Thou shalt write on the walls of Manchester Art Gallery

Thou shalt accomplish the task

1) Get commissioned.

I used to work at the gallery, so they know me. This bit was key to me scoring this job.

Scrawling text onto the interior walls of Manchester Art Gallery's early 19th collection is no mean feat; the text in question is the Ten Commandments according to Gilbert and George. It needed to be in gold and in the typeface "Anglican Text." This was part of the current "Do It!" exhibition, which in turn forms part of the current Manchester International Festival.

2) Panic and figure out how to do it.

Having never done wall-lettering before was another daunting aspect, now however, I am happy to say that I am available for weddings, bat mitzvahs etc. Here is a quick tutorial detailing the process which thankfully worked for me:

•  Purchase some thin wooden boards to practice on. 
• Find techniques that work and email images to the client to reassure them. 

Thou shalt reason that gold pens were

the way to go (in this case a bullet tip Poska Pen).

4) More figuring out and cracking on with it.

I became increasingly concerned that I could not freehand a specific typeface. Moreover, It had to look deadly accurate and I needed to work up a ladder so the idea of doing it entirely freehand was out. I looked on-line to see what other people had done.

• Rule evenly spaced lines on the wall.
• Print out the text in large light grey and stick the printed A4 sheets together using low-tack masking tape.
• Get some carbon paper and masking tape it onto the walls.

Thou shalt trace over fancy lettering.

• Stick the printed A4 text over the carbon paper and trace over it with a pencil.
• Remove the paper to see the text on the wall
• Go over it in gold pen.

 Thou shalt do one at a time to avoid smudging.

Thou might get tennis elbow.

Thou shalt stand back and admire.

• Chug down free wine at the exhibition preview.

There was another task too. Copy as near as damn it, the illustrated text of Icelandic artist and musician Ragnar Kjartansson. This was the easy bit...

I was given a print out with this lettering in black and white. 

Copy on to wall (skirting board). I said this was the easy bit.

Start repenting! 

• Get credited on labels!

 Thou shalt have name mentioned alongside the more famous.

Thanks to all the staff at MAG including Natasha Howes and Paul Morley.

The Doomed Bird Of Providence

Last Year I was given the task of illustrating the cover and poster insert for the album "Will Ever Pray," the debut of Australian folk group "The Doomed Bird of Providence".

Final Cover



This was carried out under the guidance of Justin Watson. the man behind the record label Front and Follow. As with most projects the work began with sketches, banding ideas around etc. Though the motive of a fly was pretty much there from the start. Designer Damian O'Hara kept the final album art much simple than I had planned, which was much needed as I often lack the capacity for minimalism of any sort. As you can see from this mock-up.

One of the initial mock-ups

Aside from the fly motive the general theme of the album artwork, as also suggested by Doomed Bird frontman Mark Kluzek was to appear like an etching from the 19th century during which era the album is set; depicting a dark menacing world of genuine, bloody Australian history and downright grim tales of woe. Read more about it on the Front and Follow site.

Poster insert

The images were drawn separately in pen using various references images. The actual cover and posters were ultimately screen printed. The poster also featured a banner designed by Damian which can be viewed on a T-shirt here. Unfortunately sold out! 

Text (a)

I am particularly proud of the text. It was derived from various wild and wonderful typefaces on Victorian-era books which I found from online images. Not knowing quite how it would look scaled down; the text was first drawn hollow as above.

Text (b)

With the final black text being the way to go. All art including text was drawn by hand. The poster drawings were also used in a promotional video by Paul Dawson aka THINKYMAN.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!