Puffin Tobacco - work in progress...

So what have I been working on recently? Well for quite some time I have been interested in Victorian ephemera as a source of inspiration; whether it's side-column adverts promoting strange back-ache cures and hair follicle tonics etc, with their now humorous slogans from a distant and out-dated past or super detailed bank-note style engravings on certificates or beautiful hand lettered poster art (check out the sanborn maps if you haven't already! They're amazing but have been unashamedly plagiarised by hand lettering artists recently).

 All of these aspects have had their influence on my work in the last few years. However, this week I stumbled across a book of Victorian and early Edwardian cigar advertising that was ripe for parody and so I gave it a little thought and here's the result:

 

It's just a preliminary sketch at the moment but I plan to put in lots of lovely details and I cannot wait to get inking! I've been looking forward for a chance to draw a puffin, they are one of my favourite birds; distinctive features, a striking colour scheme and buckets of anthropomorphic character. My plan is to do this as a single colour screen print in a deep navy blue and try my best to resist the temptation of secondary colours and metallics! I'll post some more progress shots when I have actually put pen to paper in the mean time cheers for all the 'likes' and support...