SheSays Brighton: Make it so!

The first SheSays Brighton event was about secrets of success, the second: overcoming obstacles. It logically follows that the third will be about applying what we've learned to getting things done! Expect irons in fires and rolling balls. As 2012 sets in I'm getting very excited about this one.

Merry Christmas from Brighton!

This was designed as a Christmas card for clients of Epic PLC. I wanted to share something unique to our business and part of that is the gorgeous seafront location. I don't think it's going to snow this Christmas but this image is just what it looked like here last Winter!

SheSays Brighton: Get Over It!

The second SheSays Brighton event is already sold out!

One of the speakers (Rachel Blackman) at the first event spoke about getting through difficult times and how important that was to her growth and focus. Emily Toop told us to find a space in which we can be pathetic, and have an outlet for our fears and worries. I think it's important for all of us go-getters to allow ourselves pathetic moments, because we are not Superpeople, we are humans. Accepting our weaknesses and moving through them actually makes us function better. I spoke to Sally Turner at the ideas wall about it resonating with both of us and now it's become the theme of the next talk.

We've all had our ups and downs figuring out the best way through life and rather than dreading the lows I'm looking forward to hearing from some more brilliant women about how the challenges that nearly destroy us usually end up teaching us the most.

I was again commissioned to create a flier, this time opting for my ink/markers style. I'm slowly moving completely over to ink and brush, but I will always hold markers dear to my heart!

SheSays Brighton: What's Your Secret?

SheSays Brighton's inaugural event was a stonking success! On Thursday the 10th of November Emma Sexton, Rachel Blackman and Emily Toop set our brains blazing with inspiration and camraderie for the creative women of Brighton. Rifa Bhunnoo deserves huge thanks for getting us all together in the first place and mindorchard provided sublime cupcakes from the Angel Food Bakery in the Lanes.

The Lighthouse was a brilliant venue, complete with bar and ideas wall. I met so many women with such a diverse range of jobs and experiences. It was so refreshing to see these kick-ass women in real life! I walked out totally invigorated about all aspects of life, not just my career or creativity.

Katariina Jarvinen of Light Trick photography took much better photos than me which you can see here on Flickr. If you'd like to know more about @SheSaysBrighton, I did a post about it back when I designed their first event flier here.

Here's the final image from Emily Toop's talk which lit a fire under all our seats to stop wasting time and do what we love! (with thanks to Katariina)

Illustration Friday: Silent

Watching David Attenborough's Frozen Planet last night my fiancé and I couldn't help cracking up at the disappointed polar bear. He looks like he's waiting for the baby seal to come back. A silent situation anyhow, therefore apt for an early submission to this week's Illustration Friday.

Illustration Friday: Scattered

Starlings above the west pier in Brighton. Autumn is here, sigh.

The Periodic Table

This is a tribute to science and design, and more specifically, Henry D. Hubbard's 1924 design of the "Periodic Chart of Atoms". This all started when I was drawing Teller for my "Atomic Heroes" portraits. I found this photo of him with a remarkable periodic table behind him.

Edward Teller

My fiancé and I have been talking about putting together a periodic table poster for some time now and this was clearly the one to adorn our wall. After doing a little research we found some more images and discovered that it was Henry D. Hubbard's design, previously published by the Chicago-based Sargent-Welch Scientific Company. However, these days they sell far less attractive versions, with seemingly less information. I saw no option but to undertake the foolhardy task of recreating the original version.

1979 Edition, via Flickr

 Armed with a few low quality jpegs of the chart (ranging from the 1956 to 1979 versions), Wikipedia and Illustrator, I set to work. It took much longer than I expected.

While endeavouring to understand every tiny symbol on the chart, I found myself getting bogged down in quantum theory, which was frustrating, but as the table grew and I gained a wider overall understanding of the strange formulae, patterns emerged and the pieces started to click together. My real breakthrough came when, I found this pdf from Searl Solutions with a photograph of Hubbard's "KEY TO DATA" on page 22. The final pieces of this montrous puzzle were set and I was able to finish inputting accurate information on all the elements, fulfilling it's purpose of being beautiful and functional.

Henry D. Hubbard patented his table in 1924 and Sargent Welch has copyright on versions up to at least 1979, however, with no version available to buy and a strong desire to see this design honoured and used daily in my house, I have copied it. It is not for sale. If Sargent Welch has a problem with this, maybe they can start selling this wonderful original design again. Having recreated its every detail I can guarantee that it is worth the money.

Henry D. Hubbard with his creation in Popular Mechanics, Oct. 1928

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I have begun to change the design to match the black table in Teller's photo but I cannot finish it until I buy Gloucester MT. Sigh, I've got a bad case of font-lust.

Also, the Hubbard periodic table made a guest appearance in the final part of Jim Al-Khalili's fantastic Shock and Awe documentary on the BBC. If you've never heard of Jim Al-Khalili, he's the saviour of science on television, always informative, never flashy or dumbed-down like a certain show starting with H. Between him, Attenborough and The Sky at Night, maybe things'll be alright for educational television after all.

William Shockley : The father of Silicon Valley and "a git".

M.A.R.R.I.E.D.!.

I've been working on the periodic table this week and after watching Shock and Awe part two last night I perused the Standard Handbook for Electrical Engineers (1941, 7th edition) in awe of the complicated diagrams and exotic lexicon.

Two friends are getting married today so I translated it into science. This Illustration Friday theme happens to be "contraption", which I think is conveniently appropriate!

Illustration Friday: Hibernate

Continuing with the Sharpies I added some good ol' Pantone markers and brush/ink lines to this Illustration Friday entry. I am happy with the inking, but there are so many choices when it comes to colour! Next week I will stick to Sharpies and work at a bigger scale. I like that they force me to be more concise.

The jumper on this girl is like one my Mum knitted when I was a kid. The indian Summer is over in Brighton and with forecasts of snow (!) it really is time to hibernate here.

SheSays Brighton : What's Your Secret?

Exciting things afoot for creatively minded femmes in Brighton. SheSays is a global organisation that holds events, where top females in the industry share their thoughts and help people work their way up. They even run an award called The Golden Stilletto, the first ever wearable award for women who stepped it up.

Some switched on ladies from the creative hive that is Brighton are starting their own chapter and I've been recruited to design the flier for the first major event. On Thursday the 10th of November speakers including Emma Sexton, Head of Expression at Added Value, London and co-founder of SheSays UK will be kicking off the corroboree.

I want to get any comic making women involved too, because ours is certainly an industry needing more of a female perspective. SheSays also has chapters in London, New York, SF, LA, Boulder, Seattle, Dallas, Toronto, Sydney, Melbourne, Scotland and Montevideo. Here's to the ladies who are making the world a more exciting place to be!