The Specials 'Specials' lp illustration

Another day, another wonky lp cover. I did this as a Christmas present for Annie - she loves The Specials. I love them too but I can't really listen to them so much these days from listening to them too much during my youth ('yoof'). I also refuse to go and see them live because I've been burnt virtually every time by past it bands doing shitty reformation tours (with the exception of Pavement obviously) and let's be totally honest here - it really ain't The Specials without Jerry Dammers.

As you can imagine I'm a bundle of laughs in real life. All together now "I wish I had lipstick on my shirt, instead of piss-stains on my shoes".

'The Great Tagliatelle Flood of 1952' original artwork

'The Great Tagliatelle Flood of 1952' is an original piece I did in 2010 using dipping pen, black ink, acrylic paint and a coloured ink wash on an old mirror. It goes someway to document the bizarre events of April the 17th 1952 when an unprecedented (unprecedente?) level of tagliatelle fell on the plains of Kenya much to the dismay of the localized flora and fauna. And a badger.

More original artwork to follow at my shop here.

'He is hairy. He's my brother' original artwork

I'm in the process of selling some original artwork the first of which is 'He is hairy. He's my brother'. I made this piece in 2008 using dipping pen, black ink and acrylic paint on wood. The wood was originally from a bed-side table that I proceeded to break up and sand down to paint on.

Keep checking my shop for more of the same.

http://matpringle.bigcartel.com/

Stag Plantae

This was a collaborated piece for a Threadless submission but I decided to hold it back for now - potentially to print instead. The antlers need to be reworked - they're not quite as grand as I intended.

I'm in the process of updating my shop, getting some more prints and original artwork up there and also trying to get a website sorted so it's a little quiet at the moment but I'm busy. Honest.

Paris, Je T'Aime!

Paris is always an absolute joy to visit but you have to watch out for those crazy kids on the Metro...

Calender 2011

I produced this calender as a one-off for close friends and family this Christmas featuring a selection of illustrations from my portfolio and I just happen to have a few left. Don't let the fact we're mid-way through February put you off buying one...

The calender features twelve different high quality glossy images including the Special Benny 'Toys' artwork, my zine piece inspired by Samandtheplants, 'Animal Pile On' and many more besides. Go on treat yourself - you deserve it - buy it here.

The Film One - Midnight Cowboy

Contributions for 'The Film One' zine have been coming thick and fast the last two weeks - I've had some incredible contributions so far from the likes of Lizzie Stewart, Paul Bommer, Freya Harrison, Peter Locke, Josceline Fenton and many more besides. Similarly to 'The Music One' I've been struggling to pick my favourite film to draw - 'Midnight Cowboy' was a strong contender from the start but this early pencil sketch didn't really seem to navigate me towards anything very inspiring/stylistic so it got discarded in the 'could-do-better' pile. I've since moved onto another favourite - more details to follow.



I was sad to hear 'Midnight Cowboy' soundtrack composer John Barry passed away last week - the OST is my favourite soundtrack lp. It's one of the few soundtracks I can happily play from start to finish including the beautifully haunting title track, 'Floriday Fantasy', some wigged out acid-fried psychedelia and this particularly stonking soul strut.

John Barry RIP.