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work in progress: garden centre

This image is still in progress and will eventually be one part of a triptych. It is A1 in size, the main reason I decided to try working large scale is because I find it interesting how people react to large scale work. I wonder if the same image would get the same reaction if it was of modest size. However working at this scale does allow greater detail.

Skin

Inc Magazine

I have some work in Inc magazine which brings spoken word and illustration together. I illustrated a poem by Toby De Angeli. Some excellent work by many more great illustrators and poets in the magazine. If you would like to purchase one for yourself you can do so from the Inc magazine site or from various shops around London and one in Glasgow which are listed on there.

Mariachi band

Part of a submission for a poster advertising the Doritos Mariachi band UK tour.

Generic

Secret 7"

Two of my covers for Secret 7" , a project combining music and art for designers in aid of teenage cancer trust. You can go and see my covers along with 698 other unique seven-inch sleeves inspired by tracks from The Cure, Florence + The Machine, Bombay Bicycle Club, CSS, DJ Shadow, Noah & The Whale and Ben Howard, at the Idea Generation gallery in Shoreditch, London from the 18th April. If you would like to get one for yourself then you can do that on saturday 21st April. The exhibition has an added air of mystery as no-one will know who designed each sleeve, or which of our seven tracks is housed inside. Which is why I haven't said which artists my covers belong to, but you can guess!

Sketchbook: faces

Two little Liver birds

I did this illustration based on Liverpool a while ago. The pair of Liver birds watch over the city, thought to be a male and female (may have to do another version!) There are many stories about the pair, one being that the female looks out to sea, watching over the men at sea. Whilst the male watches the city, protecting the families of the men at sea. Other elements were included such as the tall ships that visit, and Antony Gormley's Another place which comprises of 100 iron man statues looking out to sea.

Faces exhibition

I have recently started a masters degree (part time) at Camberwell College of Arts. This work was part of a show based on facial expressions, the larger work was on the theme generic. I will scan in a selection of the faces soon.

Lobstering about

One of my friends ate a lobster for her birthday and I started drawing them to make her feel guilty. Not that i'm a vegetarian, although I am often mistaken for one. So now it has turned into a big project, this is one of the first images before and after cooking. Also, you may notice that these are the same three ladies as in the cake pops illustration. They were intended for the lobsters, the other just happened to crop up in between. I don't know which look they suit more. Though I do like that underneath the lobster suits they have a body and are not just a floating head!

Thistle pattern

Cake Pops

don't swing a cat in a glass house

work in progress: don't swing a cat in a glass house

I am doing a guide for people who live in glass houses: what not to do. This is the start of one piece: people who live in glass houses shouldn't swing a cat. It will look alot different when completed. I enjoy the cat's pose.

drawings for the evil cat

These are some drawings i've been doing for the story about the evil cat. I have started scratching them also, but I quite like these drawings. Though the scratching normally gives the work a darker quality

my evil cat is trying to kill me!

I've been drawing this cat alot lately, the ladies in particular seem to have taken a liking to him. For a while I didn't know what I was going to do with him, though it was pretty clear his intentions were evil. I had an idea that he would start off with no eyes, and when these women took him in he would bite them and gain their eyes. He will of course take 9 pairs of eyes. I realised that i'd been channelling Al Green's song 'the snake' which is on one of my playlists. The plot is basically the same with women feeling sorry for an injured snake, so take him into their home and then it bites them. I hope to do some sort of an animation and series of drawings on this theme.

wake me when christmas comes

These are some christmas designs I produced, they are more commercially driven than I would normally do. But they were for the buying public!

Postcards for Noise

These are some postcards I sent to Noise in Manchester to be sold in a secret santa to raise funds for them. Not my normal way of drawng, I actually used pencils and paper for these. The one below is a drawing of a K67 kiosk. I became fascinated with these whilst living in Poland. Inside each one would be an old lady. My favourite was the lady surrounded by eggs and another lady surrounded by cabbages.

Illustration Rally Feature

I am pleased to say that the blog Illustration Rally did a feature on my work. The blog is run by illustrator Natsuki Otani and features some great work. this is what they had to say about my work:

"A happy Illustration Rally hello to Hazel Critchley. Hazel, living in the north by the coast seems to trap her environment within her work and as she takes influence from the world around her and from her foreign travels to Finland and Poland her work takes on the character of the place and yet is composed with striking originality. She works on a lightbox happily scratching away dark and brooding images in a process resembling intaglio print but with a level of control tailored down to each individual scratch her work becomes a living thing produced in a way that has the character of folk art and the lithe sensuousness of art nouveau. she combines the work together digitally producing a very strong tonal composition that is backed up by a real juxtaposition of colours that seem to hang across the eye and play to the delicate yet bold figures. Her work has a raw yet enlightened touch, which leaves the viewer satisfied yet intrigued. Great work from a fabulous illustrator, read about her here."

To see the full post click here!