Fort William Velosolutions Pump Track

I did a small job for Velosolutions a couple of years ago and I had hoped to do something else so I was delighted when they asked me to work on an illustration for the opening of the Fort William Pump Track that coincided with the start of the 2023 UCI Downhill World Championships. The track is in a unique location next to Lochaber High School with the mighty Ben Nevis overlooking and making for a spectacular view. It must be one of the most scenic pump tracks in the country. For the job it was a no-brainer to include the majestic Munro in the background with the pumptrack in the foreground. The track also has the addition of an adaptive riders track which was a first i believe. I was fortunate to be able to go along to the Opening Jam and was stoked to see hundreds of mtb riders wearing black t-shirts adorned with my illustration on the back, it was surreal. I also had a few banners made up to put on display which was kind of Velosolutions and DMBinS to allow at short notice. I was impressed with the scale of the event with guests from the biking world and from the committee and funders who helped put the whole thing together. I even managed to put in a few laps of the track myself.

Trash Free Trails Approved Events

I was beyond stoked to be asked by Trash Free Trails to create an illustration to help promote their Approved Events framework. TFT have created a comprehensive guide for event organisers to help them to put on the most environmentally friendly events that they can. I am even more stoked to have completed three illustrations so far, the initial one that I did, one for Red Bull Hardline and one for the 2023 XC World Championships in the Tweed Valley. Thanks to TFT for all the good work they do and for giving me the opportunity to play a small part.

Red Bull Vanta Jam Event

Thanks to Red Bull and Bike Park Wales for the opportunity to create this artwork for their Vanta Jam Event 2023. It's good when one like this drops into the inbox. Vanta is the blackest of blacks and the trail is the gnarliest of black trails as create by Pro Santa Cruz Syndicate rider Laurie Greenland who features in the illustration. A bit of artistic license with the RedBullesque setting sun as a backdrop and other eye-catching colours. The poster also features the hard working trail builders that made the event possible as well as the various event sponsor logos including Fox, Trek, MBUK, Shimano, GoPro, and Muc-Off.

Hurly Burly Book

I was blown away to be asked by the Misspent Summer guys to team up with Chris Kilmurray on his Anatomy of a Track articles in the new Hurly Burly World Cup Downhill year book for 2022. The articles give an overview of the track at each Downhill Mountain Bike World Cup venue and I was asked to give a flavour of that as well as incorporating some of the memorable moments that went down during the weekend. One of few editorial jobs I have worked on this was an interesting challenge that tested my skills to the limit but was just my cup of tea. A tighter deadline than I’m used to but that wasn’t a problem and only sharpened the focus.

The whole book is an incredible piece of work by all involved, chronicling the years racing and I was honoured to be a contributor with these 9 illustrations. I’ve given a hint of the illustrations in this blog but it doesn’t do them or the book justice. The look and feel of the book is insane. It’s a big slab of downhill goodness and something to look back on in years to come. If you’ve not checked out Misspent Summers books before, take a look at their web store and get your hands on some of them if you can.

I Only Ride Park Tour

I had been in touch with Matt at Mahalo My Dude (famous for their crazy mtb send-up films on YouTube) for a while now. Keen to do something together but never finding the right project until Matt mentioned he needed a poster illustration for their upcoming ‘I Only Ride Park Tour’. Taking in 5 stops at all the main bike parks in British Columbia during July 2022, it was set to be a wild ride. Unfortunately I was over 4000 miles away and didn’t have the time or budget to visit all the bike parks so I had to rely on secondhand information (research) but I think I managed to get the feel of each park and a good list of landmarks to include. A tricky but incredibly fun project that went down well with the team and online when released.

Tweed Valley Bikes VW Crafter

Tweed Valley Bikes in Innerleithen asked me to create this artwork for their new Volkswagen Crafter. Quite a challenge to create something that will work well on such a large van and it is hard to tell how the actual design will work until it has been finished and applied to the vehicle so there is always a little bit of nervous excitement (dread) before the final reveal. Thankfully it worked out well and the customer was pleased with the final result. The van was on display at the 2021 EWS Tweed Valley event and received a fair bit of attention.

EWS 2021 Season Illustration

I was delighted to be asked to create an illustration for the Enduro World Series that incorporated each host venue. A beautifully balanced and integrated design (if I do say so myself) was crafted with each venue carefully considered…unfortunately the fallout of the Covid pandemic was still very much in the background causing some venue cancellations. This caused some minor inconvenience for me but not half as much for the courageous staff who work so hard to put the races on, so I wasn’t complaining too much. That’s design and the finished artwork worked well and was well received I think.

Tweed Valley Bikes

Merchandise Illustrations

I have been riding bikes in the Tweed Valley for many years and first raced there in the late 90s. When I was tasked with creating a range of illustrations for Tweed Valley Bikes depicting the area and some of it’s famous trails I had to look at it with fresh eyes. It was great fun, stopping to take photos and making notes on trails that I would normally be flying down without much thought. Watch this space for new designs as they are released. Thanks to Tweed Valley Bikes for the opportunity and I hope I have done the trails justice.

Service Centre Team Illustration

Due to lockdown restrictions in 2021 the Tweed Valley Bikes team were unable to congregate for a team photograph to announce the launch of their new Service Centre so I was asked to illustrate the team instead. It was quite a challenge to create 10 human and 4 dog likenesses taking into account their individual heights and outfits. The resulting illustration was well received with no one too offended with their portraits, I hope.

Issue 131

Singletrack Magazine Cover

UK Lockdown 2020 had just kicked off and I had just started my freelance illustration business when Singletrack Mountain Bike Magazine approached me for a special commission. This was Singletrack’s second illustrated cover, the previous one being their 100th issue illustrated by the legendary Jo Burt. It was quite a specific brief and big shoes to fill (no pressure). It was to depict many of the things familiar to UK households going through Lockdown as well as elements referring to comments and threads from their popular online forum.

To fit everything in I had to draw at A1 size to get the scale right and the fact I have hands like shovels which doesn’t help with intricate artwork. After bouncing back some concepts with Singletrack it was decided that this elevated perspective with back gardens facing each other would be the basis for the illustration and i also wanted a slight fisheye feel with the image curving around the focal point of the tree which would become the spine of the magazine once printed. Using a single point perspective I used a piece of string attached to the top of the paper to use as a guide though I didn’t stick too rigidly to this.

I was relieved when the Singletrack staff and community responded so positively to the illustration, they even decided to release a range of merchandise featuring it. Massive thanks to Singletrack Magazine for the opportunity and the props.

Foundry Coffee Roasters, Sheffield

Foundry Coffee Roasters asked me to create an intricate illustration for their new zip lock coffee packaging. They wanted to combine the imagery of the places where their coffee grows and the post industrial feel of their base in a regenerated cutlery works in Sheffield. At the top half of the image there is a jungle setting featuring a bountiful coffee tree surrounded by indigenous wildlife. The coffee beans are falling down into the coffee roaster at the bottom of the image set within the distinctive architecture of the Cutlery Works building overlooked by indigenous British wildlife. Lee at Foundry Coffee Roasters wanted to take advantage of the full print service offered by his bag manufacturer and I worked closely with the manufacturer to make sure the artwork would be printed correctly. I also created the layout design for the box packaging that will be sold on their premises. I was happy with the outcome as was Lee, I hope you like it too.