Loving... the illustrations of Chris Achilleos

I love it when things like this happen! As I went to shut down my MacBook Pro, I took another look at the cover of 'Dr Who and the Loch Ness Monster' and noticed what appeared to be the illustrator's signature. I did a wee google search and budda-bing... I found the artwork of Chris Achilleos... the artist responsible for some of my favourite illustrations as a child.



I really do think his illustrations were fantastic and really captured the imagination of the stories as well as the imaginations of the readers... myself being one of the latter group.

Check out his Dr Who illustrations here :: http://chrisachilleos.co.uk/the-artist/dr-who-illustrations.html.



He has a number of book covers to his credit... most in the more vibrant yet 'traditional' sci-fi / fantasy style. Well worth having a wee browse :: http://chrisachilleos.co.uk/the-artist/bookcovers.html.


Achilleos has a number of album covers to his name too... would love to see him in action again, in this arena.

All in... a wonderfully serendipitous find.

Enjoy.

Tx

Scanned... some Dr Who novels from my childhood

I read when I was a child... that was my thing. I always had my nose in a book... and, for a period of time, my favourite books were novelisations of Dr Who stories.

This afternoon... whilst attempting to downsize... I can across a pile of novels from my childhood. I intend to give them to one of Miriam's friends who is a serious Whovian... but before I do... I thought I'd scan them in and share them.

My personal preference is for the books from the Fourth Doctor's era... they are more vibrant and visual. "Four to Doomsday" on the other hand is simply woeful... in my opinion. Whilst the illustrations have lasted the passing of time... the basic screen-grab hasn't.

Enjoy.

Tx

Loving the artwork for "The Eve Of Invasion" by The Narrows

I saw a retweet earlier today that intrigued me... I followed it and discovered not only the music of The Narrows but the artwork of Tom Langfield... a graphic designer from Manchester.

I really love this cover and had to feature it on here. I haven't finished listening to the album... but from what I've heard... it has a power and energy that is encapsulated visually in the cover.

I look forward to seeing more covers from Langfield... I think he gets how to make a very appealing cover for the digital arena - his use of bold colour and a sizeable sans-serif font will ensure this cover is equally recognisable as a cover (640px square) above or as a thumbnail (144px square) below.



I would really like to see what he would do with a series of books... I think that would be something special indeed.

Tx

http://www.tompop.co.uk/portfolio.html

PS: I will share my thoughts on the album in due course... it is currently available for Pay What You Want over on bandcamp :: http://thenarrows.bandcamp.com/album/the-eve-of-invasion

Recycled Union Jack... the best window display of the jubilee

For those of you who follow my Instagram feed (either directly or via Twitter or Facebook) will have seen this wonderful window display adorning a charityshop in Cupar, Fife.

Not only was it ingenious and wildly creative... it said something about reuse. All the other window displays had new bunting... new red, white and blue colours... new Union Jacks... and here was a display reusing materials to hand to make something special. By that very fact, this made it the best display I've seen.

The last thing we should be doing in the time of a double-dip recession is buying items for short-term use... and this is the very thing this jubilee is encouraging. Yes, it's great to have street-parties and to come together with your neighbours... but all the new, shiny bunting seems remarkably frivolous and decidedly wasteful in today's economic climate. It will be in the landfill come the end of the week!

Tx

Er...

"Er..." by Banksy

Kind of sums up my thoughts on celebrating a non-elected head of state's 60th year in office... whilst we are experiencing a double-dip recession.

I am a citizen... not a subject.

Tx

(via Design Taxi)

The third release on my netlabel - weareallghosts - is now live

For more... go here :: weareallghosts/waag_rel003

What I listened to in May 2012

Here's what I listened to on my iPhones and iPods... via iTunes on my MBP... and Spotify. It doesn't take into consideration what I had on in the car or on my hi-fi.

Tx

Loving... Pre/Post's Post-Artifact Books

As mentioned yesterday... I picked up an essay by Craig Mod on cover art for eBooks. I did a bit of digging... as I normally do... and found out Mod is the founder of a really cool publishing enterprise called Pre/Post Books.

Whilst the physical artefacts his publishing house creates are truly spectacular... what really captured my attention is his series of Post-Artefact eBooks.



Utilising the Amazon "singles" format... Mod has created three more eBooks that look at books in the digital era. They aren't huge books... around the 35 page mark... but if there writing is anything like Hack the Cover then they'll make excellent and inspirational reading material.

Well worth checking out.

Tx

Three releases I will be listening to this weekend

Truly beautiful and deeply immersive ambience with a fab cover from Nitin Gargin ... 'Even Though We Sleep' by Stray Theories



Vibrant and stimulating dub-techno from the basic_sounds net label ... 'Paix' by Textural Being



Lastly... I was so grateful to Olly for buying me a Beatles tee with the cover of 'Revolver'... grateful for the tee and grateful for her reminding me just how awesome 'Revolver' is. Needless to say... both the tee and the album will be on over the weekend!

Tx

Reading material for my trip to Fife

Olly and I are off this morning to Fife for a couple of days... it's our 15 year Wedding Anniversary later in the month and this weekend presented us with an ideal opportunity to nip away for a wee while. The idea is to get away... recharge... rekindle... and relax.

Anyway... I picked three publications to read while away. First up (pictured above) is the combined first four issues of Innsmouth Magazine. Nothing says 'romantic break' than some dark, weird fiction in the spirit of H.P. Lovecraft.



Next up we have Craig Mod's essay on eBook cover design entitled Hack the Cover. The essay is available for free on Mod's website :: craigmod.com/journal/hack_the_cover :: but I was happy to support him and pay a couple of quid to have the essay on my Kindle (iPad and Kindle3). It's a pretty short essay but what he has to say is vitally important and deeply inspirational.



Lastly, we have Snap from Hipstamatic... an eMagazine for the iPad featuring some seriously great photography shot using their app for iPhone. It's a free download and looks really fab. Here's what Mashable had to say about it.

Tx