Dierbhle wanted to give Stew an illustration that captured his incredible round-the-world cycling voyage.
I raided Stew's blog for material, there were so many amazing stories it was pretty overwhelming so in the end I chose the ones I really wanted to draw. Simple as that.
This was such a lovely project to work on and I am really pleased with how the details have turned out - the little kids saying hello, the generous dudes from Oman who shared their food with Stew and the buildings in the mountains of Eastern Europe.
Since completing this I've developed pretty intense wanderlust.
Noel and Linda have been married for 50 years which is pretty damn impressive.
They didn't want any presents, just cards, so Elaine and Jim commissioned this now and then card/illustration for them.
I particularly loved doing the retro part of this one.
Beth was the amazing photographer at Henri's wedding and after seeing the invitation that I'd made, got in touch as she wanted an illustration to give to her sister as a birthday gift.
This was a really collaborative piece with lots of to-ing and fro-ing at the sketch stage. I like it when that happens, the final image is ALWAYS better as a result.
This was the first time I had included animals in a piece and I love them. More guinea pigs please!
Hayley is superhuman. Over the past few years she has achieved things that amaze and inspire me so drawing this for her was a dream.
She sent me bits and bobs to include in the story, the quotes blew my mind so I didn't even edit them. I just incorporated them.
I added the Haruki Murakami quote, "Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional" as it's one of my faves and seemed utterly appropriate.
Keep going Hayls, you're awesome!
A custom illustration commissioned by Esther for her sister Katharine.
Esther wanted a piece of art to mark her sister's bravery in surviving a really tough year. I had done something similar for my own sister which Esther had seen so we adapted and personalised it.
I was truly honoured when Henri and Philip asked me to design their wedding invitation for them.
It was a very collaborative process.They wanted it to represent them, their little family and all the things they love. So, I sketched something out, they contributed ideas to include in the border, I worked it up and bit more and they came back with more ideas until it was just right.
When I finally received the original in the post they had added little details of their own, like some colour in the heart in the wine bottle which I REALLY loved.
Hayley wanted a little Christmas pressie for her nieces. She sent me lots of photos plus a list of funny and cute things they say.
Hey Pesto! was my favourite so I went with that.
Michelle and Mikey were friends and flatmates before they realised they were in love.
Their friend Melanie commissioned these illustrations as a wedding gift. Melanie and I had several, fairly long conversations, about what the images should be, how they might work together, the story behind each one. We settled on these three.
1. Mikey first realised he was in love with Michelle when they were living together. On his way home from work he would check if her light was on and then run the last bit of the journey to catch her before she went to sleep.
2. They went to Wireless festival together in secret before telling their friends they were together.
3. They had two weddings, the first was in Italy and it was amazing.
Mel, Shep and Amy have been friends since University. Mel wanted an illustration for Shep and Amy's 30th that told the story of their friendship.
This was super collaborative and we built the border up adding little details as Mel thought of them which makes the final piece extra meaningful.