ABOUT ME
|
Ever since I was a child, I have always had a passion for art - being fascinated with buildings, views and scenes - especially growing up on the beautiful island of Jersey. It is a place rich with history, historical castles, towers and forts. I enjoyed painting and drawing at my art class in school which continued into college and university.
"Ever since I was a child, I have always had a passion for art" In 2010 I graduated from the University of Plymouth after studying illustration. I found university to be a great experience where I learnt digital skills in addition to traditional mediums - but when I returned to Jersey, I found it very difficult to find work in this sort of creative field. After having an artist block for a year or so, I started doing illustrative drawings for a friend before volunteering at Jersey Heritage which was where I fully got my artistic mojo back. As a volunteer for Jersey Heritage, I produced two exciting projects; both resulting in published books - The Battle of Jersey and Jersey Heritage & Culture Maps. I used a lot of pen and ink which I really enjoyed. I also continued to work on my adobe skills as they were required for the layout of the books. This is going back to the passions of my childhood and was very excited to volunteer for the trust. The Battle of Jersey book was in the vein of horrible histories for local school children, and was the chance to do more drawings of people. Making me more versatile. "As a volunteer for Jersey Heritage, I produced two exciting projects; both resulting in published books - The Battle of Jersey and Jersey Heritage & Culture Maps" The Jersey Heritage and Culture Maps book was my most ambitious project as it took 5 years to put together. Along with Alan Ley a fellow volunteer we plotted 15 walks for the book which was meant to initially just be a fold out map. But like most projects, it expanded. I illustrated all the landmarks on the island and put together the book so I could prove that I can do graphic design as well as just illustration. After many years of blood, sweat and tears, the book was released in 2017 at the Hamptonne Cider Event. It is my most proudest achievement so far and has been well received. Over 1000 copies have been sold. 
|
I have also been developing my paintings in my freetime which have been mainly of buildings and landscapes. I love using acrylic paints and working on top with pen and ink. My scenes are usually very moody and are inspired from the landscape artists of the 1940’s including John Piper, Eric Ravillious and Edward Bawden. I am trying to have a more brighter colour palette now as I use more yellow.
I have had 3 exhibitions at the Jersey Museum - two promoting the Jersey, Heritage and Culture Map books and one promoting a series of paintings that I was working on at the time. The latter resulted in sales and commissions. In addition to painting, I had also tried some free editorial work for a local magazine to build my portfolio. This is another area I would like to pursue in the future. "My scenes are usually very moody and are inspired from the landscape artists of the 1940’s including John Piper, Eric Ravillious and Edward Bawden" From there I have been doing work placements within the graphic design industry but I feel like my heart belongs to illustration which is my passion. I am going to continue my skills and build up my work set ultimately having my Freelance Illustrator role take over my day job as my main career. In 2021 - I moved to the city of Glasgow where more opportunities have opened up for me. My proudest being able to do a sheep sculpture illustration for the Royal Highland Show. My design was picked along with 39 others. This is shown in a picture above. The 10 years or so has been a challenge for me as an autistic man, as I had to face the world of work after university and needing to make an income for myself. I also had a personal tragedy of my mothers passing in 2017 meaning I had to take care of myself. But thanks to support from friends and family, I went from strength to strength thanks to routines and produced even stronger artwork. This also inspired me to create illustrations about my autism plus the new challenge of moving to Glasgow. "The 10 years or so has been a challenge for me as an autistic man as I had to face the world of work after university and needing to make an income for myself" |
This story about my autism is explained in my 2022 World Illustration Award Entry in the Competition section of my website.
Find out more about Michael's illustration journey on his instagram page linked below...
And for Michael's career history - his Linkedin account linked below...