Wishing everyone a Mad Hair Christmas

...and a bright and wonderful New Year!

Ahgoo Review-Evie's Mad Hair Day

This was a nice review of Evie's Mad Hair Day on Utales, the great ebook site for Iphones, Ipads and the net.http://ahgooreview.com?2011/11/evies-mad-hair-day/

Beautiful

An illustration for another invitation for Low Rez, the male POP choir in Melbourne. This time our concert is called Beautiful and features tunes penned by very talented women like Christine McVie, Amy Winehouse and Annie Lennox. The title is taken from the Christina Aguilera track written by Linda Perry.

Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol was one of my heroes in my early days. I still think that the work he produced in the 60's prior to him being shot by Valerie Solanas was groundbreaking and incredibly influential. We forget how confronting paintings of Popeye and everyday household grocery items would have been at the time. He always maintained that he chose Campbells Soup because that's what he ate every day for lunch for over 20 years.

Solar Toys

An image in Child magazine for an article that discusses Solar Toys.

French class gameboard

A fun gameboard I've recently completed for a French language speaking programme by Pearson Education in Ontario.

Rupert Murdoch

Personal piece, a portrait of Rupert Murdoch getting some of his own medicine back.

King Consumables

One of my regular clients Law Institute Journal ran a piece this month highlighting the fact that suppliers of consumer goods and services must comply with a range of statutory guarantees concerning their products. Katy the A/D wanted a King Kongesque spoof. I love the old 1933 version of that film, especially the scene where he battles the T-Rex/Allosauraus in the jungle, scared the hell out of me when I was a kid. This picture is not obviously that scene but another iconic one.

Who bears the onus?

Another one for LIJ. This time addressing certain questions of proof in insurance law.

Incorporated legal practice

I do a lot of work for the Law Institute Journal here in Melbourne. They have a great A/D in Katy Alexander and some interesting though at times dry pieces to be illustrated. This one highlighted the incentives and disincentives of legal practices incorporating into one firm.

Utales

Utales is a website full of digital books for kids that you can download on your Iphone, Ipad or laptop. Not only is it a fun site but they support Pencils for Promise, helping to build schools in developing countries. Two of my books 'Evie's Mad Hair Day' and 'Anyone for Tennis? have just been published on there. Check them out here. http://www.utales.com/

The New Playground

This is the cover illustration for a book I've just completed for Nelson Canada called The New Playground. These projects are just as much about ticking all the boxes rather than anything else but I managed to have a bit of fun with it too.

IF Stay

The theme for this week's Illustration Friday is Stay. This is a spread from my picture book 'Anyone for Tennis'. It seemed appropriate. Spike has much trouble obeying Tom's command to STAY!

Up on the roof

This is an image I've just completed for my Canadian agent's latest promo booklet Box Lunch. The theme was summer digest and I wanted to evoke those lazy hazy summer suburban days I experienced as a kid.

A spread I've just finished for a picture book I'm currently working on. At the moment it's called The Broken Wing but I think that may be a working title in the end. I haven't even got a publisher for this one yet but will probably post various images on here now and again because - well sometimes I just get bored.  

These are two images from a series that will be used as projections in the latest performance of Low Rez, the male POP choir I sing with.

These will accompany our - ahem- absolutely beautiful rendition of Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol. :) 

Target Holiday Card

A gift card I've just done for the department store Target in the US. 

Illustration Friday- Bicycle

Jake.

Illustration Friday-Journey

Illustration Friday topic for this week is Journey. This is an image I did for a magazine called Chesapeake Life about the writer doing a road journey to Oxford in Maryyland (US) in her favourite car, an E Type jaguar. I especially enjoyed working on the car.

Canadian Grocer

Cover image I've just done for Canadian Grocer which informs us how people shop, buy and eat. Um, through a hole in their head by the look of it.

Illustration Friday-Duet

A recent job for Child magazine about the ways a mother and daughter lead a sustainable existence. I thought it made a quite nice image for this week's IF theme 'Duet'.

The Blue Collar White Shirt Guy

Another funnies piece for the lovely Katy at Victorian Law Institute Journal about a guy who worked both as a lawyer AND a plumber. I think he earned more money doing the plumbing jobs -well he would, wouldn't he.

Taylor Swift

I've been a little snowed under with commissions lately but have managed to finish another portrait. I'm not particularly a fan of Taylor Swift but my daughter used to hum her tune in the car, that one about the popular girl being a cheer leader whilst poor ol' Taylor is on the bleachers...what's a bleacher anyway??

Illustrators Australia for Japan Auction

The Illustrators Australia Online Auction is donating 100% of the proceeds to Red Cross Australia's Japan and Pacific Disaster Appeal 2011. I've donated this print from my book The Robot's Pet. It's a digital print/ Archival Pigment Ink printed on Hahmenuile Photo Rag Paper. Go to http://www.illustratorsaustralia.com/japan to see all the works for sale and get bidding:)

Illustration Friday-Toy

I've missed out on the last few week's Illustration Fridays due to commissions but thought I'd throw in one for this topic -Toy.
Tom is undecided on which toy he actually wants to play with, why not all of them at the same time?

Robert Pattinson

Thought I'd update my folio a bit and do a few portraits.  Start with Twilight's Robert Pattinson. Only my partner said this looked like Johnny Depp, so now I'm befuddled.

Funnies piece for Law Institute Journal

I've just done another Funnies piece for The Law Institute Journal. The magazine was asking their legal readers if they would truly utterly recognise someone famous if they were sitting next to them on a plane.

Illustration Friday-Warning

WARNING! Enter at own risk!

Illustration Friday- Swarm

I bet I'm the only person who did a swarm of bees...or maybe not :)

A portrait for Scotty.

A portrait of my mate Scott who's a fine photographer and a bit of a self confessed sci-fi geek.

Illustration Friday-Layer

This week's Illustration Friday's subject is Layer.

Here I've done another layer on the cake.

Illustration Friday-Sweater

The theme for this week's Illustration Friday is Sweater.

This is what it sounds like.

The image I've done for the invite and poster for the latest concert by Low Rez, the male POP choir I sing with. The title was taken from one of the songs in the performance, Prince's 'When Doves Cry'.

Illustration Friday- Reverse

This week's Illustration Friday subject was Reverse. I'm not a betting man but if I was, this would probably be the horse I would back.

The Dog Stole My Brain

This is an image for the second Aussie Chomps cover I've just done for Penguin Books. A crazy misadventure of brains getting mixed up in different bodies. Fun to do.

Illustrator Australia Awards

I found out yesterday that I've received a Gold, 2 Silver and 2 Bronze awards in the Illustrators Australia Awards run in conjunction with Creative magazine. Nice to get a bit of good news :) This little man was one of the silver winners. He was part of a series of images I did for a campaign for Vodaphone Australia advertising their Business Caps plan.

Illustration Friday-Surrender

This is my first submission for Illustration Friday. The topic this week is Surrender. This image was part of a spread from 'Robot's Pet', the Nigel Gray book I illustrated a few years back. I just feel my little friend the robot should probably surrender quite soon as it looks like the kitty means business.

Parallel Universe

This was an image for one of my Canadian agent's promotional brochures. The theme was Parallel Universes. I wanted to illustrate the irony that is sometimes apparent in these times of 'giving'. We can all be a bit guilty of it. 

Draw!

Draw! I keep telling myself I should do that instead of farting around. hehe.

Cover for Ten Little Hermit Crabs 2009

The cover for a book I illustrated for the super nice people at Allen and Unwin here in Melbourne. It's a funky little counting book written by Lee Fox.

It has been published in Australia, Korea and Brazil so far.

It was shortlisted for Young Children Speech Pathology Australia- Book of the Year 2010

and the Children's Book Council of Australia- Early Childhood Notable Book 2010

Here are some quotes ....

'Shane McG's quirky, adorable illustrations are every bit as endearing as Lee Fox's clever countdown.' The Age

'...bright and colourful illustrations...' Australian Bookseller and Publisher

' (Shane McG's illustrations) brim with energy and a larger than life quality.' Magpies

'..one of those books that is both fun and light- hearted and entertaining too.' Preschool Entertainment

'Filled with bright and lively artwork and 10 loveable Hermit Crabs.' Femail.com

'Beautifully presented, recomended reading for children up to 7 years and adults alike.' Whispers and Whiskers

'..with bright colours and bold design...(the crabs) are too quirky cute to come to any harm.' Kerry Neary

'An amusingly playful read aloud counting book.' Buzz Words.

Buy the book here.

Cover of Robot's Pet published in 2008

Robot's Pet is a picture book by Nigel Gray which I illustrated in 2008, again for Koala Books.

Ted was good with tools and screws, and sheets of tin, and junk and scrap, and nuts and bolts, and odds and ends. Ted worked all night and by first light he'd made a friend.

You can buy the book here.

Cover image for my picture book I'm Freezing 2007

This is the cover of my third picture book which was published by Koala Books in Australia in 2007. What's a Polar Bear to do when he just can't get warm?

You can buy the book here.

Anyone For Tennis? 2007

The cover images for my second book which was originally published by Templar Books in the UK as Anyone for Tennis? in 2007. Later it was published in the US as Tennis Anyone? and in Australia as A Surprise Present. One book, three titles, go figure. :)

You can buy the book here.

Cover of Evie's Mad Hair Day 2005

This is the cover image of my first picture book called Evie's Mad Hair Day which was published by the lovely people at Templar Books in the UK in 2005. It has been subsequently published in other territories like Australia, Portugal and Korea.

It was shortlisted for the 'Read It Again' Cambridgeshire Children's Picture Book Award in 2006. The funny and talented Josie Lawrence read it out aloud on the CBEEBIES Bedtime Stories for the BBC as well which was fun to watch.

You can buy the book here.

Birdie in the Sky

Cover illustration for one of Penguin's Aussie Chomps books. This one was about a feisty young girl who has to fly her and her Dad to safety in his Tiger Moth after he has an accident. I had fun doing this albeit they were very specific about what they wanted on the cover.

Vendor Beware

Image for an article in The Law Institute Journal of Victoria dealing with rescission of 'off the plan' sales of real estate.