Retro card designs

Been working on a set of retro-inspired animal designs with a kind of mid-century modern meets fuzzy-felt vibe to them. Let me know what you think.

Vedel and Bojesen classics...

I've recently been lucky enough to acquire a couple of long admired mid-century toy design classics... The cute pot-bellied monkey was designed in 1951 by Kay Bojesen and is made out of limba and teak wood.

The two cheeky birds were originally designed by architect Kristian Vedel in 1959 and each one is still handmade by a wood turner in a small village in Denmark. I love that their heads are unconnected to their bodies so you can make them look up down, scared, inquisitive etc. and you can even turn their bodies upside down to make 'male' or 'female' versions!

Classic toys are always great inspiration for new characters and illustrations so here you go... be inspired...

Alain Grée

I have a growing collection of vintage children's books and I recently found this little gem from 1972 by the genius that is Alain Grée ...

Hello.

Welcome one and, indeed, all to my new blog. My last blog was sporadically updated at best and, lets be honest, was at times rather yawn-enducing. At least it was for me. This one, on the other hand, will be updated weekly (insanely optimistic, I know) and will be more image-based. It'll also concentrate on my main love - everything retro, particularly mid-century illustration and design.

Having illustrated children's books for 10 years I've recently launched an enirely new style more in-keeping with my love of modernistic and Scandinavian design so I'll be featuring some of that here, plus some of my vintage finds including children's books, objects and artwork.

So sit back, try to contain your intense excitement, and enjoy...

And here to kick us off are some of my recent pieces...