Rat Tales

Here's a couple of my archived illustrations dating back nearly 20 years from my BA student days in Manchester. I spent a lot of time getting boozed-up on hoegaarden down Canal Street ( AKA 'anal 'treet, it being the main thoroughfare of city's Gay Village ) One drunken night I saw a rat swimming in the canal and became full of the idea that a community of rats were living under the city, specifically around the canal. I created a few pencil ink and watercolour sketches at the time on some old paper, torn from the back of an old paperback book, which has aged even more during the last 20 years. I still have lots of ideas for adventures for the Rodent Community. Unfortunately or not, as the case may be, the resulting content may not be for children, despite having that look to the illustration style.

 A map showing the main points of interest to the rodent inhabitants of the area

The rats find a used condom, and much discussion is had in what to do about it.

Purpose Made Ephemera #1 - Circe's Beermats

Here are a couple of beermats I made a few years ago as part of an MA project. All the items in the project were hand made short run multiples or one-offs, and they were collected together to form a "tactile narrative". The story I constructed drew inspiration from Greek Mythology and these beermats are a reference to The Odyssey and the transformation through intoxication of man to pig (something that still goes on to this day on Friday nights throughout the land) Beer mats have always fascinated me, so they easily found their way into the project. As part of this narrative they have been packaged into a souvenir from the ancient realm, touched and beer-splashed by a legend and yours to keep forever . . .