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NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS
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You may have heard recebntly the tragic news that the legend Iain Banks has passed away.
I'm absolutely honoured to have designed the jacket of his last book, The Quarry, and here it is.
Take a look at the complete back list HERE.
You can still sign an online guestbook with any messages HERE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm going to be speaking at The Bookseller Design Conference this year on 8th July,
litttle old me alongside legends from in and out of the book trade. Find out more HERE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congrats to Coralie Bickford-Smith for her work on the BEAUTIFUL Penguin English Library, the series
has been selected 'In Book' for Branding Expression in Print 2013 by the D&AD. I was lucky
enough to illustrate one . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's an eBook cover I recently did for US independent author Marcus Sakey, called The Blade Itself.
Interesting to do a cover with no type . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New client Arcadida Books asked me to do their gobsmacking new novel by US author Lois Walden . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's the last of the mammoth backlist repackage of Iain Banks. His seminal work, The Wasp Factory.
13 books, 160 roughs over 12 months!. Check out the backlist on the left, and read it if you get a
chance – it'll knock your socks off...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's the new Alexander McCall Smith, part of my repackage of his Botswana series that you can
find HERE. Fantastic fun, thanks as ever to Duncan at Little, Brown.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HERE’S AN INTERVIEW I DID WITH UNBOUND recently, talking about what I do and some other stuff.
Scroll down to the image of Unbelievable by Jennifer Pickup
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's a recent cover I designed and Art Directed for Unbound, illustrated by the uber-talented Tom Gauld . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last year I illustrated a series of books by Jennifer Gray for Faber Children's called Atticus Claw,
which have now been nominated for the Blue Peter and Sheffield Childrens Book Awards. On the
back of their success, Faber asked me to illustrate their trade stand for the Bologna Childrens
Book Fair 2013, here are a few snaps. The Faber CEO said it was "..a triumph"...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the back of illustrating the Faber Children's trade stand for the Bologna Book Fair 2013, they
kindly asked me to continue the look into the catalogue. It included spot illustrations by age group
. . . I got paid for drawing robots . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The lovely Liane Payne at Simon & Schuster asked me to look at Monty Don's new hardback,
The Road to Le Tholonet. Here's the result . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Even though this new illo for Faber didn't make it to book, I couldn't resist posting it . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A lovely project for Simon & Schuster about the quirky characters who safeguard and champion
the various UK species. Well worth a read, and fantastic to illustrate - particularly like the Batgirl
of Brixton . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's a new one for Unbound . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New client Myriad Editions asked me to work on thier fantastic new female crime author Lisa Cutts.
She's a real live copper, and her inside knowledge of the incident room really comes across
in the wrting. Watch out for books 2 & 3 coming in the near future . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm doing much more text work at the moment, some of the nicest has been for north London
co-ediiton Publiser Quintet, under the watchful eye of Art Director Michael Charles.
Here's my faviourite recent job for a movie book . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As part of the Atticus Claw series, I do spot illustrations for the insides including smelly pants,
buckets of wee and more grown up things like this map of the Tower of London. Great fun . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New client Sourcebooks Inc., a Childrens and YA Publisher from the US, asked me to package
their new Jeff Strand cover, here's a rough – the final cover is in the YA section on the left . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's the next hardback carrying my painterly look for crime writer Chris Brookmyre . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm acting as Cover Consultant for the crowd-sourced publisher Unbound, here is the latest in
hopefully a long line of fantastic covers . . . with extra smeg . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are three new Iain Banks covered just released. 4 down, 9 to go!
Take a look at the Iain Banks section on the left for the whole set..
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More fun with Atticus the Faber Feline. Book 2 of 3, I'll post some examples of the text illustrations soon!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
icon Books have kindly asked me to be their catalogue and logo guy for the last three years, here is a taster of the latest
and mecob's first proper foray into photography. The whole catalogue is made up of individual setups personifying the Icon
logo as a spaceman, farmer, psychiatrist - you know, the usual . . . I'll post more on it soon in the Catalogues section.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's the latest McCall Smith for Little, Brown. Illustration and design by mecob. Check out the
Alexander McCall Smith section on the left for the full backlist . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's the last in the Amy Plum YA trilogy for Atom that began with Die for Me in 2010,
see the Young Adult / Children's section for more . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A new job in the vein of The Etymologicon for top client Icon Books @sciencemagpie
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some new crime fiction for Quercus . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's a fantastic recent brief for new client Unbound. A Young Adult fiction title that really
breaks the mould. I'll be working closely with them on some other goodies in the coming months,
keep an eye on this page for details . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Building on the success of Periodic Tales by Hugh Aldersey-Williams, published by Penguin Viking
last year, here is a new title on the human body. Great fun to illustrate, many thanks to
Richard Bravery at Penguin . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back in the spring, I was privileged to judge some amazing work at the D&AD Awards.
I also took part in the Black Pencil judging, among some eminent professionals from around the world.
For the first time in the D&AD's history, it was filmed. I'm trying to sound like I know
what I'm talking about at 2 minutes in . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Completely gobsmacked to be able to show you my new cover for Iain Banks' latest novel, Stonemouth.
Commissioned by Duncan Spilling, Creative Director and all-round gentleman at Little, Brown Book Group.
I'm working on the back-list now and will update soon . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai is a delightful and funny human story.
Faber & Faber's eminent Art Director, Donna Payne, asked me to design and illustrate the cover.
Here is the final result of a very enjoyable job . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The amazing Coralie Bickford-Smith, Senior Designer at Penguin Books responsible for some of
the most beautiful books design of recent years, asked me to contribute to her latest series for
the Penguin English Library. See below for my illustration for Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's my design for the upcoming book for Guardian Columnist The Secret Footballer
(@TSFGuardian), the man inside the Premier League. Read more here.
Thanks to Katie Roden at The Guardian.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My new cover for Simon Sebag Montefiore, Quercus Books . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back in May, James Jones (Senior Designer at Random House) kindly asked me to contribute to an Exhibition called
Killed Covers at the Hay on Wye Book Festival. The exhibition brought together a selection of covers that got away,
designs that the creatives were proud of which never saw the light of day, along with a rationale on why they never
happened. My work, seen here in the middle for Evan Davis' book Made in Britain published by Random House,
sat alongside the likes of Nathan Burton ad Jon Gray – esteemed company I'm sure you'll agree. You can see the full flag
illustration made up of price tags in the illustration section. Many thanks to James at RH . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's a new book, one of a series of three for Faber Childrens which has been great fun to do.
I've also illustrated elements to decorate the text inside the book.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's my first cover design for new client Simon & Schuster UK, a collection of essays by Nicholson Baker . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's the latest eBook cover from my repackage of major crime author Chris Brookmyre,
the look was designed with both physical and digital editions in mind . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Off the back of my re-brand of Icon Books UK, Fighting Fantasy (one of their major contributors)
asked me to revamp their logo for their 30th Anniversary. Ian Livingstone OBE (a major figure in
the world of computer games and the name behind Tomb Raider) with Steve Jackson, originators
of the highly successful series, gave me an open brief to redraw their marque. Here is the result,
I look forward to seeing it on their anniversary material in 2012 . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last week I was lucky enough to judge the Book Design and Book Front Covers category at the
50th D&AD Awards at Olympia in London. The work was excellent, from student
through the to the Professional Awards.
Standout work included the Don Delillo series illustrated by Noma Barr and designed by
It's Nice That, which won a yellow pencil in the Cover category, all the way through to more
surprising entries such as a book that was in fact a remote controlled car!
I was also asked to stand in for our Jury Foreperson at the Black Pencil judging last Friday,
rubbing shoulders with legends like Bob Gill and Angus Hyland.
They all made me very welcome and I enjoyed it very much.
Please support the D&AD, they do excellent work . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Penguin Puffin gave me the chance to work on a re-brand of ROALD DAHL, my favourite author of all-time.
The brief was to re-imagine Dahl's look globally, with particular consideration to expanding the readership and making them work
as thumbnails. I decided to go darker and more edgy with it, still using the brand-toolbox of Quentin Blake's illustrations but made
more of the tagline THE WORLD'S NO.1 STORYTELLER (because, well, he bloody well is). The slightly edgier typeface and brave
use of black, which is against the grain in a market full of bright covers, gives them a new feel, and the large additional illustrations
helped them have an identity at scale.
Alas, some other lucky designer has pipped me to the post but I'm still in awe of being asked to work on it.
Not bad for a night's work...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After 11 months and 288 visuals, I'm very proud to present the Alexander McCall Smith backlist,
designed and illustrated by mecob for Little, Brown...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New fiction paperback for Little, Brown. What a lovely story too -
told from the point of view of a young boy's Imaginary Friend . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Penguin Viking asked me to look at the new Marina Lewycka hardback, Various Pets Alive & Dead.
Here is the result . . . Art Directed by John Hamilton, Illustration by Ben Newman, concept by mecob.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You may have heard recebntly the tragic news that the legend Iain Banks has passed away.
I'm absolutely honoured to have designed the jacket of his last book, The Quarry, and here it is.
Take a look at the complete back list HERE.
You can still sign an online guestbook with any messages HERE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm going to be speaking at The Bookseller Design Conference this year on 8th July,
litttle old me alongside legends from in and out of the book trade. Find out more HERE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congrats to Coralie Bickford-Smith for her work on the BEAUTIFUL Penguin English Library, the series
has been selected 'In Book' for Branding Expression in Print 2013 by the D&AD. I was lucky
enough to illustrate one . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's an eBook cover I recently did for US independent author Marcus Sakey, called The Blade Itself.
Interesting to do a cover with no type . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New client Arcadida Books asked me to do their gobsmacking new novel by US author Lois Walden . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's the last of the mammoth backlist repackage of Iain Banks. His seminal work, The Wasp Factory.
13 books, 160 roughs over 12 months!. Check out the backlist on the left, and read it if you get a
chance – it'll knock your socks off...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's the new Alexander McCall Smith, part of my repackage of his Botswana series that you can
find HERE. Fantastic fun, thanks as ever to Duncan at Little, Brown.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HERE’S AN INTERVIEW I DID WITH UNBOUND recently, talking about what I do and some other stuff.
Scroll down to the image of Unbelievable by Jennifer Pickup
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's a recent cover I designed and Art Directed for Unbound, illustrated by the uber-talented Tom Gauld . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last year I illustrated a series of books by Jennifer Gray for Faber Children's called Atticus Claw,
which have now been nominated for the Blue Peter and Sheffield Childrens Book Awards. On the
back of their success, Faber asked me to illustrate their trade stand for the Bologna Childrens
Book Fair 2013, here are a few snaps. The Faber CEO said it was "..a triumph"...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the back of illustrating the Faber Children's trade stand for the Bologna Book Fair 2013, they
kindly asked me to continue the look into the catalogue. It included spot illustrations by age group
. . . I got paid for drawing robots . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The lovely Liane Payne at Simon & Schuster asked me to look at Monty Don's new hardback,
The Road to Le Tholonet. Here's the result . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Even though this new illo for Faber didn't make it to book, I couldn't resist posting it . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A lovely project for Simon & Schuster about the quirky characters who safeguard and champion
the various UK species. Well worth a read, and fantastic to illustrate - particularly like the Batgirl
of Brixton . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's a new one for Unbound . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New client Myriad Editions asked me to work on thier fantastic new female crime author Lisa Cutts.
She's a real live copper, and her inside knowledge of the incident room really comes across
in the wrting. Watch out for books 2 & 3 coming in the near future . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm doing much more text work at the moment, some of the nicest has been for north London
co-ediiton Publiser Quintet, under the watchful eye of Art Director Michael Charles.
Here's my faviourite recent job for a movie book . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As part of the Atticus Claw series, I do spot illustrations for the insides including smelly pants,
buckets of wee and more grown up things like this map of the Tower of London. Great fun . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New client Sourcebooks Inc., a Childrens and YA Publisher from the US, asked me to package
their new Jeff Strand cover, here's a rough – the final cover is in the YA section on the left . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's the next hardback carrying my painterly look for crime writer Chris Brookmyre . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm acting as Cover Consultant for the crowd-sourced publisher Unbound, here is the latest in
hopefully a long line of fantastic covers . . . with extra smeg . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are three new Iain Banks covered just released. 4 down, 9 to go!
Take a look at the Iain Banks section on the left for the whole set..
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More fun with Atticus the Faber Feline. Book 2 of 3, I'll post some examples of the text illustrations soon!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
icon Books have kindly asked me to be their catalogue and logo guy for the last three years, here is a taster of the latest
and mecob's first proper foray into photography. The whole catalogue is made up of individual setups personifying the Icon
logo as a spaceman, farmer, psychiatrist - you know, the usual . . . I'll post more on it soon in the Catalogues section.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's the latest McCall Smith for Little, Brown. Illustration and design by mecob. Check out the
Alexander McCall Smith section on the left for the full backlist . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's the last in the Amy Plum YA trilogy for Atom that began with Die for Me in 2010,
see the Young Adult / Children's section for more . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A new job in the vein of The Etymologicon for top client Icon Books @sciencemagpie
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some new crime fiction for Quercus . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's a fantastic recent brief for new client Unbound. A Young Adult fiction title that really
breaks the mould. I'll be working closely with them on some other goodies in the coming months,
keep an eye on this page for details . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Building on the success of Periodic Tales by Hugh Aldersey-Williams, published by Penguin Viking
last year, here is a new title on the human body. Great fun to illustrate, many thanks to
Richard Bravery at Penguin . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back in the spring, I was privileged to judge some amazing work at the D&AD Awards.
I also took part in the Black Pencil judging, among some eminent professionals from around the world.
For the first time in the D&AD's history, it was filmed. I'm trying to sound like I know
what I'm talking about at 2 minutes in . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Completely gobsmacked to be able to show you my new cover for Iain Banks' latest novel, Stonemouth.
Commissioned by Duncan Spilling, Creative Director and all-round gentleman at Little, Brown Book Group.
I'm working on the back-list now and will update soon . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai is a delightful and funny human story.
Faber & Faber's eminent Art Director, Donna Payne, asked me to design and illustrate the cover.
Here is the final result of a very enjoyable job . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The amazing Coralie Bickford-Smith, Senior Designer at Penguin Books responsible for some of
the most beautiful books design of recent years, asked me to contribute to her latest series for
the Penguin English Library. See below for my illustration for Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's my design for the upcoming book for Guardian Columnist The Secret Footballer
(@TSFGuardian), the man inside the Premier League. Read more here.
Thanks to Katie Roden at The Guardian.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My new cover for Simon Sebag Montefiore, Quercus Books . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back in May, James Jones (Senior Designer at Random House) kindly asked me to contribute to an Exhibition called
Killed Covers at the Hay on Wye Book Festival. The exhibition brought together a selection of covers that got away,
designs that the creatives were proud of which never saw the light of day, along with a rationale on why they never
happened. My work, seen here in the middle for Evan Davis' book Made in Britain published by Random House,
sat alongside the likes of Nathan Burton ad Jon Gray – esteemed company I'm sure you'll agree. You can see the full flag
illustration made up of price tags in the illustration section. Many thanks to James at RH . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's a new book, one of a series of three for Faber Childrens which has been great fun to do.
I've also illustrated elements to decorate the text inside the book.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's my first cover design for new client Simon & Schuster UK, a collection of essays by Nicholson Baker . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's the latest eBook cover from my repackage of major crime author Chris Brookmyre,
the look was designed with both physical and digital editions in mind . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Off the back of my re-brand of Icon Books UK, Fighting Fantasy (one of their major contributors)
asked me to revamp their logo for their 30th Anniversary. Ian Livingstone OBE (a major figure in
the world of computer games and the name behind Tomb Raider) with Steve Jackson, originators
of the highly successful series, gave me an open brief to redraw their marque. Here is the result,
I look forward to seeing it on their anniversary material in 2012 . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last week I was lucky enough to judge the Book Design and Book Front Covers category at the
50th D&AD Awards at Olympia in London. The work was excellent, from student
through the to the Professional Awards.
Standout work included the Don Delillo series illustrated by Noma Barr and designed by
It's Nice That, which won a yellow pencil in the Cover category, all the way through to more
surprising entries such as a book that was in fact a remote controlled car!
I was also asked to stand in for our Jury Foreperson at the Black Pencil judging last Friday,
rubbing shoulders with legends like Bob Gill and Angus Hyland.
They all made me very welcome and I enjoyed it very much.
Please support the D&AD, they do excellent work . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Penguin Puffin gave me the chance to work on a re-brand of ROALD DAHL, my favourite author of all-time.
The brief was to re-imagine Dahl's look globally, with particular consideration to expanding the readership and making them work
as thumbnails. I decided to go darker and more edgy with it, still using the brand-toolbox of Quentin Blake's illustrations but made
more of the tagline THE WORLD'S NO.1 STORYTELLER (because, well, he bloody well is). The slightly edgier typeface and brave
use of black, which is against the grain in a market full of bright covers, gives them a new feel, and the large additional illustrations
helped them have an identity at scale.
Alas, some other lucky designer has pipped me to the post but I'm still in awe of being asked to work on it.
Not bad for a night's work...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After 11 months and 288 visuals, I'm very proud to present the Alexander McCall Smith backlist,
designed and illustrated by mecob for Little, Brown...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New fiction paperback for Little, Brown. What a lovely story too -
told from the point of view of a young boy's Imaginary Friend . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Penguin Viking asked me to look at the new Marina Lewycka hardback, Various Pets Alive & Dead.
Here is the result . . . Art Directed by John Hamilton, Illustration by Ben Newman, concept by mecob.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------