Stalking Noel Fielding

So, it's September again which means The London Student are after some Freshers-y type drawings. Drawing young urchins dressed in skinny jeans and check with bedhair and large rectangular glasses is all very well, but this time round I decided to take it from a more quirky angle and take inspiration from specific points in the article in question.

The duck from my previous post was drawn for the same purpose...

A quack interlude

And now, ladies and gentlemen... here's a duck, drawn last night.

thisismikehall 3.0 is now live...

Yes, after some careful thought (and due to there being several updates needed to be made anyway) I decided it was a good time to give my website another re-jig!

Changes made are:

• new 'enter site' page with different illustration
• menus have tightened up again, with the re-introduction of separate 'Illustration' and 'Cartoons and comics' menu pages - this time as sub-pages under 'Portfolio' alongside a new 'Maps' page and a smart new 'Sketchbook' page. All this helps to make better distinction between the different styles of artwork I have on display.
• details about myself has been improved, so that my brief biography (which has been expanded slightly) and contact details are on separate sub-pages alongside new pages that list clients I have worked with and exhibitions I have participated in to date. All this now comes under 'Information'.
• The 'Links' section is more or less the same as previous but the shop is still a feature that I need to work on.

As always, feedback is greatly appreciated!

http://www.thisismikehall.com/

'Love Spain, Hate Bullfighting' update:

Well, since my last blog post in which I revealed details of my entry into Don't Panic's online poster competition, things have taken quite a disappointing dive in the voting race... after a week or so in the top 2 with nearly 90 points (largely due to the numerous friends and work colleagues who voted for me... thanks all!!) I've since slipped down out of the top 10 and now languish 13th with 71 points. Ah well, may the best design win! It's the taking part that counts... etc etc.

http://www.dontpaniconline.com/designbrief/client/bullfighting/votes

[But then again... maybe not. Of course, this is still quite a respectable position to be in considering there are 118 entries, so I'm pleased about that... but looking at some of the entries that are in the top 10 and (in some cases) the bewilderingly high votes tally they have, it goes to show how online competitions like these are rather flawed.

Seeing as I have nearly 20 points less than I did a fortnight ago, clearly some dastardly competitors have been sneakily hitting the 'Hate' vote button (which deducts points) on my entry whilst canvassing as many online friends as they possibly can to vote for their own mediocre designs. Not that I'm getting on my high horse and saying my entry is worthy of far more points than others (to be honest I'd admit there are quite a few flaws in my design, notably the typeface I have used and the slightly cliched colour scheme)... some of the other entries are genuinely quite good... whereas others really aren't. Ah well, it's all a matter of opinion]

Love Spain, Hate Bullfighting

Bit of a departure for me here... this is the artwork idea I came up with for a poster design competition run by Don't Panic in aid of the League Against Cruel Sports, who are promoting their Love Spain, Hate Bullfighting campaign.


At the time of writing, my entry (which can be viewed in its full format here) stands in a respectable 8th place out of 68 entries on 13 points... everyone (who is registered with Don't Panic!) can vote for and award points to their favourite entry.

photos from 'In a State of Flux'

Well its almost two weeks since our group show opened at SOUP in Whitechapel (with one more week left to run - closes on Thursday 23rd) and by and large, bar one or two (!!) crinkly issues that have since been ironed out, it has been quite a success... some really impressive work was contributed and it all sat together perfectly like syrup pudding and custard.

Here are some snaps of the space and the hot, sweaty private view night on the 2nd July (some quite blurry - I need a new camera):

[above: Montage of various artists' artwork including photography by Melody Renouf, paintings by Nova Warr and Lynn Bennett, and drawings by Arun Patel, Daniel MacDougall, Rebecca Hardy and me]

[above: in foreground, sculpture by Asana Lloyd and in background, painting by Miranda Kaula, drawings by Peter Denman and photography by Thomasin McAnulty and Claire Ewin]

[above: paintings by Gemma Lowe on the far left and Rebecca Hardy on the far right]

[above: sculpture by Asana Lloyd on floor to the left, and paintings by Neville Maguire, Rodrigo Pires and Shagun Kapoor in centre background]

[above: the entrance to the space with paintings by Gemma Lowe above the stairs]

[above: paintings by Simeon Banner and Lynn Bennett]

[above: photography Jessica Bean beside the doorway]

[above: sculpture by Hai Lam Man in foreground with mixed media artwork by Rebecca Hardy and Shagun Kapoor in centre background and photography by Thomasin McAnulty in right background]

[above: photography by Ying Cheung and Jessica Bean on left wall, sculpture by Hannah Sapsford and Hai Lam Man on floor and by Asana Lloyd on window sill, painting by Rebecca Hardy on wall in centre background]

As for my artwork, I contributed a newly-completed A3 pencil drawing 'Haywain 2009: a tribute to Hieronymus Bosch', essentially a reworking of the Dutch master's 'Haywain' painting for the 21st century, alongside several smaller observational drawings of trees and objects on pavements... more details of these to follow soon.

[above: my artwork in centre with painting and mixed media by Robin Croucher on left, and drawings by Ricky Anderson and photography by Francesca D'ascari on right]

[above: 'Haywain 2009: a tribute to Hieronymus Bosch', pencil on paper]

[above: on left 'Latex glove and whiskey bottle', and on right 'Bagforce', both pencil on paper]

My debut show: 'In a State of Flux'

'In a State of Flux'


Some rather good news!

I shall at last be reaping rewards from my recent artistic endeavours, as I shall be exhibiting new artwork at this show which opens on the 2nd July at Soup Gallery at 124 Whitechapel Road in London:

This show will bring together quite a diverse range of artists and media including illustration, fine art installations, painting, sculpture, photography and more.

Full list of confirmed participating artists are:
Ricky Anderson, Simeon Banner, Jessica Bean, Lynn Bennett, Ian Brown, Ying Cheung, Robin Croucher, Peter Denman, Claire Ewin, Mike Hall, Rebecca F. Hardy, Shagun Kapoor, Miranda Kaula, Asana Lloyd, Dan McDougall, Thomasin McAnulty, Neville Maguire, Hai Lam Man, R. Karl Marks, Arun Patel, Rodrigo Pires, Melody Renouf, Hannah Sapsford and Nova Warr.

Vital stats:
Opens 3rd-23rd July 2009, 10am-4pm Monday-Friday
Private view 2nd July 6pm-8.30pm, tea and cake served + acoustic music
Address - Downstairs @ 124 Whitechapel Road, London E1 1JE

Everyone welcome! :)

Charming Baker

Meanwhile whilst this has been taking off, my third-year Uni tutor/roving studio presence Alan aka painter 'Charming' Baker, has another display of paintings in Shoreditch at the mo, and last week I went along to check it out. Looks like he's on top form at the moment...

I'm blogging about is slightly too late to be promoting this on his behalf of course, seeing as it closes tomorrow (the 14th)... but it's good to see the man doing well, thelondonpaper carried a double-page spread article on him and even the BBC's Culture Show have come knocking for an interview... so obviously here's my shameless attempt at self-credibilty with some "ooh! ooh! I know this famous artist guy he was my tutor at Uni!"-type stuff. ;)

Mike

Swine Flu Alert!

I've been quite keen on doing a cartoon on the whole media-fuelled froth surrounding the recent swine flu non-epidemic (as Clive Anderson said, nobody's used the word 'swine' to describe a pig since at least the 16th century) and a few days ago I finally had the perfect excuse to do so, courtesy of my regular punters at the London Student.

Some of you may remember the same old Victor Meldrew-esque old codger from another media-related cartoon I did recently... I reckon I might use him regularly, especially in cartoons that involve this sort of subject.