Good trip!

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This post is quite a personal one but something that I wanted to share.

Two of my flat mates recently moved out to start their travelling adventure, and as a part of their leaving party I thought that I would make them a banner as bit of a surprise.

It was a great excuse to practice some script embellishment and to do something special for two people that I care about deeply.

Best of luck Marc and Agustina!

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Stuart Whitton

CHANGES

This post could be considered more personal than work based but I felt that it was worth mentioning.

A year ago today I made some big changes in my life, the majority being mentally in order to focus more on my illustration. This in turn meant making the move closer to London in the hope to create more opportunities for myself. I am still making baby steps but with a lot of hard work and luck I am happy with how my career is going so far.

The purpose of this post is to hopefully inspire those who are perhaps debating the next step in their lives. I am sure that we can all achieve something special, why wait?

PHYSICAL PORTFOLIO

After enjoying a great Christmas with family and friends in Wales, I returned to the big smoke to find that the kind people at Ripe Digital had delivered the prints for my physical portfolio.

In this day and age where so much is done digitally many say that the need for a physical portfolio isn't high but I've got some big plans for this body of work.

Links

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Stuart Whitton

Ripe Digital

NEW BUSINESS CARDS

Amongst the post this morning I found that my new business cards from Moo had been delivered. Since my previous order I am happy to say that through vigorous networking all of my cards have found their ways into the hands of potential clients.

My new cards have been designed to highlight the fact that I use pencils to predominantly create my work. What do you think?

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Stuart Whitton

Moo

EARLY CHRISTMAS PRESENT FOR CREATIVE REVIEW

After experimenting with pencil sharpenings for my new agent, Handsome Frank I began to think who else I would like to thank with a similar concept.

It was only natural that Creative Review came to mind, not only for being the pinnacle design and culture publication but also for their warm welcome and goodbye I received during my time there.

Hopefully they'll find a good home for this in the office.

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View more photos on Flickr

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Creative Review

CAN YOU GUESS?

An idea came into my mind the other day to find a creative use for pencil sharpenings. I decided to explore this and produced a little something for my agent Handsome Frank.

Can you guess what I may have drawn?

There is a little clue on the Handsome Frank blog with a possibility of a prize for the correct answer.

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Stuart Whitton

Handsome Frank

Handsome Frank Blog

'LAUGHTER'

Due to an unfortunate encounter with man flu it has taken me a bit longer to complete this piece. However, I am delighted to share with you the newest addition to my portfolio, a portrait that explores both emotion and form.

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Stuart Whitton

View the original and macro shots on Flickr

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NEW PORTRAIT, WORK IN PROGRESS

Here is a progress shot of a portrait that I'm currently working on. I'll be spending the remainder of today and tomorrow drawing this cheeky chap to be able to include the piece in an upcoming portfolio consultation.

Links

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Stuart Whitton

View the photo on Flickr

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LONDON

Sorry for not posting as frequently recently I have encountered a few busy days, which so far have consisted of packing my life away and moving to London for three months. Hopefully I will be able to network more effectively whilst spending my time in the big smoke, but I will also be attending the AOI Business Masterclasses.

If you have any suggestions of what to do in London, or you are going to be attending the AOI course at some point then please feel free to comment or say hello.

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Stuart Whitton

The AOI

PATTERN EXPERIMENT

I'm always looking for new elements to add to my work, as well as generally experimenting with concepts or textures that appear interesting. This image is the latest tangent to my usual work, keep an eye out to see if/when it gets introduced into another piece.

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View the finished image and more photos on Flickr

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PEARL WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

The other day marked a momentous occasion as my parents celebrated their Pearl Wedding Anniversary (30 years) knowing that this was an event where simply a bunch of flowers would not be an acceptable gift my brother and myself exchanged some ideas over some morning coffee. He suggested the idea of drawing the wedding photo taken 30 years ago, this I felt was a great concept and so I began sketching the image. I felt that something else was needed In addition to the portrait so I created a simple typographic illustration to commemorate the date further.

Even though I am happy with the outcome of this image I much prefer adding something else into the portrait to make it more interesting. Although on this occasion legibility was absolutely key to the gift.

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View the finished image and more photos on Flickr

Add Stuart Whitton as a contact on Flickr

1000 VIEWS

I wanted to celebrate what I would consider to be a small milestone for both my career and my work, after looking at my Flickr I have noticed that my Photostream has been viewed over 1000 times.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has taken the time to look at my work, it means a great deal to me.

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View Stuart Whitton's photostream

Add Stuart Whitton as a contact on Flickr

HARD ROCK HELL ROAD TRIP

In a couple of days I'll be heading off to Ibiza for the Hard Rock Hell Road Trip festival as a roadie for the Powerage recording artists and good friends Lethargy. Despite the festival lasting a week this will probably be the longest time I've experienced being away from my mac and sketchbooks for a good while. I guess I will have to really make up for it when I return.

If you have a couple of minutes and fancy listening to some great music click on the links below to hear Lethargy.

"This is a band that merges two highly valuable commodities; that’s riff driven hard rock and seriously impressive, some might say spellbinding, musicality."

- Derek Oliver (Powerage / Roadrunner A&R)

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Links

Hard Rock Hell Road Trip

Lethargy

Lethargy Myspace

TO ME, FROM ME

Today is my birthday, and I thought I would share with you what I got myself with some of the money I received for this occasion. Hopefully this will speed up the process of creating the piece that I am currently working on, another W.I.P shot may be on it's way soon.

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Links

View the first progress shot of the current piece on Flickr