Blonde work live!

OK, so the full-blown, bells and whistles website is still under development, but you can catch the Blonde portfolio here at Behance.

Here you can see some of the work that I have been working on in the last year or so, comment and even make suggestions if you think it could do with a little something extra!

Enjoy!

Blonde

Tiger update: The recovery begins...

Following his public apology yesterday, the Tiger Woods brand began it's first, tentative steps back to recovery.

While most of the media ridiculed Tiger for the rather dramatic and sensational way in which he began his first steps back to recovery, focussing on his robotic manner, or the fact that he seemed to be wearing the blazer of a much bigger man, or even that most sentences began or ended with "Elin and I", we must remember it takes some guts to come out and admit the bare facts... "I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated."

Here it was in black and white, a straight up confession: I did it, I can't hide from it, yes I am human and I made a mistake. Most importantly, I WAS WRONG.

By doing this, he did what Tiger has done best for so many years, and taken control of the situation. With one fell swoop, the ball is back in Tiger's court. He will return to golf, but only when he is ready, and really, that was the only thing we needed to know - Brand Tiger will be back.

The cynics were out in force at this very public airing of dirty laundry, but let's remember that at ten o'clock last night, this was the headline story. Not the progress in the middle East or the goings-on at Westminster (as indeed should have been the case), but how Tiger was going to recover.

And this is the crucial point - for those out there that believe Tiger will never recover from this setback, think again. Of course he has shattered his holier than thou image, but that isn't going to shorten the queue of sponsors eagerly awaiting his signature. If anything, it's just got longer and the likes of TAG and AT&T, will have to get to the back (when they have finished kicking themselves).

Because now Tiger is human, he is flawed, he is like you and I. He is accessible.

And for the brands that stuck by him, who stepped back and distanced themselves from the mess and waited for it to pass? They've just added another string to their bow. They are now the loyal, committed and understanding brands that will never leave you. They will stick by you through thick and thin, for the good times and the bad.

Remember, there is nothing more appealing than an underdog, and for the first time in his career, Tiger is just that.

New work: Guilty Pleasures

Blonde has been asked to create the full brand for cake artist and friend of Blonde, Geoff Lealan.


Hopefully, the brand will do justice to the amazing talent and skill Geoff puts into his business.

Keep your eyes on the Blonde blog to see the development, but in the meantime feast your eyes on these sweet treats, and if you have any occassion you want to celebrate, get in touch with Geoff.

Inspiration: Jim Steranko

Twitter is genius isn't it?

If used properly you can find some pretty amazing inspiration in the most unlikely of places.

An example of this occurred last week when following TV presenter Jonathon Ross, who posted a link to the website of comic artist Jim Steranko.


Like most children (especially those that have found themselves in the creative arena as adults), I had an obsession with comic book art as a child. However, my affections were mostly focused on the art of Batman and the Incredible Hulk, and as a result am more familiar with the art of Jack Kirby, Neal Adams, Frank Miller and Brian Bolland.

If however, I had been more interested in the likes of Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, I would have been captivated by the works of Steranko, much sooner.

With a dark and brooding, slightly dramatic abstract composition, his work does remind me of Frank Miller, but Steranko brings an infusion of surrealism, op art and graphic design to his work.


He began his career with Harvey Comics in 1965 after trying to gain employment at Marvel. After several years of creating lesser known characters such as Spyman, MagicMaster and Gladiator, he finally teamed up with Stan Lee at Marvel to create Nick Fury, after inking sketches for Jack Kirby in Strange Tales.

Drawing on the 'aesthetic of Dali' he introduced movements such as op art and psychedelia, as well as techniques such as photo montage, to comic book art.

More recently Steranko has been involved in film and TV, notably working with the History Channel to create the series Comic Superheroes Unmasked.

Website News

There will be a Blonde portfolio site, and it will be coming soon!

At the moment I am working hard to build the site from scratch and teach myself the basics of Java and PHP. I am using the site as a personal project to enhance my very basic web building skills, so like every project, there are twists and turns and amendments at every corner.

Hopefully it will be worth the wait!

SNEAK PEEK!

Ok, so I have been busy for the last few months working on my portfolio site and generating content for it.

Here is a sneak peek at one of the pieces entitled Katie.




The visual was an initial concept for the LP for the Pistol Gang and the Preacher and was inspired by the legendary Robert Brownjohn.

This particular piece was an experimental screenprint on gold mirror board.

Is life better in LEGO?

This article was tweeted at me this morning, and it got me thinking... is everything better in LEGO?

I have attached six comparisons that immediately came to mind...







As the author's girlfriend quite rightly pointed out, the only thing not better in Lego are ladies.

Do we agree? Has Blonde missed anything? Let me know...

Running blog: January 2010

Since the start of the year, I have run 125.11 miles over 17:18:27 hrs, burning 15330 calories.

I have managed to set a new farthest distance (16miles), and a new personal best for the 10k.

The trainers I bought in early December are on their way out and I am having to rapidly make friends with the new Asics 2140's I managed to get in the sales.

I have had to spend over £100 on physio fees to learn that I have 'weak hamstrings', (which was a minor relief after initially fearing that I had a strain or tear).

But despite all this and the 5.45 am starts, the constant snacking, aching limbs and looming shadow of lethargy, I'm loving it.