IGI news
Gold & Bronze for Ireland
August 02 2008
The London College of Communications was the venue for the Association of Illustrators (AOI) Images 32 awards night and exhibition launch last Tuesday, July 29th.
The AOI offered a warm welcome to the IGI, represented on the night by Scalder and Scamp’s very own Steve Simpson, who walked away with The Gold Award in the Design and New Media category for his illustration work for gourmet pie outlet Pure Pie. Steve was briefed into the project by Jane and Gary at Red Rocket and worked closely with the designers to create a suite of characters, environments and a distinctive colour scheme that allowed for flexible implementation of his images on packaging, signage, and liveries for Pure Pie outlets. Tasty work! (step-by-step)
IGI Member Chris Haughton also featured in the winners enclosure, with a Bronze in the Advertising Section, but was unable to attend on the night due to his ongoing South American adventures. 
Illustration legend and AOI patron Quentin Blake was on hand to present the awards,
selected by a panel of internationally acclaimed judges, including Senior Art Buyer of Ogilvy NY, Mike Hahn; Art Director of Saatchi & Saatchi NY, Menno Kluin; Design Week’s Art Director, Ivan Cottrell; The Guardian’s Creative Manager, Gina Cross, and Stefan Ostermeier from award winning German business magazine Brand Eins. A full list of the winners is available over on the AOI site. 
The overall standard of work showcased throughout the LCC galleries was eclectic, inspiring and quite simply awesome. Digital techniques incorporating organic elements, textures, brushstrokes and stylized drawing were very prevalent.
The fact that most images were displayed as digital prints added a certain cachet to the smaller amount of ‘original’ artworks on display; i.e. rendered in ‘traditional’ media.
The crowd continued to buzz long after the awards were conferred, providing an excellent opportunity to congratulate the winners, make some new acquaintances and refresh old ones before the crowd spilled out into the humid London evening in search of further ‘refreshment’. 
Even so, the IGI contingent were up bright and early next morning, to sample some of the goodies from the Pure Pie outlet at London Bridge tube station. Scrumdiddlyumptious!!! Anybody on the music festival trail this summer would be well advised to make a Pure Pie pitstop while the roadies get things sorted onstage!
Some of our favourite picks on the night were work by Jill Calder, Katie Simpson (no relation) and Simon Pemberton - but there was no shortage of outstanding imagery. Why not buy the book and see for yourself?
exhibition tourdates:
London College of Communication: 29 July 2008 – 29 August 2008
Peninsula Art Gallery, Plymouth: 15 September 2008 – 28th October 2008
Aberystwyth Arts Centre: 08 November 2008 – 05 January 2009
Kings Lynn Arts Centre: 17 January 2009 – 01 March 2009
Central Library, Gateshead: 07 March 2009 – 12 April 2009
South Hill Park, Bracknell: 18 April 2009 – 14 June 2009
Harrogate Museum and Arts: 27 June – 06 September 2009
Report by Padhraig Nolan
recent news
- New Picture Book Course
- Gold & Bronze for Ireland
- McHugh meets the Queen
- Great Eagle Wood
- One Small Step Campaign
- Chris Haughton in Design 100 List
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