Hello, World.

Much like this mural half covered by tarpaulin (or half uncovered, depending on your outlook), so I sortof tentatively am ready to dip my toe(s) and return to my blog; return to thinking about my work, and reflect upon all that has happened over the last few months. Back in June I saw a lot of this tarp, but emerged from it each day like it was a temporary creative chrysalis. Lately I've been feeling much more stuck in a psychological rut, perhaps the consequence of lots of different things happening quickly and not being able to process them all steadily.

PMT Branding

 

In response to International Women's Day, my tight homie Alison Baskerville had an idea to hold a special event in Birmingham. A couple of WhatsApp messages and a little meet-up later, PMT was born, in this instance standing for Powering the Matriarchy Together. Gender equality is a serious business, but from the beginning this was fun, light and playful in its approach and focused on celebrating womxn, directly challenging stereotypes and any one-sided approach to feminism just by being itself (or ourselves). I enthusiastically offered my services to create the PMT branding, which I got the idea for whilst on a run around my neighbourhood, thinking about all the different things womxn do with their hands, such as making art, holding babies, building things, throwing punches, climbing trees, shaking the hands of men who get paid more than them, dishing out rude gestures... the list is endless.

I used this idea as the basis upon which to build the branding, including P M T shaped hand gestures (developments below) as well as a pair of hands to represent each of the four content areas: body, love, work and art (above).

Pocket Film Festival

Last month I worked on a little brochure for the first ever Pocket Film Festival, taking place in Stafford. As a brand new venture grown through Flatpack:Assemble there was no existing assets to work with, so I followed my own concept of basing the design on 'things that fit in your pocket'. This first iteration featured a matchbox containing some tiny illustrated film festival 'parts', like a little kit of collected items for use by borrower-sized types. This also informed the use of yellow and red throughout the design scheme. The festival guide was A6 in size, cross folding out into an A4 page featuring all the film content, from archival footage to La La Land.

I Made A Calendar: Part 2

So, it turns out I really like making calendars. Just as unremarkable was running out of page turns, I was commissioned to make a 2017 offering by the lovely people at Creative Black Country. Maintaining the colourful risograph qualities of my design the previous year, this special edition calendar celebrates their projects and all the wonderful people they work with, and served as a richly illustrated, lovingly crafted gift for people across the region and beyond. Working closely with the CBC team and print bros Rope Press, here's what we made together.

It's Business Time

Hey everyone! Here we are in February, the awkward second album of 2017. Whilst starting the year fairly tentatively, not straying too far from the recovery position following last year's intensity, I've been working fairly steadily on what has become my natural focus for this year; to get better at business. What this means to me is:

• playing a more active role in shaping where my creativity takes me
• using the making of products as a way to explore my ideas, tell stories and spread joy
• getting smarter about the data and digits that make up my creative business (whether I like it or not)

Figuring that getting to grips with the business side of your creativity may be a goal for some of you this year too, I thought I'd share the things I'm finding useful to start that journey. Whilst some of them are things you can pay for, for each example there are also resources available completely free, so make sure you have a rummage around in the links without feeling you need to invest in a new bookshelf lined with literature. With that in mind, here are 5 things I'm using right now to increase my knowledge, motivation and progress in the world of business:

UNREMARKABLE: The Final Months

Watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is just making it more confusing / more apt that I am posting images I made a year ago designed for use 2 months ago, but I'm not one to leave things unfinished. Here are the final pieces of the UNREMARKABLE calendar desktop background series, which will at least be useful for you future explorers in November 2017. November was actually one of my favourite designs, featuring Netherlands' first Car-Free Sunday, for the mismatch of coloured hair, the signage, and the decisive 'NO' in the heading.

Hey Girl Dreamer!

Here, in the next instalment of the Byng Inc. temporary tattoo files, I give you a special design for girldreamers everywhere! Designed for mOmhead's second Girl's Night In event at Impact Hub Birmingham, I wanted to make something pretty yet powerful, incorporating the Girl Dreamer colours with a bold outlined tattoo aesthetic. Not only does that give the tattoo some visual weight, it also makes it stand out well on a range of different skin tones; something important to consider when using this medium, as the white paper areas become transparent.

Eye Candy Festival

Bet y'all were worried when I posted on Halloween night and then didn't return 'til next year, huh? *shuffles awkwardly* Well, I came back! Those ghouls couldn't defeat me, even if they did beseech me with a hectic winter.

And now who is this smug little pug? Well, it's me, 2016 me that is, with a victorious (read: weary) smile having made it to St Martin in the Bullring for 10am (just) after about 30 minutes sleep, back on October 1st. What was this in aid of? I hear you cry. And I only really need 2 words for my answer: EYE CANDY. Organised by the brilliant creators of Fused magazine, once a year design, graphic art and illustration are the words on everybody's lips as Birmingham gets the Eye Candy treatment, previously with bespoke commissions adorning the city's spaces and this year complete with an Art & Illustration fair (seen here avec tired me) along with a pop-up store.

End of the Road

As  an attempt to max out on the last remaining daze of Summer, at the start of September I packed some sun cream, a waterproof poncho and some temporary tattoos and set off to the green fields of Dorset. It was the weekend of End of the Road festival, tickets for which I had booked as soon as I saw The Shins were on the line-up, one of my favourite bands to keep me company when walking home at night or to listen to whilst drawing.

UNREMARKABLE: October

Ah, October. A year ago I had planned to produce my 2016 calendar by this point, but instead it took until December. Here we meet again, and - as I try to pull together all the research and ideas for my *new 2017 calendar* - October stands awaiting my next move, discussing my fate like 4 dapper dans in raincoats.

Available as desktop background for download as both full screen (1600 x 1200px) and wide screen (1448 x 900px) versions. To find out more about the Unremarkable* project visit the website-shaped corner of the byngternet.