Andy Council Solo Show - Mega City Fauna

Opening preview 15th January 2010, 6-10pm. Drinks provided
Show runs until the 14th February.

Bristol’s most unique find since they dug up the ‘Bristol Dinosaur’ ANDY COUNCIL returns with his solo show at Weapon of Choice Gallery, 14 St Michel’s Hill, Bristol BS2 8DT.

Mega City Fauna combines the artist’s celebrated style with some new departures and will be unmissable for fans old and new.
Expect to see some new takes on the Bristol cityscape from this internationally acclaimed artist and illustrator. Andy brings us his beasts on a large and small scale and the result is a menagerie of the Bristol creatures rendered in a collectable and affordable way. Original artwork from as low as £30!

Weapon of Choice Gallery, 14 St Michael's Hill, Bristol, BS2 8DT

Facebook event page here.

Weapon Of Choice Issue 2

Issue 2 of Weapon Of Choice Magazine which features, amongst other things, the recent collab I did with China Mike on the cover and an interview with me! Well worth getting your hands on if you can - it is free afterall. You can also download it here.

Contact Magazine, Wired Italy and Secret Wars

Ho Ho Ho and Merry Xmas! I have found a bit of time between doing bits of art and eating Quality Street to add a few bits to this here blog. There are quite a few bits and bobs that I have forgotten to put up before, so will put them up now.....

First up is this rather odd illustration I did for the Royal Mail magazine, Contact. It's about the brand King Of Shaves, thus there is a playing card king having a shave...



Next up is this illustration I did for the Italian version of Wired magazine. It is for a feature on the weird festivals where certain days are celebrated such as Star Wars day, Talk like a pirate day and Groundhog day...



And finally, here's a photo from the Secret Wars event I painted at recently in Bristol. Bristol won with my monster taking down Lorenzo’s St Stephen’s Tower, whilst the London lot took the piss out of Bristol as a place obsessed with Banksy and taking photos of graf....

Collaboration with China Mike For Art Basel

Collaborative painting with China Mike. Acrylic and some Spraypaint on canvas.

60.6cmw x 75.8cmh

Junk monster based on the prehistoric giant ground Sloth, Megatherium.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatherium

The piece is going on show at the Bold Hype exhibition booth at Art Basel, Miami USA, December 3 - 6th 2009.

Pond Illustration

Thought I would stick up this pond illustration I have done for North Somerset Council. It's for a nature reserve information board at a place called Locking Castle. It's quite a straight up illustration job, but I am pleased with the end result. Nice Carp!

And You Will Know Us By The Trail OF Avant Pop

This is my rather strange album cover artwork for the Compilation album 'And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Avant Pop' by People In The Sky Records. It is out now!

The Unholy Grail, Southampton

I have a few bits of work in this groupshow at Goblets Gallery, Southampton. Address is 180 Above Bar Street, Southampton, SO14 7DW. Opening party, 4th Dec. Show runs from 5th Dec - January 14th.

Mayfair Pop Up Show By Inkie

I have some work in this Pop up show (they seem to be all the rage right now) in London coming up soon. It has been sorted out by Inkie and it’s running in Mayfair for a short time only, 8th to 12th of December, and the line up includes;

Goldie, Shoe, Inkie, Eine, She One, Mysterious Al, Sickboy, Insa, Zeus, Hush, MauMau, Kid Acne, Steff Plaetz, Shazer, Chu, Shok1, Xenz, RYCA, David Walker, China Mike, Part2ism, Ben Allen, Andy Council, Pure Evil, George Morton Clark, Milk, Dora and Don.

Terminator Toyby Hooded Top - Clandestine Industries

My latest design for clandestine Industries is a variation on the poster design I did a few months back. Split down the middle for a zipper hoodie. Check it out here!

Play It By Ear Xmas Poster

Christmas special poster for London club nite Play It By Ear. Noticed that there were a couple of bands in the line up with the words 'Kill' and 'Killer' as part of the names, so thought that I would draw a kind of tree of death.

I replaced baubles with grenades and stars with Ninja Stars. All the presents around the tree are lethal weapons.

I was hoping to capture the gaudy feeling of decorations at Christmas time. I quite like the tacky visual overload of it all. Especially after a glass of Port or two.

www.playitbyearclub.co.uk

Secret Wars

Hmmm, I wonder who they have got in to help represent Bristol then????

Shantysaur

This piece is, as you might have guessed, on cardboard. I used a combination of spraypaint, chalks and acrylics.

Shantysaur is based around shanty towns and Favelas. It is my submission for this years Cardboard Shelter exhibition.

Bubo The Owl!

My latest poster for London club night Play It By Ear is a turbo charged, pimped out version of Bubo the Mechanical Owl from Clash Of The Titans!

In the film Zeus commands Athena to give Perseus her owl, she instead orders Hephaestus to build the mechanical owl Bubo as an aid for Perseus. I really enjoyed Clash Of The Titans as a kid. Harryhausens animated monsters were great and I loved Bubo. I have heard that he is not going to be in the remake, which is a shame.

Here's an interview with Harryhausen about the creatures in Clash Of The Titans, including Bubo.

Bartonhillasaur

A few days ago I painted this beast with the help of some of the local yout at Netham Park, Barton Hill, Bristol. The dino has flats and houses on similar to those in the area. The wall wasn't as tall as I thought, so the beastie looks a bit less like a Stegosaur or Dimetrodon and more like a bloody big Newt!

Still needs some work doing on background bits - took this pic before the sun went down.

It was quite a chilled spot to paint in a way - nice chip shop round the corner!

Shouts out to Rowdy who was in charge of this project and Cheo who painted also. Also hello to Cheo's brother and everyone else who showed support.

Here's the original design drawing I did of the piece...

Drunk Drawing For Weapon Of Choice Magazine Party!

This is the piece I did live at the Weapon Of Choice Magazine launch party on Friday. Wobbly, sketchy style and wonky photo......I was very very drunk!!!!! I like the piece though mind, little tanks, cars and diggers amongst the junk. It was good to use a bit of charcoal as well as just paint markers like I would normally.

The magazine is available as a hard copy around Bristol, but can also be downloaded.

There are more pics of the night up on Lokey's Blog. Some of the pics might be of me looking in a bad way....laying off the booze for a bit.

Council Is Doing A Talk!

I'm going to be doing a talk at The Watershed, Bristol UK on November 5th as part of SweetTalk 38.

Nevermind that it clashes with the fireworks - Council will have a slideshow of work and will no doubt be talking about his detailed drawings of dinosaurs, his involvement with the Bristol Street Art scene and maybe the beast of Bodmin!


The other speakers at the event are -

Gabriel Solomons / Designer / Editor / Decode Publishing

Maria Mochnacz / Photographer / Video Maker

Ian Anderson / The Designers Republic (!!!!!!!!)

Tickets are £10/£8 student
Available from Watershed Box Office
0117 927 5100 www.watershed.co.uk

Mega City Fauna

Coming to Weapon Of Choice Gallery, Bristol UK 15th January 2010....


Megacity - A city and/or metropolitan area with a very high population or average density.

Megafauna - Large or relatively large animals of a particular place or time period. Saber-toothed tigers and mastodons belong to the extinct megafauna of the Oligocene and Pleistocene Epochs.

Design map of Britain for Computer Arts Projects

This map is in the latest issue of Computer Arts Projects magazine for a feature on the top design studios in Britain. I had to fill the British isles with landmarks...I only had so much time, so unfortunately had tio miss out alot of cities. I haven't travelled to many places in the UK either so had to rely alot on what pics I could find online for research.

Ireland wasn't in the article, so didn't really put much detail in there I'm afraid!

Glyptodon!

For my latest Play It By Ear club nite poster I have decided to go for a giant prehistoric mammal rather than a dinosaur. The beastie is based around a Glyptodon that was a bit like a huge Armadillo. It has a bit of a Pokemon feel to it and is very seasonal with its autumnal/fall/halloween colour scheme!

Animal House Exhibition, Ipswich

I have some work coming up in an illustration group show in Ipswich, Suffolk. The private view is on 9th October and it runs until 18th October 2009.

Really good line up of artists in this show including my mate China Mike and fellow Boys Who Draw collective members Simon Corry, Simon Wild, Steve Rack and Mister Millerchip.

An Alternative Portrait Of Edward Colston

Invada Record's label boss and Portishead member Geoff Barrow is to curate a days worth of music, film and art at Bristol's legendary Colston Hall venue, which has recently been extended, adding a brand new 30 million pound building onto the existing structure. The 'Invada Invasion' takes place on Saturday 26th September...

As part of the days events there is to be an exhibition entitled 'An Alternative Portrait Of Edward Colston'.

This is my take on the man who, amongst other things, became extremely wealthy, mainly from slavery...

I have to say that I was quite stuck on this one and in the end did this pretty weird looking piece where his wig is made of skulls and cables and his head of speakers.

I quite like the colours!

Acrylic on paper, 297 × 420 mm

Art Nouveau Magazine Interview

There is an interview with me over on Art Nouveau Magazine's website. Check it out!

Dino Head At Bristol Festival

I popped down to Bristol Festival today with baby Felix and saw that my dino head I had painted for it had been carefully cut out and installed. Is that you in the photo?! Sorry if the pic is not flattering!

We also noticed that there were Andy Council Bristol Fest Tshirts available also. I hope they manage to flog a few!

Ammo Magazine

I have some pics of my work and an interview in the 1st issue of independent illustration magzine Ammo.

The magazine has work in it by lots of other rad illustrators including fellow Boys Who Draw member, Mr Millerchip.

There is more info and pics on the Ammo site where it is available to buy too!

Clandestiraptor T Shirt now available!

Front design.


Back design.

My Clandestiraptor design featuring loads of pop culture toys of the 80's is now availble from Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy's Clandestine Industries. The design is available on a T shirt and Sweater. Both also have a back print that I designed also.

Furby Terminator

My latest poster for Play It By Ear is a Furby Terminator. The night has a 90's pop theme, so thought Furby would be good for this being a toy of the late 90's. I saw lots of pics while researching Furby of 'Furbinators' where people had taken off the fur to expose it's workings. I thought that these were pretty cool, so thought I would take it one stage further and make the endoskeleton look more like a T800 Terminator.

Emporium@Emporium 14th-19th Sept!

Due to working alot recently I have only just had a chance to write about this art show that I am part of in Bristol right now. There is only one day left now!

Emporium @ the Emporium
14th – 19th of September 2009

Doors open 12-7pm daily
37 Stokes Croft, Bristol, BS1 3PY
FREE

Here's what it's all about...

It’s a year since the Emporium collective opened and began running this reclaimed space. Having sat derelict for over 25 years it is now a not-for-profit community gallery.

To celebrate this and as part of Bristol Co-Mutiny, the instigators are now putting on their own show, alongside guest artists, including: Andy Council, Tim Floyd, Reginald Falcon, Studio Amour, Sam Marsh, Lulu, Wendy Wainwright, Gary Powell, Mike Powell, Lucy Cavendish, Sven Zimviction, Rowdy, Tom Groves and Billy Macrae.

People for Places – the squat estate agency – have also promised a team of super-friendly housing advisors whose installation will display just some of their extensive Bristolian portfolio of empty buildings.

Expect a multi-medium show, with paint, sculpture, video, photography and print.

More info and pics are on the Emporium blog.

Painting at Kingswood Foundation and Bristol Fest

I did a day of Graffiti workshop work up at the Kingswood Foundation in Bristol with my mate Adam yesterday. It was pretty intense work with lots of different groups of young people. We did talks on what we do and how things are if you choose to have a career in the arts and then worked with them to produce a mural piece.

The piece came out looking pretty good I think considering that we only made very loose plans as to what it was going to look like. We went for a look which was a combination of countryside (like on the frontpage of our Farmyardeez website) and city skyscrapers. It was over several areas which was fun as added different layers. Was a bit fumey in that enclosed space though so was a bit off my head!

I also decided to do a Triceratops head made out of skyscraper type buildings. I was worried as to whether it looked any good as it wasn't sketched out beforehand. Adam gave me some good advice which was to 'just paint'. I did this and it was great just to go with the flow and see what happened.







Seeing as this piece turned out quite well I thought I would do something similar again the next day on a board that will be part of the decoration for the Bristol Festival site.



I was hoping to do something bigger really, a whole dinosaur, but realised that it was a bit ambitious on this occasion. I had sketched out this beastie which may make an appearance at some point...



This dino is roughly based on Kentrosaurus and would feature skyscrapers and scenery similar to in Bladerunner. Maybe.

Computer Arts Projects Magazine

I have some of my work featured in the new 'Freelance survival' issue of Computer Arts Projects Magazine. The mag has work in it from alot of other talented freelancers including McFaul Studio, Pete Harrison, Sarah Coleman, Jam Factory and my mate Rich T!

Zombie Mannequin

This is my customised mannequin done for the Wonderland Collective show 'Nothing To Display' in Woburn, Saturday 29th August.

I decided to just doodle out on it using the trusty Posca and go with the flow of the dummy. I am really pleased with how it has turned out in a freaky Zombie kind of way. I added a few layers of spray on gloss finish lacquer to stop the pen paint from scratching off and to give it a nice shine.

I think most of the folk at my studio were pleased to see the back of it as it was freaking them out a bit.

Raptor!!!

Coming soon to Clandestine Industries!

Stegosubway For Get Dring Mobile Auction

Similar to my recent Styracasubway painting is Stegosubway, my latest acrylic on canvas effort. He is a Stegosaurus made up of paint and trains. Also features a modified vehicle for a head.

This piece is going into the Get Dring Mobile auction at Paintworks in Bristol on 15th October.

The auction is part of a charity fundraising drive going on at the moment called ‘Get Dring Mobile’, which is aiming to raise enough money to sort the legendary Mike Dring of Art-el fame out with a a modified vehicle he can drive himself.

More info here.

I Sometimes Draw People And Not Just Dinos

Some of you might have read my blog post back in July on Boys Who Draw about how I draw characters and things that aren't Dinosaurs sometimes. Well, thought I would put a sneaky peak of another one up that I have done recently for a client. This guy is a web designer dude.

Colston Yard

I noticed the other day that the Colston Yard pub in Bristol now has it's new outside seating area. Here's the artists impression sketch I did a while back that went in with the planning application for it...