Geo Parkin

Urban scenes

April 25, 2024 by Geo Parkin

These pieces started out as sketchbook pen drawings made from snaps I took with my phone around my local area. I chose subjects that evoked the everyday gritty reality of the urban environment and deliberately made no attempt to sanitise or idealise the final images, focusing instead on the often-overlooked signs of wear and tear that imbue these locations with so much of their character. The drawings were finally scanned and digitally coloured using a suitably muted palette. This is […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Adobe Photoshop, Brighton, Landscape, pen drawing, sketchbook, street scenes, urban scenes

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100 Scientists!

June 28, 2023 by Geo Parkin

These images were for a science primer featuring concise overviews of the lives, discoveries and achievements of one hundred scientists through the ages, from Pythagoras to Stephen Hawking. I had to work pretty quickly but it was still, needless to say, quite an epic undertaking and involved drawing more big bushy beards and curly wigs than I could ever have anticipated. A most enjoyable project, nevertheless. Here they all are, in alphabetical rather than chronological order.

Categories: Portrait, Publishing, scientist • Tags: Black & White artwork, Digital illustration, Figurative art, history, period costume, Portrait, Portraits, scientist, scientists

More Portraits

April 8, 2022 by Geo Parkin

His architectural style has been described as ‘deconstructionist’ but remains, above all, unmistakably Frank Gehry. Roberto DeZerbi, former manager of Premier League football team Brighton & Hove Albion. The maverick Italian coach made a big impression on the world of football in the couple of seasons he was at the Sussex club. His high-risk and unorthodox tactical style regularly bamboozled many supposedly stronger opponents and won legions of admirers. (Full disclosure: Brighton are my home-town team and I’m a big […]

Categories: Celebrity, Illustration, Musician, Personal/Self-promotion, Portrait, Sports • Tags: architect, architecture, autodesk sketchbook, bilbao, Brighton, Brighton and Hove Albion, Buildings, deconstructivist, Digital artwork, Digital illustration, Female musician, Flat colour, football, frank gehry, Guggenheim museum bilbao, Illustration, illustrator, music, Musician, PJ Harvey, Portrait, postmodernism, Premier League, Roberto DeZerbi, Wacom Cintiq, When England Shakes

Portraits

February 14, 2022 by Geo Parkin

One of the publishing projects I was involved in during 2021 was a science primer that outlined the achievements of 100 notable scientists from history, from Pythagoras all the way through to Stephen Hawking. My job was to provide portraits of all one hundred, in as consistent a style as possible. It was an enjoyable, if somewhat epic, project. In the course of the job I developed a suitable style for the work that was somewhat different to my usual […]

Categories: Actor, Celebrity, Illustration, Musician, Politics, Portrait, Publishing, scientist, Sports, Uncategorized • Tags: Amy Winehouse, Billie Eilish, boys, Digital illustration, Elon Musk, Figurative art, girls, Illustration, Jacinda Ardern, Jesse Plemons, Leonardo DiCaprio, Nina Simone, Portrait, Portraits, Portraiture, Ronaldo

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Private commissions

February 2, 2021 by Geo Parkin

I’ve produced countless bespoke images over the years for birthdays, anniversaries, invitations, congratulations and the like. These have mostly been for friends and family but I’ve also had a number of private commissions for this sort of personalised illustration. Although by their nature they tend not to be the most lucrative jobs, they are frequently among the most enjoyable to work on, which I think comes across in the resulting artwork. If there’s anything you’d like to commemorate with a […]

Categories: Cartoon, Illustration, private commission • Tags: album cover art, anniversary, birthday cards, card design, Caricature, Cartoon, Digital artwork, Family, friends, Illustration, invitations, pastiche, personalised, poster art, private commission, vector illustration

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Recent Educational Illustrations: People & Places

November 17, 2020 by Geo Parkin

Character-based vector illustrations depicting activities or situations in specific locations. Indoors, outdoors, rural, urban, cars, bikes and spaceships. Youngsters, oldsters and in-betweeners, at work, rest and play. All (well quite a lot) of human life is here. These were all produced for a recent series of English-language teaching books, published by OUP. Click on any of the images to enlarge

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Adobe Illustrator, autodesk sketchbook, bicycle, boys, Character design, college, computers, education, educational publishing, girls, Holidays, Home, Humour, Illustration, Interiors, laptop, Lifestyle, Locations, Men, mobile phone, Party, People, robots, sci-fi, Science-fiction, Situations, Travel, university, Vector artwork, vector illustration, Women

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Recent Educational Illustrations: Food & Drink

November 17, 2020 by Geo Parkin

Self-explanatory, really. These were all produced for a recent series of English-language teaching books, published by OUP. Click on any of the images to enlarge.

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Adobe Illustrator, boys, Café, Cartoon, Character design, coffee shop, Cooking, eating, educational publishing, Food, girls, healthy, Holidays, Humour, Illustration, Lifestyle, Men, People, seafood, Shopping, supermarket, vector illustration, Women

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Kamba!

September 29, 2020 by Geo Parkin

In 2019 I worked with Go For It Games on a card game called Kamba. There are 52 cards in all, each with its own illustration depicting a three-word tongue-twister. The brief consisted of little more than the tongue-twisters themselves so it was a great opportunity to run with the madness and get surreal. A lengthy job but great fun! Here’s a selection of the illustrations used on the cards, with their accompanying tongue-twisters.

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Adobe Illustrator, Animals, art, autodesk sketchbook, Birds, bizarre, boys, Buildings, Café, card game, Cartoon, Character design, Children, Cooking, Costume, Drinks, Fantasy, Food, Games, girls, Holidays, Humour, Illustration, Interiors, Landscape, Lettering, Lifestyle, Men, music, musical instruments, Packaging, Party, pastiche, Restaurant, surrealism, Transport, Travel, Vector artwork, Wacom Cintiq, Women

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Vector artwork – figures and settings.

June 3, 2020 by Geo Parkin

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Adobe Illustrator, boys, Buildings, Café, Cartoon, Character design, Cooking, Crowd, Family, Food, Games, girls, Holidays, Home, Hotel, Humour, Illustration, Interiors, Landscape, Lifestyle, Men, music, musical instruments, Party, People, Transport, Travel, Uniform, Vector artwork, Women

Chilli Pickle rebrand – poster illustrations

December 13, 2018 by Geo Parkin

Earlier this year, in preparation for the opening of their second restaurant in Guildford, the Chilli Pickle had a branding makeover, overseen by Design LSM. The idea was to formalise the visual and environmental elements of the restaurant to enable brand consistency to be maintained across multiple locations. Up until this point, their visual identity had evolved in a piecemeal, organic manner, but had nevertheless proved very successful, so an important consideration during the project was not to lose sight […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Adobe Illustrator, Animals, branding, Brighton, Cartoon, Character design, Chilli Pickle, Chilli Pickle Canteen, Cooking, Curry, Food, Guildford, halftone, Illustration, India, Men, monkey, musical instruments, Poster, Restaurant, sitar, snake, tiger, Vector artwork, Women

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The Strange Planet

June 12, 2018 by Geo Parkin

This is a publicity / poster image I created for the Somerset-based band The Strange Planet, featuring the utterly charming Judge Smith, who was a founder member of 60s experimental rock band Van Der Graaf Generator. I had a wonderfully free rein on this project, just the way I like it. Judge supplied reference photos and a couple of video clips of the band members, then pretty much left me to it. “You might want to put us in a […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Adobe Illustrator, autodesk sketchbook, band, Cartoon, Digital artwork, Illustration, Lettering, music, musical instruments, Poster, poster art, The Strange Planet, vector illustration, Wacom Cintiq

More everyday people

May 22, 2017 by Geo Parkin

Here’s another selection of recent publishing illustrations in a similar vein to those in the last post. People, locations, and situations pretty much sums it up. Click on any of the images to enlarge.

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Adobe Illustrator, autodesk sketchbook, bicycle, books, boys, Buildings, business, Café, Cartoon, Character design, Children, Cooking, cycling, domestic scenes, Drinks, fire, fire engine, Food, girls, Humour, Illustration, Interiors, library, Lifestyle, Men, Party, Restaurant, sci-fi, traffic, Transport, Travel, urban scene, Vector artwork, video game, Women, workplace

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Everyday people

May 21, 2017 by Geo Parkin

The following is a selection of recent vector-style book illustrations, created for a series of educational publishing titles. The images I’m commissioned to produce usually involve figures in specific settings or situations. The subject matter can be pretty prosaic, but I managed to keep this project engaging from my own point of view by trying out a slightly different technical and stylistic approach to the final artwork. Experimental, but not radically so. It was also very well received by the […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Adobe Illustrator, Animals, boys, Buildings, Café, cars, Character design, Children, Cooking, Costume, Drinks, education, Food, girls, Humour, illness, Illustration, Interiors, Lifestyle, Men, music, Packaging, Publishing, Restaurant, Shopping, sport, Transport, Travel, Vector artwork, vector illustration, weather, Women

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Special edition takeaway box.

March 31, 2017 by Geo Parkin

If you were watching The Best of British Takeaways on BBC2 earlier this week, you will have seen Brighton’s very own Alun Sperring of The Chilli Pickle emerge triumphant in the Indian Takeaway contest. What you probably missed however, as it only appeared on screen for a split-second, was the one-off box design that I produced for packaging Alun’s amazing culinary creations. The focus was quite rightly on the food being prepared by the competitors, but in case you’re interested, this […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Adobe Illustrator, BBC2, Best of British Takeaways, Chilli Pickle, Curry, Design, Food, Illustration, India, Lettering, map, Packaging, Pattern, rangoli, Restaurant, takeaways, Travel, TV, Vector artwork

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The Long Tall Texans: ‘Headless’.

February 23, 2017 by Geo Parkin

There are some jobs you simply have to do. I was contacted recently by Mark Carew, the perma-grinning slap-bass player from local rockabilly legends, The Long Tall Texans, about creating a cover for their forthcoming 10″ vinyl release, ‘Headless’. It was great to learn that they’re still going strong, and I was more than happy to get involved. I did a number of record covers and t-shirt designs for the band back in the early-90s, so it was great to […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Adobe Illustrator, Brighton, Cartoon, girls, Humour, Illustration, Interiors, Long Tall Texans, Men, music, Packaging, psychobilly, record cover, Rockabilly, sci-fi, Science-fiction, scientist, Vector artwork, Women

Chilli Pickle Kids’ poster

February 14, 2017 by Geo Parkin

My latest poster for the Chilli Pickle restaurant, advertising their fab Kids’ menu. The kids in the image have been named Abheek (boy) and Baani (girl) – as chosen by the chefs, apparently. If you’re in the area, swing by and have a look!

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Adobe Illustrator, Animals, boys, Character design, Children, Chilli Pickle, Cooking, Curry, elephant, Food, girls, Illustration, India, kids, Lettering, Poster, Restaurant, Travel

Honey Kasundi label

December 27, 2016 by Geo Parkin

My label design for a recently-launched new product now available from the Chilli Pickle restaurant.

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Adobe Illustrator, Animals, bees, Character design, Chilli Pickle, Cooking, Costume, Food, honey, Illustration, India, label design, Lettering, Packaging, Restaurant, Vector artwork, Women

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Happy Families / Go Fish!

January 24, 2016 by Geo Parkin

In 2013 I worked with a small London-based games company, Go For It Games, on the packaging design for their Games With Names card game. The job went well, and subsequently led to us working together on a significantly more ambitious project in 2015, re-imagining and combining the classic card games Happy Families and its US equivalent Go Fish, for surname-specific target audiences. This was to involve not only the pack design (and multiple variations thereof), but also 52 individual card designs. As I say, […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Adobe Photoshop, Animals, boys, Cartoon, Character design, Children, Christmas, Cooking, Costume, Design, Easter, Families, Family, Food, Games, girls, Go Fish!, Halloween, Happy Families, Holidays, Illustration, Interiors, Lifestyle, Men, Packaging, Women

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Gentrification and the Hipster Breakfast; illustration for latest Square Meal magazine.

November 10, 2015 by Geo Parkin

Illustration to accompany an item on restaurants and cafés as an instrument of gentrification, for Square Meal magazine. The image is inspired by the recent, high-profile case of Shoreditch breakfast joint Cereal Killer being targeted by Class War demonstrators, which is referred to in the article. Great fun doing this one, and creating alternative versions of Snap, Crackle and Pop. It occupies a full page of the magazine and, at first glance, could easily be mistaken for an ad. Although emphatically NOT […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Adobe Illustrator, breakfast, Café, Cartoon, Cereal, Character design, Cooking, Food, Humour, Illustration, Lettering, Lifestyle, London, Packaging, Restaurant, Vector artwork

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Two more Chilli Pickle labels!

November 9, 2015 by Geo Parkin

Red Chilli Sauce and Mango Chutney – now on the shelves at the Chilli Pickle restaurant. And now that we’ve got bonfire night out of the way, I believe it’s obligatory to start using the C-word, so here goes – the perfect Christmas stocking-fillers!

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Adobe Illustrator, Animals, Chilli Pickle, Chilli Pickle Canteen, Cooking, Food, girls, Illustration, India, Lettering, Mango Chutney, Packaging, Red Chilli Sauce, Restaurant, Travel, Vector artwork, Women

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Chilli Pickle at Brighton’s Big Screen – poster.

September 8, 2015 by Geo Parkin

A shameless mash-up of Indian and Mod iconography – Quadrophenia as re-imagined by Bollywood. Poster for Chilli Pickle restaurant’s summer 2015 collaboration with Brighton’s Big Screen event. We later adapted the main character from this poster, who we felt should have a longevity greater than the 2015 Big Screen event, and gave him a starring role on a poster advertising the restaurant’s amazing takeaway service:

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: advertising, Bollywood, Brighton, Chilli Pickle, Chilli Pickle Canteen, Cinema, Curry, Fashion, Film, India, Indian, Lifestyle, Mods, music, Poster, Restaurant, Transport, Vector artwork

Educational Publishing

September 8, 2015 by Geo Parkin

Educational publishing, in particular English language books for the overseas market, has been a constant source of work from the very start of my career in illustration. It’s an arena that has perhaps unfairly gained a reputation among illustrators for being slightly uninspiring and workaday. While it’s true that these commissions tend to arrive with quite prescriptive and detailed briefs (the images usually have very specific roles to play in support of related text and audio content), and do not provide the ideal platform […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Adobe Illustrator, Beach, boys, Buildings, Café, China, Cooking, Family, Fashion, Food, girls, Holidays, Home, Humour, Interiors, Japan, Lifestyle, Locations, Market, Men, Narrative illustration, People, Shopping, Situations, sport, Students, Technology, Transport, Travel, Vector artwork, Women

Animals

September 8, 2015 by Geo Parkin

A selection of animal images created for various clients and mostly aimed at a younger audience. Wrap-around label design for a hanging bird-feeder:

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Animals, Birds, boys, Cartoon, Dinosaur, Farm, Fish, girls, Humour, Insects, Jungle, Vector artwork

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Funberry Farm wall stickers

September 8, 2015 by Geo Parkin

Selected images from Farm-themed large wall-sticker pack aimed at young children, commissioned by FunToSee

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Adobe Illustrator, Animals, Birds, Children, Farm, Humour, Nature, Vector artwork, Wall stickers

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Character design

September 7, 2015 by Geo Parkin

There is, of course, some element of character design involved in any figurative illustration. For characters that will be used multiple times, from different angles and in different situations however, special attention needs to be paid to aspects such as recognisability, consistency, distinctness, etc. I’ve had lots of experience of this sort of thing. Sample vector-style character designs for ELT educational title. My line-drawing & colour style was eventually chosen for this project as these samples were considered too different […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Animals, Birds, boys, Brighton, Buildings, Cartoon, Character design, Drinks, Fashion, Food, Games, girls, Holidays, Humour, Men, music, musical instruments, Poster, Students, Transport, Travel, Vector artwork, Women

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Party City

September 7, 2015 by Geo Parkin

These three maps, created for the US store Party City, were used on their website in 2009 as interactive guides to their themed products in the run up to Halloween. Party City is a big store and Halloween is one of the key dates on their calendar, so there was a lot to squeeze into these images while still leaving enough breathing space between the ‘locations’ to enable on-screen navigation. Click on them to expand and have a closer look at the detail.

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Adobe Illustrator, Animals, Buildings, Cartoon, Fantasy, Halloween, Horror, Landscape, Lifestyle, Maps, Party City, Science-fiction, Transport, Vector artwork

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Chilli Pickle 2014 Awards poster

September 7, 2015 by Geo Parkin

Poster design for the Chilli Pickle restaurant highlighting the take-away service plus latest of many awards. And taking huge liberties with the Hindu God Lakshmi.

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Adobe Illustrator, Animals, Cartoon, Character design, Chilli Pickle, Chilli Pickle Canteen, Costume, Curry, Food, India, Lakshmi, Pattern, Poster, Transport, Travel, Vector artwork

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Games With Names

September 7, 2015 by Geo Parkin

A packaging design job for the small London-based games company Go For It Games. The brief was to produce twenty-four unique but visually unified pack designs for a name-specific card game, Games With Names. I created a basic template common to every design, then six separate character-led layouts, each in four different colour-schemes, providing an individual pack design for each of the twenty-four names. Here are some of the card characters that were grouped together for the final layouts, plus an example of the […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Cartoon, Character design, Games, Humour, Packaging, Playing cards, Vector artwork

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Christmas Cards

September 7, 2015 by Geo Parkin

The following is a selection of Christmas card designs I’ve produced over recent years to send to friends and family in both print and electronic form. I could do the same for you. This one actually worked for anyone with the time and patience (and curious lack of anything better to do) to cut it out: The cut-out Santa and Fairy designs below were intended to be made into tree decorations; if you would like free, print-ready pdf copies to […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Animals, animated gif, Buildings, can-can, Cartoon, Christmas, Christmas cards, Comic strip, devils on horseback, Drinks, gif, grim reaper, Holidays, Home, Humour, Men, pantomime horse, Party, Santa, sketchbook, Surreal, tree decorations, Vector artwork, Wacom Cintiq, Women

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Food

September 7, 2015 by Geo Parkin

A slightly nebulous category, I admit. Food and drink, eating, restaurants and cafés all frequently play a peripheral part in my illustrations, but here I’ve selected a few in which comestibles, beverages and eateries have a more central role. A wider selection of my Chilli Pickle restaurant images can be found in their own section. Following two images produced for Square Meal magazine.

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Animals, boys, Café, Cooking, Curry, Deli, Drinks, Ethnic, Fast food, Food, Fruit, girls, India, Italian food, Japan, Japanese food, Kitchen, Market, Meals, Men, Party, Restaurant, Shopping, Sushi, Transport, Travel, Vector artwork, Vegetable, Women, Youth

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