The Cloud Commission
+44 (0)780 986 7895
“The Cloud Commission’ has functioned as an illustrators nom de plume for approximately 4 years, under which I have slowly developed in ability, style, excitability and opportunities. Of these, the latter as brought me ever closer to working with some of the illustrators I have admired and been influenced by over the years.
Always looking beyond drawing side by side with these heroes, sharing a pint and a bag of nuts… I wanted to introduce other artists I believed in to processes I have been afforded, such as gocco printing, laser etching and product design. I have always been keen to share any knowledge that I have with others, and upon mastering the process of laser etching and presenting these to a retail environment… decided to get others in on it.
As ‘The Cloud Commission’ I am notorious for underselling my work or struggling to promote myself. This is not for the lack of knowledge or processes to do so… but a lack of interest in my own output. To remedy this, the natural step was to present the work of practitioners I could believe in and promote. From this thinking process was born ‘Cottonwolf’
Cottonwolf will be a platform for invited illustrators to create a badge/brooch design and have it presented and packaged to a retail environment, as well as directly to fans of their work. The idea is to create stables of artists whose work compliments each other, presenting the work of artists with global presence in one area (eg. Street Art, Sub Cultural) with illustrators from other arenas (eg Commercial, Small Press)
The idea is to have eyes from audiences from all areas of illustration on the ‘Cottonwolf’ project
For ‘Cottonwolf’, I gathered 4 (excluding myself) of my favourite illustrators for Series One of the project. Thankfully, the strength of the idea and my own profile was enough to convince them to get involved in the project. For the first run, there is Matt Sewell, Drew Millward, Malarky, The Cloud Commission and Richt.
Once attached to the project, all artists are treated equally, irrelevant of profile. Artists are invited on the strength of their output rather than fame… with the theme of the first project being ‘People I Want to Work With’… that simple!
The design of the pieces will take the same format as I have used previously under ‘The Cloud Commission’. Handrawn illustrations will be fed through a laser cutter in order to cut the design from sheets of 3mm walnut to create the brooch design. The strength of the piece is defined in the quality of the illustration as opposed to the craft processes. This being said, I have learnt a lot from my previous work with wood/lasercutting equipment… and this has helped informed my choices to create a stronger project with better build quality and finer material properties.
Once created, all of the brooches and their packaging will be passed back to the artists for editioning and signing to give an individual feel to what is already a small edition object.
The edition will be 50 per artist, with five artists involved in Series One.
