The Planet Life Art Story

I was born in Plymouth and have been an illustrator for over twenty years, working predominantly in educational publishing, working with some of the top book publishers nationally and internationally.

In 2018, I was comissioned to produce artwork for the University of Plymouth Prospectus including the cover. The artwork needed to highlight some of the outstanding features of the city and the part the University played in the area. I saw the opportunity to use a naive style I had used for the covers of a Geography Book series for Harper Collins. I wanted to show the diversity of the Plymouth area from the vastness of Dartmoor landscape down through the City to Plymouth Sound, Drake's Island and the National Aquarium. The original illustration was later updated with more detail and landmarks.

I tentatively approached Kaya Gallery on the Barbican known as 'the People's Gallery', to see if the Planet Plymouth artwork would be of interest to the gallery owners Chris and Di (Chris shown with a 12 inch canvas). They agreed to add the artwork to their wonderful collection commissioning me to produce a bespoke Plymouth with the gallery building and Chris included. Their help over the last two years and through lockdown has been invaluable and I am so grateful for their ongoing support.

I highly recommend a visit to the gallery to see work from an amazing range of local artistic talent. I feel it such a privilege for my work to be alongside those from the likes of Brian Pollard and Robert Lenkiewicz. Chris and Di are the friendliest people on the Barbican, always welcoming and helpful. 

Local Locksmith Sir Fix-a-Lock, Paul Montgomery asked if he could have a bespoke version for his company, which would include Paul flying a paramotor, family members and 36 keys hidden throughout the picture!

It was such a success that people asked me if they could have a print for themselves. To date over 50 bespoke Planet Plymouth's have been produced and sold worldwide to New York, Australia and New Zealand.

To continue the series, I turned my thoughts to Penzance, the market town and port, far west of Cornwall, famous for pirates and the last stop on the Great Western Railway.

Then in June 2021 I launched Planet St Ives to coincide with the G7 Summit, putting Cornwall centre stage on the world map and thus Planet Life Art was born.

The Planet artworks consist of highly detailed individual vector artworks, each tree or building a separate entity. This means each Planet can be changed and personalised with any personal elements from homes and premises to whole family members and pets, making each version unique.

I am looking forward to bringing to the range further towns and cities of Devon and Cornwall and expanding the range to include other products too. So make sure to sign up to the newsletter for further information and drop me a line to enquire about any bespoke work.