whilst juggling other work too) and I have attached the majority of them below, along with an animation that was created using my illustrations in an effort to explain the whole event. Click here to visit the site.

AS GOOD AS NEW

2011-06-09T07:15:00.000-07:00

Awesome. I won The Junior Design Award Category for Most Promising New Talent. That's gonna look good on the CV! I'm so stoked to have won an award for my kids book Foxly's Feast. Hopefully people keep liking what I'm doing. Below is the proof of the pudding, so they say:

AT YOUR LEISURE

2011-06-08T09:12:00.000-07:00

Leisure Society asked me to create an image for the front of a Rough Trade CD that came free with copies of their new album, Into The Murky Water (which is awesome by the way). It came through the post yesterday.

CHICKEN FEED

2011-06-02T05:33:00.000-07:00

The wonderful people at Poke | London have made me the regular illustrator for Orange's The Feed. For the foreseeable future, each week I will create an image for that week's post. This is the first post I created for them, called Predict-A-Chick, in which the general public were asked to guess facts about 17 soon-to-be chicks. There was a live video of each of the 17 eggs hatching (which was absolutely AMAZING to watch!). Below is my design for the post. Click here to visit the online page.

DIRTY WORDS

2011-05-25T02:56:00.000-07:00

This was another piece for my BBC History column. This one was all about historical attitudes to cleanliness. Bathing was seen as dangerous because it could allow germs to enter the body. Instead, to indicate someone had good hygiene, they would merely ensure that their collars and cuffs were bright white. Dirty bastards!

SHOW OF HANDS

2011-05-12T04:15:00.000-07:00

I recently designed this logo for the 'All Sing! Harrow Road Community Choir' as a favour to a friend. Here are four different colour versions.

SELLING ONESHELF

2011-05-10T02:47:00.000-07:00

This image was commissioned for the New York Times to accompany an article about many authors who also work as booksellers.

BOXER BLOG

2011-05-10T02:38:00.000-07:00

I created a bunch of images for Boxer Creative to promote their process to potential clients. Below are some of my favourite pieces I did for them. Enjoy

FOR THE RECORD

2011-04-23T17:26:00.000-07:00

The Leisure Society recently commissioned me to create some artwork for their first single of their new album. I have always wanted to see my stuff in LP form so I'm chuffed...and the song is awesome too. Listen to it here

WITH BELLS ON

2011-04-23T17:16:00.000-07:00

I was commissioned by Front Ideas to create wedding invites for a lovely couple called Paul & Amanda. My illustrations were also used for various stationery bits for the guests, and I created a map for the wedding-goers to find their way. Apparently they had a lovely ceremony and everyone commented on the lovely stationery.

WEAR HER HEART ON HER SLEEVES

2011-04-11T15:05:00.000-07:00

This is another piece for BBC History Magazine. This article was about bridal trends throughout history and the influence of Royal Weddings.

BRITS & BOBS

2011-04-06T12:17:00.000-07:00

The lovely people at BBC History Magazine have given me a monthly column to Illustrate. This one is all about the abundance of Royal Wedding Souvenirs now on sale

MAPPED OUT

2011-04-06T12:03:00.000-07:00

Here are three maps that I have created for CSMA Club Magazine. They're quite a challenge because they are each only 110mm wide and there are a lot of elements and place names to fit on. I have loved learning about these places I knew very little about...very informative indeed. They have appeared in their very tiny forms in the last three issues of the magazine.

A BIRTHDAY FISH COME TRUE

2011-04-06T11:49:00.000-07:00

I did this card for a mate's birthday and took him to the London Sea Life Aquarium. It was a bit of an experiment into a sort of Charley Harper approach.

THREE FOR THREE BY THREE

2011-04-06T11:27:00.000-07:00

First things first, I have absolutely no idea how this has taken me so long to post, but I received three 3x3 Merit Awards for my Illustrations. One was for Foxly's Feast and the other two were for the two images below, submitted into the gallery category.

GONE WEST

2011-04-06T11:15:00.000-07:00

My apologies for dropping off the map for the past couple of months. I have had a lot of work on, gone skiing for a week and moving house. I am now officially a Bristol boy and am at last, moving in with my lovely lady. Anyway, below is my new favourite view from my window.

U.S. & THEM

2011-01-27T10:55:00.000-08:00

I was asked to create a map for the cover of C & IT Magazine (Conference & Incentive Travel). I basically just had to draw a road trip they were suggesting around North America.

KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF

2011-01-27T10:32:00.000-08:00

This was yet another commission from the German publication, Werbewelt. This time, they wanted a series of images relating to an article about a girl with smelly feet. I decided to only allow myself to use the three primary colours and below are the results.

GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WAITROSE

2011-01-27T10:23:00.000-08:00

This was a simple brief for Waitrose Magazine. They just asked me to come up with an image to do with choosing the perfect wine for yourself. It was an odd shape to work with but good fun.

SLEEPING LIONS

2011-01-27T10:19:00.000-08:00

This was a piece I actually created quite a while ago for Werbewelt, a German Children's Magazine. I was waiting for the publication to come through the post but it seems it got lost in the post, so I thought I'd just share the image with you. It was a border for a quiz about sleeping habits of Lions, Elephants and Horses. I personally love their ordering of the letters for the multiple choice answers. Enjoy

FAMILY MAN

2011-01-22T09:54:00.000-08:00

I recently did some commissioned pieces for Canadian Family Magazine. It was a great project and I was really happy with the results. I ended up creating six spot illustrations for them about different issues and uncertainties often asked about as children develop.

READ THE SMALL PRINT

2011-01-22T09:46:00.000-08:00

Here's a mini little bit about my work in a magazine called Viva Lewes. I have a mini exhibition in a Printers in Lewes at the moment called The Print Room (an offshoot of Blow Up in Brighton).

YOU'VE BEEN FRAMED

2011-01-22T09:26:00.000-08:00

This is a piece I created quite a while ago. It has packed it's bags and is currently waiting to go into an exhibition of University College Falmouth Graduates works at the Illustration Cupboard in London.

DONE TO DEATH

2011-01-22T09:20:00.000-08:00

I didn't just create the Cockerel in the previous post. I also did a series of 9 two-colour prints on 300gsm Fabrianno Stock. The piece is called Done To Death.

I really wanted to create an alphabet of animals but it has been done by so many people, so I thought I'd approach it in a slightly different way. In the end, I drew the skulls of the animals instead. I've taken liberties with a couple of them (cough*UNICORN*cough) but overall, I did a lot of research to find the right skulls for the right letters. I hope you enjoy.

I SCREEN, YOU SCREEN, WE ALL SCREEN FOR MY SCREEN

2011-01-22T09:01:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, my lovely lady paid for a long weekend to Bristol which included a Screen Printing workshop at the wonderful Snap Gallery. It's my first attempt at the process and I bloody loved it. Hopefully you'll be seeing a lot more of it. This was a simple one-colour piece which I hurriedly drew in around ten minutes.

NUMBER IS UP

2011-01-22T08:47:00.000-08:00

This was a simple little commission I did for Nursery World. They asked me to draw a 3 and some specific images. That is what I did. To be perfectly honest, I am not entirely sure what the article is about.

A BONE TO PIC

2011-01-11T15:27:00.000-08:00

I had no reason to do this but I wanted to. It has no context, no point, no hidden meaning. Just two boney individuals scrapping with one another:

FETT ON IT

2011-01-11T10:45:00.000-08:00

This little fellow was a gift to a couple of mates of mine for Christmas. Everyone likes Boba Fett.

AVAST!

2011-01-11T10:26:00.000-08:00

Scholastic commissioned me to create this A2 fold-out Pirate's Treasure Map for their magazine, Nursery Education Plus. I had very little constraints...they just asked me to include a few specific items, but other than that I could do whatever I liked. Here it is:

MORE THAN 'I CAN' BEAR

2011-01-11T10:04:00.000-08:00

I recently created around 70 images for a couple of different activity packs for Language Development in Children. I worked with Studio Conran for the charity I CAN and they are available for purchase here from Babbling Babies and Toddler Talk (Click on the titles to purchase from Amazon). Rather than bombard you with images, I thought I'd just wet your appetite with one illustration of a Bear. Enjoy

A MAG OF AMMO

2011-01-11T09:48:00.000-08:00

Apparently Christmas seemed to dominate my existence in December, so I've been neglecting my posts. Here is an illustration I was asked to do for Ammo Magazine, an awesome little Illustration publication. I was allowed to do anything, so Ammo was all I had for inspiration. The piece is called Cowboy Vs. Indian:

OLD SCHOOL

2010-11-28T15:25:00.000-08:00

I was recently asked by my old school to create a Christmas Card for them. IT had to be both Christmassy, and relating to their celebrations of the School's 50 Year Anniversary (turns out these two concepts are pretty hard to combine. Here is the design

A LOAD OF BULL

2010-11-28T15:15:00.000-08:00

I was asked to do some character developments for a Children's Story recently. They decided to go with another illustrator, but I thought I'd share these characters with you anyway:

PARTY PIECE

2010-11-14T17:21:00.000-08:00

End of the Road are having a Christmas Shindig and they asked me to design the poster. I did.

HEART TO HEART

2010-11-11T18:20:00.000-08:00

I recently helped Joseph Brett and End of the Road Films with this music video for the band, Allo Darlin'. It basically took two weeks of living life among cardboard, and a hell of a lot of hard work from everyone involved, but it looks awesome so yay!

I helped make the rooms look cardboard, helped Leila Watts with some feature pieces (including the amp), shot some footage on my camera for the video, danced for many hours in a heart costume (I am the living room heart and the right table tennis player), and did the first edit for the first half of the video (but then Joseph made it better)

Anyway. I loved being a part of it. I hope you enjoy it.

FAITHFUL GUARDIAN

2010-10-11T05:52:00.000-07:00

Bruno Haward from the Guardian Weekend, commissioned me to do my fifth piece for the Oliver Burkeman column. This one was all about scientific evidence to suggest that writing your worries on a piece of paper and sealing them off in an envelope, actually relieves some of the anxiety a person has about that specific problem.

A DOG'S LIFE

2010-10-11T05:48:00.000-07:00

This commission was for the Big Issue and accompanied an article about emergency hostels refusing entry to homeless people with dogs. The waiting lists for the places that do allow dogs, range from six months to two years.

NOT MY TYPE

2010-10-11T05:43:00.000-07:00

I would like you to read the below story. It was written in response to my wordless book, Foxly's Feast. It was created by a young girl in my mum's school and it is lovely. I see bright things for the future of this girl. I have kept in the spelling mistakes for your enjoyment:

Foxsly wa was hungry, his tummy was growling like a lion. So he decided to find something to eat. First, he went to the woods, in the woods there ~~was~~ were some apple tr trees so he got some -> apples. He also saw a bird and he tnvited him to his feast. Next, he went to the farm and there he found some ~~coliflower~~ cauliflower so he got some of that for his feast. The he asked the chickens if they wanted to come to his feast. He said politely "would you like to come to my feast?" they said yes. Then he came across a pont, in the pond there were some animals and he invite them to his feast too. Also, he picked some bright, yellow sweetcorn wrapped inside o pure green leaves. After that, he dipped his head in the deep, blue pond so he invite the -> scaly fish. Then he yo climbed climbed out of the water. When he was out he saw some grey rats so he invited them to his feast. Then, he wa pocked his head down a rabit hole he invited the rabbits to his feast then gathered -> up some currots.

in the distance he could see a field, -> he decided too go there. In that field there were some brown and white sheep and there was some -> green brocly. so he picked some also he invited the sheep. Then he got prepared for the feast. The he asked the owl to his feast. T Everybody tucked in. The owl and Foxly were full up.

AN ORANGE SEGMENT

2010-10-11T05:22:00.000-07:00

I was commissioned by John Brown Media Group to create this Double Page Spread for Orange Together Magazine. It is essentially six spot illustrations.

BEER, THERE & EVERYWHERE

2010-10-11T04:51:00.000-07:00

This was a commission for Jamie Oliver's Magazine. It was an article about the finer side of drinking beer, and includes a rough guide of what beers suit what meals. Ironic that I keep getting so much alcohol related work, when I don't drink.

BEHIND BARS

2010-10-11T04:35:00.000-07:00

I designed the three pub signs for End of the Road Festival this year:

End of the Roadkill

Crow Bar

ANIMATION STATION

2010-10-11T04:06:00.000-07:00

I went to End of the Road Festival recently and helped out on an Animation workshop for children. Here are some photos from our little corner of the festival

A SITE FOR SORE EYES

2010-09-22T03:01:00.000-07:00

I have a new incarnation of my website up and running now. I've made it a bigger page for bigger screens which has allowed me to have bigger images on it...are you following? Yeah and it also means I can write a little about each piece which is a nice bit of freedom to have. I see the site as the pubescent teenage version of the last one: more grown up but not yet adult. I've attached a few screen shots below. Click here to visit.

VIEW A NEW REVIEW NUMBER TWO

2010-09-14T04:14:00.000-07:00

The following text is a review by My First Poem. Visit here to see it in context as well as an interview with me:

(The book review is by Lilly, aged 2 along with her mum)
Lilly really liked the pictures, especially the scenes with a lot going on in them. She had fun naming all the animals and food and she understood that the fox and owl were hungry and the start and full up after their picnic. Lilly loved the fox so much she kissed him!

We found this to be an engaging book and no words meant we discussed the pictures and talked about what could happen, for example, would Foxly eat an animal? Why had he got a backpack? Lilly enjoyed the book and although it’s a large book it’s not bulky so it was ideal for her to hold on her lap and ‘read’. The fact that Foxly’s adventure was one a human could have made it much easier for Lilly to relate to the story, and having a vegetarian in the family also helped! I recommend this book as a great family read, you can let your imaginations create alternative story lines for Foxly meaning Foxly’s Feast won’t grow old.

GET A BUZZ OUT OF IT

2010-09-08T13:47:00.000-07:00

My flatmate Chris Boyce and I were sick of our shabby buzzer box so we decided to give it a make over by collaborating on a sticky cover. Chris did the typography and I illustrated the little robot fellow. You can see more of Chris' work by clicking here!

LAUNCHING THE LUNCH

2010-09-06T06:16:00.000-07:00

The edible adventure of Mr Foxly is now available in all the shops (well, all the good ones). To celebrate the achievement, I had a launch party in The Bee's Mouth, a pub in Hove. After one year of creating, one year of waiting, one week of organising, one day of baking & one day of hanging, I had created one hundred cupcakes in four different flavours, six A3 Giclée Prints, one Screen-Printed A1 End of the Road Festival Poster, two Shirts, one DVD containing six Films & twelve different A5 Lithographic Patterned Prints (five of which were framed). Despite all this work, I forgot to take any photos of my work. Luckily Joe Brett took my camera and got snap happy with the crowds. Using the following photos, it is possible to piece together the general exhibit and the atmosphere of the night...

IT IS A SIGN

2010-09-06T05:52:00.000-07:00

Visited the lovely fellows at End Of The Road the other day, to pick up a variety of goodies and bits that I'd illustrated, including some American Apparel Shirts with my design on them, some Gig Adverts for The Unthanks & a Limited Edition Screen-Printed Festival Poster, celebrating Five Years of End Of The Road. Here are a couple of Photos of the Screen-Print.

GRO UP

2010-09-03T04:45:00.000-07:00

I realised that I didn't actually share the original Gro Company Cover Illustration with you, but merely the photos of the brochure. Here was my original edit for the cover; they ended up changing it because they didn't want the night to be too dark, but I liked this version too.

VIEW A NEW REVIEW

2010-09-02T08:58:00.000-07:00

My mum sent me the link to this phenomenal review by an Australian blog called Kid's Book Review. Follow the link to see it in context or just have a read below: http://kids-book-review.blogspot.com/2010/09/review-foxleys-feast.html

Foxly is hungry. Like, really hungry. And he’s cruising for a bite. When he begins stalking the countryside for a scrap of supper, he comes across all manner of fox-like tummy tempters… chickens, birds, frogs, chickens, ducks, rabbits, sheep, even an unsuspecting little owl who follows him on his gastronomic quest.

When he finally comes across an abandoned picnic site, Foxly gathers together his plates and cups and bowls for the feast, he gathers his knife and fork, he licks his chops, he hunches over unsuspecting little owl… and…

Well, do you really want me to spoil the ending? Don’t worry Mum and Dad – this book may cleverly build to a suspenseful and logical conclusion, but it’s totally toddler friendly. Your little one won’t be scarred for life over a small mountain of feathers piled high on the ensuing page. All is well. And super cute.

Although the storyline of Foxly’s Feast is super-simple (the book, which now has a single narrative line per page, began life as a wordless story) its illustrations are far from pedestrian. Davey has created a luscious visual feast that hardly even needs a storyline. With that certain retro/modern take, he pens Foxley and his potential supper finds with such finesse, visual pleasure is assured.

Inked with that soft vintage colour that also has the curious capability to pop from the page, the illustrations are riddled with emotion, humour, texture and a balance that belies this author/illustrator’s age. At only 22 years old, this British born talent may have a strong catalogue of freelance illustrative work (he even dabbles in short film) but it looks like children’s books are heavily etched in his future.

Look out, Emily Gravett.

LOOK C

2010-08-30T06:54:00.000-07:00

I was given only a few hours to create this image for the Times. They asked me to create this performing C for an article about a new programme showing in America that approaches the topic of cancer in a humorous way.