What Happened Tomorrow After We Drew It.

As a follow-up to the story of Central Illustration’s birthday celebrations with AMV BBDO and the Museum of Childhood, here’s what happened next!

You may remember this Autumn event involved me and other CIA artists drawing live at the behest of assorted children, whose visions of The Future had been fed to us a few days before, but which were art directed live on the day. Mine was called Rex and he was four. Alongside that, other CIA artists had created pre-made illustrations for their 'future visions’, which decorated the walls of the Museum at the same time. You can read the original blog here:

Well, contrary to what was anticipated (a next-day takedown), all of the live-drawn start remained in situ and is still there now for people to walk past and engage with. They were also turned into posters placed around various media sites across London, with no list of whose work went where - all we knew was that our work was out there somewhere! I put a Facebook call out however for any city-based chums to keep their eyeballs open, and astonishingly, it was found within the hour AND round the corner from our mate’s house in East Dulwich! Here it is:

Following that, CIA made a calendar of all of the images and posted it out to all the artists and clients and parents of the participating children:

I’m November.

And Creative Review made the event the subject of their December Monograph, the little supplements that go out to all subscribers to the print mag. It featured every piece of artwork, and since CR is harder to get into than Hogwarts, this represents a RESULT.

(And that is the sultry paw of Ben, who organised the whole thing with Charlotte at CIA. The same hand is also rather good at baking, it is rumoured).

In the future, everybody will draw all of the time, everywhere. There will be crayons in more colours than we have now.

Everybody loves drawing.
EVERYBODY.

This was scientifically proven on Saturday when I went to London to draw The Future, as imagined by 48 children ranging from 4 years old to 11.

It was probably one of the Best Things Ever in my life of drawing. Saturday saw me and assorted CIA colleagues interpreting, in real time, a vision of the future as imagined by our appointed children. Mine was four-year-old Rex, who became my art director for the day at London's Museum of Childhood Big Draw event called 'Drawing Tomorrow'. It was warm, busy, messy, stinky, noisy and smiley.

Put together between ad agency AMV BBDO and Ben and Charlotte at Central Illustration Agency, I drew live and on cue as Rex directed me through his brief:

'Rex will live in the land of Ooo, a leafy environment with robotic blue owls wearing welly boots who growl at people while delivering ice cream'. I took what I thought was way too much stuff but used everything in the bag to make this neon vision of Rex's world - acrylics, ink, glitter, Poscas, liquid chalk and felt tips.

Did I do it justice? Well, Rex in his awesome owl jumper appeared to think so. And as we all know, it is only the AD's opinion that matters.

Fellow 'live interpreters' included Jill Calder, Stanley Chow, Chris Gilvan Cartwright, Le Gun, Jessie Ford, Rose Blake and Ulla Puggaard, as well as a big bit of colouring-in drawn by one Good Wife (the Warrior was at home nursing a busted elbow!) Everyone coloured in - grown-ups and tots alike.

There was cake and tea on tap for the artists (thank God), a massive collection of pre-illustrated 'Futures' by the rest of the CIA artists, complete with their 'future descriptions'. Some of our favourite, slightly darker visions are below. Rest assured, they might be little, but their future predictions are far from cutopian, predicting flooding, the sun exploding, hostile chickens and over-population.

This little girl drew her own interpretation of the finished piece, and I gave Rex his own colouring/scrap book to take away at the end of the day.

Messy, exhausting and exciting. Thank you to little Rex, who styled it out for nearly four hours when all reasonable children could have been forgiven for wandering off after 20 minutes, and gave me a tiny grey soldier to add to my collection of studio creatures.

What an excellent day. How brilliant is colouring in?

'Can you dial back on the blue crayon please? We need to make the robot owls really pop.'

 

This Saturday, I'm doing THIS at the Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green, London.

If you've got lil bairns who like drawing, come for the afternoon and watch a 'grown up' illustrator being art directed by a 4-year-old

...LIVE!

Part of The Big Draw, it's organised in conjunction with ad agency AMVBBDO and my agency Central Illustration, who are celebrating their 30th birthday. Open to the public between 12 and 4pm, you can turn up and watch or take part in all manner of crayon-based activities. There'll be a ton of crayons and a big thing to colour in as well as pointing and laughter as 'professionals' attempt to interpret the visions of their tiny art directors for the day.

Mine is called Rex.

Here's the info:
http://www.museumofchildhood.org.uk/whats-on/events-and-activities/the-big-draw-drawing-tomorrow

'Excuse me, I thought I was before you?'

'How To Be An Alien' is a book by George Mikes, written in the 50s about coming to London as an outsider. The book, published by Penguin, was the subject of a recent exhibition of work whereby each of the original chapters was illustrated afresh by a contemporary illustrator. (Regarding the originals, as it states on the cover, "Nicholas Bentley Drew The Pictures".)

My chapter was about queueing, which the British love to do and to moan about, and was in the show which opened this month at Great Western Studios in London. I couldn't make the opening myself, but my friends at agency CIA did and sent these pictures. You can just see my 'Queue' behind the hairy visitor's head, with other illustrations by fellow CIA artists.



It's on until 16th April, if you're interested: http://www.howtobeanalien.com

Central Illustration Agency

The Central Illustration Agency have just published this beautiful book showcasing all their artists. And I never thought I would be able to say 'I'm one of them'.

That's not some special faux-blog-modesty talking there. Nope, I mean it. I mean it because CIA represent some serious time-served people I admire and look up to as masters of their art - Peter Horridge, Sir Peter Blake, Andrew Bannecker, Paul Slater, David Hughes, Jeff Nishinaka to name a handful. I also say it earnestly because I've happily put in the hours, grafting away at a job I love for many years, to get to the stage where I might be able to sit in the company of these artists, and the relationship I have with Ben, Jules, Rhiannon and Alicja is rather special to me. Long may it continue!


Here's what the press release says:

License To Inspire is an eclectic mix of stunning artwork and fascinating interviews from the world's most talented illustrators and industry innovators. An invaluable resource for art buyers and other professionals within the creative industries, this will soon become a recommended text for art students and particularly those who wish to work in the industry. With inclusions from a diverse range of artists from Jonas Bergstrand to Sir Peter Blake, the book is packed with beautiful images and thought-provoking words. Created by the acclaimed Central Illustration Agency, who have been associated with the brightest talent in illustrative art since 1983, this book will be an essential addition to any coffee table or agency library.

"Illustration has been arguably the liveliest art form of this decade, and CIA have been right in the centre of it. This book paints a brilliant and lively portrait of the world, the art and the business of contemporary illustration." Marc Valli, Elephant magazine & Magma.



You can buy a copy on CIA's website.
or from the ever-reliable Amazon.